Separate Department Listing Issues

[melinaedealer]

Earlier this month, something changed where separate department listings were no longer being shown on the primary GMB listings, and hours that used to pull through as separate departments within the primary GMB listing disappeared. I know that other LSEOs have also noticed this, as I saw Greg Gifford tweeting about it as well. We know that GMB does recognize they are connected, as the separate department listings all show "located in" on those listings. In this case, it is affecting whether or not the business is being shown as open (e.g. primary department hours start at 9am, but their service department hours begin at 8am; this used to pull through, and even if a customer was routing directions prior to 9am, it would pull through the service hours with no issue). This has resulted in some of our clients now reporting back to us that their customers are contacting them to confirm if they are still open for their booked appointment, as Google Maps now provides the warning that the business will not be open by the time they arrive. We have tried updating the "Access" hours (this doesn't register when routing directions), and had been working with GMB Support for a resolution, but it has been two weeks since their last reply acknowledging that they believe this to be a bug.

The direction in the Guidelines indicates that if separate department listings are being utilized, that the hours for each listing should be that of each department. Has anyone else successfully found a work-around for this? Should we simply ignore the recommendations in the Guidelines and update the primary GMB listing back to earliest open to latest close?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@melinaedealer, it's hard to comment on this without knowing certain particulars, like what industry the overarching business is, what the relevant departments are, and this part: "some of our clients now [report] back to us that their customers are contacting them to confirm if they are still open for their booked appointment."

But if the basic issue is that the main business's GMB hours are causing confusion, or forcing you to show a 9am opening time for a department that opens at 8am, or both, then I'd do one of two things (while Google is working on a fix, we hope):

1. Change the department's opening time to 9am and make it clear in the GMB description, on the landing page, maybe in a GMB post, and in the confirmation email or phone call (if applicable) that the real opening time is 8am.

2. Change the department's hours to "open 24 hours a day." Make it clear on the landing page and in the GMB description what the real hours / appointment times are.

Those are just based on what you've described, of course, though I doubt anything's a perfect solution unless and until Google makes it so the main business's hours don't supersede departments' hours.

 

[melinaedealer]

@Phil Rozek, the businesses we are working with are car dealers, and the most common example we have received in previous weeks is that while the main dealership sales department/showroom opens at 9am (and is what we have that main listing set to), while the Service department (properly nested, all department hours show on the listing as expected) opens at 8am. Customers do receive confirmation calls and emails confirming this, but when they enter the dealership's location on Google Maps to route them there, that's when the warning pops up that they may arrive prior to the business being open, and it doesn't matter what has already been confirmed via email or phone call, they then call again, or show up late for their appointment time, citing Google's directions.