How to Edit Your Google Knowledge Panel (When It's Wrong)

You searched your name, saw your knowledge panel, and something is wrong. The description is outdated, the photo is from 2019, the founding year is off by two, or the “related people” section includes someone you’ve never met. This post is the real process for fixing it.

The two tracks

There are two ways to propose edits to a knowledge panel, and which one you use depends on whether you’ve claimed the panel.

Track 1: verified owner edits. You’ve gone through Google’s claim process, verified your identity, and gained access to the “Suggest edit” interface inside Google Search. Your suggestions carry more weight and process faster.

Track 2: public feedback. You haven’t claimed the panel, so you submit corrections through the “Feedback” link at the bottom of the panel. These get reviewed but process more slowly and don’t always result in changes.

Claim the panel first if you can. The verified track is substantially more effective.

Claiming the panel (prerequisite)

If you haven’t already claimed your panel, start here. The short version of the process:

1. Search for your entity on Google. The panel appears.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the panel and look for “Claim this knowledge panel” or “Is this you? Claim this panel.”
3. Sign in with a Google account tied to an official web property for your entity (your website, YouTube channel, verified social account).
4. Verify your identity through one of Google’s accepted methods: official website verification via Search Console, verified YouTube channel, verified social profile, or a government ID check.
5. Wait for Google to review and approve the claim, usually within a few days to a few weeks.

Once approved, you’ll see “Suggest edit” appear inside the panel when you’re signed in.

Track 1: what verified owners can edit

After claiming, the panel editing interface lets you propose changes to specific fields. The editable ones typically include:

• Featured image. Upload a replacement image with rights to use. Google reviews for quality and appropriateness before displaying.
• Short description. Suggest a new one-sentence description. Google will either accept your version, rewrite it, or pull a new one from Wikipedia when the article updates.
• Social profile links. Add, remove, or update the social accounts displayed.
• Website link. Update the official website URL.
• Category tags. Suggest updated category tags (e.g., “Author” to “Author and entrepreneur”).

What you can’t edit directly:

• Factual fields like founding date, birth date, spouse, or occupation if they’re pulled from Wikipedia or Wikidata. To change these, you edit the source (Wikipedia or Wikidata) and wait for Google to pick up the change.
• Related entity suggestions (“people also search for”). Those are algorithmic and not user-editable.
• Stock prices, reviews, and other real-time data.

Track 2: how public feedback works

If you haven’t claimed the panel, the public feedback path still works, just less effectively.

1. Open the panel.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click “Feedback.”
3. A popup appears with a screenshot of the panel highlighted. You can click on specific fields to flag what’s wrong.
4. Describe the correction and provide sources or citations where possible. Good sources: official website, Wikipedia article, Wikidata entry, authoritative press coverage.
5. Submit.

Google reviews the feedback and either updates the panel, updates the source it pulls from, or ignores the request. There’s no notification when feedback is processed. You’ll have to check the panel periodically to see if the change took effect.

Fixing facts that come from Wikipedia or Wikidata

Many panel facts are pulled from Wikipedia and Wikidata. If one of those is wrong, fixing it at the source is more reliable than fixing the panel directly.

Wikipedia fixes. If your Wikipedia article has incorrect information:

• Don’t edit your own article (conflict of interest violates Wikipedia policy).
• Instead, post on the article’s Talk page with the correction and cite authoritative sources.
• Experienced Wikipedia editors will review and make the change if the sources check out.
• Expect 1 to 4 weeks for the correction to process, then another 2 to 8 weeks for Google to pick up the change.

Wikidata fixes. If the fact is in Wikidata:

• You can edit Wikidata directly. Create an account and propose the change with source citations.
• Wikidata is more permissive than Wikipedia about self-editing, but citations still matter.
• Corrections usually process within days. Google picks up Wikidata changes faster than Wikipedia changes, typically within 1 to 4 weeks.

Fixing facts from other sources

Some panel data comes from licensed databases like IMDb, Crunchbase, or MusicBrainz. To fix those:

• IMDb. Submit corrections through IMDbPro if you have access, or through the public “Update” form on your IMDb page. Processing takes 1 to 4 weeks.
• Crunchbase. Claim your profile on Crunchbase and update directly through the claimed profile interface. Processing is usually immediate, but Google’s pickup can take 2 to 6 weeks.
• MusicBrainz. Edit the artist page directly. The MusicBrainz community reviews edits before they go live.

Each source has its own process. Check the source of the wrong fact in the panel (sometimes visible on hover), then fix it at that source.

Fixing the description specifically

The one-sentence description in a panel is the most visible piece of text and the hardest to change. A few tactics:

Option 1: update your Wikipedia lead paragraph. Google frequently pulls descriptions from the first sentence of the Wikipedia article’s lead paragraph. If you improve that sentence (through a Talk page request, with citations), the panel description often updates to match.

Option 2: update your official website and schema markup. For entities without Wikipedia articles, Google sometimes pulls the description from the About page of the official website or the Organization/Person schema markup. Rewriting both with the description you want can influence the panel.

Option 3: suggest a new description through the verified edit interface. For claimed panels, the direct suggestion path works, but expect Google to edit your version before publishing.

Fixing the featured image

The image is one of the more commonly wrong fields, and one of the more visible.

For claimed panels, upload a new image through the verified edit interface. Google will review for quality, appropriateness, and rights.

For unclaimed panels, the image often comes from:

• The top Google image search result for your entity name.
• Wikipedia (if the article has a lead image).
• Schema markup on your official website.

To influence which image appears, make sure the preferred image:

• Appears on your official website with appropriate alt text and schema markup.
• Is used on your main social profiles (LinkedIn, X, Instagram) with consistent framing.
• Is the image associated with your Wikipedia article (if you have one).

Over time, consistency across these sources moves the featured image toward the one you want.

Timelines to expect

Knowledge panel edits are not fast. Rough timelines:

• Social link updates (verified owner): 1 to 7 days.
• Website link updates (verified owner): 1 to 14 days.
• Description changes (verified owner): 2 to 8 weeks.
• Description changes (public feedback): 4 to 16 weeks, often longer.
• Fact changes via Wikipedia or Wikidata: 2 to 12 weeks total (source update plus Google pickup).
• Image changes: 2 to 12 weeks.

Plan for patience. If you need a correction fast for a high-stakes reason, contact Google’s business support if your panel is tied to a business, or work through an agency that has experience escalating through Google’s support channels.

What to do if nothing works

Some edits never process, for reasons Google doesn’t always explain. If you’ve tried the verified owner path, updated the source material, and waited several months, options narrow to:

1. Repeat the request with better sources. Sometimes the issue is that the supporting citations weren’t strong enough.
2. Escalate through a Google My Business or Google Search Central support channel. These are primarily for businesses, but they sometimes route knowledge panel issues correctly.
3. Engage an agency with established Google relationships. Some PR and reputation firms have direct contacts at Google that can escalate specific cases.
4. Accept the error and work around it. This is unsatisfying but sometimes the only option for edge cases.

The preventative advice

The best way to avoid editing a panel is to get the information right before the panel triggers. Make sure your Wikipedia article (if you have one), your Wikidata entry, your Crunchbase profile, your website schema, and your press coverage all align on the facts you want displayed. Consistency across sources is what gets Google to display the right version.

If you’re early in the entity-building process, treat data accuracy as part of the work. Fixing it later is possible but slower and more frustrating than getting it right the first time.