Open your phone right now. Search for your business name. Look at the box on the right side or the panel that pops up. It probably shows your hours. Are they right.
For a surprising number of small businesses, the answer is no. The hours on Google are wrong, outdated, or missing entirely. And the cost of that mistake is bigger than most owners realize.
Google’s business listings, often called Google Business Profile or Google Maps listings, are how most local customers find local businesses. When someone searches for a coffee shop near them, they see a list with photos, ratings, and hours. They use those hours to decide whether to visit now, in an hour, or tomorrow.
If your hours say you are open when you are closed, customers show up to a locked door. They are frustrated. They probably will not come back. They might leave a negative review about the experience.
If your hours say you are closed when you are open, customers drive past your business to a competitor. You lost the sale without ever knowing about it.
If your hours are missing entirely, customers assume you are out of business. They do not call to confirm. They move on.
The fix is simple, but it requires a few minutes of attention on a regular basis.
Step one: claim your listing. If you have not already claimed your Google Business Profile, do that today. It is free. You will need to verify that you own the business, which usually involves a postcard, a phone call, or an email. The whole process takes a week or two.
Step two: set your hours correctly. Include special hours for holidays. Include any variations during the week, such as closing early on Saturdays or opening late on Sundays. Be precise. “Open until 5” is more useful than “open late.”
Step three: add your photos. Listings with photos get more clicks. Take a few pictures of your storefront, your team, and your products or services. They do not need to be professional. Real photos are better than stock photos.
Step four: keep it updated. This is where most businesses fail. They set up the listing and forget it. Six months later, their hours have changed, their phone number is different, and the listing is out of date.
Set a calendar reminder to check your listing once a month. Make sure the hours, phone number, address, and website are still correct. Update anything that has changed. It takes five minutes and prevents a steady drip of lost customers.
Common hours mistakes to watch for.
Holiday hours. Many businesses forget to update for major holidays. If you close on Christmas, say so. If you have reduced hours the week of Thanksgiving, mention it. Google lets you set special hours for specific dates.
Seasonal hours. Some businesses have different hours in summer and winter. Update the listing when the season changes.
Construction or temporary closures. If your business is closed for renovation or repairs, mark the listing as temporarily closed. Customers will appreciate the heads-up.
Day-of-week variations. A common error is setting Monday through Friday hours and forgetting that Saturday has different hours. Double-check every day of the week.
The 24-hour issue. Some businesses accidentally mark themselves as open 24 hours when they are not. This is a common error for restaurants and shops. Customers at midnight will be very disappointed.
There is a related issue worth mentioning. If your business appears on other platforms, such as Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, or Facebook, the hours and information need to be consistent across all of them. Inconsistency creates confusion and erodes trust. Pick a source of truth, usually your Google Business Profile, and make sure the other listings match.
One more thing. Google lets customers suggest edits to your listing. Sometimes those edits are wrong. Other times they are right and you just did not notice the change. Review your listing periodically to make sure no incorrect edits have slipped in.
Your Google Business Profile is one of the most valuable free marketing tools available to a local business. It puts you in front of customers at the exact moment they are looking for what you offer. The information on that profile shapes their decision. Wrong hours send them to your competitor. Right hours bring them through your door.
Five minutes a month is all it takes to keep that listing accurate. Do it today.
Make it a habit. Once a month, set a calendar reminder to spend five minutes on your Google Business Profile. You will catch issues before customers do, and your listing will stay accurate as your business changes.
Your Google Business Profile is free marketing that runs whether you think about it or not. Five minutes a month is a tiny investment for a tool that is working for you every single day.