Google Assistant Calls the Wrong Phone Number for My Business
Voice Assistants & Listings
Customers ask Google to call you. The phone rings somewhere else.
- "Hey Google, call Pecan Street Dental"
- Saved contact match: none
- Profile primary phone: (210) 555-0148
- Dialing (210) 555-0148: number disconnected
- Working number, website only: (210) 555-0193
- Caller asks for "dentist near me" instead
Customers tell you they asked Google Assistant or Gemini to call your business and reached a disconnected line, an old tracking number, a former location or a different company. Your Google Business Profile may show the wrong number, or show the right one while the call still goes astray.
What it actually means
When someone says "Hey Google, call Pecan Street Dental," the assistant has to decide which Pecan Street Dental and which number. For businesses it usually reads the phone field on your Google Business Profile. It also checks the phone's own contacts, so a number a customer saved years ago can win over the one you publish today.
A wrong number on the profile itself is the more serious case, because it affects everyone. Google updates profiles from many sources: your edits, suggestions from users, and data it gathers elsewhere. If an old number is still published in enough places, it can find its way back in, sometimes after you have already fixed it.
Because the assistant dials instead of displaying, nobody sees the number before the call connects. The customer hears a disconnection tone or a stranger's voicemail, hangs up, and asks for someone else.
What usually causes it
Most likely first.
- 1
An old number is still on the profile
The number changed with a new carrier, a move or a rebrand, and Google was never updated, or was updated on one of several profiles.
- 2
Google applied an edit you didn't make
Google can apply user suggestions or data from other sources. Look for a notice about Google updates in your profile and review what changed.
- 3
A tracking number outlived its account
A call tracking or ad vendor put its number on the profile. The contract ended, and the number was released or reassigned to someone else.
- 4
A duplicate profile carries the old number
A second listing from a previous address, name or practitioner is still live, and the assistant matched it instead of yours.
- 5
The customer has an old contact saved
The assistant dials a saved contact with a matching name before it looks up the business. Your listing is fine; their address book is not.
- 6
Directories and data suppliers repeat the old number
Yelp, Apple, Bing and the aggregators that supply smaller directories keep publishing it, which can push it back onto Google.
How to fix it
Work through these in order. Take a backup before you change anything.
Step 1 — Reproduce the call
On an Android phone with no saved contact for your business, say "Hey Google, call" and your exact business name. Note the number it dials. Repeat with the name customers actually use, if it's different.
Step 2 — Fix the phone fields in your Business Profile
Make the primary phone the number a person answers. If you use a tracking number as primary, put the main number in the additional phone field. Review and reject any Google updates that restored an old number.
Step 3 — Hunt down duplicates
Search Google Maps for your old numbers, old names and old addresses. Claim or report each duplicate and ask for it to be merged or removed.
Step 4 — Correct every other place the old number lives
Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, trade directories and the data aggregators that feed smaller sites. Change it on your website and in its LocalBusiness schema too.
Step 5 — Keep the old number alive if you can
If you still control the old line, forward it to the new one for at least a year. It catches every saved contact and stale directory while the corrections spread.
Step 6 — Tell your regular customers
One email, or a printed line on the next invoice asking people to update their contacts. It is the only cure for numbers saved in customers' phones.
When to stop and call someone
Call someone if the wrong number keeps returning to your profile after you correct it, if a former vendor or partner controls the number customers are reaching, or if you can't get into the profile at all. Those are ownership and data-supplier problems, and they take longer to unwind than editing a field.
Where is the call going?
Pick the closest match and we'll trace which listings still carry the wrong number. Free, and the list is yours to keep.
Which of these sounds like you? (pick any)
Frequently asked
Either your Google Business Profile still lists the old number, a duplicate profile does, or the caller's phone has a saved contact with that number, which the assistant tries first. Check the profile's primary and additional phone fields, search Maps for duplicates, and ask the customer whether the number is saved in their contacts.
Yes, if you keep your main number on the profile as the additional phone and use that same main number everywhere else. When the tracking account ends, replace the number the same day. The home services voice guide covers call tracking in more detail.
Google updates profiles from several sources, and an old number that is still published widely can be suggested again. Check for Google updates in your profile, then correct the old number on Apple, Bing, Yelp, Facebook and the data aggregators so nothing is left to suggest it.
It can, and differently. Siri and Alexa read other sources, so the wrong number may show up on one assistant and not the others. Fix Google, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places and Yelp together. The free Voice Search Visibility Check shows which number each source holds.
If you can, forward it to the new number for at least a year. Saved contacts, old directories and printed materials will keep sending calls there, and forwarding turns each one into a call you still receive instead of a customer who gives up.
If you’d rather not
We do this work every week. These are the services that cover it.
- Voice & Ambient Assistant OptimizationAsk a device out loud who to call and it names one business. We tune the listings, speakable answers, and actions that make the spoken pick yours.
- Local MarketingWin more of the searches near you. We improve profiles, maps visibility, local pages, reviews, tracking, and calls to action so nearby buyers can find and choose your business faster.
- Conversion Tracking & Tag SetupCan you name the channel that produced your last ten customers? We install Google Tag Manager, GA4, and ad-platform conversion tracking so every lead is measured.
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