Protect Listings

Protect Listings keeps unauthorized updates from changing the business information on your Google Business Profiles. If you need the broader feature overview first, start with our google business listing management software page.

Overview

Protector makes Localith the source of truth for your listing data. Once it is active, Localith automatically declines unauthorized updates from users, managers, or suggested edits. It also scans your live profiles on a schedule you choose and reverts any discrepancy back to the values you saved in Localith.

Two settings used to do this job separately: 'Decline edits by default' and 'Lock and protect profile'. They are now combined into a single control called Protector, which you switch on either for one listing or for every listing at once.

Use it when a wrong phone number, category, or set of hours could create customer confusion, break reporting, or hurt local trust. This is especially useful for franchises, agencies, and distributed internal teams where several people and outside suggestions can affect the same profiles.

Before you start

Before you turn on Protector, make sure:

• your Google Business Profiles are already connected in Localith
• the business information saved in Localith is accurate and current
• you know whether you want to protect a single listing or every connected listing

Protector restores the data saved in Localith, so check the high-risk fields first: business name, address, phone number, primary category, and hours. If Localith holds an outdated value, a scan will put that outdated value back on the live profile.

How it works

Protector handles three things without asking you to review them one by one:

• edits suggested by outside users
• unauthorized changes made by managers or other users
• discrepancies found during Localith's scheduled scans

Each detected change still gets recorded. Everything lands under 'All edits', and anything Protector rejected on your behalf is collected under 'Auto-declined', so you keep a full audit trail. See the listing edits guide for the review workflow.

Step-by-step

Protect a single listing

1. Open 'Listings', then 'Active listings'.
2. Find the business you want to protect.
3. Switch on the 'Protector' toggle in that listing's row.

The toggle turns green once protection is active, and the listing keeps its health score and group assignments.

Protect every listing at once

1. Open 'Protect listings' from the main navigation.
2. Select 'Protect profile'.
3. Pick a 'Scan period', which sets how often Localith checks your live profiles for discrepancies.
4. Click 'Activate protector'. The button tells you how many listings the change will affect.
5. Check the protected listings table below to confirm the listings you expected now show a 'Protected' status.

Tips and best practices

• Correct your listing data in Localith before you activate Protector, because that data is what a scan restores.
• Use the per-listing toggle when protection requirements differ by location, brand, or client.
• Use 'Activate protector' when every connected listing should follow the same policy.
• Make authorized updates inside Localith so the source of truth stays current and scans do not undo real changes.
• Review 'Auto-declined' regularly to spot repeated attempts against the same listing or field.

Limits or edge cases

• Protector restores the values saved in Localith, so stale data in Localith can be reapplied to a live profile during a scan.
• Protection does not hide history. Auto-declined changes stay available for review.
• The scan period controls how quickly a discrepancy is caught, not whether it is caught. A change made right after a scan stays live until the next one.
• Activating Protector for all listings applies to the listings connected at that moment. Connect a new listing later and you switch on its toggle separately.

Common questions