Why Google shows old information about your business

When Google shows an old phone number, old hours or a name you stopped using, it is copying from one of three places: the title and text of your own website, your Google Business Profile, or another listing about you somewhere on the web. The trick is working out which one, because fixing the wrong place changes nothing. Once the right source is corrected, a profile edit often shows the same day, though Google can take much longer to review some; a website result usually catches up within days to a few weeks.

First, look at where the old information appears

Search your business name in a private browser window, so your own history does not shape the result, and look closely at the spot with the wrong detail.

In the panel with your photos, map pin, hours and reviews (on the right on a computer, near the top on a phone). That is your Google Business Profile.
In the blue title and the two lines of grey text under it in the ordinary list of results. That comes from your website.
In a result that is not your website at all, like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce or an old Yellow Pages-style directory. That is someone else's page about you, and Google is only showing it.

Write down what is wrong and where. Most owners find more than one source once they start looking.

Source one: your own website

The blue title in a result normally comes from your page's title, a short line set in your website's settings that visitors rarely see. The grey lines under it are either the page's description (another hidden setting) or a piece of text Google picked from the page itself.

So if Google shows "Smith Plumbing - Open Mon-Sat 7-5" and you closed on Saturdays two years ago, look in two places:

The page settings in your website builder. In most builders, each page has an SEO or search section with a title and a description. Old hours and phone numbers often sit there, forgotten, long after the visible page was updated.
The page text itself, including the footer at the bottom of every page and any old "about" or "contact" page you no longer link to but never deleted.

Google may also write its own title from your headings or from the way other sites link to you. Google's guidance on this is in its Search Central documentation; the plain version is that a clear, accurate page title and a matching heading are the best way to get the title you want. Page titles and descriptions: what Google shows explains how to write them.

How long a website fix takes to show

After you change the page, Google has to visit it again before the result changes. For a busy home page that may be days; for a quiet page, a few weeks. If you use Search Console, you can inspect the page and click Request indexing to put it in the queue; how to check if one page of your site is on Google shows that screen.

Source two: your Google Business Profile

The profile panel is where most wrong hours and phone numbers live, and it has a twist: you are not the only one who can change it. Google takes suggestions from the public and information from other sources, and may update your profile when those say it is wrong or outdated.

To check and fix it:

Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile and search your business name. Your profile tools appear above the panel.
Choose Edit profile and go through the name, phone, address, hours and website one by one.
Look for text in blue. Google's help explains that blue marks information Google has changed, and a notice at the top tells you when there are Google updates to review. You can keep your version or accept theirs.
Save. Google reviews edits before publishing them; most go through quickly, but some take longer.

Google also says that when a member of the public suggests a change that needs your review, you are notified and have a few days to accept or reject it. If you do not answer, Google may publish it when other public information, such as your website, backs it up. That is one reason your website and profile must agree: if your website still shows the old hours, it can count as evidence for them.

If you cannot sign in to the profile at all because someone else holds it, deal with that first. Getting your Google Business Profile back from an old agency covers how.

Holiday and special hours

A common source of "wrong" hours is the regular week being right while a holiday is not. The profile has a separate place for special hours. Fill it in a week before each holiday, so Google does not guess.

Source three: directories and old listings

Google learns about your business from the rest of the web too. If a directory still lists your old phone number, it can keep showing in results under its own name, and it can be the "other source" that Google reads when it updates your profile.

Start with the places that show up when you search your business name, then the obvious ones for your trade:

Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, Angi, Nextdoor, and your Chamber of Commerce.
Apple Maps and Bing, which run their own business listings separate from Google.
Trade associations and supplier "find an installer" pages.
Your own Facebook page, which is easy to forget.

Most let you claim the listing and edit it once you prove you run the business. A few old directories will not answer; those usually fade as the main sources agree. Directory listings: Yelp, BBB, Angi and your website goes through which ones are worth your time.

If you moved or changed your name

A new address or a new business name is a bigger change than new hours, because Google may want to confirm it, and in some cases may ask you to verify the profile again. Change the website and profile on the same day, and expect the old details to linger in some places for a while. Moving your business: updating Google and your website and changing your business name on Google and your website cover those cases.

What to do this week

Search your business name in a private window and write down every wrong detail and where it appears.
Fix your website first: page titles, descriptions, footer and contact page.
Sign in to your Business Profile, review any Google updates shown in blue, and correct the rest.
Add special hours for the next holiday.
Claim or correct your two or three most visible directory listings.
Search again in two weeks and note what has changed.

If your website is so out of date that fixing it page by page feels endless, you can see your site rebuilt first with your current details everywhere, and compare it with what you have before deciding anything.