“We’re Open!” — Google My Business Hours and Holidays

Here are two new things you can do on your Google My Business profile to drive more store visits that are free and take just minutes to set-up 🙂

Department Hours

Google has recently made some updates to the information you can display on your Google My Business profile — that super important card that prominently appears in search results and Google Maps, letting customers instantly learn about, call, and get directions to your business.

One of the most important updates is the ability to list business hours for different departments within your dealership, so that people can now tell when your service and parts departments are open. This has a couple big advantages.

• Customer Experience: Up until recently you could only list one set of business hours, which is not that helpful if your different departments don’t share the same exact hours. So first of all, you’re creating a better experience for users who would otherwise have to call or dig for that information, or take their chances by visiting.

• Search Optimization: Having these linked yet separate Google My Business listings also optimizes your dealership for service-specific searches. For example, while “Melrose Place Toyota’s” main business listing would fall under the category “Toyota Dealer”, their service and parts departments can now categorize under “Auto Repair Shop” and “Auto Parts Store”, increasing your dealership’s relevancy for those specific searches.

Holiday Hours

Particularly important around this holiday season, Google now allows businesses to set special hours for holidays and special events. This is completely optional, but Google will warn viewers that holiday hours may vary if that business does not specifically set the hours for official holidays, leaving doubt that you’re worth the trip on those days. So, even if the hours will not change on a holiday, you should set them so that Google displays a reassurance to customers that these are in fact the holiday hours for this business.
Official Holidays that should be set are:

Need Any Help?

If you need any help setting your hours, or optimizing your ever-important Google My Business profile, shoot me an email at nschoell@launchdigitalmarketing.com. Our Local Search team is here to help!

Source: blog.google/products/search/know-you-go-google

Meet Nathan Schoell

Nathan is a Local Search Manager at LDM. He graduated with a degree in Mass Communications from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. When he is not working on client’s local search optimization, he enjoys reading, playing soccer, and trying to keep up with his two kids. View all posts by Nathan Schoell →