Seasonal Setting Options for Google My Business
-
Hi there,
Not sure if anyone will have any insight but I have a seasonal business that I am closed for from September to March. I don't want to mark my business as "permanently closed" through Google My Business as I don't want my customers to think I've gone out of business. I've seen a few times through forums that you can change your business to temporarily closed, but I can't find the specifics on how to do this. Any insight, suggestion or resources would be great!
Thanks!
-
Here is the answer that I've received:
"Hi
At the moment the work round is to set as open for 1 minute at 2am on Monday morning.
It worked for a top contributor but not for Nathan who tried it.
I think it could be a bug affecting older GmB entries?
Its been known about for a long time.
Andrew."
-
Brick and mortar - I have a patio furniture store.
-
Thank you for documenting your experience, Matt. May I ask, is your business a service area business (like a plumber), or brick-and-mortar?
-
I actually ended up finding a link for Google Customer Service and got on a support call with a rep to review my situation. There was quite a bit of back and forth and proof required to show why I wanted "temporarily closed" vs. Closed and I needed to provide a 're-opening date' to achieve this. But I was able to achieve it.
The other thing to mention is that there are two ways you can be found on Google for Business listings: 1) via Google Maps Search (google.com/maps) and 2) Google Search.
For the Google Maps Search it is not possible (I confirmed with a Google specialist) to temporarily close a location via the Maps. Google Maps requires you to be open or closed.
For Google Search, once the seasonal location is ready to re-open you have to contact them again to have "Temporarily Closed" removed from your listing.
Hope this helps.
-
Hi Miriam,
I've posted on the GMB Forum and let you know if I've an answer.
-
Hi Jonathan,
I wonder if Matt ever posted to the GMB forum. This seems like a bug. I would recommend reporting and would be grateful if you'd let me know what you hear from the Gold Product Experts there.
-
Hi Miriam,
I've the same issue. It seems that you need 1 opening day. You can check the video in attach.
Regards,
Jonathan
-
Hmm, I wonder if there's a bug, Matt. How this should work is that you simply remove your open hours when you're not open and then put them back up again when you are. But you're encountering an error message? If that's right, I'd take this to the Google My Business forum: https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Basics-for-Business-Owners/bd-p/Basics_for_Business_Owners
Do a search there first to see if anyone else is encountering a similar problem right now. If not, post your business details, explain exactly what you're trying to do and ask if you're dealing with a bug or are making a misstep somewhere along the way.
-
Thank you so much for the suggestion. The info you tried above was the first way I tried to mark as temporarily closed but as soon as I tried to close all the "regular" hours I got an "invalid or missing data error". Do you know if this only works if there are special hours set (i.e. for holidays?)
-
Hi Matt!
Glad you've asked, and you're right - you definitely don't want to mark your business as closed. Instructions for this are found in the Guidelines for Representing your Business on Google, which read:
Seasonal hours
If your business has seasonal hours, use the following guidelines:
- During the season in which you’re open, set hours that reflect the current season's opening hours. You may set special hours for holidays, temporary closures, or other events.
- When your business is out of season, remove all opening hours, so they appear as unset. Set your opening hours again at the beginning of your next open season.
Hope this helps and that you have a good open season!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Business Split into 2 Businesses - Residential and Commercial Site - 2 different URLs and both have the same address! Can we create 2 separate Google My Business Accounts?
Business Split into 2 Businesses - Residential and Commercial Site - 2 different URLs and both have the same address! Can we create 2 separate Google My Business Accounts?
Local Listings | | 9thCO0 -
Improve Google Business ranking
While my client's websites have been ranking well in SERP for their keyterms I'm at a lost on what I can do to improve their Google business/map presence. I'm referring to their listing where the top three come up or when you search on Google Maps.
Local Listings | | FPK
https://gyazo.com/26ec78ed7f712157ec72492199545431 Ex 1. Several months ago my client was ranked #1 both for SERP and maps until they dropped to 2nd on maps. Now they're ranked 1st in search yet 2nd for local business rankings as you can see from the screenshot above. At one point my client's business did have more reviews than the 1st ranking business yet they still weren't 1st. Ex. 2. Client(s) is ranked 4th in search and doesn't show in the top 3 map listings for their search term. If you click on More places to view Google Maps they're listed all the way down as the 15th listing or worse can't even be found when searching by their main SEO key term . Of course they are found by searching for their business name so it's not like there is a problem with the listing. I make sure to: Completely fill out their Google Business profile(NAP, hours and add pictures) Have my client try to gain positive reviews Manage and respond to reviews(mainly the negative ones) Add map and Google business link to their website Can anyone offer any other insight on what else can be done to improve their local presence on maps that I might be missing?0 -
Google Local Storefront or Google Service Area?
We have been seeing some strange things happen in Google local after the most recent update. We used to show up in the maps all the time and have made no major edits or changes to the profile. Now when we search for our services, we show up high in the organic results, and not at all in maps (local listings). We have our profile setup as a service area since we do meet with people and provide services at their location, but also have checked the option that we also serve people at our address. I am wondering if the recent update favors actual storefronts when people are searching for services. Any ideas? Technically all the actual work is provided at our location, and the service we provide at the service area locations is based upon consultations. If we switched it to an actual storefront listing could that possibly help? Our profile is fairly strong, and has reviews, long history of posts, etc. What gives Google?
Local Listings | | David-Kley1 -
How to handle Local SEO when two businesses merge
Hi, I have a landscaping client who is buying another company and merging the two companies together. I trying to figure what the best way to handle this type of situation is. Here are the specifics. Company A I've been working with him for a number of years, he has a really robust site with good content and with really good rankings. I've done a ton of citations, he's in good shape. His company has decent name recognition. Company B My client is buying Company B. Their site is really poor, no SEO done on site and no directory listing work. The company has great name recognition in the community and gets most clients through word of mouth. My client has decided to take Company B's name because its a more well known company. He is going to merge the companies, because he doesn't want to have 2 companies from a management standpoint. He plans to keep both physical locations open. So here are my questions. Do I keep both sites live for a period of time and put a message notifying people that "Company A is now Company B Name"? OR Do I transfer all the good content from Company A's site to Company B's site and do a 301 redirect of the URL. How should I handle the data aggregators and directory listings? I'm trying to keep all the great natural traffic that Company A gets to its site, start to build traffic around company B's location while following all of Google's policies. I could just start over and in the long-term they'd be fine, but I really love to find a strategy to avoid my client taking a big hit in organic traffic. Thanks in advance Mozzers!
Local Listings | | JohnWeb121 -
How do I get a photos to display next to my Google Maps results in the SERP?
Why do photos show up next to the map in the Google Maps display on the SERP, while sometimes it doesn't. Am I missing something as far as a setting or place to upload the image or is it something that Google auto-populates?
Local Listings | | Gauge1230 -
Wrong Category Displaying Google Business Page?
Our firm keeps displaying "bankruptcy attorney" on google business page. Granted, we do that, as well as a variety of other services, but our primary category is "Personal Injury Attorney". I was told the categories are randomly selected, but I don't think that's true. Every time I've looked (or had other people look for us) on local, it displays as "bankruptcy attorney." What should I do? Is there a way to lock in the "Personal Injury Attorney" category, so it's the one that displays? Should I get rid of all the other categories except for "personal injury attorney?" Any other suggestion? Thanks, Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Report Google Plus Pages for Catergory Stuffing?
Doing some analysis for a clients and it have come to our attention that some of the competitors in this area have 16 to 18 categories, many duplicate and keyword stuffed. I tried to find a specific action to report this to Google, I am aware you can report spam for websites does this apply to the places pages as well? Can you just use the report abuse or report spam links? Anyone have any experience with this type of action with Google? Thanks.
Local Listings | | AFoust1 -
Google+ Business Page Ownership - Local Listings
Hi
Local Listings | | soobumim
I am trying to update Google+ Business page. I think previouse employee already setup a Google+ page (not sure if it's completed or not) but she no longer works here. At this point, we have no way of knowing user name & password for the Google + business page.
Name of the business is:
Immediate Response Plumbing
www.irplumbing.com
210) 496-6900
13106 Lookout Ridge, San Antonio, TX 78233
Is therre anyway I can reverify the ownership without contacting the previouse employee?
I am trying to figure out request to change listing ownership from Google and I am lost
Could anyone help me?
Thank you0