Have you ever noticed your Google Business Profile changing without your knowledge? This is often because of "suggested edits" (unwanted Google Business Profile edits), which can come from users, third-party tools, or even Google itself, and they can hurt your local search rankings. In this guide, we'll show you how GBP edits happen, how to stop them, and how Falcon Guard can help monitor changes automatically.
A big part of this is making sure to update your GBP any time something about your business changes, but it's also important to monitor your Google Business Profile for changes and make sure that incorrect information isn't getting published, which can happen for a number of reasons.
To help mitigate issues associated with unwanted GBP changes, we've launched a brand new Google Business Profile change monitor: Falcon Guard.
What Is Falcon Guard (Google Business Profile Change Monitor)?
Falcon Guard constantly monitors your Google Business Profile for changes and notifies you whenever they occur, allowing you to fix any incorrect information in a timely manner to safeguard your local ranking. Here's just a few of the GBP fields Falcon Guard keeps a vigilant eye on:
- Business Name
- Address
- Phone
- Website
- Business Hours
- Latitude and Longitude
- Store Code
- Business Description
- Primary Category
- Secondary Category
- Star Rating
- Review Count
Why You Should Monitor Your Google Business Profile for Suggested Edits
Unwanted changes to your business name, address, phone number, hours, website URL, categories, and other key business info on Google Business Profile can have a devastating impact on your rankings in local search results and your overall business.
An incorrect business name can prevent you from getting found in branded searches. A wrong address can take you out of search results in your local area. A bad phone number can reduce the number of leads you're getting online. Inaccurate business hours can hurt your foot traffic. These are just a few examples of how changes to your Google Business Profile information can affect your local rankings and business.
Additionally, a sudden influx of fake negative reviews can badly damage your rating on Google, hurting both your performance in local search and potential customers' perception of your business.
By continuously monitoring your GBP for these types of unwanted changes with Falcon Guard, you can catch them as soon as they occur and take the appropriate corrective actions to mitigate risks.
For instance, if your business's address pin gets moved somewhere else on Google Maps, Falcon Guard will send you a notification, so you can go in and drag it back to the correct location before it affects your local rankings.
Falcon Guard will also notify you if there are sudden changes to your number of reviews or review score, so you can check to see if there are any fake reviews and take steps to get them removed.
Falcon Guard's vigilance helps protect your Google Business Profile against all types of accidental changes, black hat local SEO tactics employed by competitors, and bad user-suggested edits, safeguarding your local rankings and ensuring your customers find the information they need about your business!
Why Does My Google Business Profile Keep Changing?
There are a few different reasons why information on your GBP might get changed without your knowledge or authorization. Here are a few of the most common ones:
Suggested Edits from Users
Whenever a user visits your Google Business Profile, they have the option to "Suggest an edit" to the business information. Users can suggest edits (unwanted Google Business Profile edits) to the business name, location, hours, phone number, website, and other details, and even suggest that the business is closed, non-existent, or a duplicate of another business.
In theory, Google notifies business owners of suggested edits, who then have a chance to review and accept or decline them, but if you don't see them in time, or if you don't receive a notification at all, Google may push the updates live automatically, potentially hurting your GBP's performance and local rankings.
Now, sometimes, a suggested edit can actually benefit your profile, especially if it fixes an error, such as an incorrect business hour or a typo in the address. However, there are also times when users suggest edits with malicious intent. For example, a competitor might try to update your website URL to redirect to their site, or move your map pin to mess with your local rankings.
Fortunately, rejecting bad suggested edits or fixing them before they cause too much damage is fairly easy to do; but you have to catch them in time! This is why vigilantly monitoring your Google Business Profile for changes is so important, which is exactly what we designed Falcon Guard to do!
Automatic Updates From Third-Party Tools
If you've used any third-party tools in the past to help manage and update your Google Business Profile, you likely gave them authorization to access your profile.
In some cases, you may have forgotten to remove access permissions for these tools after you stopped using them, which means they could theoretically still be making updates to your GBP without your knowledge.
Falcon Guard can help you stop Google Business Profile changes by alerting you to changes made by third-party tools, so you can fix any errors and remove access to tools that you no longer want updating your Google Business Profile.
Updates From Google Itself
With the advent of AI-generated Google Business Profile business descriptions, Google itself may change your business's description from time to time, not always for the best.
It's possible for Google's AI to pull incorrect information from other sites to include in your business's description, which could mislead customers and hurt your GBP's performance.
Falcon Guard protects your Google Business Profile by monitoring it for changes to the description, so you can review any updates for accuracy and correct any errors before they have an impact.
Google Business Profile Edits FAQs
1. Why does my Google Business Profile keep changing?
Your GBP info can change due to user-suggested edits, updates from third-party tools you've authorized, or Google's own AI updates.
2. How do I stop unwanted edits on my Google Business Profile?
You can't fully disable edits, but you can monitor your profile regularly, reject incorrect changes quickly, and use a tool like Falcon Guard to get notified when changes happen.
3. Are suggested edits always bad?
Not always. Some edits fix errors like outdated hours. But competitors or malicious users can submit edits that hurt your visibility, so reviewing them promptly is key.
4. Does monitoring suggested edits improve local SEO?
Yes. Accurate, consistent information is a ranking factor. Preventing bad edits keeps your GBP optimized and your local rankings stable.
Say Goodbye To Unwanted Google Business Profile Changes
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date information on Google Business Profiles you manage is crucial for safeguarding your web presence and local visibility.
Falcon Guard provides the peace of mind you need by continuously monitoring your GBP for unwanted changes and alerting you when potential issues arise, whether you manage one location or many!
By protecting your GBP against accidental edits, malicious suggestions, and third-party updates, Falcon Guard ensures your business information remains consistent and correct, vigilantly protecting your Google Business Profile rankings and reputation.
Don't leave your local ranking to chance; let Falcon Guard help you keep your Google Business Profile optimized and secure!
