A solicitor in Brentwood asks Gemini to describe her own practice and is told it offers services it has never offered, from an office it closed two years ago. Nothing about this is far-fetched. AI assistants blend information from many places, and old or inconsistent data can slip through. The good news is that you can audit the answers methodically and fix most of the causes.
Step One: Write Down the Questions
Start by listing ten questions a customer might ask. Include direct ones like "tell me about" followed by your business name, comparison questions such as "best accountants in Brentwood for sole traders", and practical ones about opening hours, prices and contact details. Keep the wording natural, because that is how people type or speak.
Save the list. You will use exactly the same questions again later, which is what lets you see whether changes have made any difference.
Step Two: Record the Answers Honestly
Ask each question and copy the response into a spreadsheet with the date. Mark every claim as correct, wrong or missing. Note which sources are cited, if any. Do this on a couple of occasions, since answers can change between attempts.
Resist the urge to argue with the chatbot. Telling it that it is wrong in a conversation does not change what it says to the next person. The fix has to happen at the source.
Step Three: Trace the Source of Each Error
Wrong facts nearly always trace back to something published. Common culprits include:
- An old directory listing showing a previous address or service.
- A website page that was never updated after a change.
- A similarly named business being confused with yours.
- A thin or missing page, leaving the model to guess.
Search for the incorrect detail on Google and see where it appears. Often a single stale listing is repeated across several sites that copy from it.
Step Four: Correct and Reinforce
Update the original sources first: your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles and major directories. Then write a clear page that states the facts plainly, such as services offered, areas covered and opening times. If a similarly named firm is causing confusion, make your location and specialism unmistakable in your titles and descriptions.
Corrections take time to filter through. Do not expect Gemini to change its answer overnight, and check again after a few weeks rather than hourly.
Where Professional Help Fits
Some owners are happy to run this process themselves; others prefer to hand it over. Professional SEO services can speed up the tracing and tidying, particularly when a business has changed premises, names or services over the years and the trail is messy. A sensible provider will give you the audit spreadsheet, explain every correction and be honest that nobody can force an assistant to repeat something.
If you want an experienced team to look at the problem, an Essex SEO company can review the answers with you and set priorities.
Keep a Record for Next Time
Once the corrections are live, repeat the same ten questions after four to six weeks and again after three months. Compare the new answers with your original spreadsheet and mark what has improved. You may find that one assistant updates faster than another, or that a stubborn error keeps returning because a third-party site still carries it.
When that happens, contact the site owner and ask for a correction, or ask the directory to remove the old listing. Keep a note of who you contacted and when. Over time this record becomes a useful health check for your business information, and it is quick to repeat whenever you open a new branch, change your name or add a service. Treat it as routine maintenance, much like checking your accounts, and the errors will stay rare. It is worth sharing the spreadsheet with whoever looks after your website too, so they know which facts must stay accurate. Good professional SEO services will happily work from it.
The Bottom Line
When Gemini misdescribes your firm, treat it as a symptom of untidy information rather than a mystery. Ask consistent questions, record the answers, trace the errors, fix the sources and re-test. It is dull, careful work, and it pays off.