A customer walks into your Orillia shop and mentions they almost didn't come — ChatGPT told them you closed at 4pm. You close at 6. Or worse: a Barrie couple searched for a romantic dinner spot and ChatGPT recommended your restaurant at an address you moved away from two years ago. Incorrect AI information costs real business — and most owners don't even know it's happening.
AI doesn't make up information randomly — it pulls from your existing online footprint.Old directory listings, outdated website pages, and inconsistent phone numbers across platforms are the root cause of almost every AI error. Fix the source data, and AI will eventually get it right.
Why AI Gets Business Information Wrong
AI systems like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Siri, and Perplexity don't have a live connection to your business. They learn from data that was collected at a point in time — and businesses change. You move. You change your hours. You add services or drop old ones. You get a new phone number.
When your online footprint has conflicting signals — your Google Business Profile says one thing, an old Yellow Pages listing says another, your website hasn't been updated since 2021 — AI doesn't know which to trust. Sometimes it picks the wrong one. Sometimes it averages them. Sometimes it just gets confused and omits you entirely.
The other common cause is old content that's still indexed. An archived article from three years ago, a business listing you claimed but never maintained, a Facebook page with outdated hours — all of these can become the source AI draws from when newer sources aren't available or aren't authoritative enough to override them.
Five Common AI Errors and Their Root Causes
Wrong business hours
Urgent to fixRoot cause
Google Business Profile hours weren't updated after a seasonal change or schedule shift. AI trusts GBP heavily, but if your website or a directory still shows old hours, conflicting signals create errors. Fix: Update GBP first, then find and correct any other listings showing old hours.
Old address after a move
Urgent to fixRoot cause
Directory listings created at the old address are still live and being indexed. These can persist for years after a move because most directories don't auto-update. AI aggregates location signals — if 8 sources say the old address and 2 say the new one, old address often wins. Fix: systematic audit and update of every directory where your business appears.
Wrong phone number
High to fixRoot cause
A changed phone number wasn't updated everywhere. Old numbers persist in directories and on old website pages still cached by search engines. NAP (Name, Address, Phone) inconsistency is one of the most common and most damaging AI search errors for local businesses. Fix: full NAP audit across all platforms.
Business missing entirely from AI results
High to fixRoot cause
No Google Business Profile, no website, no directory presence, or all of the above. AI can't recommend what it doesn't know about. Missing from results is not a permanent state — it's a gap in your online footprint that can be filled. Fix: claim GBP, create basic directory listings, build any online presence.
Wrong description of your services
Medium to fixRoot cause
AI trained on old website copy that described what you used to offer, or on a competitor's content that's similar enough to create confusion. Service descriptions from three years ago can still be indexed and influencing AI. Fix: update your website with clear, current service descriptions — and make sure they're in crawlable text, not images or PDFs.
The Fix: Audit and Correct Your Online Footprint
The good news: this is fixable. It takes some time, but it's not technical work — it's methodical. Here's the process, step by step.
Step 1: Find out what AI is actually saying about you right now. Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google, and search for your business by name and by what you offer ("best [service] in [your town]"). Screenshot what comes up. This is your baseline — you need to know exactly what's wrong before you can fix it.
Step 2: Claim and update your Google Business Profile. This is the most authoritative signal AI uses for local businesses. Log into business.google.com, verify you're the owner, and update every field — especially hours, address, phone number, and business description. If you've moved or changed your hours, this is the most important place to fix it.
Step 3: Find and update your old directory listings. Search for your business name on Yellow Pages Canada, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook, and any local directories. For each listing that has wrong information, claim it (if you haven't already) and update it. Prioritize: Yellow Pages, Yelp, Bing Places, and Apple Maps — these are the sources other AI systems pull from most often.
Step 4: Update your website with current information in crawlable text. Hours, address, and phone number need to be in plain HTML text on your website — not buried in an image, not inside a PDF. AI can't read images or PDFs reliably. A simple contact page with current information is more useful than a beautifully designed page where the phone number is part of a graphic.
Step 5: Enforce NAP consistency — everywhere, exactly. Your business name, address, and phone number need to be character-for-character identical across every platform. "Wes's Auto Repair" and "Wes Auto Repair" and "Wes' Auto Repair" are three different businesses to AI. Pick the exact format you want and use it everywhere. Our post on NAP consistency covers this in detail.
Step 6: Be patient. AI models update their training data periodically — not instantly. After you fix your online footprint, it can take weeks or months for the corrections to propagate through AI search results. The most important thing is to make the fixes now, so the clock starts ticking.
How to Submit Corrections Directly to AI Platforms
Beyond fixing your source data, some AI platforms have direct update pathways worth knowing about.
Google: Update your Google Business Profile (the most important step) and ensure your website is indexed in Google Search Console. Google AI Overviews and Google Assistant draw heavily from both.
Bing / Microsoft Copilot: Claim your listing on Bing Places for Business at bingplaces.com. Microsoft Copilot relies heavily on Bing's index — fixing your Bing presence directly improves Copilot recommendations. This is an overlooked step that most businesses skip.
Apple Maps / Siri: Claim or update your listing through Apple Maps Connect at mapsconnect.apple.com. Siri's local business recommendations come directly from Apple Maps, and many businesses have never updated their Apple Maps listing since it was auto-generated years ago.
ChatGPT / OpenAI: OpenAI doesn't have a direct business submission portal. ChatGPT relies primarily on Bing and the broader web — so fixing your Bing Places listing and ensuring your website is current are the most effective levers. ChatGPT Plus uses real-time Bing search for some queries.
Perplexity: Perplexity does real-time web searches rather than relying on cached training data, which means fixing your website and GBP has a faster impact on Perplexity results than on ChatGPT. If Perplexity is giving wrong information, fixing your source data is the direct solution. Our guide to Google Business Profile optimization covers the foundations that feed all of these platforms.
Taking Control of Your Online Information
Most Northern Ontario business owners don't know what AI is saying about them right now. Some are being recommended with perfect information — others are being skipped, or worse, being recommended with wrong hours or a wrong address that frustrates potential customers.
The audit process above is something you can do yourself over a day or two. If you'd rather have someone else do it — and get a full report on what AI currently knows about your business, what's wrong, and what the fix is — that's exactly what we offer.
Reach out for a free audit conversation and we'll look up what AI is saying about your business before we even get on a call. No website needed, no technical knowledge required — just your business name and town.
Frequently Asked Questions
ChatGPT has my old address — how long until it updates?
It depends on which version of ChatGPT someone is using. ChatGPT with browsing enabled (which searches Bing in real time) can reflect changes within days once Bing re-crawls your updated listings. The base ChatGPT model without browsing draws from training data that's updated periodically — which can mean months. The priority is to fix your Bing Places listing and your website, and make sure Google Business Profile is current. These are the sources that feed most AI update cycles.
Can I contact ChatGPT directly to fix wrong information?
Not in the way you'd contact a directory to update a listing. OpenAI doesn't maintain a business information database — it draws from the web. The way to "tell" ChatGPT correct information is to fix your authoritative sources: Google Business Profile, your website, Bing Places, and major directories. Once the underlying web data is corrected, AI will eventually pick it up. There's no shortcut, but fixing the sources is the right approach regardless of which AI is giving wrong information.
My competitor's name keeps showing up when people search for my services — what's happening?
This is a visibility gap, not necessarily an error. If your competitor shows up and you don't, AI has more confidence in their business information than yours — their profile is more complete, they have more reviews, or their service descriptions are clearer. The fix isn't to report a problem with your competitor; it's to build a stronger AI presence for your own business. Our AI search optimization services address exactly this — closing the gap so you show up consistently for searches in your area.
I updated my Google Business Profile months ago but AI still shows old info — why?
A few possibilities. First, other sources may still be showing the old information and outweighing your GBP update — check directory listings and your website for old data that hasn't been corrected. Second, AI training cycles mean some models haven't been updated with the new data yet. Third, GBP updates take time to propagate even to Google's own AI tools. Keep your profile active — post updates, respond to reviews, add photos — because ongoing activity signals that your business information is current and trustworthy. Stagnant profiles, even correct ones, can be deprioritized in AI recommendations.