Log into business.google.com with the Google account that manages your listing. If you have multiple locations, select the one you want to edit from the dashboard. You'll see editable sections like business name, address, phone number, hours, categories, services, and attributes. Click the pencil icon next to any section to make changes. Most edits publish immediately, but significant changes like business name, address, or primary category often trigger Google's verification process, which can take 3–7 days or require a postcard, video, or phone verification. Prioritize these high-impact edits first: primary category (choose the most specific one that matches your core offering), business description (750 characters explaining what you do and where you serve), service list (add every relevant service with descriptions), and attributes (wheelchair accessible, women-led, online appointments). Update your hours for holidays and special events through the special hours feature. Add posts weekly to keep your profile active, and respond to all reviews within 24–48 hours since Google factors response rate into local ranking. Watch out for edits suggested by users or Google's automated systems. Check your profile dashboard for pending suggestions and approve or reject them, because Google can auto-approve user edits if you ignore them long enough. If you serve customers at their location rather than a storefront, hide your address and set a service area by radius or city list. Ottawa SEO runs 500+ profiles across Canada, and we've seen Google reject edits that seem spammy (keyword-stuffed business names, fake addresses) or inconsistent with other citations. Keep your NAP (name, address, phone) identical across your website, Google profile, and directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages. Use the Insights tab to see how customers find you, then adjust your categories and services based on what search queries actually bring traffic. You don't actually need the dashboard for quick changes anymore. Google now lets verified owners edit directly from Search and Maps: while signed into the managing account, search your own business name (or "my business") on Google and an editing panel appears above the results with buttons for editing your profile, reading messages, adding photos, and creating posts. On mobile, the Google Maps app offers the same controls under the business tab. For a single-location business this in-search editing is the fastest route for hours changes and holiday updates. Multi-location operators should use the bulk tools instead of editing profiles one at a time. Business Profile Manager supports spreadsheet import and export for 10+ locations, letting you update hours, attributes, or descriptions across every location in one upload. Keep a master sheet as your source of truth so a seasonal hours change is one edit, not forty. When an edit gets rejected or reverts, the usual culprits are: a business name edit that adds keywords Google reads as spam, a category change that conflicts with what user photos and reviews suggest you do, or an address edit to a location Google can't verify. Fix rejections by matching your edit to the evidence Google can see, meaning your website, citations, and storefront imagery should all support the change before you make it. The edit to be most careful with is your address or primary category, since either can trigger re-verification or, in the worst case, a suspension. Before touching those, screenshot your current profile and confirm your website displays the same information, because a suspended profile can take weeks to reinstate and you lose reviews visibility the whole time.