Google Business Profile: Should Real Estate Agents Say They're Open 24 Hours/Day?

Business hours are a ranking factor for Google's Local Pack, but real estate doesn't get the same rankings boost as other industries, so there's questionable value for an agent to say they're open 24 hours day.

In late 2023, Google confirmed that it uses your GBP business hours as a ranking factor in local SEO. This news compelled small business owners in all kinds of industries to mark themselves open 24 hours a day in their Google Business Profile (GBP).

But in the intervening years, it's become obvious to me and many others in real estate SEO that it's not as strong of a factor in real estate as in other industries.

Why Business Hours Isn't a Big Ranking Factor in Real Estate

A business's open hours are an important ranking factor in

1. industries where customers are often in urgent need of help -- such doctors, plumbers, locksmiths, and the like

2. industries where Google wouldn't want to direct consumers to businesses that are closed -- such as restaurants, retail stories, and such

It makes sense Google would do it this way. If you search for a plumber at 10 PM, you're probably having some kind of emergency, so the Local Pack will probably be filled with plumbers who are open at that hour.

Likewise, if you search for sushi restaurants at 11 PM, Google would want to only show restaurants open at that hour.

I know you probably work well into the evening most nights, but for Google's purposes, someone searching real estate agents at 10 PM doesn't need to talk to you immediately. They can wait until the next morning. And even though most transactions have all kinds of emergencies, they're not the kind that plumbers or locksmiths face. Ergo, saying you're open at 10 PM won't give you an edge to rank above agents whose GBP is set to regular business hours.

How Should Real Estate Agents Set Their GBP Business Hours

The answer here is pretty much common sense. Set your GBP business hours to your "regular customer-facing hours," as Google describes it.

So, if you keep your phone on from 7 AM to 9 PM, set those as your business hours. If you turn off your phone or decline to take business calls after 6 PM, set that as the end of your day. And don't worry, the agents who are open later than you aren't going to get a huge boost in the Local Pack.

What about answering services and AI call services?

My friend, and GBP Product Expert Amy Toman, got the scoop from Google on how to handle this. If you have an answering service or AI tool that answers calls 24/7, and -- this is directly according to Google -- can perform actions like scheduling an appointment, you can say you're open 24 hours per day.

But if your answering service or AI tool can only take messages to be acted on the next morning, Google doesn't consider that being open 24/7.

One last note: Listing yourself as open 24 hours a day when you're really not can get your GBP suspended and/or removed permanently. It's not likely, but it is the worst case scenario.

But even in the best case scenario, saying you're open 24/7 won't help your Local Pack rankings much, so why bother?

Related Articles

• Do Google Posts help with SEO?

• Which real estate category should I choose for my Google Business Profile?

• How to Add Tags to Your Google Business Profile & Track GBP Traffic

If you liked this article, you'll love my newsletter. Marketing Unlocked arrives in your inbox every other Sunday at 6:00 a.m. ET. You can unsubscribe anytime, but 500+ of your industry peers are reading it and raving about it. Click here to learn why and subscribe.