How to Remove Temporarily Closed on Google Maps – Manage Your Google Business Profile Hours

TL;DR

Google Business Profiles can sometimes be incorrectly marked as “Temporarily Closed” even when the business is open. This usually happens because Google’s automated systems or user-submitted edits believe the business is closed based on signals like changes to hours, website content, lack of recent activity, or other data inconsistencies—it isn’t always the result of something the business owner did.

Key takeaways:

• Businesses can be marked “Temporarily Closed” by mistake. Google may apply the status automatically or accept third-party edits if it believes the business is no longer operating normally.
• The fix is usually straightforward. If you’re the verified owner, mark the business as Open in your Google Business Profile. If that isn’t possible, contact Google Business Profile Support to have the status removed.
• Being temporarily closed doesn’t typically hurt rankings. Google has confirmed that the label itself isn’t a ranking penalty, although it can reduce customer trust and clicks.
• Customers can still leave reviews. Unlike permanently closed listings, temporarily closed profiles continue to accept reviews.
• Short closures should use Special Hours instead. If you’re only closed for a holiday or a few days, update your special hours rather than marking the business temporarily closed.
• Don’t set a future reopening date unless necessary. It can cause your profile (and sometimes reviews) to disappear from Search and Maps until that date arrives.

Bottom line: An incorrect “Temporarily Closed” label is usually caused by Google’s automated systems or inaccurate edits—not necessarily by the business owner—and while it doesn’t generally impact SEO rankings, it can significantly impact customer confidence and lead to lost business until it’s corrected.

What does temporarily closed mean?

The label temporarily closed in Google has been around for several years but is not a very utilized feature currently.  It is meant to be used when your business is closing for an extended length of time, but not permanently.

If your business is marked as “Temporarily Closed” on Google, you may be asking, why is my business showing temporarily closed on Google or ” How to remove ‘temporarily closed’ on Google Maps. It may take a few steps, which we outline below, but the short version of how to remove temporarily closed on Google is to click the “Mark as Open” button in your Google Business Profile (GBP).

In this Guide

What caused my Google Business Profile to show as temporarily closed?

It can be frustrating to find your Google Business Profile (GBP) marked as Temporarily Closed when you are actively open for business.

Because Google relies heavily on automated algorithms, community reporting, and web scraping rather than waiting for owner confirmation, listings often get updated automatically without the owner’s explicit consent.

Primary reasons this happens

• User / Competitor “Suggest an Edit” Submissions: Anyone on Google Maps can click “Suggest an edit” on a business listing. If a competitor, disgruntled customer, or random user marks your business as temporarily closed, Google’s algorithm may automatically accept the suggestion—especially if the edit is backed by multiple user accounts or local guides.
• Third-Party Directory & Data Aggregator Mismatches: Google continuously scrapes the web for consistency across citations. If another platform (such as Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Facebook, or Data Axle/ExpressUpdate) has a duplicate listing or lists your status as closed, Google’s systems can pull that signal and override your GBP status.
• Website Crawls & Automated AI Signals: If your website went down temporarily, if you posted a notice on your site about taking a vacation/holiday, or if your website’s schema (structured data) contains contradictory business status code, Google’s automated web crawlers may flag the business as temporarily closed.
• Malicious “Edit & Extort” Scams: A growing trend involves bad actors intentionally spamming “suggest an edit” requests to mark a business closed, then calling the business owner pretending to be “Google Support” to charge a fee to “fix” the issue.
• Outdated Hours or a Temporary Closure Flag – it might be due to outdated hours or a temporary closure flag in your Google Business Profile. This can be corrected by updating the operating status in GBP or using Google Maps to mark the business as open.

Examples from Reddit & Google Business Forums

Example 1: The “Fix-It” Scam (Reddit – r/GoogleMyBusiness)

A business owner shared a story about a local moving company whose Google listing kept flipping to Temporarily Closed. Right after the listing changed, the owner received a suspicious call claiming to be from Google, offering to remove the red banner for $299. After paying, the status was changed back to open—only for it to happen again weeks later when they refused a follow-up call. Community members confirmed this was an edit-manipulation scam where scammers use multiple IP addresses/accounts to force Google’s automated edit approvals.

Example 2: Data Aggregator Conflicts (Reddit – r/GoogleMyBusiness)

A user noticed their business knowledge panel kept reverting to Closed despite manually correcting it. After investigating, they discovered a duplicate profile on Data Axle/MapQuest marked as “Permanently Closed”. Google’s Knowledge Graph was cross-referencing that external directory and repeatedly overriding the real GBP status.

Example 3: Unreviewed Community Edits (Google Help Forum)

Multiple threads on the Google Business Profile Help Community report instances where a local guide or customer incorrectly reported a location closed (often after visiting during a holiday or slightly outside standard hours). Google accepted the edit automatically, sending a delayed or easily overlooked email notification to the owner stating: “Google has updated your business hours/status based on user feedback.”

How to remove temporarily closed on Google Maps

Are you wondering how to remove temporarily closed on Google Maps, or how to remove the temporarily closed label in Google Business Profile (GBP)? There are five steps to get rid of the temporarily closed label in Google Business Profile (GBP). Here’s how to remove the “Temporarily Closed” status in GBP:

1. Go to the Info tab inside Google Business Profile.
2. Right beside where you edit the address, there should be a few buttons off to the right. Click “Mark as Open”.
3. If that doesn’t work, click on the Google Business Profile logo in the top left of your screen to be taken back to the overview tab for your account.  From there, you should see a list of locations in your account.
4. Check the box beside the listing you want to re-open and click the “Actions” drop-down and click “Open” as indicated in this photo:
5. Finally, if that doesn’t work, you can go to Google Maps, pull up the business, and click “Suggest an Edit” to mark it as open,

How do you temporarily close your Google Business Profile listing?

To get your temporarily closed Google My Business listing actually marked as “temporarily closed,” you can go into the Google Business Profile dashboard. In the Info tab, there should be an option to mark it as closed temporarily:

As of March 26th, the “temporarily closed” label does not impact the ranking of the listing (it did previously).  Listings with the label added still rank in the 3-pack.

The label does not automatically sync with Google Ads

While searching for examples, I found a restaurant that has the temporarily closed label on it that forgot to shut off their Google Ads account.  The ad for this business has the old hours on it showing the business as open.  This is likely due to the fact that Location Extensions do not automatically sync with Google Business Profile.

 

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This is no longer true and a listing would have to be marked as permanently closed to have the review functionality removed.

If you’re asking yourself, why does Google say my business is permanently closed? Google will label your business as permanently closed usually when a business has relocated, and customers are seeing the old location (Google Maps to a closed place) instead of the new location’s address.

Other options for managing temporarily closed Google listings

If you still want to utilize all the Google Business Profile features (like posts or reviews), you can opt to use special hours instead of having your listing marked as temporarily closed.  This is a more hands-on approach if you don’t think your business will be closed for very long.

Tip: Do not use the opening date feature if your business is temporarily closed.  If you set the opening date to a date in the future, it will cause your listing and reviews to become invisible on Google Search and Google Maps.

Contact a Top-Rated Local SEO Company

Sterling Sky Inc was founded in 2017 by Joy Hawkins. Joy has been working in the SEO industry since 2006, and is considered a leader within the SEO community. In this fast-paced industry, we work hard to make sure we are at the forefront when it comes to comprehending any and all changes that will affect how your business is found online. With a commitment to providing the best knowledge and expertise in the industry, Sterling Sky has built a reputation of quality work produced at the highest standard.  We are proud to be the only company currently to employ multiple Google My Business Product Experts. Contact us today!