Guides · October 17, 2026 · Matthew Merrick

How to update your Google Business Profile for AI answers

If you already have a Google Business Profile, update that one. A second profile for the same shop splits your reviews and confuses Maps. Google, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews lean on this listing when someone asks for a business nearby.

Google’s own local-ranking page says local results depend on relevance, distance, and prominence. Relevance is how well the profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the person asking. Prominence includes reviews and links from other sites. Complete, accurate info makes a profile more likely to show. None of that is a promise you will be named in an AI answer.

Why this listing shows up in AI answers

BrightLocal’s September 2026 study of about 200,000 local prompts on ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and AI Overviews found Google Business Profile accounted for about 28.6 percent of citations across those three. The same write-up says the profile matters most for Google’s AI answers, and much less for ChatGPT. ChatGPT still needs the website and other pages that repeat the same facts.

So this is not “the ChatGPT switch.” It is the record Google already uses for Maps, and a record other tools use to check your phone, hours, and category.

Write the facts before you open Google

On paper, write:

The real business name, the one on the sign and the bank account
The street address customers can visit, or the towns you travel to if you have no shop
One phone number
The hours you actually keep, including days you are closed
The services you want to be called for
The website

If a chatbot writes the description, it may only use this list. A missing price, license, or town stays blank. You do not let it invent one.

What to check on the profile

Name. The real name. Leave the city and a keyword out of the name unless they are part of the real name. Google’s representation guidelines cover this.
Category. Pick the primary category a customer would use. Add secondary categories only when they are true.
Address or service area. A shop gets the address. A business that visits customers sets the service area and does not pretend to have a storefront.
Phone and website. Match the footer of the site character for character.
Hours. Include special hours for holidays you are closed. Wrong hours are a common reason an assistant describes you badly.
Services. Add the jobs you do. Where you publish a price, use the real price. Where you do not, leave the price off.
Description. A short paragraph in your words: what you do, who it is for, and where. No stuffed list of towns you do not serve.
Photos. Pictures of the real place, the real work, or the real team. Skip stock photos that could be any business.
Suggested edits. Google and other people propose changes. Accept an edit only when it matches the paper list. Reject the rest.
Reviews. Read them. Reply as the business. The review guide covers what not to do.

After you press save

Search your business name in a private window. Confirm the panel shows the new hours and phone. Then ask Gemini, and look at a normal Google search, for a question a customer would ask. If an AI Overview appears, note whether it used your profile.

The website still has to say the same things in text. A perfect profile next to a homepage that hides the phone inside a logo does not give an assistant one story.

Bing is a separate save. Importing a messy Google profile into Bing copies the mess. Update Google first, then follow the Bing steps.

Sources

The $25 guide

Get Recommended by AI is the checklist version of this work: update Google Business, submit the site to Bing, and fix the pages assistants can read. It includes the PDF and a private page after payment. Digital, sent right away. All sales are final.

Buy the guide

This page is educational. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it is not affiliated with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Apple, or Perplexity. No one can guarantee that any assistant will recommend, mention, or rank a business.