Google Business Profile suggested edits now come with a stated deadline: once Google notifies you that someone has suggested a change to your listing, you have 4 days to accept or reject it. If you do nothing, Google says it may publish the change on its own when other public information, such as your website, supports it. For a trade owner on roofs and in crawl spaces all day, that means a check of the profile every working day, alerts that reach someone who will act, and a website that says exactly what the profile says.
In short
- Owners have 4 days to accept or reject a suggested edit after Google notifies them (Google Business Profile Help, 2026).
- Google documented the window on September 23, 2026, per Search Engine Roundtable; it has not said whether the behaviour itself is new.
- Since August 6, 2026, users in the U.S. can suggest edits by chatting with Maps or photographing a sign (Google, 2026).
- 62% of consumers would avoid a business after finding incorrect information about it online (BrightLocal, 2023).
What Google changed in its suggested edits help page
Google's help page on profile updates now carries a section on notifications about suggested edits. It says: "Once notified, you have 4 days to accept or reject the suggestion." It goes on: "If you don't respond within 4 days, Google may automatically publish the update if it is supported by other publicly available information, such as your business website."
Two other lines on the same page matter as much. Google "may apply suggested user edits to your business information without prior review," so not every edit waits for you. And "You can't manage all Google updates through your Business Profile." In the profile editor, fields shown in blue are information changed by Google.
Search Engine Roundtable reported the documentation change on September 23, 2026. Google did not say whether owners always had four days or whether the window is new. Treat it as the rule that is written down now.
Why suggested edits hit trades harder
Suggesting an edit got easier this summer. Google's August 6, 2026 Maps announcement says users "can suggest edits conversationally, right from Ask Maps and the Contribute tab," and can "upload a photo of a storefront sign" so that "Maps will detect the new hours from the image." Google says its protection systems review suggestions for accuracy. They still get submitted, and you still get four days.
A trade business is exposed for three reasons. Most are service-area listings with no storefront, so a stranger guessing at hours or an address has nothing to check against. The owner is on site, not at a desk. And heating season is the worst time for the listing to say closed, or to show last winter's hours.
The cost is not theoretical. In BrightLocal's 2023 survey of 1,138 U.S. consumers, 62% said they would avoid using a business if they found incorrect information online, and 26% said they turn up too early or too late because of wrong opening hours at least once a month.
How to handle Google Business Profile suggested edits
- Send the alerts somewhere they get read. Google says that if a suggested edit needs your review, "you may receive an email or an in-product notification." Check which email address owns the profile. If it is an old address or a former office manager's, add a current manager to the profile so the alert lands with someone who opens it the same day.
- Check the profile every working day. Open the profile from the phone at the start of the day. Google says a notification appears "at the top of the page" when there are Google updates. Look at the blue fields. It takes two minutes, and it keeps you well inside four days even across a long weekend.
- Reject what is wrong, accept what is right. A customer who tells Google you now open at 7 may be correct. Reject an edit only when it is false, then fix the source of the confusion (step 4) so the same edit does not return.
- Make your website say exactly what the profile says. Google publishes an unanswered edit when public information "such as your business website" supports it. If your site still lists summer hours, an old number or a closed second location, it is evidence for the wrong edit. Same business name, same phone, same hours, same service area, on both.
- Keep the name and address matching your licence. Michigan's rule for residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors says a licensee "shall include the name, license number, and actual business address, as shown on the license, in all advertising." A profile edit that renames your business or moves your address puts the listing out of line with your licence. Reject it.
- Be careful with Google's own calls and texts. The help page says Google "may occasionally reach out using automated messages via call, text, or WhatsApp to the verified phone number on your profile," and "any information you provide in response to these messages may be used to update your profile." Whoever answers the business line should know that a quick reply about hours can change the listing.
- Set holiday and winter hours before anyone else does. Use special hours for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and the days between. Google's advice is to "confirm your hours for official holidays, even if they're the same as your regular hours." A confirmed hour is harder for a stranger to overwrite.
The mistake most owners make at step 4
They fix the profile and leave the website alone. The edit comes back a week later, from a different user or from Google itself, because the old hours are still on the contact page, in the footer and on a directory listing the website links to. The four-day window punishes the owner whose own public information disagrees with itself. Fix every place the hours and number appear, then the profile.
If a wrong edit has already gone live
Change it back under Edit profile. Google says "We review your changes before we update them live on your profile," and gives no time for that review, so check again over the next few days that your version has published. Keep a note of what changed and when. If the edit points customers to a different phone number or a different business, it is no longer an edit; treat it as a copy and follow our guide to finding and reporting fake Google business listings.
The profile matters more each year as Google answers more searches itself; Google AI Mode for local businesses covers why the listing is now often the first thing a customer reads.
Where we fit
Our Google Business Profile work keeps the profile filled in and current, watches it for changes, and reports copies through Google's own process. It does not buy reviews, stuff keywords into the business name or promise a position. For the rest of what we build for trades, see our services.
Four days is enough if somebody looks every day. Make sure somebody does.
