Managing Opening Hours and Special Hours in Listings

Google Trends indicates that searches for terms like "opening hours" often follow after the brand or service name and "near me." Google considers this behaviour when displaying search results, showing relevant opening hours alongside the store address. Thus, keeping your business hours up-to-date across all platforms is crucial for visibility and customer experience.

Listings aim to simplify this process by pre-filling most business information based on your Google location. However, it's important to review and update your hours as needed, especially if your store has multiple opening times within a day (e.g., for a midday closure like a siesta).

How to Edit Your Opening Hours in Listings

To update your opening hours, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Dashboard: Access the Location page.

2. Navigate to the "Opening Hours" Section: Go to the Listings page and find the "Operating Hours" section.

3. Click "Edit": Here, you can easily add, remove, or modify opening hours.

4. Add Multiple Opening Hours: Click "Add hours" to enter multiple sets of hours for the same day if your business closes and reopens later.

Changing Opening Hours Directly in Google Business Profile (GBP)

While you can change opening hours directly in Google Business Profile (GBP), it is not recommended if you want Listings to remain the primary source of truth for your business data. 

If you change the hours in GBP, Listings will not overwrite them, as this makes GBP the leading data source. To revert control back to Listings:

1. Go to the "Opening Hours" section in Listings.

2. Change the hours to incorrect values and save.

3. Click the "Synchronise" button at the top right.

4. Update to the correct hours and save again.

5. Click "Sync" once more to ensure Listings regain control.

Managing Special Opening Hours

In addition to regular hours, you can add Special Opening Hours for holidays, special events, or temporary closures. This feature helps communicate to customers if your store will operate on a different schedule during certain periods, such as public holidays or school vacations.

How to Add Special Opening Hours:

1. Go to Your Listings Page: Navigate to the "Special Opening Hours" section.

2. Click on "Edit": Select the date, specify if the store is open and the opening hours, or mark it as closed for the day.

3. Save Changes:* Add as many special opening hours as needed, ensuring they are added at least 7 days in advance for processing.

FAQs About Special Opening Hours

1. Why Can't I Add Special Hours for My Location? 

Special hours can only be added if regular hours are provided. You cannot remove regular hours if special hours are already added.

2. Why Are My Special Hours Not Visible in Listings?

Some directories may not support this feature or require up to 7 days to update listings. Most directories display special hours only a few days before the actual date.

Setting Locations to Temporarily Closed

To temporarily close a location, Listings will automatically determine this based on the number of consecutive closed days set as special hours:

- Google and Apple Maps: Status changes to temporarily closed if set for 14+ consecutive days.

- Foursquare and Facebook: Status changes if set for 7+ consecutive days.

When to Use Special Opening Hours

You should use special hours when:

- Your business will open or close at different times than usual.

- Your business undergoes renovations or is temporarily closed.

Avoid removing normal hours, as certain directories, like Google, will not interpret this as a closure and will continue to show standard hours. Do not set "no hours," as this will not display your business as closed.