Field guide · November 8, 2026

Your Google Holiday Hours Are Wrong, and Thanksgiving Is the Week It Costs You

Special hours override your regular hours on the dates they cover, so set them before the holiday week, not during it. Thanksgiving falls Thursday, November 26 this year, and the dates worth setting now are Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a customer's trust. Nobody forgives driving across town to a locked door, and nobody forgives calling an electrician whose profile says open and getting no answer. Holiday weeks are when customers check hours most, because they are the weeks the hours are most likely to be wrong.

The fix takes three minutes, and most electricians never do it. Google lets you set special hours ahead of time for any date, and the profile shows them on that date. The mistake is treating the regular weekly grid as the whole job. The grid is your normal week. Special hours are everything else.

Special hours beat regular hours, every time

When special hours cover a day, your regular hours for that day are ignored. If you are open that day, you enter the hours you want shown. If you are closed, you leave Closed checked. The override only works if the profile is set to Open with main hours, so check that first: a profile set to Open with no main hours will not display special hours at all.

The dates to set now are Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, Christmas Eve on Thursday, December 24, Christmas Day on Friday, December 25, New Year's Eve on Thursday, December 31, and New Year's Day on Friday, January 1. Google also suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even when they match your regular hours, because the confirmation itself tells Google the listing is current.

The six-day limit and the longer closure

Special hours can cover up to six days in a row. For a closure of seven days or more, or one with no known reopen date, Google wants the location marked Temporarily closed instead of a month of stacked special hours. A shop closed for two weeks over Christmas should use Temporarily closed, not fourteen special-hours entries.

The same rule covers one-off closures: a flood day, a family emergency, a van in the shop. Set special hours for the date, or mark the closure, and do it the morning it happens. A customer who checks before calling is a customer you keep.

Why the hours keep changing back

The most common complaint is that the hours revert after saving. Google does not treat your save as the only vote. The Knowledge Graph mixes owner edits with public suggested edits, the hours on your website, and copies on Apple Maps, Yelp, and Bing Places. When those disagree, Google trusts the disagreement over your last save.

The fix order matters. Update your website and main directories first, so Google can confirm the new hours from more than one place, then edit the profile. If the hours still revert, open the profile's edit history and reject suggested edits you did not make. Fixing the website and the profile in the same sitting is what makes the save stick.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set holiday hours on Google Business Profile?

Go to Edit profile, then Hours, and open Special hours. Pick the date, check Closed or enter the hours you will be open, and save. Special hours override your regular hours on the dates they cover.

Which holiday dates should I set for my electrician business?

Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Set them ahead of time, and confirm hours for holidays even when they match your regular hours.

Why did my Google hours change back after I saved them?

Google mixes owner edits with public suggested edits, your website hours, and other directories. If those disagree, your save can be overwritten. Update your website and directories first, then edit the profile, and reject suggested edits you did not make in the edit history.

What if I am closed for more than a week?

Use Temporarily closed instead of stacking special hours. Special hours cover up to six days in a row. A closure of seven days or more, or one with no known reopen date, belongs under Temporarily closed.