How to update your information in Google My Business

A guide to updating your information in Google My Business, including changing your business hours, changing your description, and adding Google messages.

With the Coronavirus, many companies temporarily close or reduce their hours of operation, many people turn to Google to check which companies and which services are available.

Google My Business is a free tool from Google that allows business owners to control this information. You can set your regular and temporary opening hours and post messages to keep your customers informed. In this guide, show you how.

Update your company information in GMB

Editing your business details in Google My Business is fairly straightforward, but there are several ways to notify users of the changes to make them more obvious:

1. Change your opening hours
2. Edit your business description
3. Publish on Google My Business

Your hours of operation are prominently displayed in local search and Google Maps, but you can also modify your business description to include important information (for example, delivery service changes due to Coronavirus) and publish publications on GMB to inform potential customers.

Change your hours of operation at GMB

Most companies change their opening hours at some point throughout the year, even if it’s only for Christmas and New Years. Google My Business lets you keep people informed by updating your hours of operation so people know when to visit.

To change your opening hours, do the following:

1. Connect to Google My Business (If you have multiple locations, open the location you want to manage).
2. Click on the icon at the top left.
3. Click on Info in the menu.
4. Scroll to Hours , which will be titled Add hours if you haven’t already added them.

1. Use the rocker switches to set the opening / closing days.
2. Set the opening and closing times for each opening day.
3. Use the hours of addition to create several opening hours during the same day, for example restaurants that close for lunch.

To temporarily change your opening hours, click on the Add special hours under your existing opening hours. Here you will see suggestions for special events that could lead to unusual opening hours, mainly holidays.

However, you can define your own periods for special opening hours by clicking on Add new date and define your opening hours for specific days or periods.

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Edit your business description

In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, Google suggested that affected companies update their business description to include any relevant information.

You can share information about any additional precautions the company takes, if you provide additional services to the community or if you experience delays.

You can find detailed instructions here on creating an appropriate business description in Google My Business. The main point at this point is to mention all the ways in which normal business operations have been affected.

Publish on Google My Business

You can also notify users of important changes by: creating messages in Google My Business, which are prominently displayed under your local listing. It’s a great way to grab people’s attention and provide important information.

Image source: Search Engine Land

To create a publication in Google My Business, log into your account and click on the Create an article tab at the top of the dashboard or click the left icon and click Posts in the menu options.

There are four different types of posts that you can create in Google My Business Add Offer, Add Product, Add Update, and Add Event.

In this case, you want to select Add an update to report any changes to business hours, services and business operations. If you have special offers going on following the epidemic or specific products that you want to inform people about, you can also create offers and products to educate users.

Keep your business details up to date

It is always important to update your business information on Google My Business. It is the most important ranking factor with GMB and it is also the information that people rely on to find your business.

We’ve already looked at how you can change your business hours and you can follow similar steps to change the rest of your business details.

Just log into your Google My Business account and select the location you want to change. Now click on the menu icon and select Info to view all of your editable business details. From there you can change your business address, edit and / or add phone numbers, update your website URL and the rest of your business details.

It may take up to three days for the public to verify and update your information.

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