Google My Business in 2021
The description of the "Temporary Closed Company" was generated automatically by Google and for us as a Google My Business account optimization company was a great shock as we saw the message "Your company has been temporarily closed" our heart beat 5 times faster but quickly we figured it was an effect of pandemic and the introduction by Google of a temporary shutdown feature that allowed companies to distinguish between permanent and temporary shutdown, as in the case of COVID-19. Companies needed a way to mark temporary site closures ahead of a pandemic, such as a seasonal business that closes for winter. The pandemic caused Google to respond to this much-needed feature. It is likely that the "temporarily closed" form of publication will remain in the options for use in the event that the business owner needs to temporarily close the business. Of course, businesses should use this feature if a pandemic causes another temporary shutdown, but we may consider using it in other cases, such as when your location is closed as we mentioned above.
Update number 2 "Additional working hours"
Companies that offer special working hours are not allowed to post these extra hours in their GMB. But as the pandemic hit, Google sped up. In recent weeks, Google has supported the posting of extra hours. An example is a grocery store that adapts its working hours to people with special needs, such as retailers offering a daily hour exclusively for seniors to do shopping.
This feature will not disappear. Too many companies were asking for this feature before 2020, especially as large-scale stores have special hours for many hours.
Telehealth and COVID-19 Links Update Number 3
Our company, Flywebmakers, works with many healthcare systems, and in March one of the first things they told us was, "We need to stop people from coming to our locations and help centers unless they absolutely have to." Of course, this is because visiting a hospital during a pandemic poses a health risk. Fortunately, Google has responded to this need by allowing health systems to provide visible links to online care options on their GMBs and information on how to obtain COVID-19 information without visiting a medical facility. These options have brought some relief to already threatened healthcare systems. If you are one of them, you absolutely need to make these features work for you.
