A woman calls about retiling her shower. Before you can quote, she says ChatGPT told her you close at five and don't do tile.
You close at six. You've set tile for years. After she hangs up, you ask the app the same question.
The answer is different. That doesn't mean it's right.
Most of the fix is detective work. Somewhere a page or a listing still says the wrong thing, and that part you can change. If an assistant leaves you out instead, start with why ChatGPT names competitors and skips you. For how these answers are built in the first place, see our guide to AI search for home service companies.
Why does the answer change when you ask again?
Because each answer is built from a fresh set of searches, and those don't always return the same pages. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may run several related searches to build one response.[1] To look at those answers on purpose, see how to check what Google's AI says about your company.
OpenAI says ChatGPT search typically rewrites your question into targeted searches.[2] It may use your general location too and, if memory is on, your saved memories.[2] So the same words on your phone and hers can become different searches.
Plain mistakes happen too. OpenAI says ChatGPT can sound confident when it's wrong, and Google says AI Overviews will make mistakes.[3][4]
Where does a wrong hour or phone number come from?
Usually from a page or listing that still says it. Google says a Business Profile draws on several sources: what it crawls on your website, licensed data from other companies, and facts people contribute, like phone numbers.[5]
If a source says your info is out of date, Google may change your profile itself.[6] The profile editor shows those changes in blue.[6]
People can suggest edits too, and when Google asks you to review one, you have four days to accept or reject it. If you don't answer, Google may publish it when other public information, like your website, supports it.[6] So an old page on your own site can back up a wrong suggestion.
If none of the sources the assistant lists shows the wrong detail, it may have made it up.
How do you trace a wrong answer back to its source?
Work backwards from the answer, and write everything down first.
- Copy the question word for word, with the assistant and the date, and screenshot the answer. Ask the customer for her screenshot and what she typed.
- Open every source the answer lists and look for the wrong detail on each page.
- Search the detail itself. Put the old phone number in quotes in Google, or search your company name plus hours.
- In your Google profile, open Edit profile. A Collected info section, if you have one, shows what Google gathered, where from and when.[7]
A tile company in Columbus
- Asked: Oct 6, ChatGPT with search on. Wrong: closes at five, no tile work.
- Found: a 2019 directory page says five. The Google profile and website say six.
- Likely cause of the tile answer: the services page never names tile.
Illustrative example
In what order should you fix it?
Fix what you control first, then the profiles other companies run, then pages you must ask someone else to change. In one large study of local AI answers, cited links went mostly to two places.
Business websites supply 42% of the ~1.97M citations in local AI answers (ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews); Google Business Profile ~29%.
Source: BrightLocal local AI visibility study · (opens in a new tab)
- Your website. Put your hours, phone number and services in plain text on the pages visitors read, and fix or delete any old page that disagrees. If a plugin also writes your details into the page's code, check that block too. If your site is in Search Console, ask Google to visit the fixed page again with the URL Inspection tool. Google says that can take a few days to a few weeks.[8] Check that you aren't blocking ChatGPT's crawler.
- Your Google profile. Check hours, phone and services, and look for blue text, a suggested edit waiting on you and a Permanently closed label. If you work from home, see how to hide your address and set a service area. To clear a wrong one, choose Edit profile, Hours, then Open with main hours. If the profile closed after a move or rename, Google says to add a new profile instead.[9] Google says edits usually take up to 10 minutes to review but can take up to 30 days.[10] More in our Google Business Profile checklist.
- Apple and Bing. Apple Business, which now includes what was Apple Business Connect, is where you manage your Apple Maps place card.[11][12] Check its status and hours. Apple says customers can report a card that says open when the place was closed, and it may then change them and email you.[12] Bing Places is Microsoft's free listing tool for Bing search and Maps.[13]
- Pages you don't own. Old directories, a chamber of commerce page, a supplier's dealer locator. Email each one the right details and note who you asked.
If you'd rather hand this off, our AI search visibility audit records what AI assistants say when your customers' questions are put to them, and lists what's missing from your site, profile and listings. The Found Sprint ($1,500 fixed) covers up to 10 fixes from that report.
How do you report the wrong answer itself?
Use the thumbs-down on the answer. In Google's AI Overviews it leads to Report a problem, where you pick a category and add details.[4] AI Mode takes thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback too.[14] In ChatGPT, the thumbs-down under a message leads to a Select an issue step.[15] OpenAI's page describes that route for safety or legal concerns, and I found no OpenAI page that says what happens to feedback about a wrong opening hour.
Say what's wrong and what's right, in a sentence or two. Google says feedback helps it improve AI Overviews for everyone, which isn't a promise to change yours.[4] OpenAI also suggests that, when a result looks wrong, you ask ChatGPT to search again using a specific source, date or location.[2]
What should you skip?
Skip these:
- Paying anyone who promises to fix your ChatGPT reputation. Nobody outside OpenAI or Google can edit an answer.
- Arguing with the chatbot. What you type into one chat isn't a report.
- Writing a page to contradict an answer. If your site never mentions tile, write a tile page for customers, not a rebuttal.
The answer itself isn't yours to edit
You can fix what an assistant reads and report what it said. Whether the next answer changes depends on when it searches again and what else it finds, and I can't tell you when. Anyone who names a number of days is guessing.
Ask the same question again after a few days and after a few weeks, in a fresh chat, and write down what comes back. If it's still wrong, look for the page you missed.