When AI gets your business wrong, and how to fix it

Is Google AI Overview accurate?

Mostly, but not always, and Google says so itself. Its help page on AI Overviews states that they can and will make mistakes. The same is true of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude. OpenAI's help centre warns that search results and citations can be incomplete, outdated or incorrect.

For a business, this is not an abstract risk. An AI answer might list a branch that closed last year, quote an old price, or say you offer a service you stopped. Buyers may act on that without ever visiting your site.

Why does AI get facts about a business wrong?

AI tools get facts wrong because they repeat what their sources say, and sometimes join facts that do not belong together. The main causes are these.

• Old pages. A price list from two years ago, a closed branch page or a PDF brochure that is still online.
• Stale listings. A directory with your old address or hours, which you forgot you had.
• Third-party articles. A comparison piece that described you wrongly, or has not been updated.
• Similar names. Another firm with a similar name, whose details get mixed with yours.
• Model memory. A model trained before a change still describes you as you were.
• Filling gaps. When sources are thin, a model may guess. This is often called a hallucination.

In most cases there is a page somewhere that states the wrong detail. That is good news, because a page can be fixed. The guide to how AI engines choose sources explains why some pages carry so much weight.

How to correct wrong AI information about your business, step by step

These steps work for Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and the other main engines. The principle is the same throughout. Fix the source, make the truth easy to find, then check.

Step 1. Write down the facts that matter

Start with a short fact sheet. List the details buyers rely on, such as locations, opening hours, prices or price ranges, services, current offers and contact details. Agree the correct version of each with whoever owns it. You cannot spot a wrong answer without a clear record of the right one.

Step 2. Check what each AI engine says

Ask each engine direct questions about your business. What does it offer? Where are its branches? What are its opening hours? How much does it charge? Ask in ChatGPT with search on, in Perplexity, in Gemini, in Claude and in Google. Note every claim, not just the obvious errors.

Step 3. Record each wrong claim

For each mistake, log the engine, the question, the date, the exact wording and any cited page. Sort them by harm. A wrong phone number or a closed branch listed as open matters more than a slightly old description.

Step 4. Find the source

If the answer cites pages, open them and look for the wrong detail. ChatGPT and Perplexity usually show their sources. Google AI Overviews link to theirs.

If no source is shown, search Google for the wrong detail in quotes, together with your business name. Check your own site first, including old blog posts, PDFs and forgotten landing pages. Then check directories, review sites, comparison articles and news stories. Also look at pages other engines cite for the same question, because the same wrong page often feeds several engines.

Step 5. Fix it at the source

On your own site, update the page or remove it and redirect it to the right one. On your Google Business Profile, edit the details. Google reviews changes before they go live. On directories, claim the listing if you have not already and correct it. The local citations side of this is about keeping name, address and phone details the same everywhere.

For third-party articles, contact the author or editor with a short, polite note. Give the correct detail and a link to where it is stated on your site. Most will fix a clear factual error.

Step 6. Make the right fact easy to find

State the correct detail plainly on the most relevant page of your site. For example, write "Our Wakefield branch closed in March 2026. The nearest branch is Leeds." rather than simply deleting the old page.

Keep the fact the same everywhere. Describe your business in structured data, including your address and official profiles, so engines can tie the facts to you. The entity SEO guide explains how this helps engines tell you apart from similar names.

Step 7. Report the answer

Use the feedback option in the AI tool. On a Google AI Overview, Google says you can give a thumbs down and choose Report a problem, then describe what is wrong. Most AI apps have a similar feedback button. This helps, but it is not a substitute for fixing the source.

Step 8. Check again until it clears

Re-ask the same questions on a schedule, every week or two. Mark the issue as fixed only when later answers stop repeating it. Keep the record, because the same mistake can come back if an old page or listing reappears.

How do you find the source when the AI names no source?

Search for the wrong detail itself. An old phone number, a wrong price or a closed branch name is usually quite specific. Put it in quotes in Google with your business name and see which pages come up.

If that finds nothing, try the question in an engine that does cite sources, such as Perplexity or ChatGPT with search. The pages it cites for the same question are often the ones feeding the others. Also check your own site's history. Old pages that are no longer linked can still be indexed and read.

If the detail appears nowhere online, it may come from what the model learned in training, or be a guess. In that case, making the right fact clear and consistent across the web is the best fix. It may take a new model version to clear fully.

How long does a correction take to show in AI answers?

It depends on where the answer comes from. For engines that search the web, a fix at the source can show once the page has been recrawled. That can be days or weeks.

For answers drawn from a model's training, it takes longer. The model will keep its old picture until a new version is trained on newer data. Clear, consistent facts across your site and listings give the new version the best chance of getting it right.

How do you stop AI getting your business wrong again?

Treat accuracy as routine, not a one-off clean-up.

• Check AI answers about your business on a schedule, not only when someone complains. The tracking guide sets out a simple routine.
• Update your fact sheet whenever something changes, such as a move, a new price list or a new service.
• When you change something, update your site, Google Business Profile and main directories on the same day.
• Remove or redirect old pages rather than leaving them live and unlinked.
• Give one person the job of owning the facts and checking the answers.

The riskiest moments are moves, closures, rebrands and price changes. It helps to plan an AI check two to four weeks after each one.

How Axiom GEO helps

Answer accuracy, on the Professional plan and above, starts from a fact sheet of your business drafted from your website, Google Business Profile and brief, then approved by a person. Every answer is broken into claims and each claim is checked as correct, partly true, wrong, out of date or not covered, with a second check on anything flagged. Each claim links to the page ChatGPT or Perplexity cited. For engines that name no source, a source finder shows pages that state the wrong detail, with the matching text. Issues can be sent to Work as tasks, and are marked fixed when later answers stop repeating them.