Marking a GMB Listing as Temporarily Closed Won't Harm Rankings

Google‘s public liaison for Search, Danny Sullivan, confirmed that marking Google My Business (GMB) listing as temporarily closed won’t impact rankings.

Many businesses across the world have opted to shut their doors due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

Already, more than 90 major retailers in the United States have closed their stores in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading further. These include Apple, Nike, and Macy’s, among others.

In response to this development, Google introduced a “Temporarily Closed” indicator to Google My Business. That way, the update will appear on both Google Search and Google Maps.

The search engine giant said it could also rely on authoritative data sources when available to mark specific places as “Temporarily Closed.”

Unsurprisingly, business owners became worried that this indicator could negatively impact their search rankings.

Their concerns were justified. In previous guidance, Google explicitly stated that closed businesses would appear with reduced visibility.

So, an individual reached out to Google’s Danny Sullivan on Twitter to suggest a solution.

Temporarily Closed Doesn’t Impact Ranking or Visibility

The business owner suggested that Google introduce a solution that wouldn’t lead to reduced rankings on the search engine. However, Danny Sullivan’s response stated that the indicator doesn’t affect rankings.

Aside from Sullivan’s tweet, Google also officially updated its guidance regarding temporary closure of businesses due to the pandemic. The search engine will now handle temporarily closed businesses the same way it does open ones.

The guideline now reads:

“Marking your business temporarily closed will not affect search ranking, and it will be treated similar to open businesses.”

Sullivan further stated that Google plans to issue better messaging about the indicator soon.

For now, all you need to know is that you can mark your business as temporarily closed without losing visibility. So, if you’ve shut your doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consider updating your GMB profile.