Why This Matters Now
Your Business Profile is no longer just a pin on Google Maps. Google now uses it to answer questions directly. In March 2026 Google announced Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered way to ask Maps questions in plain language, and reports describe its answers drawing on business listings and reviews (Droid Life coverage of the Ask Maps launch). GoogleAI Overviews and AI Mode in Search lean on the same data, as we explained inrsquo;s own guidance for AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search also tells businesses to keep their Business Profile up to date, as we explained in our guide to Google AI Mode for local businesses.
That makes accuracy far more important. If Google believes you close at 6pm when you are open until 10pm, an AI answer to “which pharmacy in Al Barsha is open late?” will leave you out. Customers rarely check twice.
At the same time, Google has been giving owners more visibility of what it collects. In June 2026 Search Engine Roundtable reported a new Collected info section in Business Profiles, which shows details Google has gathered about your business and where they came from.
Where Google Gets Your Business Details
Google’s help page on how it sources information for Business Profiles lists four types of source:
- Public information, such as content crawled from the web, including your own website.
- Licensed data from third parties.
- Users, who can suggest edits such as a new phone number or address, and add photos and reviews. Owners are users too.
- Google’s own interactions with the business.
So what you enter in your profile is only one input. If your website, a directory listing or a well-meaning customer says something different, Google may decide you are the one who is out of date.
How To See What Google Has Changed
Google explains this in Understand Google updates on your Business Profile. The key points:
- Look for blue text. In the profile editor, information shown in blue has been changed by Google. Black or white text has not.
- Watch for the notification. When there are Google updates, a notice appears at the top of your profile, and Google may also email you.
- You have four days. For certain suggested edits, Google notifies you before publishing and you have four days to accept or reject the suggestion.
- Silence can count against you. If you don’t respond, Google may publish the change anyway if other public information, such as your website, supports it.
- Not everything waits for you. Google may apply some user edits without prior review where needed to meet its policies, and it says you can’t manage every Google update from your profile.
Four days is short if the person who manages your profile is on leave, or if Google’s emails go to an old staff inbox. That is one of the most common reasons we see wrong hours on UAE profiles.
The New Collected Info Section
Google’s Edit your Business Profile help page now includes a section on reviewing information collected by Google. Google says it may contact the verified phone number on your profile using automated calls, texts or WhatsApp messages to confirm business details, and that anything you say in reply may be used to update your profile.
To check what it has collected:
- Open your Business Profile and select Edit profile.
- Select Collected info.
- Check each item. Google shows where it came from and when it was collected, in the language it was originally given.
- If an item is wrong, select Delete and confirm.
Two cautions. First, Google says the feature is only available in select regions, languages and business categories, so you may not see it yet. Second, deleting collected info removes it from Google’s records but does not change anything already published. If a wrong detail is live, you still need to correct it in the profile itself.
For UAE businesses, the WhatsApp detail matters. Many owners list a personal or front-desk mobile as the profile number. Whoever answers that phone, or that WhatsApp chat, may effectively be updating your Google listing. Brief your team: if Google asks about hours or services, answer accurately or leave it for the owner.
Real Google Messages vs Scams
Scam calls claiming to be “Google” are common, and genuine automated contact from Google makes them easier to fall for. Google’s page on protecting your Business Profile is clear about what it will never do:
- Google will never ask for a one-time password (OTP) or PIN.
- Google doesn’t charge for Business Profiles, and will never try to get you to pay to keep, verify or reinstate one.
- People offering to “fix” or “verify” your listing for a fee, including those claiming to be Google staff, should be treated with suspicion.
A simple rule for your team: a genuine message may ask whether your details are correct. It will never ask for a code, a payment or access to your account. If in doubt, don’t reply. Log in to your profile directly and check it there.
Google also recommends limiting who has owner or manager access, removing former employees, and keeping your own owner access if an agency manages the profile for you. That last point matters: if an agency or ex-employee is the only owner, you may not even see Google’s update notifications.
How To Stop Wrong Details Coming Back
Rejecting a bad edit fixes it once. Removing the reason Google believed it fixes it for good. Work through this list:
- Make your website match your profile exactly. Google names your website as a source that can support a change. If your contact page still shows last year’s hours or an old number, it can push Google towards the wrong answer. Put hours, phone, address and service areas on the site as plain text.
- Clean up old listings. Licensed data and directory listings feed Google too. Old addresses on directories, especially after a move between free zones or from Deira to Business Bay, are a common cause of conflicting details. Our guide to online business listings and local SEO explains why consistency matters.
- Set special hours before they are needed. Ramadan timings, Eid and National Day closures, and summer hours confuse customers and Google alike. Adding special hours in advance tells everyone your regular hours have not changed.
- Keep notification emails going to a monitored inbox. Use a shared business address, not one person’s email, so the four-day window is never missed.
- Check your profile weekly. Two minutes looking for blue text and notifications catches problems before customers do.
- Let reviews confirm the details. Recent customer reviews that mention your services and locations give Google consistent, current signals about what you do. See how Google reviews affect local SEO.
If you manage several branches, or simply don’t have time to watch every profile, our local SEO and citations service keeps your Business Profile and directory listings consistent and monitored, and our online reputation management in Dubai covers reviews and replies alongside it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Google change my business hours?
Google updates profiles using suggestions from users, licensed data, public information such as your website, and its own contact with your business. If those sources disagree with your profile, Google may change it. Look for blue text in your profile editor and reject the edit if it is wrong.
How long do I have to reject a Google suggested edit?
When Google notifies you about a suggested edit, you have four days to accept or reject it. If you don’t respond, Google may publish it if other public information supports the change.
Does Google really send WhatsApp messages to businesses?
Google says it may contact the verified phone number on your profile with automated calls, texts or WhatsApp messages to confirm business details. Genuine messages never ask for a one-time password, PIN or payment.
Where is Collected info in Google Business Profile?
Open your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Collected info. Google says the feature is only available in select regions, languages and business categories, so it may not appear for every business yet.