Who reads your hours on a holiday?
Someone deciding whether to come, right now. Your Google Business Profile carries your hours, and on a holiday the person reading them may be asking one question: are you open today. A profile that shows Monday hours on a Monday holiday gives an answer, and if that answer is wrong, a customer can drive to a locked door.
That is the whole case for setting holiday hours. Regular hours shown on a holiday do not say whether anyone checked them. Special hours do, and they take about half an hour a year, as the example below counts.
What are special hours, and what do they change?
A short exception. Google's special hours let a business change its hours for a brief period, such as a holiday, for up to 6 days in a row, while its regular hours stay as they are (Google Business Profile Help). For each day you name, you are closed, or open at different times.
Three kinds of day belong on your list. Days you close. Days you open with different hours, such as closing early on the eve of a holiday. And official holidays when nothing changes, which Google's page says it is a good idea to confirm.
Should you confirm a holiday when your hours do not change?
Yes. Google's page says it is a good idea to confirm hours for official holidays even when they do not change, which makes it clear to customers that the hours are accurate (Google Business Profile Help). A confirmed holiday tells the reader that someone at the business thought about the day, and that the hours shown were meant.
How do you set them?
In the profile's Hours editor, or by a bulk upload spreadsheet (Google Business Profile Help). Do it before the day, not on it: a customer who reads your hours the night before is the one you want to reach.
Keep a list of every official holiday and every day your business observes, decide for each whether you close, change hours or stay as you are, and set each one before it comes. Add the odd day the same way: a family event, a training day, a day the shop is closed for repairs.
What if you close for a week or more?
Then special hours are the wrong tool. Google lets a business set special hours for up to 6 days in a row, and for a closure of 7 or more days in a row, or for an unknown period of time, its page says to mark the business temporarily closed instead (Google Business Profile Help).
So a long weekend fits within special hours, and so does a shutdown of up to 6 days. A two week break, or a closure whose end you do not know yet, is a temporarily closed profile. Read what Google says about temporarily closed before you use it, and put the date you reopen on your website and your voicemail as well, so the date is on record wherever a customer looks.
What else should say the same thing?
Everything a customer might read instead of the profile. Your website's hours, whether they sit in the footer, on the contact page or in your LocalBusiness schema, the structured data in the page code. Your voicemail. The sign on the door. Hours are not part of NAP consistency, which covers your name, address and phone, but the habit is the same: one answer everywhere.
If you would rather not keep this calendar, GBP Care is your Google Business Profile kept complete and active: weekly posts, hours and attributes, photo requests and a monthly insights report. The hours are yours to decide, and the profile stays in your name.
A year of holiday hours, counted
Here is the yearly time for a shop that observes ten holidays. The counts and minutes are made-up round numbers for the example, so put in your own.
- Official holidays on your list
- 10
- Days you close
- 6
- Days you open with different hours
- 2
- Days your hours do not change, confirmed anyway
- 2
- Minutes to set or confirm each day
- 3
- Total
- 10 days at 3 minutes each: 30 minutes a year
Half an hour a year covers all ten days. Six closures, two early days and two confirmations add up to the ten holidays on the list.
A two week summer closure is not on this list, because it does not fit in special hours. Google sets a limit of 6 days in a row, and says to mark the business temporarily closed for a closure of 7 or more days in a row (Google Business Profile Help). Count that one separately, with the website and voicemail changes that go with it.
Round numbers for the arithmetic, not a benchmark and not a forecast. Put in your own.
Questions
Do I need to set special hours if I am open my normal hours on a holiday?
Google says it is a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays even when they do not change, which makes it clear to customers that the hours are accurate (Google Business Profile Help). A confirmed holiday tells the reader that someone checked.
Can I use special hours for a whole week off?
No. Special hours cover up to 6 days in a row (Google Business Profile Help). For a closure of 7 or more days in a row, or for an unknown period of time, Google says to mark the business temporarily closed instead (Google Business Profile Help).
What happens to my profile if I never set holiday hours?
Google's page does not say what happens if special hours are never set (Google Business Profile Help). What can happen is on your side of the counter: a customer reads your regular hours on a day you are closed, drives over, and finds the door locked.
Can I use special hours for a day that is not a holiday?
Yes. Google describes special hours as a change for a brief period, like a special event, and lists holidays as one use (Google Business Profile Help). A day closed for a family event or for repairs is set the same way, for up to 6 days in a row.