Due to the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak, numerous businesses had to shutter their offline locations with no way for them to inform customers of the same. Well, in line with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s COVID-19 statement from last week, that changes today as businesses can now mark locations as temporarily closed.

Once business owners mark their locations as temporarily closed, both Google Maps and Search will display the updated status to the customers. The company also relies on the info sourced from governments and other authoritative sources to update the status.

Google recently updated its support page to offer a guideline to business owners on how they can mark their locations as temporarily closed if they’ve ceased operations due to the ongoing pandemic. Check out the steps below:

Steps to Mark Business As ‘Temporarily Closed’

• First, sign in to ‘Google My Business’ using the link right here.
• In the menu on the left, click on ‘Info’ and then navigate to the “Close this business on Google” section.
• Here you will be able to choose between three options.
  • Mark as temporarily closed
  • Mark as permanently closed
  • Remove listing

This feature only comes in handy for businesses that are listed on Google My Business. It also requires them to manually update the status, which might be a hassle for many. But, the company states that it’s using AI to send notifications to businesses to confirm if they are operating during the lockdown. If a business has scaled back operations but continues to operate, then they can choose to update their working hours.

If business owners regularly update the status of their offline locations, it will be easy for buyers as they wouldn’t have to wander around in search of, suppose, essentials. It also reduces the risk of the spread of Coronavirus, doesn’t it?