Does Setting Your Google Business Profile as “Temporarily Closed” Impact Local SEO Rankings?

Back in 2020, Google claimed that setting your Google Business Profile as “Temporarily Closed” did NOT impact your rankings. 

Well, what if I told you that this is not the case anymore and that marking your business as “Temporarily Closed” CAN absolutely negatively impact your rankings? 

Here’s what I found out.Looking for an easy and intuitive way to track your GBP rankings? Try the Whitespark Local Rank Tracker!

Google’s Stance on the Subject

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many businesses had to shut their doors and mark their Google Business Profiles as “Temporarily Closed”. Around that time, Google’s Danny Sullivan was asked on Twitter if this would have any impact on those businesses’ Local SEO rankings and visibility.  

Danny Sullivan reassured all local business owners that “Temporarily Closed” wouldn’t affect their rankings or visibility. That Tweet was later deleted, but here’s a screenshot of it:

Danny Sullivan’s deleted Tweet

What is the Current Situation?

I have some evidence that as of today, setting your Google Business Profile as “Temporarily Closed” DOES have a negative impact on your rankings.

Take a look at this case: 

These are rankings for my business “Shaw Electrical”. You can see that they are consistently stable, except for that noticeable dip around June 23.
What happened on June 23? Well, I marked my Google Business Profile as “Temporarily Closed”. Then, on June 28, I removed it and said that we were open again, and the rankings went right back up.

What lead to this?

Pre-pandemic, Google did have a policy that setting your business as “Temporarily Closed” would have a negative impact on your rankings and visibility. 

If you marked your business as “Temporarily Closed”, you’d get the following message: 

During the pandemic, many businesses had to use this feature, which prompted Google to ease up on the rules.

However, Google has since put things back to the way they were.

So, write this down: Setting your Google Business Profile as “Temporarily Closed” WILL have a negative impact on your rankings and visibility!Looking for an easy and intuitive way to track your GBP rankings? Try the Whitespark Local Rank Tracker!