Google states that marking a Google My Listing business as temporarily closed, therefore will not affect your rankings or visibility. Due to the global lockdown businesses are shutting down their doors to limit the spread of COVID-19. Google has introduced a ‘Temporary closed” sign in Google My Business.
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There were concerns regarding this indicator initially that it is affecting search rankings negatively. Some business owners reached out to Google suggesting that Google should provide a solution to reduce visibility in search. As some businesses are still working online even if they have shut down their physical location.
Google’s Response
Google’s guidance clearly states that closed businesses will show up on Google with reduced visibility. A warning dialogue box pops up every time before marking a business as temporarily closed.
A temporarily closed business now will be considered the same as an open business.
The following message will be shown by Google on the business profile in search results.
Mark Business As Temporarily Closed
Follow these steps to make your business profile show up as temporarily closed.
- Log in to your Google My Business via desktop
- Click on the info, in the menu on the left
- On the right side, click on the section “Close this business on Google”
- Open up this section and click “Mark as temporarily closed”