Google Business Profile holiday hours for dental practices

Google Business Profile holiday hours are set with a feature Google calls special hours. They override your normal opening times for specific dates, such as Christmas Day or a bank holiday, and then your regular hours return. To set them, go to your profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, and next to Special hours select Edit. This guide covers the steps, the dates to set this winter, what to do for longer closures, and why Google sometimes changes your hours without asking.

How to change business hours on Google for a holiday

Google sets out the steps on its special hours help page:

1. Go to your Business Profile while signed in as an owner or manager.
2. Select Edit profile, then Hours.
3. In the Opening hours section, next to Special hours, select Edit.
4. Choose the date.
5. Tick Closed if you are shut all day, or enter the opening and closing times.
6. To add a second set of times on the same day, such as a morning emergency clinic and an afternoon session, select More, then Add hours.
7. Save.

Three details catch people out. Special hours only show if your profile is set to Open with main hours. Google says a set of special hours cannot exceed 24 hours, so hours running past midnight have to be split across two dates. And Google suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even if they are the same as usual, so patients can see you are definitely open.

You can do the same from the Google Maps app on your phone by opening your profile and selecting Edit profile, as Google describes on its edit your Business Profile page.

The dates to set for Christmas and New Year

These are the bank holidays published on GOV.UK for the coming winter:

Because Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. If your practice normally opens on Saturdays, set Saturday 26 December as well as the Monday. Also set any days between Christmas and New Year when you run reduced hours, and Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve if you close early.

Do it in November. Google says edits usually take up to 10 minutes to review, but sometimes up to 30 days, so a change made on 23 December may not be live in time.

What patients see on your profile

Google says special hours show on your profile and in the Hours section for the dates you set, in place of your normal hours. Once the date passes, your regular hours show again, so there is nothing to undo in January.

Check the result yourself. Search your practice name on a phone a few days after setting the hours, open the hours, and scroll to the holiday dates. If the times are wrong or missing, the edit may still be under review.

You may get reviews over the holidays from patients who could not get through or found you closed. Reply calmly, point to your published hours and urgent care advice, and never confirm in public that the reviewer is a patient. Our guide on how to reply to Google reviews covers the wording.

Tell patients what to do when you are closed

Holiday hours tell patients you are closed. They do not tell them what to do about a dental emergency. In England, the NHS tells patients who need urgent dental care to contact NHS 111 or a dentist, and says urgent treatment should be offered within 24 hours or 7 days depending on symptoms. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, point patients to their own NHS urgent care route.

Put that information where patients will see it:

• Your answerphone message for the holiday period.
• A post on your Google profile with your holiday hours and where to get urgent help.
• A notice at the top of your website, and on your contact page.
• Your NHS website listing and social media.

If you run your own emergency sessions over the holiday for registered patients, say so clearly and set those times as special hours.

Closures longer than a week: temporarily closed

Special hours are for short changes. Google puts the cut-off at about a week. Its special hours page says they cover closures of up to six days in a row, and its page on marking your business as closed says to use Temporarily closed if you are shut for more than seven days, for the off-season or indefinitely. For a closure of under a week, use special hours.

That matters for practices closing for a refurbishment or a long summer break. Be aware of the trade-off: Google says that for broad searches, temporarily closed businesses can rank after open businesses. For a one-week Christmas closure, special hours are the right tool. Mark the profile as reopened as soon as you are back.

Why is Google changing my business hours?

Google can change your hours itself. It says it gathers information from different sources, such as user reports and licensed content, and may update your profile if those sources say your information is incorrect or out of date. Changes made by Google show in blue text in the profile editor.

Members of the public can also suggest edits. When a suggested edit needs your review, Google says you have four days to accept or reject it, and that if you do not respond, it may publish the update if it is supported by other public information, such as your website.

The practical lesson is that your website and your profile should never disagree. If your website still shows last year's Christmas hours, or a contact page with old opening times, Google may treat that as evidence. Update the website at the same time as the profile.

Why won't Google let me update my business hours?

If an hours change will not stick, check these in order:

• It is still under review. Edits show as pending while Google checks them, which can take up to 30 days.
• Google could not confirm it. Google says it might not approve changes if it cannot confirm their accuracy. Make sure your website shows the same hours.
• The profile is not verified, or is suspended. You cannot manage an unverified or suspended profile normally.
• You do not have the right access. Check you are signed in to an account listed as an owner or manager.
• Google or a user changed it back. Look for blue text in the editor and pending suggested edits.

How do I change my regular business hours?

For a permanent change, such as new evening opening, edit your main hours rather than adding special hours. Google's page on editing opening hours describes going to your profile, selecting Edit profile, then Hours, and setting your weekly schedule. Google's guidelines ask you to provide your regular customer-facing hours, so give the hours patients can visit or call, not the hours staff are on site.

Holiday hours for practice groups

If you manage several practices, you do not have to set each one by hand. Google's special hours page explains that you can use the bulk upload spreadsheet in Business Profile Manager, with a Special hours column in the format YYYY-MM-DD: HH:MM-HH:MM. Check each site's hours with its manager first, because closures often differ between sites.

A holiday hours checklist for your practice

1. Agree the holiday rota and opening times by early November.
2. Set special hours on your Google profile for every changed day, including Saturdays.
3. Confirm hours on bank holidays even when you are open as normal.
4. Update your website, NHS website listing, Bing Places, Apple Maps and Facebook to match.
5. Post your holiday hours and urgent care advice on your profile.
6. Record an answerphone message with the same information.
7. Check the profile a week later, and again just before the holiday, for blue text or pending edits.

Accurate hours are one of Google's own tips for local ranking, listed on its page on how local results work, alongside verification and complete information. They also save your reception team a January of apologising to patients who turned up to a locked door. For the rest of the profile, see our guide to local SEO for dentists.