Before you lock your practice doors for Memorial Day weekend, there is one more VERY important thing to check…have you updated your Google Business Profile listing with your holiday hours?
You might be asking, “What in the world is a Google Business Profile, and why do I need to worry about that yet, too?”
Fair question.
A while back, Google changed the name of Google My Business, a term it had used for years, to Google Business Profile. This is a tool that allows you to be at least partially in charge of the info Google presents to searchers across Google’s various features, including search and map results. We are assuming here that you have already claimed your profile. (If not, you should get started on that ASAP.)
Once you are logged in, it’s a very simple process to update your hours for holidays, vision expos, continuing education, vacations, etc. In fact, you can even add all the special hours that you are aware of for the whole year at one time.
Another good thing is that logging in and updating your profile like this, signals to Google that you are a business that stays on top of things…meaning it is more likely to show you as a result when people do searches. You should also check and update your Products, Services, and more…but that’s a topic for another blog post!
Simple Steps for Updating Your Google Business Profile Hours
#1. Log into your Google Business profile. As shown in the image below, you should be able to see if you are logged in by checking the upper right hand corner. Once logged in, do a Google search for your business name. Then click "Edit your business information." 
#2. Click the "Hours" tab. Scroll down to the "Special hours" section and click to edit. Google will show some of the upcoming holidays, that you can click to edit. If you scroll down a bit farther, you can also add non-holidays, when your hours will be different from normal. Be sure to click the "Save" button!
#3. You can check to make sure your special hours when the day is less than a week away.
That's it! Following these simple steps will keep your profile hours updated...which helps your search engine optimization and keeps your patients from getting frustrated when they travel across town to find you aren't open, even though Google said you were!