Why the Wrong Information About Your Business Shows Up Online

If you own a local business and have run across incorrect information on Google or Bing about your business, it can be frustrating. Many potential customers may not be able to find you and that is taking money out of your pockets.

There is often no hint as to why they are showing the wrong information and I’ve seen people that have even claimed their business on Google or Bing still display the wrong info. That’s even more frustrating! You’ve clearly told them the correct business information and it still somehow gets changed.

So what gives?

Well, Google and Bing crawl the web looking for business information. They look at online yellow pages, directory sites, review sites, local newspapers, blogs, and more. Many of these places get their business info from data aggregators. Google and Bing use these data aggregators to gather business listings as well. You can quickly see how it all might get jumbled if the wrong information appears even in one spot.

A lot of these data aggregators collect their data by scanning and transcribing things like phone records, utility records, business registration websites, and printed business directories, like the Yellow Pages.

When the search engines are comparing the data they have on your business with the data they’ve collected from the aggregators, sometimes, it doesn’t go well.

If the information is way different, they might think it is actually a totally different business. Or if wrong or outdated information is consistent in a few of the other places, they might think the info they have is actually wrong or outdated and change what they have to the incorrect information.

If you’ve heard me talk much or read anything I’ve written about local SEO, you’ll notice I am constantly preaching about making sure any mention of your business is EXACTLY the same everywhere it appears. This is one of the main reasons. It ensures your business information  won’t get distorted over time, and guarantees you get full “credit” for that citation.

Even for local search professionals, the ecosystem can be incredibly confusing, but there are tools you can use to help with your local SEO campaign, or you can even hire a professional to help you out. Whatever direction you take, it is important to stay on top of things because local search is the way people decide who to do business with now.