How to mark your café temporarily closed on Google, and when to use Special hours instead

Open your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, and next to "Hours" in the "Business hours" section select Edit and then Temporarily closed. Save it. Google's help page says your profile then displays as "Temporarily closed" on Google Maps and Search. That setting is for a closure of more than 7 days, an off-season or an open-ended one. For a shorter closure, such as a single day, Google's pages point you to Special hours, which leave your regular hours alone.

How do I mark my café temporarily closed on Google?

Four steps in your Business Profile. These are the steps as Google's help page gave them on 15 October 2026; Google's menu labels change, so the words on your screen may differ.

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Edit profile, then Hours.
3. In the "Business hours" section, next to "Hours," select Edit, then Temporarily closed.
4. Select Save.

Google's page says your Business Profile then displays as "Temporarily closed" on Google Maps and Search. It also says that if you manage several locations, you can mark them in bulk from Business Profile Manager.

Temporarily closed or Special hours: which one?

It depends on how long you will be shut, and Google's two help pages put the line in slightly different places.

• The "Mark your business as closed" page says: "If your business is closed for more than 7 days, closed for the off-season, or closed indefinitely, use the option 'Temporarily closed.' If your business is closed for 7 days or less, use set Special hours."
• The "How to set Special hours" page says you can set special hours if your business temporarily adjusts its hours or "remains closed for up to 6 days in a row". It adds that if you are closed for 7 or more days in a row, or for an unknown period, you should mark the business as Temporarily closed.

So the pages disagree about day 7: one lists it under Special hours, the other under Temporarily closed. I would not rely on either for a closure of exactly a week; check how the screen treats it. Both agree on the ends. A day or two is Special hours, and a month, a winter or "we do not know yet" is Temporarily closed.

A one-day closure, for a weather warning for example, is Special hours by both pages. Closing for a weather warning has its own pay questions, covered in paying café staff during a weather warning; this page covers only the Google side.

How do I set Special hours for a single day?

Add the date under Special hours and mark it closed. Google's help page gives these steps, read 15 October 2026:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Edit profile, then Hours.
3. In the "Business hours" section, next to "Special hours," select Edit.
4. Select the date. To set a custom date, select Add a date and enter it.
5. If you are closed for the day, make sure the "Closed" box is checked. If you are open, uncheck it and enter your hours.
6. Select Save.

Google says special hours exist so that your regular hours do not change. It also says that for special hours to show on your profile, your business hours must be set to "Open with main hours". Our guide to setting bank holiday hours on Google uses the same screen.

What do customers see when my café is temporarily closed?

Google's help page says the profile displays as "Temporarily closed" on Google Maps and Search. It says the status is there to help customers who search for your business by name understand that the closure is only temporary, and that it can also spare customers the disappointment of finding out by turning up at the door.

The same page has a tip: for broad searches, temporarily closed businesses can rank after open businesses. Google says how much this matters depends on factors such as business category, query type and how many matching businesses are temporarily closed. If you are shut only for a day or two, that is another reason to prefer Special hours.

Google's pages I read say little about how Special hours look to customers. The one line is in the bulk-upload part of the Special hours page: special hours "will appear to customers on Google only for the designated days." I will not guess beyond that.

How do I reopen my café on Google?

Reopen the location in your profile. Google's help page on reopening gives these steps, as it gave them on 15 October 2026:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Edit profile, then Hours.
3. In the "Business hours" section, next to "Hours," select Edit, then Open with main hours. (Choose Open with no main hours if you do not want hours to show.)
4. Tick each day of the week the café is open and set the hours with the dropdowns.
5. Select Save.

Google says that once you reopen, the profile is no longer marked temporarily or permanently closed on Google Maps and Search.

Google also says that if it receives an update that a location is temporarily closed, you may get an email notification. If your hours change on Google when you did not change them, see our answer on why Google changed my business hours.

What about Permanently closed?

Google's page offers both options, "Temporarily closed" and "Permanently closed". "Temporarily closed" is the one it describes for closures of more than 7 days, the off-season or no end date. Google says that a profile marked permanently closed may still appear on Search and Maps for people who search for it, clearly showing that the business is closed. If you are coming back, "Temporarily closed" is the option Google's page gives for that.

If you have just added or claimed your listing, our guide to getting your café on Google Maps covers the start.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help, Mark your business as closed, read 15 October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, How to set Special hours, read 15 October 2026.
• Google Business Profile Help, Mark your business as reopened, read 15 October 2026.

A summary of Google's Business Profile help pages read 15 October 2026. Google changes its menus and rules, so check the page itself. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland.