Most business owners only think about their company's registered details when something has gone wrong — a letter arrives at an old address, a supplier queries the right legal name, or an accountant flags a discrepancy. Keeping your records accurate is not just administrative tidiness. It has direct knock-on effects for your advertising, your credibility, and how third parties verify who you are.
This article explains exactly how to find and update company information across the registers and systems that matter most, including what this has to do with your Google Ads account.
How to Find and Update Company Information
To find and update company information in the UK, the primary starting point is Companies House — the official registrar for limited companies in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. You can search any UK registered company through the Companies House register, which is the government's own service for this purpose.
The register holds your company's registered name, registered office address, directors, persons with significant control (PSC), share structure, and filing history. Any change to these details needs to be formally reported to Companies House within the statutory timeframe — typically 14 days for changes to officers or registered address, and within the annual confirmation statement for other updates.
The confusion most people run into is treating Companies House as the only place that holds their company data. It is not. Your company information also lives in HMRC systems, your bank's records, the ICO register if you handle personal data, and — critically — any advertising accounts you operate. Each of these is a separate update.
For sole traders and partnerships, Companies House is not relevant in the same way, but HMRC's self-assessment and VAT registration records still need to reflect accurate business details. The principle is the same regardless of structure: there is a source of record somewhere, and it needs to match reality.
Where Company Information Gets Stored (And Forgotten)
Over nine years running a marketing agency, we saw the same problem repeatedly. A client would update their trading name or move premises, tell their accountant, and assume the job was done. Months later, Google Ads would be firing with a mismatched business name, their Google Business Profile would show the old address, and their bank's merchant name would be different again. Each system has its own update process and none of them talk to each other automatically.
The key registers and systems to keep current are:
| System | What It Holds | How to Update |
|---|---|---|
| Companies House | Legal name, address, directors, PSC | File via Companies House WebFiling |
| HMRC | Tax reference, VAT number, trading name | Contact HMRC directly or via agent |
| ICO | Data controller details | Update via ICO online portal |
| Google Ads | Business name, billing contact, payment | Google Ads account settings |
| Google Business Profile | Trading name, address, hours | Claim and edit via Google Business Profile manager |
| Companies Credit Agencies | Legal name, address, financial data | Submit corrections via each agency |
The table above is not exhaustive, but it covers the registers that matter most for a small or medium-sized business. The credit reference agencies — Dun & Bradstreet, Creditsafe, Experian Business — are often overlooked, yet they influence how suppliers and partners assess you before agreeing terms.
Why Accurate Company Information Affects Your Google Ads
This connection is less obvious than it sounds, but it is real. When Google reviews your ads — particularly for certain categories or in response to a policy flag — one of the things it checks is whether the business information in your account is consistent and verifiable. A mismatch between the legal name on your billing details and your advertised trading name can trigger a review, delay approval, or in some cases restrict your account.
Beyond policy compliance, your Google Ads account itself holds company information that needs to match your current reality. Your billing name, payment address, business category, and contact details are all stored in account settings. If you have rebranded, moved, or changed your legal structure, these need updating independently — Google does not pull from Companies House.
For SMEs running paid search without dedicated oversight, these discrepancies tend to accumulate quietly. You can read more about the day-to-day mechanics of managing this kind of account upkeep in our guide to Google Pay Per Click Management for SMEs.
Understanding how much Google Ads actually costs also becomes relevant here — because if your billing details are incorrect or flagged, you may find charges going to old cards or addresses, causing campaign interruptions you did not see coming.
Updating Company Information on Companies House
The process for filing changes with Companies House is more straightforward than many people expect. Most updates can be done online through the WebFiling service, using your company's authentication code. If you do not have this code, you can request a new one from Companies House by post — it takes around five working days.
Common updates and the forms associated with them:
Change of registered office address: File a AD01 form. This takes effect immediately on Companies House's register once accepted. Your new address must be in the same part of the UK as your current registered office (England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland).
Change of director details: File a CH01 (for existing director changes) or AP01 (to appoint a new director). These must be filed within 14 days of the change occurring.
Change of company name: This requires a special resolution by shareholders and submission of the NM01 form. There is a fee — currently £8 for the standard online service. The name change takes effect when Companies House issues a new certificate of incorporation.
Annual confirmation statement: This is filed at least once a year and confirms that the information on the register is accurate. It is not the same as accounts. Missing it results in automatic dissolution proceedings.
One thing practitioners know that generic guides omit: the date Companies House shows for a change is the date it was processed, not the date it occurred. If a legal dispute ever turns on when a change took effect, you need your own records of when the event actually happened.
How This Connects to PPC Management
The reason this topic sits within the broader area of PPC management is straightforward. Small business owners wearing multiple hats are the same people filing confirmation statements, updating billing details in Google Ads, and trying to run advertising campaigns that generate returns. These tasks compete for the same time.
When advertising accounts are not properly maintained — and that includes the business information within them — performance suffers in ways that are not always immediately traceable. A suspended billing method pauses campaigns. An outdated business category in your account can affect which auctions you are eligible for. A name mismatch creates friction in the ad approval process.
If you are thinking about how AI is changing the management burden for SMEs, our comparison of Pay Per Click Software vs AI Agent is worth reading before making any decisions about how you structure your ad management going forward.
The administrative and the operational are more connected than they appear. Keeping your company records clean is part of keeping your advertising clean.
What AI Agents Can and Cannot Do With Company Data
This is worth being direct about, because there is a tendency to overstate what automation can handle. An AI agent managing your Google Ads — like Overtime, which logs into your account and makes live adjustments — can monitor your account settings, flag anomalies, adjust bids, pause underperforming keywords, and reallocate budget in response to real performance data. It can also send you summaries that surface issues you would otherwise miss.
What it cannot do is file a CH01 with Companies House on your behalf, or call HMRC to update your VAT registration address. Those remain human tasks, tied to legal identity and statutory process.
The practical value is this: an AI agent creates the headspace for you to handle those administrative tasks properly. When you are not manually reviewing bid strategies at 11pm or trying to work out why your cost-per-click has spiked, you have time to actually find and update company information across the systems that need it.
For 2026, the expectation from Google around business verification is moving in one direction — more of it, not less. Keeping your records current is not busywork. It is how you avoid account disruptions at the worst possible moment.
If you are weighing up how to handle Google Ads management alongside the administrative demands of running a business, looking at what a Google Ads expert actually does gives you a useful benchmark for what active management involves — and what it costs in time or money.
The best use of your time right now is to find and update company information across every system where your business appears, then put in place the advertising management structure that means you are not dealing with account problems on top of everything else. Overtime handles the Google Ads side without requiring you to hire an agency or manage campaigns yourself — freeing you to focus on the compliance and administrative tasks that genuinely need a human.
If you are already running Google Ads and want to understand exactly what an AI agent does inside your account, the Google Ads management overview explains the process in plain terms.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find and update company information on Companies House?
You can find and update company information through the official Companies House find-and-update service at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. You will need your company's authentication code to file changes online. Updates to director details and registered addresses must be filed within 14 days of the change.
What happens if my company information is out of date?
Outdated company information can lead to failed credit checks, misdirected legal correspondence, and complications with HMRC. In the context of Google Ads, mismatched business details can trigger policy reviews or cause billing failures that pause your campaigns.
How often should I review my company's registered details?
At minimum, you should review your registered details annually when filing your confirmation statement. In practice, any time your business changes address, directors, or trading name, you should update every relevant register — not just Companies House — within the statutory timeframe.
Can I update my business information in Google Ads separately from Companies House?
Yes. Google Ads holds its own record of your business information in account settings, and this is completely separate from Companies House. You need to update each system independently. Google does not pull data from the Companies House register.
For more on this, see our guide: How to Find and Update Company Details That Actually Matter.
For more on this, see our guide: Where to Find Your Company Registration Number.
For more on this, see our guide: Companies House Contact Number: What SMEs Need.
For more on this, see our guide: Companies House Contact Number: What SMEs Need.
For more on this, see our guide: Call Companies House: What SMEs Actually Need.
Should I use a registered agent to manage Companies House filings?
For routine filings — confirmation statements, address changes, director updates — most small business owners can manage this directly using Companies House WebFiling. A registered agent or accountant is worth using for more complex changes like share restructuring, company name changes, or if you are behind on filings and need to bring records up to date quickly.