Discover How to Manage and Safeguard Your Google Business Profile Against Unexpected Google Updates.

Google has implemented a range of mechanisms and processes to combat abuse and improve the accuracy of information on Google Business Profile (GBP) listings and their visibility on Maps. As a result, Google often modifies business listings without prior notice.

Businesses can be better prepared by gaining insight into how, when, and why Google initiates these updates. This understanding allows them to adopt preventive strategies that minimize the risk of incorrect information appearing on their profiles, thereby reducing potential harm to their business.

How Often Does Google Update Google Business Profile (GBP) Listings?

Over the past three years, Google has consistently updated Google Business Profiles, often modifying multiple data fields simultaneously. According to Mirador Local, a platform designed to manage GBP listings, Google tends to update three specific data fields during each update cycle. (Disclosure: Mirador Local is a product developed by my employer, SALT.agency.)

Data analysis from Google Business Profiles managed by Mirador Local revealed that 44% of the GBP listings in their database have experienced at least one update in the past 36 months.

The data also indicate a pattern in the frequency of Google’s updates, with some seasonal variations. In November, December, and the weeks leading up to Easter, Google tends to roll out more updates to GBP profiles. These updates often affect data fields like business hours, significantly impacting businesses and their customers.

Another notable observation from Mirador Local’s data was a simultaneous update to the names of 192 profiles for a single brand, where Google removed the “™” trademark symbol from each brand name.

Generally, you won’t receive notifications when Google updates your profile or other users suggest changes. While some changes, like removing a trademark symbol, maybe a minor inconvenience, others—like incorrect opening hours, phone numbers, or website URLs—can lead to more significant issues, potentially affecting business operations and customer interactions.

Where Does Google Get the Information It Uses to Change Your Google Business Profile Listings?

While you can update your own Google Business Profile (GBP), Google cross-checks any changes against various data sources to maintain the system’s integrity and prevent abuse.

These data sources include:

• Business Website Data: Google may verify your profile information against your official website, including details on your contact page and any schema markup.
• External Websites: For additional validation, Google looks to authoritative external sources like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Companies House, and other reputable directories.
• Public Contributions: Information from user-generated content, such as Google Local Guides, reviews, photos, and manual edits, can influence Google’s decisions.
• User Engagement Data: Interaction metrics at your business location may also be important in Google’s data validation process.

Maintaining consistency in your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) has always been crucial for local search optimization. While appearing in the Google Maps Pack can offer significant visibility, this prominence has attracted spammers, leading Google to enhance its validation processes with these additional data sources to prevent exploitation.

However, as Google’s algorithms have grown more vigilant in fighting spam and ensuring accuracy, legitimate businesses may be subjected to additional verification steps to ensure compliance with Google’s guidelines. This extra scrutiny can sometimes pose challenges for business owners, requiring careful monitoring of GBP listings for unexpected changes and addressing verification requests promptly.

Optimizing for Google’s Google Business Profile Validation Systems

While you can’t optimize directly for Google’s algorithms or AI, you can enhance your Google Business Profile (GBP) by ensuring accuracy, consistency, and optimization across all areas within your control.

NAP and Brand Consistency

Consistency in your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) is crucial. It’s not all about ticking a box; it’s about ensuring your information aligns across all online platforms. Google’s validation systems cross-reference information from various sources, comparing your GBP details with data found on:

• Online directories
• Chambers of commerce
• Government databases
• Local business associations

Ensuring consistency across these platforms helps prevent Google from making incorrect assumptions or changing your business details unexpectedly. To avoid future discrepancies, build citations only on reputable directories and platforms that you can update as needed.

Monitoring and Leveraging User Feedback

Google values user feedback, particularly from the Local Guides community, which aims to improve the accuracy and quality of listings. Users can provide real-time insights to help identify inaccuracies or outdated information that might escape Google’s algorithmic checks.

When users submit feedback suggesting changes to their GBP, Google reviews the suggestions for credibility, often comparing them with other data sources. This may lead to requests for additional information or verification, requiring you to refute or amend the suggested edits within a specified timeframe.

To maintain credibility, encourage positive reviews and ask customers to validate specific business claims. For example, ask them to mention when they visited or describe their experience, which can support your business’s claimed opening hours and operations.

It’s worth noting that Google employs mechanisms to detect policy-violating content and prevent suspicious spikes in user activity. As Google states, “Our machine-learning algorithms scan contributions for signals of suspicious user activity, flagging or removing content that violates policy. If needed, trained analysts review flagged content.”

Leveraging user feedback can reinforce your business information and contribute to a robust E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) strategy. Properly monitoring and managing user feedback helps maintain accurate information, builds customer trust, and improves your overall online presence.

Solidifying Your Entity

Securing your presence in Google’s Knowledge Graph is crucial for preventing incorrect updates to your Google Business Profile (GBP). When Google clearly understands your business as a unique entity, it reduces the likelihood of erroneous information appearing on your GBP.

In Google’s terms, an entity represents a distinct, defined, and recognizable “thing” or concept within the Knowledge Graph. Attributes like name, type, and relationships with other entities identify entities.

Google pulls from various data points across the web to build and maintain its Knowledge Graph. Businesses with similar names or operating in the same service category can create confusion, leading to incorrect information associated with your GBP.

To solidify your entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph:

• Ensure Consistent Information: Maintain a uniform name, address, and phone number (NAP) across all online platforms. Consistency reduces the risk of mix-ups with other entities.
• Optimize Your Business Website: Use structured data and schema markup to clearly define your business’s attributes, such as location, hours, services, and relationships to other entities. This structured approach helps Google better understand your business.
• Build Authority Across Platforms: Establish your presence on reputable online directories, industry-specific websites, and social media. The more credible references Google finds to your business, the stronger your entity becomes.
• Monitor User Feedback: Review reviews and user-generated content mentioning your business. These insights can help Google validate your entity and catch any inaccuracies early on.

By solidifying your entity, you help Google accurately represent your business within its Knowledge Graph, reducing the risk of incorrect updates to your Google Business Profile. This strategy ultimately contributes to a more reliable and authoritative online presence.

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