Your business hours in local listings may be updated by Google’s AI

Google says it can use machine learning and AI to update the business hours of local listings when the listed hours are deemed inaccurate. Google wrote, “We developed a machine learning model that automatically identifies if business hours are likely wrong, then instantly updates them with AI-generated predictions.”

 

Why is it important?

This is all the more reason to keep your business information consistent across the web. For you as business owners, you need to regularly and consistently review the business hours listed on your business listings but on your Google Business Profile. If Google changes your business details and hours, you can quickly update it in Google Business Profiles. This is generally a good practice for Local SEO, as listing details may change due to changes made by Google’s AI, Google Local Guides, or even suggested by searchers. If you need the complete checklist for local SEO, we’ve covered that before here..

 

How does Google change your business hours with machine learning?

Google says it considers a number of factors to determine if the times listed for a local listing are accurate. These are: 

- The last time the business updated their business profile 

- The other local business hours in your area 

- The Popular Times information for that local listing (real user traffic) 

- Street View images look specifically for business hour signs on the door 

- Google Duplex, which automatically calls businesses 

Then, if there’s conflicting information, Google can go ahead and update the hours automatically. 

Google says the company is on track to update business hours for “more than 20 million businesses around the world over the next six months using AI.”

 

How we can help

Increasing your visibility on Google is important to get your business found by potential customers. But while many people are aware that GMB listings are a good way to increase online visibility and drive customers to your shop, few people actually know how to use them. If you want to make sure your business hours are updated or changed by Google but have no time and skills to do it, our digital marketing specialists can help! Get in touch with us today and we’ll help set up and optimise your business hours on your Google My Business profile, to maximise your visibility in Google, increase your leads and drive more traffic to your brick-and-mortar storefront!