A business directory describes a storefront you no longer operate

Inventory what the listing actually says

Open the live listing and capture it as a visitor sees it: the business name, address, category, product descriptions, hours, photographs and any links back to your site. Record the exact wording and the observation date rather than a summary from memory. A listing that describes a storefront you closed, a brand you retired or a product line you no longer sell is several separate inaccuracies, and each may need different evidence.

Distinguish the stale from the wrong. An old address the business genuinely once used is a currency problem. A category or offering the business never had is a different problem, possibly created by the platform or a third party, and the correction request should say so plainly instead of treating it as an update.

Attach current evidence to each correction

For every replacement value, identify the business record that establishes it: the current domain and storefront, the actual operating arrangement, the genuine product range. The dossier connects claim to record so that whoever reviews the request, and your own team six months later, can see why the new value is accurate. Keep private records private; the dossier references evidence rather than copying identity documents or home addresses into a submission.

Resist the shortcuts. Do not invent a premises, pick a category that merely looks safer, or describe the business as something it is not because the form offers limited options. An unsupported value that passes review leaves a new misrepresentation published under your name, which is worse than a stale listing with an honest correction pending.

Use the platform's authorized route

Find out who controls the listing before trying to change it. If the business holds the associated account, the correction happens there. Google's Business Profile help describes editing business information through the account associated with the profile, and notes that changes can involve verification or review before they appear. If nobody on the team holds access, the route is the platform's process for claiming or reporting a listing, followed as that platform publishes it.

Google's documented process applies to Google Business Profiles. Other directories, marketplaces and data aggregators run their own correction channels, and a change accepted in one place does not propagate to the rest. List each surface separately in the dossier and verify its own route rather than assuming a single fix.

Track the request without promising the outcome

Record each submission with its date, channel and reference, and assign an owner for the follow-up. A platform may accept, review, reject or ignore a request, and the dossier should capture which happened. A rejection with a reason is a new task with that reason attached; silence after a reasonable interval is a follow-up through the same authorized channel, not a cue to create duplicate listings.

Be careful inside your own team about what done means. A submitted request is not a corrected listing, and a corrected listing is not evidence that the business is eligible for anything the directory implies. If a payment provider or partner ever cites the listing, the accurate record is what your own site and documents say, plus the correction trail you kept.

Close the loop on the published surfaces

Reopen the listing after the platform reports a change and record what it now shows and when. Check the fields you did not submit, because platforms sometimes merge third-party data back in. Then look for the same stale content in the other directories you listed, since each needs its own confirmed correction.

If the stale listing keeps resurfacing from a data source you cannot identify, or a provider has quoted it back to you as a concern, that is a scoped question you can bring to a Prism website-review consultation with the public URLs and your correction trail. Confirm scope, responsibilities, fees and terms before work begins; the consultation documents the mismatch but cannot compel a third party to change its page.

Listing correction dossier

Complete one dossier per listing, with a row per inaccurate field where the fields differ in evidence or route. Use public observations and references to internal records; never place identity documents, private addresses or account credentials in the dossier.

Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.

These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.