How to set holiday hours on your Google Business Profile

Few things annoy a customer more than driving to a shop that Google said was open. In late November and December that happens a lot, because opening times change and many profiles never get updated.

Google Business Profile has a feature built for this called special hours. It lets you change your hours for a single day without touching your regular weekly schedule. Here's how to use it properly.

What special hours are for

Google describes special hours as the setting for holidays, special events and other unusual days. Your normal hours stay as they are, and the special hours apply only to the dates you pick.

There's one limit worth knowing. Special hours are meant for short closures of up to six days in a row. If you're shutting for longer, for example a two-week break over Christmas, Google points you to the "Temporarily closed" setting instead.

How to add special hours

1. Open your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Hours.
2. Next to Special hours, click the edit icon.
3. Pick a date. Google often suggests upcoming holidays, which you can accept with Review. You can also choose Add a date for any other day.
4. If you're open, untick Closed and enter your opening and closing times. If you're shut all day, leave Closed ticked.
5. Click Save.

If you have split hours on a day, such as a lunch service and a dinner service, use More and then Add hours to enter a second set.

Mistakes that stop your hours showing correctly

Your profile isn't set to "Open with main hours." Google says special hours only show on your profile when your business hours are set this way. If you've chosen a different option, your holiday hours may not appear.

Late nights that run past midnight. A single set of special hours can't go beyond 24 hours. If you're open from 7pm until 2am on New Year's Eve, Google asks you to split it: 7pm to midnight on the first day, then midnight to 2am on the next.

Forgetting the day after. Special hours replace your regular hours for that whole day. If your late-night session spills into the next morning, re-enter that day's normal hours as special hours too, or they won't show.

Skipping holidays where nothing changes. Google recommends confirming your hours for official holidays even when they're the same as usual. That tells customers the hours are accurate and not just left over from the rest of the year.

Using special hours for different service times. If you have separate times for things like delivery or pickup, those belong under More hours, not special hours.

Managing more than one location

If you look after several locations, you can upload special hours in bulk with a spreadsheet. Dates go in the "Special hours" column in YYYY-MM-DD format, with an "x" for a full-day closure. Be careful when updating: Google warns that empty columns with headings will erase the existing data in those columns, so only include the store code and special hours columns.

Dates to check this season

In the US, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 26 November this year, followed by Black Friday on the 27th and Small Business Saturday on the 28th. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are worth checking too. Set them now, while you're thinking about it, rather than the night before.

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