Chapter 2: Where Google Gets Business Information

2.1 Information Supplied by the Business

The most obvious source of information about a business is the business itself.

When an owner or authorised manager creates, claims or edits a Google Business Profile, they are telling Google about the real-world business they represent. Google identifies business owners who claim profiles as one of the sources from which Business Profile information can be compiled.[1]

That information can include some of the most important facts about the business:

• its name;
• category;
• address or service area;
• telephone number;
• website;
• opening hours;
• services;
• description;
• and, depending on the business, other information such as products, attributes, menus or booking links.

The business can also add photographs, videos and posts that help customers understand what it does and what is happening within it.

That creates a responsibility.

Google cannot know every internal change the moment it happens.

If the telephone number changes, the business knows.

If the opening hours change, the business knows.

If it moves premises, introduces a new service or changes the way customers make appointments, the business knows.

The Business Profile gives the business a way to communicate those changes.

That is why accuracy comes first.

Google's guidelines tell businesses to represent themselves as they are consistently represented and recognised in the real world. It also tells them to make sure their address or service area is accurate and precise and to use the fewest categories needed to describe the core business.[2]

So when we supply information to Google, the objective is to describe the business that actually exists.

If the business is called Mike's Plumbing, the Business Profile should represent Mike's Plumbing. Extra wording belongs in the business name only when it genuinely forms part of the real-world name.

The same principle applies to categories. They should describe the core business accurately.

The address needs the same discipline. If customers visit the business at its location, the address should accurately represent that location. If the business travels to customers and does not serve them at its address, Google's guidelines say the address should not be displayed and the profile should be managed as a service-area business instead.[2]

Opening hours should represent when the business is genuinely available.

The telephone number should connect customers with the business.

The website should represent the business or the relevant location.

Services and attributes should describe things that genuinely apply.

Every field should answer the same basic question:

What is true about this business?

That is the starting point for Profile Completeness.

We want Google to have the relevant information it needs, and accuracy comes first.

So the order matters:

1. accurate;
2. complete;
3. kept up to date.

Google's local ranking guidance reinforces that principle. It says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear in local search results and tells businesses to keep that information current.[3]

The business therefore gives Google one version of the truth.

Another important source is the business's own website.

2.2 The Official Business Website

The Business Profile is one place where a business tells Google who it is.

The official website is another.

Google specifically says Business Profile information can be compiled from publicly available information, including content crawled from a business's official website.[1]

That means the website matters to Business Profile management for more than one reason.

It gives customers somewhere to go for more information.

It also gives Google another source of information about the business.

Think about what a typical local business website contains.

The business name.

Address.

Telephone number.

Opening hours.

Areas served.

Products or services.

Location pages.

Contact and booking information.

Photographs.

And usually far more detail about what the business actually does than a Business Profile can contain.

If Google can use the official website as a source of business information, we want that source to be accurate.

Imagine the Business Profile says the business opens at 8am.

The website says 9am.

Which one is correct?

The profile shows one telephone number.

The website shows another.

Has the number changed, or does the business genuinely use both?

The profile contains the new address.

The website footer still contains the old one.

Which location represents the real business today?

These are simple examples, but they show why updating the Business Profile without checking the website is only doing part of the job.

When an important fact changes, ask where else that fact appears.

If the address changes, check the website.

If the telephone number changes, check the website.

If the opening hours change, check the website.

If a location closes or another opens, check how the website represents it.

If the business stops offering a service, make sure the website is not still telling customers it is available.

For a multi-location business, this becomes more detailed because the information has to remain clear at location level.

The principle remains simple.

The Business Profile and the website have different jobs, but they should describe the same real-world business.

Google Search Central also recommends establishing the official website with Google, including by verifying ownership in Search Console. It documents structured data as a way of providing explicit information about a page and the organisation or local business represented by it.[4]

For local businesses, LocalBusiness structured data can describe information such as the business name, address, telephone number and opening hours in a machine-readable format.[5]

The website still has to work for customers. It is also another important representation of the business, and Google can use it as a source.

This is the beginning of Mirroring.

The information trail extends beyond the website.

2.3 Other Public Information About the Business

A business can be mentioned in many places beyond its own website.

Directories.

Industry websites.

Professional organisations.

Trade associations.

Social profiles.

Local news websites.

Supplier pages.

And other public pages containing information about businesses and places.

Google says publicly available information, including crawled web content, is one of the sources from which Business Profile information can be compiled.[1]

That matters because businesses leave information behind as they change.

Imagine a company has operated for ten years.

During that time it has moved twice, changed its telephone number, replaced its website and altered its opening hours.

The Business Profile may now be correct.

The website may now be correct.

But older information may still exist elsewhere.

A directory might contain the previous address.

A trade association might still show the old telephone number.

A social profile might still link to a website the business stopped using years ago.

This is where the idea of citations becomes useful.

When I use the word citation in this book, I mean a public online reference to a business. It might contain the business name, address, telephone number, website or some combination of those details.

The management reason for paying attention to them is simple: Google tells us publicly available web information can contribute to Business Profile information.[1]

If important information about the business exists elsewhere online, we want the information we can reasonably control or correct to describe the real business.

The objective is to keep the important representations of the business accurate.

If the business controls a social profile, keep it current.

If it has a listing with a relevant professional body, keep it current.

If an important directory listing exists, make sure it represents the business that exists today rather than the business that existed five years ago.

This becomes particularly important when something fundamental changes.

The business moves.

The telephone number changes.

The website changes.

The business name changes.

A location closes.

Changing the Business Profile does not automatically change all the other information already published about the business.

And Google says it may update a Business Profile when information from its sources suggests that the profile is inaccurate or outdated.[6]

That gives us a practical reason to care about the wider information surrounding the business.

Formatting differences such as spaces in a telephone number or an abbreviated address are secondary. We care about the underlying facts.

Does the information describe the same business?

Is it current?

Is it accurate?

Would a customer understand which business they are dealing with and how to contact or find it?

That is what matters.

2.4 Licensed Third-Party Data

Google also identifies licensed third-party data as a source of Business Profile information.[1]

The business can tell Google something directly.

The website can publish information.

Other public websites can contain information.

Users can contribute information.

And Google may also receive licensed data from third parties.

Changing one fact inside the Business Profile therefore changes one source, while other information about the business may still exist elsewhere.

Suppose the business moves.

The Business Profile is updated.

The website is updated.

Those are two important sources now showing the new address.

But historical information may still exist elsewhere, including in sources the business cannot see or directly manage.

The practical solution is to have a controlled starting point.

This is where a master business record becomes useful.

Instead of different people entering business information from memory, maintain one approved record containing the important facts:

• business name;
• address or service-area status;
• telephone number;
• website;
• opening hours;
• location information;
• categories and services;
• and the other core details relevant to that business.

When something changes, update the approved record.

Then identify the places that should also change.

That gives us a source of truth for the information we can manage.

Google tells us licensed third-party data can contribute to Business Profile information.[1] The useful management point is that Google can obtain information about a business from outside the Business Profile and the official website.

That supports the management principle behind Mirroring.

2.5 User Contributions

Google users also provide information about businesses and places.

Google identifies user contributions as a source of Business Profile information. Those contributions can include factual information such as addresses and telephone numbers, alongside photographs and reviews.[1]

User contributions sit outside the business's direct control. The business controls what it enters into its profile and largely controls its official website, while genuine customers and other Google users contribute independently.

Reviews are the clearest example.

A customer can describe their experience.

The business can respond. Google says reviews are eligible for removal when they violate its policies and specifically tells businesses not to report a review merely because they disagree with it or dislike it.[7]

Photographs and videos work in a similar way.

The business can upload its own media, but Google Maps users can contribute their own photographs and videos of places.[8]

For a restaurant, that might be a meal.

For a hotel, a room.

For a shop, the premises.

Those contributions can show potential customers a version of the business that was not selected or published by the business itself.

Users can also suggest edits to factual information on Google Maps, including details such as a place's name, category, location, opening hours, telephone number and website.[9]

Information entered by the business can therefore change later.

Google evaluates information from several sources and says it may update a Business Profile when its sources indicate that information is inaccurate or outdated.[6]

This gives us another reason for ongoing monitoring.

The business is usually in the best position to know whether important information about its own operation is correct.

There is a positive side too.

Reviews can describe genuine experiences.

Customer photographs can show what a location, product or service actually looks like.

Those contributions can make the profile more useful to future customers.

And Google's local ranking guidance explicitly says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking.[3]

User contributions are part of the profile, and the management task is to deal with them properly.

Encourage genuine customers to leave honest reviews.

Respond appropriately.

Monitor photographs and important profile changes.

Report content when it genuinely breaches Google's policies.

Correct inaccurate information where necessary.

We manage the information we are responsible for and respond appropriately to the contributions we do not control.

2.6 Google's Own Interactions With the Business

There is one more source Google specifically identifies.

Google itself.

Google says Business Profile information can include information based on its own interactions with a local place or business.[1]

Its examples include information about how busy a place is, how long an average visit lasts and information gathered when Google communicates directly with a business to confirm details shown on its profile.[1]

This adds another layer to the picture.

Google can gather and compare information about real-world places in several ways.

Opening hours are a useful example.

The business can enter the hours into the profile.

The website can publish them.

Other public sources may contain them.

Users may suggest changes.

And Google may use its own systems to confirm information.

All of those sources may be trying to answer the same question:

When is this business actually open?

Google can continue receiving information after we have finished making changes, which is why the profile needs ongoing management.

If its sources indicate that profile information is inaccurate or outdated, Google may update the profile.[6]

From a management point of view, this reinforces the same principle we have used throughout this chapter.

Represent the real business accurately.

Keep the Business Profile accurate.

Keep the website accurate.

Correct important public information where possible.

And when the real business changes, make sure the representations we control change with it.

2.7 Why Conflicting Information Appears

Once we understand where Google gets business information, conflicting information becomes much easier to explain.

Google can use publicly available information, licensed third-party data, user contributions, business-owner contributions and its own interactions with businesses and places.[1]

Most of the time, those sources should be describing the same real-world business.

But businesses change.

And information does not always change everywhere at the same time.

Imagine a local business moves.

The owner updates the Business Profile.

But the website still contains the old address.

Several directories still contain the old address.

A social profile still contains the old address.

Other sources may also contain historical information.

We now have two versions of the same business in circulation.

The current version.

And the old one.

The same thing can happen with a telephone number, website or opening hours.

The Business Profile says the business closes at 6pm.

The website says 5pm.

Another source says 5.30pm.

Which one represents the real business?

The owner may know the answer immediately, while the conflicting information still needs to be corrected at source.

Conflicting information can also appear because somebody makes a mistake.

A user may suggest an incorrect edit.

An employee may update one system and forget another.

A directory may be out of date.

The business itself may create the inconsistency.

Google says that when its sources indicate Business Profile information is inaccurate or outdated, it may update the profile.[6]

The sources behind an update can themselves be old or mistaken, or the business may have changed before other sources caught up. That is why somebody needs to manage the profile and check important changes against the real business.

When an important change appears, ask:

• Is this correct?
• If it is correct, what else needs updating?
• If it is wrong, what needs correcting?
• Where might the conflicting information be coming from?

Suppose an old telephone number keeps appearing.

Correcting the Business Profile is necessary.

But if the official website still prominently displays the old number, we have left another important source untouched.

The same applies to an old address, outdated opening hours or an old website URL.

Google Business Profile management therefore extends beyond the profile itself. The profile may sit at the centre of the work, but the information surrounding the business matters too.

We can establish one approved version of the business and keep the important sources we control aligned with it.

The aim is to represent the real business accurately across the important sources we can manage.

2.8 The Foundation of Mirroring

We now know that Google can learn about a business from more than one place.

The Business Profile.

The official website and other publicly available web information.

Licensed third-party data.

Google users.

And Google's own interactions with businesses and places.[1]

That brings us to one of the central ideas in the system we will use throughout this book.

Mirroring.

Mirroring is the term I use for making sure the important information surrounding a business reflects the same real-world business.

Start with the truth.

What is the correct business name?

Where does the business genuinely operate?

What is the correct telephone number?

What is the official website?

What are the genuine opening hours?

What services does the business actually provide?

Then compare the important representations of that business.

The Business Profile.

The official website.

Important directories or professional listings.

Relevant social profiles.

Other significant public references we can reasonably control or correct.

Do they appear to be talking about the same business?

Does the name agree?

Does the location agree?

Does the telephone number agree?

Do the opening hours agree?

If the business has moved, has the old address been removed from the important places we control?

If it is a service-area business, is it being represented appropriately?

If it has several genuine locations, can we clearly distinguish one from another?

That is Mirroring in practice.

I separate Mirroring from Profile Completeness because they do different jobs within the GBP Loop.

Profile Completeness looks inward.

We examine the Business Profile itself.

Is the relevant information there?

Is it accurate?

Is it current?

Mirroring looks outward.

Once we know the correct version of the business, we compare that version with the important information surrounding it.

Together, they form the first part of the GBP Loop:

Profile Completeness and Mirroring.

Mirroring is our management framework for turning Google's published guidance into a process we can actually manage.

Google tells us Business Profile information can come from multiple sources.[1]

Google tells businesses to represent themselves as they are consistently represented and recognised in the real world.[2]

Google tells businesses to keep their information complete, accurate and up to date.[3]

And Google tells us it may update a profile when its sources indicate that information is inaccurate or outdated.[6]

Mirroring is how we turn those facts into a working discipline.

When something important changes, ask:

"The business has changed. Where is the old information still being shown?"

If the business moves, look for the old address.

If the telephone number changes, look for the old number.

If the website changes, look for important links still pointing to the old one.

If the opening hours change, look at the places where customers and Google may still encounter the previous hours.

We are maintaining one real-world business across several representations of it.

That is the foundation of Mirroring.

And this is where the management problem begins to become obvious.

For one business, keeping those sources aligned is manageable.

As the number of locations or clients grows, the challenge becomes keeping track of what changed, where the approved information lives and which places now need updating.

We will return to that operational problem later.

For now, the principle is enough.

Google can obtain information about a business from multiple sources.

Our job is to make the important sources we can control or reasonably correct tell the truth about the same business.

Once we understand that, we can move on to the next question.

Google has all of this information about local businesses.

So how does it decide which businesses to show when somebody searches?

That is what Chapter 3 is about.

Notes

1. Google Business Profile Help, “Understand how Google sources & uses info in Business Profiles & local search results”, https://support.google.com/business/answer/2721884?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.
2. Google Business Profile Help, “Guidelines for representing your business on Google”, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.
3. Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”, https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.
4. Google Search Central, “Establish your business details with Google”, Google for Developers, https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/establish-business-details. Checked 3 September 2026.
5. Google Search Central, “Local Business (LocalBusiness) structured data”, Google for Developers, https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business. Checked 3 September 2026.
6. Google Business Profile Help, “Understand Google updates on your Business Profile”, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3480441?hl=en. Checked 3 September 2026.
7. Google Business Profile Help, “Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile”, https://support.google.com/business/answer/4596773?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.
8. Google Maps Help, “Add, remove and share photos or videos in Google Maps”, https://support.google.com/maps/answer/2622947?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.
9. Google Maps Help, “Edit place information in Google Maps”, https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7084895?hl=en-GB. Checked 3 September 2026.