Guidance for Businesses affected by COVID-19

Check and edit your business information

If your business is affected by COVID-19, update your Business Profile to provide the most accurate information to your customers. You can provide updates about your business to customers such as:

• Your adjusted hours of operation, for instance if you close early.
• Add 'More hours' that describe other business operations such as delivery, takeaway and drive-through.
• Select an attribute to show that you offer online services such as classes, appointments or estimates.
• Delays on specific business services.
• Extra services that you're providing for the community.
• If your business is ‘Temporarily closed’.

The updates will show on your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.

Important: We may review your changes for quality before we publish them.

Grow with Google provides resources, tips and online training to help you manage your business, connect with customers and work from anywhere during COVID-19. 

To make sure that your customers have the latest information:

1. Update your opening hours

For businesses with changed hours: If your opening hours have changed, update the times when you’ll be open or closed. Your opening hours show when a customer visits your Business Profile, and they’ll know exactly when they can visit your location. If your business is open and offers onsite services, use primary hours to refer to the hours you offer onsite services. Learn how to change your hours.

For temporarily closed businesses: If your business is not permanently closed, but has temporarily stopped providing all services, mark your business 'Temporarily closed'. When your business fully or partly resumes operations, you can reopen your business.

For businesses with special hours: If your business is open but has adjusted opening hours for specific days, set special hours (rather than mark your business 'Temporarily closed').  Learn how to set special hours.

For businesses with more hours: If your business provides specific services with differing times, like senior hours, delivery and takeout, you can set More hours instead of Special hours. Learn how to set More hours.

For businesses that offer online services: If your business is open, but does not offer onsite services where you’re physically meeting with a customer, leave your primary hours blank. This includes when your business offers only online services. You can set hours for online services using the Online hours field under “More Hours” in the Info tab.

2. [Services] Use attributes to highlight online service options

We’ve added an attribute to help users discover in-home service, educational and professional businesses that have shifted online due to COVID-19.

Important: Businesses still need to have a physical operating presence and online-only businesses are not eligible to verify their Business Profiles. These attributes are to assist physical businesses that offer online services. You may also be prompted to select whether your business offers onsite services. Onsite services refer to in-person services at a shop front or at the customer’s location.

If you indicate that your business offers an online service such as classes, appointments or estimates, that means you provide at least one service fully remotely, like online video, in real time that can meet the needs of a customer looking for that service.

• Online tutoring, virtual classes and live video or phone consultations qualify if they take place in real time.
• Services that involve contactless delivery or require you to visit a client’s location do not qualify, even if the service is booked online.
• The option for customers to book online for in-person appointments does not qualify.

When you indicate that an online service is provided, your Business Profile will prominently show online classes, appointments, or estimates as supported with a ”✓.”

Tip: Online attributes don’t show when a business is marked 'Temporarily closed'.

To set the online service attribute and add a link to schedule online classes, appointments or estimates:

1. Go to your Business Profile. Learn how to find your profile.
2. Click Edit profile Business information.

   • Tip: On your desktop, with Google Search, select Edit profile.

3. At the top, select More tab.
4. Under 'Service options', you can edit your attributes.
   • Tip: You can find different options based on your business category.
5. Click Save.

To update the URL that consumers use to schedule online services, go back to the 'Stay connected during COVID-19' dashboard card or edit the Appointment URL on the info page. You can also edit the attribute from the Info page on your Business Profile.

Tip: Site managers may set the online service attributes, but do not have permissions to set an online services URL. Only profile owners and managers can set an online services URL.

Learn more about how you can edit attributes.

3. Mark a business as a COVID-19 testing site

You can mark your business as a COVID-19 testing site on your Business Profile. 'COVID-19 testing site' is a business attribute that you add to your profile the same way as any other attribute.

You can also edit additional detailed attributes such as:

• Patient restrictions
• Appointment required
• Prescription required
• Additional testing information

For your business to show up as a COVID-19 testing site, you must include whether or not an appointment is required or there are other restrictions.

If you no longer want to show up as a testing facility, untick the 'COVID-19 testing site' attribute.

4. Connect with your customers

Turn on messaging in your Business Profile as a way to help your customers reach you. If you aren’t reachable by phone or it’s after your opening hours, messaging can help customers get the support that they need. Learn how to turn on messaging.

Tip: Draft an automatic welcome message to let customers know your business status.

5. Edit your business description

Important: Posts that include a phone number may be rejected.

Use your business description to share information about your business such as:

• If your business is only available for takeaway or delivery
• Extra services that you provide to the community
• If your business services are delayed
• If your business has any health or safety precautions

• If you have additional COVID-19 requirements, such as masks or temperature checks

Learn more about editing your business description.

6. Hours and services disclaimer

At this time, businesses may find a disclaimer on their profile to let customers know that their business info may not be up to date.

Verified businesses can remove this disclaimer when they update recent special hours. The disclaimer won't appear if a business hasn't set opening hours or if you mark your business 'Temporarily closed'. If you mark your business 'Temporarily closed', attributes such as takeaway or delivery won’t display on your profile.

Learn how to set special hours and mark your business 'Temporarily closed' on Google.

7. Recommendations for healthcare providers

Healthcare providers, like doctors, therapists and other medical practitioners, can use Google Business Profile to claim and manage their practice’s info. You can add details about services, such as telemedicine, and personalise your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.

A COVID-19 info link is also available for Healthcare providers to link out to their facility’s COVID-19 information page as a way to provide details on the facility’s operations and practices during the pandemic. This may include COVID-19 testing information, restricted visitor hours, a COVID-19 hotline and/or whether visits and appointments are still occurring in person.

Important: The COVID-19 info link is available in the US and displays on mobile only.

Learn more about specific recommendations for healthcare providers.

8. Recommendations for hotel owners

If your hotel is affected by the COVID-19 situation, update your Business Profile on Google to provide the most accurate information to your customers.

You can surface specific amenities and information on your Business profile, such as no-charge and discounted accommodation for COVID-19 responders. To surface this information, select the attribute in your Business Profile.

Learn more about specific recommendations for hotel owners.

9. Keep a pulse on the new normal with help from Google

• Find emerging topics and top questions people are asking by location with Google Trends.
• Learn how other thought leaders are handling similar business challenges on Think With Google.
• Collaborate with your staff using shared documents, video meetings, email lists or chat rooms.

Temporary closures

You can now mark your business 'Temporarily closed' on Google. Google also relies on authoritative data sources, where available, to mark certain types of places as 'Temporarily closed' on Google Search and Google Maps.

Tip: If a business is marked 'Temporarily closed', attributes for both dining and retail establishments won’t surface on Google Search and Maps. If your business still operates through take-away or delivery, you should not mark it as 'Temporarily closed'.

Marking a business as temporarily closed helps ensure that when customers search for a business by name, they'll find it and understand that it's only closed temporarily. This may prevent cases where people visit a business in person and are disappointed to discover that it's closed.

Businesses that are temporarily closed may rank after open businesses for broad queries. This ranking doesn’t happen for more specific queries, including queries for a specific business, or for queries when many matching businesses are temporarily closed.

Where does Google get this information from?

We rely on authorities to tell us when there are closures in their region. We use data from many types of authoritative data sources, which include national, state/provincial and local governments, non-profit organisations, educational institutions and businesses.

What categories of places are covered here?

Any categories of places that authoritative sources say are temporarily closed. For example, schools are a common example of a type of place that may be listed as 'Temporarily closed'. Other possible types of places an authoritative data source can mark as 'Temporarily closed' may include museums, gyms and shops.

How can someone request an update and how quickly will the update be made?

A business owner with a Business Profile can directly update their 'Temporarily closed' status to reopen and that change will be effective immediately.

What's your plan to remove temporary closure status?

Temporary closures can be removed in a variety of ways. GMB account holders can reopen their business listings via GMB, with the change effective immediately. Additionally, anyone can report a place as reopened via the 'Suggest an edit' flow, with reports being monitored and reviewed before a reopen is applied. Additionally, Google is using authoritative information from governments to remove listing temporary closures en masse where state authorities have mandated reopenings. Learn more about how you can reopen your business.

Related resources

• Food businesses affected by COVID-19
• Retail businesses affected by COVID-19
• Hotel owners affected by COVID-19
• Get started with Business Profile for healthcare providers
• What happens to your edits
• Manage your business directly from Google Search & Maps
• Get the most out of your posts
• Create your business marketing kit
• About support links