When customers go looking for products and services like yours to fulfill their immediate needs, it’s critical that the information they’re presented is accurate. On-the-go consumers want to know where they can purchase specific items but also how to get there, what types of experiences others have had at your locations, and what kind of experience they can expect to have, as well.
Searchers expect the ability to call for more information in just a click. They want accurate driving directions. And most of all, they want to know that your location is open so they can complete the transaction—even on a holiday or during a snowstorm. In fact, local listings with business hours get 13% more requests for driving directions and 42% more clicks through to their website, according to Google.
In the past two years, we’ve seen 200%+ growth in mobile searches for “Open” + “now” + “near me” (for example, “restaurants near me open now,” “stores open near me right now,” and “pharmacy near me open now”). ~ Lisa Gevelber, VP, Marketing for the Americas at Google
Accurate hours are vital for a frictionless customer journey. Whether your business hours change rarely or frequently, it’s critical that your special hours display properly for all locations across the brand. Google makes it possible for businesses to set holiday and other special hours. But how can enterprise brands do so at scale?
Rio SEO’s Local Listings Management puts you in control of your listings. Our powerful technology and expert service facilitates special hours management across hundreds or even thousands of locations, whether for:
- Holidays
- Extended or shortened seasonal hours
- Emergency closures due to inclement weather
If your brand does not explicitly tell Google what your holiday hours are, potential customers will see a warning that your location’s hours may not be accurate that day. You can see a list of holidays by country/region that will trigger this warning here.
Even if holidays are business-as-usual for your locations, you need to confirm these hours of operation in Google My Business.
Otherwise, potential customers can’t be certain if the location is open.
Remove friction in the customer journey and drive more business through your doors with a proactive approach to listings management. Want to learn more? Take advantage of a Free Local Audit to see how your locations currently stack up and contact Rio SEO to see how we can help drive more motivated local consumers to your doors.
