AI Showing Wrong Information About Your Business? Fix It

A customer calls to say Google's AI answer told them your clinic opens at 9am, when you open at 10. Another walks into your old Andheri shop because ChatGPT gave them the address you left two years ago. If AI is showing wrong information about your business, you cannot log in and edit the answer. What you can do is fix the places those answers are built from, report the mistake, and check again.

This guide covers Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and ChatGPT. It sticks to what Google and OpenAI document publicly, and says where something is general advice rather than an official rule.

Why AI is showing wrong information about your business

AI answers are put together from information that already exists online. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may use a "query fan-out" technique, running several related searches across subtopics and data sources to build a response (AI features and your website). ChatGPT's search features rely on a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find websites to show in answers (OpenAI crawler documentation).

So when an answer is wrong, the usual cause is that a wrong or outdated source exists somewhere. Common culprits we see:

An old page on your own website: a "Contact us" page, footer or PDF menu that still lists the previous phone number or address.
Your Google Business Profile: hours that were never updated after a change, or an edit made by Google or a member of the public that you did not notice.
Directory and listing sites: an old local directory listing, a food delivery page, a property portal or a Bing or Apple Maps listing that nobody has touched in years.
Old news or blog mentions: a launch article that says "now open in Koramangala" for a branch that has since moved.
Simple model errors: Google's own help page says plainly that "AI Overviews can and will make mistakes" (AI Overviews help). Sometimes no source is wrong and the AI still gets it wrong.

The fix depends on which of these you are dealing with, so start by finding the source.

First, record exactly what the AI says

Before changing anything, write down the problem so you can tell later if your fixes worked.

Search the questions a customer would ask, in the words they would use: "timings of Smile Dental Indiranagar", "is Hyderabad Biryani House open on Sunday", "phone number of FitZone HSR Layout".
Try each one in Google Search (look for an AI Overview), Google AI Mode, Gemini and ChatGPT.
Note the date, the tool, the exact question and the wrong detail. A screenshot helps.
Open any source links the answer shows. These are your first clues.

A simple sheet with these columns is enough. Add a branch column if you manage several locations.

Step 1: Fix your Google Business Profile first

Google lists "checking that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up-to-date" among the practices that apply to its AI features (AI features and your website). It also says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local results (how Google ranks local results). For a local business, your profile is the most direct record you control.

To edit it, sign in to the Google Account that manages the profile, find your Business Profile on Google Search or Maps, select Edit profile, make your changes and select Save (edit your Business Profile). Check these fields carefully:

Business name, exactly as it appears on your signboard
Address and map pin
Primary phone number (you can add up to two more numbers)
Website link
Regular hours, plus special hours for festivals and holidays
Categories, services and description

Two points from Google's help pages to know before you edit:

Google reviews changes before they go live on your profile, and you can track them with the edit status link.
Changing your name or address after verification may mean verifying your business again. Google says you must re-verify after moving to a new address (edit your Business Profile).

Check for Google updates you did not make

Google gathers information from sources such as user reports and licensed content, and may update your profile when those sources say your info is incorrect or outdated (Google updates on your Business Profile). In the profile editor, info changed by Google appears in blue text.

For suggested edits that need your review, Google says you have 4 days to accept or reject them. If you do not respond, Google may publish the edit when other public information, such as your website, supports it. This is one more reason your website and profile must say the same thing.

Google also notes that its automated calls or texts to your verified number can be used to update your profile, and that you can review this under Edit profile > Collected info (edit your Business Profile). If staff at the front desk answer those calls, make sure they give the correct current details.

If unwanted edits keep coming back, a tool that watches your profile for edits you did not make saves you checking by hand every week.

Step 2: Correct your website

Your website is the second source you fully control. As noted above, Google says it may publish a suggested edit to your profile when other public information, such as your website, supports it.

Search your own site for the old detail. In Google, type site:yourdomain.com "old phone number" or the old street name.
Update every page that has it: contact page, footer, header, branch pages, "About us", booking pages and downloadable PDFs such as menus or fee brochures.
Remove or redirect pages for branches that have closed, so they do not keep saying "open".
If your site uses structured data (for example LocalBusiness markup), update it too. Google asks that structured data match the visible text on the page (AI features and your website).

Ask Google to recrawl the changed pages

If you have Search Console access, use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing for a few important pages, or submit a sitemap for many pages. Google says crawling "can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks", there is a quota for individual requests, and asking repeatedly for the same URL does not speed it up (ask Google to recrawl your URLs).

Make sure ChatGPT can read the new version

OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and that robots.txt changes can take around 24 hours for its systems to adjust (OpenAI crawler documentation). If your robots.txt or hosting firewall blocks OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT cannot read your corrected page. Ask your web developer to check. Blocking GPTBot is a separate setting about model training and does not affect this.

Step 3: Clean up listings and pages you do not own

Once your own sources are right, work through the third-party pages that still carry the old detail. In our experience, these are the slowest part of the job, because each site has its own login and edit process.

Where the wrong detail lives	What to do
Directory listings (local directories, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect)	Claim the listing if you can and edit it. If not, use the site's "report a change" or contact option.
Delivery and booking apps	Update through your partner or merchant dashboard.
Industry portals (property, healthcare, education)	Log in to your business account or email their support team with proof.
Old articles and blogs	Ask the publisher politely to update the detail or add a note.
A page that has been removed or changed but Google still shows the old version	Use Google's Refresh Outdated Content tool.

The Refresh Outdated Content tool is meant for pages you do not own. Google says it only updates Google's search results, it will not remove a page that still exists and has not changed, and approved requests expire after 180 days.

Keep your name, address and phone number written the same way everywhere. "Shop No. 4, 12th Main, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar" on one site and "12th Main Road, Indira Nagar" on another may look the same to you, but it is easier for any system to match details that are identical. If you have many branches, keeping listings consistent across directories is easier from one dashboard than from twenty logins.

Step 4: Report the wrong answer to each AI tool

Reporting does not guarantee a change, but it is the official way to flag a specific bad answer.

Google AI Overviews

Google's help page gives these steps (AI Overviews help):

At the bottom of the AI Overview, click the thumbs-down icon.
Click Report a problem and choose the category that fits.
Add details in the text box. Google recommends this. Say what is wrong and what is correct, for example "Clinic opens at 10am, not 9am. See our Business Profile."
Click Submit. Google says your feedback includes your most recent search and its results.

You can also use the three-dot menu at the top right of an AI Overview to give feedback.

Gemini

Below a Gemini response, click Bad response, optionally pick a reason and add a comment, then click Submit. You need to be signed in (send feedback in Gemini Apps). If the answer raises a legal issue, the same page explains how to report it from the More menu.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT shows feedback buttons under its replies. Use the thumbs-down on the incorrect answer and add a short note on what is wrong. We could not find an official OpenAI page that describes a business correction process, so treat this as feedback, not a guaranteed fix, and rely on correcting your sources.

Be careful of anyone selling a guaranteed way to "edit" or "claim" what ChatGPT or Google AI says about you. Google states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, and we have not found any Google or OpenAI page that offers a paid route to change AI answers.

Step 5: Check again and keep a monthly habit

Fixes reach AI answers on different timelines: your profile edit must be reviewed, your website must be recrawled, and each directory updates on its own schedule. No official source gives a fixed timeline, so do not expect the answer to change overnight.

A practical routine:

Re-run your recorded questions every one to two weeks until the wrong detail disappears.
After that, repeat the check once a month and after any change to hours, address or phone number.
Before festival seasons like Diwali or Eid, set special hours on your profile and website at the same time, so AI tools do not pick up conflicting timings.
When you open, move or close a branch, update the profile, website and main directories in the same week.

Checking dozens of questions across several AI tools by hand gets slow quickly. A tool that tracks how AI search describes your business can run the same prompts regularly and show when an answer changes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I directly edit what Google's AI Overview says about my business?

No. Google offers feedback through the thumbs-down and Report a problem option, but it does not offer a way to edit an AI Overview. You fix the sources, mainly your Business Profile and website, and report the error.

The AI shows my old address even though my Business Profile is correct. Why?

The old address probably still exists on another page Google or ChatGPT can read, such as an old directory listing or a page on your own site. Search for the old address in quotes to find where it still appears, and correct or report each one.

Do I need a special file, like llms.txt, to fix wrong AI answers?

Not for Google. Google says you don't need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Accurate pages and an up-to-date Business Profile matter more.

What if the AI says something false and damaging, not just an old phone number?

Report it through the tool's feedback option. Gemini has a specific option to report a legal issue. For serious false claims, speak to a lawyer about your options rather than relying on feedback forms alone.

Putting it together

When AI shows wrong information about your business, work from the sources outward: record the error, fix your Google Business Profile, correct your website and ask for a recrawl, clean up old listings, then report the answer in each tool and check again. Most errors trace back to one outdated page that nobody remembered. Keeping your profile, website and listings saying the same thing is the most reliable protection you have.

If you would like to see how AI tools and Google Maps currently describe each of your locations, RankMonk can run that check for you. Book a walkthrough and we'll show you your own results.