The email says someone suggested an edit to your Google Business Profile. It names your hours or your phone number, and you did not ask for either change. Your next thought is probably whether customers can already see it.
The answer depends on which kind of notice you got. When Google asks you to review a suggestion, you have 4 days after the notification to accept or reject it. Some changes, though, can go live without asking first.
So, open your profile today, look at what changed, and decide. The steps take a few minutes, and they follow the order you will do them in: find the notice, compare it with the truth, accept or reject it, fix anything already live, and set up an alert so the next one does not sit unread.
Key Takeaways
When Google sends a suggested edit for your review, Google's help page gives you 4 days after the notification to accept or reject it, and Google may publish it afterward if other public information supports it.
Google says some suggested user edits can be applied without prior review, so check the live profile and correct a wrong value from Edit profile.
Turn on account-update and business-information notifications under More, then Notifications, and keep the hours, phone and address on your website identical to the profile.
Google gives you 4 days to answer a suggestion that needs your review
Google's help page on profile updates says that when a suggested edit requires review, you may get an email or an in-product notification. The notice gives you 4 days to accept or reject the suggestion. That is the clock to work against, and it starts when the notification arrives, not when you happen to open it.
If you do nothing, the suggestion does not simply expire. Google says it may publish the update automatically when other publicly available information supports it, such as what your business website shows. A wrong suggestion that matches a stale page on your site is the one most likely to go through.
The 4 days apply to suggestions Google sends for review. They do not cover every update. Google also states that it may apply suggested user edits to your business information without prior review, including when an edit is needed to meet its policy guidelines. A notice in your inbox therefore does not prove the change is still waiting, and a wrong value may already be live.
Edits you make yourself run on a different timeline. Google's page on what happens to your profile edits says they usually take up to 10 minutes to review but can sometimes take up to 30 days. Do not confuse that wait with the 4-day window for suggestions.
The notice sits at the top of your profile, and Google-changed fields show in blue
Sign in to the Google Account that manages the profile. Search for your business name, or search "my business," on Google Search, or open the profile in Google Maps. Google says a profile with updates displays a notification at the top of the profile.
Then open Edit profile. Google shows information it changed in blue, which makes a changed hours line or phone number easy to spot even when you do not remember what the old value was.
Use the notification or the Google updates area to look at the proposed value. Where a control is offered, choose to accept or reject. If no review control appears, the change may already be live, and the fix is a direct correction through Edit profile.
Google also warns that not every update can be managed through the profile. If a value looks wrong and you find no button to reject it, treat it as already live and correct the field yourself rather than waiting for a control to appear.
It also helps to know which email address receives these alerts. If the Google Account on the profile belongs to a former employee or an old web designer, the notice goes to them, and the 4 days run out with nobody reading it. Check who the profile's owners and managers are before you need them.
Compare each proposed value with what is true today
A suggestion is only wrong if it differs from reality, so check it against the facts a customer needs. Google's guidelines for representing your business ask for accurate information, regular customer-facing hours, a phone number under the business's direct control, and a correct address or service area.
Go field by field, and keep the real schedule and the real phone in front of you while you do it.
| Field | What to check | If it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Regular hours | Matches the schedule customers can count on every week | Reject it, or correct Hours in Edit profile |
| Special hours | Holidays and short changes only | Use Special hours, not the regular schedule |
| Phone number | Rings a line your business controls | Replace it in Edit profile |
| Address or service area | Matches where you work and how you serve customers | Correct it in Edit profile |
| Category and website | Still describes what you do and points to your real site | Correct it in Edit profile |
The ten-minute version looks like this:
Ten-minute check
Use the Google Account that manages the Business Profile.
Search your business name on Google Search or open it in Google Maps and look for the notification at the top.
Open Edit profile and look at anything Google shows in blue.
Accept or reject a review-required suggestion within the 4 days.
If a wrong value is already showing, edit the field directly and save.
Do not assume the worst about who sent the change. Google says it gathers information from different sources, including user reports and licensed content, and may update a profile when information appears incorrect or outdated. User reports are one of those sources, and a wrong value is not proof that a competitor sent it. Treat the field, not the person.
A wrong value that is already live gets fixed from Edit profile
When the wrong hours or phone number is already showing, correct the field yourself. Open Edit profile, change the value, and save. Google's page on editing your Business Profile covers the fields, and its page on business hours covers the schedule.
A wrong phone number should be replaced with a number your business controls directly. Holiday hours and short temporary changes belong in Special hours, so the regular schedule stays untouched and the next holiday does not invite a Google-suggested fix.
A wrong closed status has its own route. Open Edit profile, select Hours, choose the edit control next to Hours, and select Open with main hours. If the profile was marked permanently closed by mistake, Google provides a Mark your business as reopened workflow. Our post on what to do when Google says your business is permanently closed walks through that case in more detail.
If Google rejects your correction, the route depends on where you are. Businesses outside the UK and the EEA use Google's Contact us route for a rejected business information edit. Businesses in the UK and EEA can use the appeals tool for rejected name, category, address, phone or website edits, described on Google's appeals page.
Notifications and a matching website cut down the next surprise
Prevention starts with being told. Open the profile, select More, then Notifications, and turn on the account-update and business-information alerts. Google's page on managing your notifications covers the settings. Google may still send important updates even when some notifications are disabled, but the alerts you choose are the ones you will see quickly.
Point the alerts at an inbox someone reads every day. A shared address that a front-desk employee or the owner checks beats a personal mailbox that goes quiet on vacation.
Keep the profile verified. Google's page on verifying your business explains that verification gives you control over your business information. It does not freeze the profile, so keep watching it. Verification lets you fix a field the moment you see it.
Then make your website agree with the profile. Because Google may use publicly available information when deciding whether to publish a suggestion, a website that shows your current hours, phone and address makes a wrong suggestion less likely to look supported. A stale hours line in your footer is the easiest thing to fix, and fixing it keeps a wrong suggestion from looking believable.
Door signs and printed cards count too. Customers compare what the door says with what Google says, and a mismatch costs you the same trust a wrong listing does.
One wrong hour is a few minutes of your time, and repeat changes are a different job
For a single wrong hour or phone number, you do not need help. Inspect the notice, reject the suggestion or fix the field, turn on the alerts, and update the website if it was out of date. That is a small job for the person who runs the profile.
Help starts to make sense when the changes keep coming back. These are the situations where a routine matters more than a one-time fix:
- Several locations, each with its own hours and phone number
- A change that reverts after you correct it
- A closed status that keeps returning
- A correction Google rejected, or a failed verification
- Nobody on the team who owns the alerts
No one can promise that Google will never change a profile. What can be organized is the watching: someone checks the alerts, compares each change with the real details, corrects what is live, keeps the website in step and escalates to Google when a simple edit fails.
If the changes look targeted and you suspect a competitor, our post on competitors spamming Google Maps covers that situation. Without evidence, treat each wrong value as a field to fix.
Can you handle a suggested edit?
Pick an answer to begin.
1. How long does Google's help page say you have to accept or reject a suggested edit that needs your review?
2. A notice says someone suggested a new phone number. What should you do first?
3. Where do you turn on alerts so the next suggestion does not go unnoticed?
Frequently Asked Questions About Suggested Edits to Your Google Business Profile
Can someone suggest an edit to my Google Business Profile?
Yes. Google says it may receive suggestions from users, and it may also update a profile using other information sources.
How long do I have to reject a suggested edit?
When the suggestion requires your review, Google says you have 4 days after the notification to accept or reject it.
What happens if I do nothing?
Google may publish the update automatically if other publicly available information, such as your website, supports it.
Can Google change my profile without asking first?
Yes. Google says it may apply suggested user edits to your business information without prior review.
Where do I see Google's updates?
Open the Business Profile on Google Search or Maps and look for the notification at the top. In Edit profile, information Google changed appears in blue.
How do I fix a wrong phone number or a wrong closed status?
Open Edit profile and replace the number with one your business controls. For a wrong closed status, open Hours and choose Open with main hours, or use Mark your business as reopened for a permanently closed profile.
The Bottom Line
A suggested edit leaves you with a short list of jobs: find the notice, compare the proposed value with the truth, accept or reject it inside the 4 days, and correct anything wrong that is already live. Google's own labels (Edit profile, Hours, Special hours, Open with main hours, More, Notifications) point you to every control you need.
The routine is what lasts. Alerts that reach someone who reads them, a verified profile, and hours, phone and address that match across the profile, the website and the door leave a wrong suggestion with very little to stand on. No setting stops Google from ever changing the profile, so the lasting protection is a person who looks.
If you want someone watching for you, Web Leveling can set up that routine. Our Google Business Profile management work covers the alerts, the comparisons with your website and the escalations when a fix is rejected. If one wrong hour is all you have, you can handle it in minutes yourself. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Contact us about watching your profile, and we will set up the routine with you.
Terms
Profile words in this post
Tap a term to see what it means.
Business Profile. A business's free listing on Google Search and Maps, formerly called Google My Business.
Suggested edit. A proposed change to a profile's information, sent by a user or generated from other information Google gathers.
Edit profile. The area where an owner changes profile information and sees fields Google changed in blue.
Special hours. Hours for holidays and short temporary changes, kept apart from the regular weekly schedule.
Verification. Google's process of confirming that you are the business's owner or manager, which gives you control over the profile's information.
Open with main hours. The choice under Hours that corrects a wrong closed status.
