In June Google released a new feature for Google My Business called “More Hours”. To see Google’s help article on the new feature click here.
The aim of this feature is for businesses to list hours for services that are offered at different times to your normal business hours.
Though Google doesn’t mention it in their help article, the feature is clearly aimed at businesses that have had to adapt during the current pandemic, mainly so supermarkets can set different hours for special access for vulnerable groups, or restaurants can say when they are open for takeout.
However, this feature also solves an issue storage companies have had for a while in terms of their opening hours.
Storage companies often have two sets of hours:
- Office Hours – When staff are manning reception, can answer calls and guide people around the storage facility.
- Gate / Access Hours – When customers can access their storage units.
Which Hours to Use on GMB?
Not very helpful. Google seems to have a preference for office hours, but using those would mean people might search for your business and think they can’t access their unit even though they can.
Similarly, using access hours might make customers think they can call your office when they can’t.
That’s where the new change comes in. If you’ve already set your hours in GMB you should see this new “More Hours” button underneath:
Once you click that button you’ll be presented with this popup:
Clicking on this will allow you to add your access hours. Assuming you set your normal hours to your office hours like Google recommends, you can now set your access hours to your gate hours.
What Will It Look Like?
When you enable this, it will look like the following if you’re looking at the local results:
Or like this on Google Maps:
Getting your hours set up like this gives more clarity to your customers, so they don’t try to call you when you’re closed, and they know they can visit even outside of your office hours.
As always, if you need any help implementing the things mentioned in this article, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
