How Do I Change My Business Hours on Google?

Business hours are one of the most important parts of your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business), letting potential customers know when you're open. There’s nothing worse than a customer showing up only to find your doors closed—you’re unlikely to see them again.

That’s why it’s essential to get your hours right. Let’s dive into regular business hours, special hours, temporary closures, and temporary business hours—when to use each and the common pitfalls to avoid (yes, there are definitely some!).

How to Set Your Main Hours in Your Google Business Profile?

1. Visit your Google Business Profile Manager.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Hours”.
4. Scroll to “Opening Hours” and click on the pencil icon.
5. Set your hours for each day of the week. If you are for instance closed on
6. Sunday, don’t leave the space open, but click on “Closed”.
7. Lastly, click on “Save”.

How to Set Business Hour Breaks?

If you want to set breaks such as a lunch break during which you are closed, follow these steps:

1. Visit your Google Business Profile Manager.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Hours”.
4. Scroll to “Opening Hours” and click on the pencil icon.
5. Set your hours until your break starts (e.g. 9 am - 12 pm)
6. Next to your regular set hours, you will see a + which you need to click.
7. Now set the remaining hours after your break (e.g. 1 pm - 5 pm).
8. Click on “Save”.
9. Repeat for all applicable days.

How to Set More Business Hours?

There are additional hour settings available, which may vary by industry. For example, if you own a restaurant, you can set specific hours for pickup, delivery, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and more.

To set more business hours follow these steps:

1. Visit your Google Business Profile Manager.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Hours”.
4. Scroll down to “Add more hours” and click on the pencil icon.
5. Click on the + for any of the applicable options and set your business hours for this category.
6. Click on "Save”.
7. Your new section will show up above.

When Should You Set Special Business Hours in Your Google Business Profile?

Special hours are the adjusted hours your business operates during holidays, seasonal periods, or your own business closures. On public holidays, your Google Business Profile (GBP) will display “business hours might vary” if you haven’t set specific hours. This can leave potential customers uncertain about whether you’re open.

To avoid confusion, make sure to set your special business hours for:

• On all public holidays: Even if you are open regularly, set your hours to avoid the confusing message.
• Renovations: If you have reduced hours due to renovations, set this as well in your special hours! This can also refer to for instance “pick-up” only.
• Staff shortage: In case you have a staff shortage, you can set reduced or different hours.

How to Set Special Business Hours in Your Google Business Profile?

1. Visit your Google Business Profile Manager.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Hours”.
4. Scroll to “Special Hours” and click on the pencil icon.
5. Add a date and the specific opening hours or click on “Closed” in case you are not operating on that day.
6. Click on “Save”.

Important: Special opening hours can only be set one day at a time—you can't select a full-time frame, like a week, all at once. Thus, if you have seasonal opening hours, adjust your main opening hours during the summer or winter period.

Tip from Diana: Remember, you need to set your special hours each year—they won’t automatically repeat. To avoid missing this, mark it in your calendar at the beginning of the year if you already know your opening hours for holidays and special occasions.

When Should You Mark Your Business Temporarily Closed?

If your business is closed for more than three months, you need to mark it as temporarily closed. If it's closed for less than three months, you can simply turn off the hours.

How to turn off your business hours:

1. Visit your Google Business Profile Manager.
2. Click on “Edit Profile”.
3. Click on “Hours”.
4. Scroll to “Opening Hours” and click on the pencil icon.
5. Click on “Open with no main hours”.
6. Click on “Save”.

If you want to set your business as temporarily closed, click on “Temporarily closed” instead of “Open with no main hours”.

Tip from Diana: While the general rule is that if your business is closed for more than seven days, it should be marked as temporarily closed, we’ve often seen issues with this among our clients. Google may not automatically update the business hours once you "reopen," causing your business to remain marked as temporarily closed for months.

If you are facing issues with your opening hours, it is best to reach out to Google Support for assistance!

How Long Does It Take to Update Business Hours on Google?

If you set your business hours in Google, it should usually show up instantly or within a couple of minutes.

Again, if you are facing issues with your opening hours not showing up correctly, you can contact Google Support for assistance!

Tip from Diana: If you're updating your business hours or special hours via Obenan, don’t forget to click the “Sync Now” button if you want your new hours to appear instantly (or within a few minutes). Otherwise, it may take up to 48 hours for our system to automatically update the information.

Google Keeps Updating My Business Hours

Google may occasionally edit your business hours for various reasons, such as user-suggested edits (yes, anyone can suggest changes to your business) or updates from Google’s automated systems. Typically, you’ll receive an email notifying you that your business details have been updated.

So, what should you do? If you receive a suggested edit, reject it as soon as possible. If it’s too late to reject, you’ll get an email confirming the changes. In that case, you’ll need to manually revert them by updating your Google Business Profile (GBP).

Not only is this frustrating and time-consuming, but it can also create confusion for your customers. If you're an Obenan client, you don’t have to worry about this at all—we automatically sync your business details to ensure consistency across the web!

Last but Not Least: Update Your Business Hours Everywhere!

If you change your business hours or special hours—basically, if you update anything on your Google Business Profile (GBP)—make sure to update it everywhere, not just on Google. Go through your list of business directories where your business is listed and check if any updates are needed.

If you're already an Obenan client, you can ignore this—we automatically sync all your information across business directories and your GBP. You can update everything with just one click.

Want to learn more about how Obenan can simplify updating your entire online presence, save you hours of time, and optimize your business for local SEO? Get in touch with us. A fully optimized online presence can help attract more customers and boost your revenue.