Add accurate business hours including holiday hours

10 minutes, plus a reminder for holidays. Impact: medium Effort: low

Setting your regular hours plus special/holiday hours on your profile so Google always shows when you're actually open — including the 'special hours' feature for holidays and one-off changes.

Wrong hours are one of the most damaging small errors in local search: a customer who drives to a 'closed when it said open' business rarely returns and may leave a bad review. Accurate hours build trust and qualify you for Google's 'open now' filter.

How to do it

1

Set regular weekly hours

Enter open/close times for each day. Mark closed days as closed — don't leave them blank.
2

Add special/holiday hours

Use the special-hours section to override specific dates (Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th). Google prompts you before major holidays — say yes.
3

Add extra hour types if relevant

Some categories support 'delivery', 'drive-through', or 'senior' hours. Fill any that apply.
4

Set a recurring reminder

Holiday hours are what go stale. Add a calendar reminder before each major holiday to confirm them.

Common mistakes

Forgetting holiday hours — the #1 cause of 'it said open but was closed' and bad reviews.
Leaving days blank instead of marking 'closed'.
Setting hours once and never updating seasonally.
Ignoring Google's pre-holiday prompts.

How you'll know it's done

Regular hours are correct, holiday hours are set for upcoming dates, and your listing shows the right open/closed status now.

Tools that help

Google Business Profile ↗

Set regular and special/holiday hours.

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