How to Fix Wrong Business Info in AI Responses
Introduction
A potential customer asks ChatGPT about your business. ChatGPT says you close at 5 PM. You actually close at 7 PM. The customer decides to visit tomorrow instead of today. Tomorrow they forget. You lost a sale because AI lied about your hours.
Or worse: Gemini tells someone you're located on Main Street when you moved to Oak Avenue three years ago. They drive to the wrong address, get frustrated, and call your competitor instead.
Or: Perplexity says you specialize in residential plumbing when you pivoted to commercial three years ago. A commercial property manager reads that and crosses you off their list.
AI factual errors about your business aren't hypothetical frustrations. They're revenue-losing events that happen every time a potential customer encounters wrong information in an AI response and makes a decision based on it.
Here's the diagnostic framework for identifying where the wrong information is coming from and the source-by-source correction process to fix it.
Why AI gets your facts wrong
AI doesn't invent wrong information about your business. It reflects wrong information that exists somewhere on the web. Every AI factual error about your business can be traced back to one or more web sources containing outdated or incorrect data.
The most common sources of AI errors:
Old directory listings. You changed your hours two years ago but never updated your listing on YellowPages.com, or Manta, or some other directory you forgot existed. AI found the old hours on that directory and reported them.
Outdated Google Business Profile data. You updated your services on your website but forgot to update your Google Business Profile. Google AI Overviews (and Gemini, which draws from Google's data) reflects the GBP information.
Cached web content. A local publication featured your business three years ago with your old address. That article is still live and still indexed. AI found it and used it.
Aggregator propagation. Data aggregators (Acxiom, Localeze, Infogroup/Data.com, Neustar) feed business data to dozens of directories and platforms. If the aggregator data is wrong, the error propagates to every downstream platform it feeds. AI encounters the same wrong data on multiple sources, which makes AI more confident the wrong data is correct.
Your own website contradictions. Your homepage says one thing. An old service page says another. Your footer shows an old address. AI found the contradiction and picked the wrong version.
The diagnostic framework: finding the source
Before you can fix an AI error, you need to find where the wrong data lives. Here's the systematic approach.
Step 1: Document exactly what AI says wrong.
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity about your business. Write down every factual error you find: wrong hours, wrong address, wrong services, wrong description, and wrong phone number, anything that doesn't match reality. Note which platform has which error (they may differ).
Step 2: Search for the wrong information on Google.
Take the incorrect fact (e.g., your old address) and search for it alongside your business name: "[business name] [old address]" or "[business name] hours" or "[business name] residential plumbing." The search results will show you which web sources still contain the outdated information.
Step 3: Check the primary data sources for each AI platform.
Each AI platform draws from specific primary sources. check these first:
For ChatGPT errors: Check Bing search results and Bing Places listing. ChatGPT's search mode uses Bing. If Bing shows the wrong data, ChatGPT will too.
For Gemini errors: Check your Google Business Profile and Google search results. Gemini draws primarily from Google's data.
For Perplexity errors: Check which sources Perplexity cites in its response. Perplexity shows its sources. Click through and verify which source contains the wrong information.
For Google AI Overview errors: Check your Google Business Profile first, then the web pages Google cites in the overview.
Step 4: Check your own website for contradictions.
Audit your website for any page that still shows old information: old service pages, outdated footer data, old blog posts mentioning former services or locations, cached landing pages from old ad campaigns.
Step 5: Check data aggregators.
Use a tool like Bright Local, Moz Local, or Yext's scan to check whether data aggregators (Acxiom, Localeze, Infogroup, Neustar) have correct information. If aggregators are wrong, the error is being broadcast to dozens of downstream platforms.
The source-by-source correction process
Once you've identified where the wrong data lives, here's how to fix it at each level.
Your own website:
This is the fastest fix. Update every page: homepage, about page, contact page, footer, service pages, and any blog posts that reference outdated information. Make sure your website speaks with one voice about your hours, location, services, and description.
Simultaneously, update your structured data to reflect current information. Schema markup provides a machine-readable source of truth that AI tools can use directly.
Google business profile:
Log into Google Business Profile Manager. Update hours, address, services, categories, and description. Changes typically reflect in Google's index (and Gemini) within 1 to 2 weeks. For Google AI Overviews, allow 2 to 4 weeks for the updated data to propagate.
Bing places:
Log into Bing Places for Business. Update all fields. This affects ChatGPT's search-mode results and Alexa voice search recommendations. Changes typically propagate within 2 to 4 weeks.
Apple business connect:
Claim your listing at businessconnect.apple.com if you haven't already. Update all fields. This affects Siri and Apple Maps recommendations.
Directory listings (one by one):
Go through every directory listing that showed up in your Step 2 search with wrong data. Log in and correct each one. Common directories to check: Yelp, BBB, YellowPages, Superpages, CitySearch, Manta, Angi, Houzz, Healthgrades (for healthcare), Avvo (for legal), and any industry-specific directories.
This is tedious. It's also the most impactful step. Every incorrect directory listing is a data point that reinforces AI's wrong information. Correcting them removes the reinforcement.
Data aggregators:
Submit corrections to the major data aggregators:
- Acxiom: acxiom.com/consumer-data
- Localeze (Neustar): neustarlocaleze.biz
- Data.com (Infogroup): myinfoline.com
- Foursquare: business.foursquare.com
Aggregator corrections take 4 to 8 weeks to propagate to downstream directories. But once corrected at the aggregator level, the fix cascades to dozens of platforms automatically.
Cached web content you don't control:
For old articles, publication features, or third-party content that shows wrong information: contact the publisher and request an update. Most will accommodate the request, especially for factual corrections like addresses and hours. For sources you can't get updated, the strategy is to outnumber them: build enough new, correct citations that the wrong information becomes the minority signal.
The fix timeline
| Action | Time to Implement | Time for AI to Reflect Change |
|---|---|---|
| Update your own website + schema | 1 to 2 days | 2 to 8 weeks (depends on recrawl timing) |
| Update Google Business Profile | 1 day | 1 to 4 weeks |
| Update Bing Places | 1 day | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Update Apple Business Connect | 1 day | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Fix directory listings (individual) | 1 to 2 weeks (tedious) | 4 to 8 weeks per directory |
| Fix data aggregators | 1 to 2 days to submit | 4 to 8 weeks to propagate |
| New citations with correct data | Ongoing (2 to 4 weeks per batch) | 2 to 8 weeks per platform |
| Total estimated time to full correction | 2 to 3 months for most errors |
Need help identifying where the wrong data lives? Run your free AI visibility audit at yazeo.com for a comprehensive assessment of what every major AI platform says about your business. The audit identifies specific inaccuracies, traces them to likely source data, and prioritizes which corrections will have the highest impact.
Preventing future errors
Fixing current errors is necessary. Preventing future ones saves you from repeating the process.
Set a quarterly reminder to check AI descriptions. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity about your business every 3 months. Compare against reality. Catch drift early.
Update all listings whenever anything changes. New hours? Update everywhere. New service? Update everywhere. New address? Update everywhere the same week. Not "eventually." The same week.
Maintain a master listing tracker. Keep a spreadsheet of every platform where your business is listed: directory name, login credentials, and current status. When you need to make a change, you have the full list ready.
Use structured data as your source of truth. Comprehensive, current schema markup on your website gives AI tools a clean, machine-readable reference that can anchor correct information even when some directory listings are slow to update.
Key findings
- Every AI factual error about your business traces back to a web source containing outdated or incorrect information. AI doesn't invent errors. It reflects them.
- The most common error sources are old directory listings, outdated GBP data, cached web content, data aggregator propagation, and website contradictions.
- Each AI platform draws from different primary sources, making the diagnostic framework platform-specific: Bing for ChatGPT, Google for Gemini, cited sources for Perplexity.
- Data aggregator corrections cascade to dozens of downstream platforms, making aggregator fixes the highest-leverage single action.
- Full correction typically takes 2 to 3 months across all platforms, with Perplexity reflecting changes fastest and ChatGPT conversation mode reflecting them slowest.
Frequently asked questions
Wrong information is active damage, not passive neglect
An AI error about your hours, location, or services isn't a cosmetic issue. It's active damage. Every time a potential customer encounters wrong information and makes a decision based on it, you lose revenue you'll never know about.
The customer who was told you close at 5 PM doesn't call to complain. They just go somewhere else. The property manager who was told you only do residential work doesn't send you a rejection letter. They just hire someone else. The patient who was told you're on Main Street doesn't report the error. They just get frustrated and pick a different practice.
These losses are invisible, ongoing, and cumulative. Every day the wrong information persists is another day of quiet damage.
Fix it. Fix it systematically. Fix it at the source. And then make sure it stays fixed.
Run your free AI visibility audit at yazeo.com and find out exactly what every major AI platform says about your business right now. The audit identifies every factual error across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Fix what's wrong. Protect what's right. And stop losing customers to information you never approved.