Separate public facts from account administration
The public-facts section contains business name, main phone, public email, website address, services, customer-facing hours, location instructions, and coverage. Include approved short and long descriptions if several people publish on the business's behalf. Add notes explaining any meaningful variation, such as appointment hours differing from phone-answering hours.
The administration section contains platform name, public profile URL, business-controlled owner, support contact, and next review date. Store passwords and recovery codes in a suitable password manager, not beside public information. A marketing contractor can then receive the facts needed for the assignment without automatically receiving unrelated account access.
Build an update record that people will use
Our recommended columns are field, approved value, source of confirmation, owner, checked date, and affected locations. Keep the sheet simple enough to update during an ordinary working day. A complicated database that nobody maintains will lose its value quickly.
Imagine a fictional repair shop changing Saturday hours. The approved value is the new schedule; the owner is the shop manager; affected locations include the website, Business Profile, booking page, and door notice. The change is complete when each relevant surface has been checked, not when someone has edited the master sheet. Keep a brief unresolved-items list for platforms where an update is still pending.
Use platform editing and access controls
Google provides a Business Profile editing process for information such as hours and contact details. Its ownership documentation also supports separate owner and manager access. Use the linked instructions when changing those settings, since the interface may differ from an old screenshot.
Our recommendation is to make access review part of the same monthly maintenance session as the details review. Check who can change the information and whether that person still works with the business. A master sheet is a coordination tool; it does not itself transfer ownership or change what a public platform displays.
Prevent common ambiguity before it spreads
Write explicit notes for details that are easy to misunderstand. A home-based business may have an administrative address that should not appear in customer-facing materials. A service business may answer messages outside its on-site working hours. A booking link may apply to only one service. Explain these distinctions in the approved record.
For the repair shop, the phone-answering note might read: Messages received after closing are reviewed the next working day. This is an operational promise the team can assess. Before sharing the sheet, remove unnecessary private information and limit access to people who need it. Review the record after staffing, service, phone, location, or scheduling changes rather than waiting for a fixed annual cleanup.
Your practical checklist
- Create separate public-facts and account-administration sections.
- Add approved values, owners, and checked dates.
- Record every website and profile affected by changes.
- Keep passwords and recovery codes outside the sheet.
- Schedule a short recurring review with the responsible person.
Written with AI-assisted research and drafting, with source checks and editorial review for this guidebook. Platform facts link to official documentation. Examples and recommendations are our own; no client results are implied. Sources reviewed October 8, 2026. About Getting Found Local