Do Longer Business Hours Help Local Rankings in Google?

Local SEO

In our experience with clients who operate businesses for only a few days a week, I’ve noticed a correlation between limited operating hours and decreased visibility on Google Places. It’s a classic chicken-or-the-egg scenario: are these businesses closed on slower days, or does Google prioritize them less due to their restricted hours?

To delve into this, we conducted a small experiment. Over two weeks ago, on October 8th, I extended the hours of my Google My Business Page from Monday-Friday, 2pm-7pm to open 24/7.

Did this change result in any noticeable improvement in local search visibility? Judging by the Insights provided by Google My Business, there was no significant increase.

However, we all know that Insights data can be as unpredictable as the Green Line in Boston. So, we turned to Google Analytics for a more comprehensive analysis.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a discernible uptick in traffic following the adjustment to 24/7 opening hours.

We were hoping for a clear before-and-after picture to determine if business hours have a direct impact on local rankings, akin to the “business name” field. But it seems that’s not the case, which is encouraging news.

Of course, it’s possible that business hours indirectly influence rankings over time, by enhancing the appeal of a business to potential customers. Google prominently displays business hours, and they likely factor into overall user engagement.

For certain search terms like “emergency dentist” or “24-hour pharmacy,” one would expect that operating hours directly affect search rankings. If that’s not already the case, it’s something we hope Google will consider moving forward.