“Are they open right now?” is the first question of many visitors on a local business website. If the answer takes more than a second to find, they call a competitor.
What visitors expect
- A live status: Open now · Closes at 18:30 or Closed · Opens tomorrow at 9:00.
- The weekly hours, with today highlighted.
- Lunch breaks and late openings shown clearly.
- Holidays and exceptional closures announced in advance.
Keep Google and your site consistent
Your hours appear in many places: your website, your Google Business Profile, social networks. Inconsistent hours frustrate customers. Make your website the reference and update the others at the same time. Adding LocalBusiness structured data with your hours also helps search engines understand them.
Setting it up in WordPress
- Install OpenHours and enter your weekly schedule, with several time slots per day if needed (and overnight slots for bars and restaurants).
- Add special dates: holidays, closures, exceptional hours.
- Insert the live badge in your header or hero section (
ClosedOpens tomorrow at 09:00), and the full table on your contact page (Opening hours
Closed- Monday09:00 – 12:30
14:00 – 18:30 - Tuesday09:00 – 12:30
14:00 – 18:30 - Wednesday09:00 – 12:30
14:00 – 18:30 - Thursday09:00 – 12:30
14:00 – 18:30 - Friday09:00 – 12:30
14:00 – 18:30 - Saturday09:00 – 12:30
- SundayClosed
Special hours
- 8 NovStaff trainingClosed
- 24 Dec – 26 DecChristmasClosed
- 31 DecNew Year's Eve09:00 – 16:00
- Monday09:00 – 12:30
- Turn on the LocalBusiness schema with your business name and city.
The badge refreshes itself every 30 seconds, even on cached pages. See it on the live demo.
Connect hours with contact
When you are open, visitors want to reach you immediately. A floating WhatsApp or call button can even use the same schedule to show “Online” or “Away”. Restaurants can add their menu next to it. All of these are in the Local Business Pack.
Handling special cases
Regular hours are easy. The cases that cause frustration are the exceptions, and these are exactly the ones visitors check before travelling:
- Lunch breaks: show two time slots per day rather than one continuous range.
- Public holidays: add closures in advance with a short label (“Closed for Christmas”).
- Annual leave: set a date range and a message with the reopening date.
- Late openings: for bars or restaurants open past midnight, make sure the status stays “open” after 00:00.
- Different hours per service: for example kitchen hours and bar hours, or shop and workshop.
Where to display your hours
Visitors expect to find opening hours in three places: in the footer of every page, on the contact page, and next to a call or directions button. On the home page, a small “Open now · closes at 7 pm” badge near the top answers the most common question immediately. On mobile, it can sit right next to a one-tap contact button.
Hours and local SEO
Opening hours are one of the details search engines compare across your website, your Google Business Profile and directories. Inconsistencies confuse both customers and algorithms. Make it a habit to update all of them on the same day, especially before holidays. Showing your hours as real text on the page, rather than in an image, also allows them to be read by search engines and screen readers.
Checklist
- Hours entered for each day, including breaks.
- Time zone set correctly in WordPress.
- Holiday closures added for the coming months.
- Same hours on Google Business Profile and directories.
- Status badge visible on mobile.
Test the live status on the OpenHours demo and read the essential plugins for a local business website.
Frequently asked questions
Does the “Open now” badge work with caching plugins?
Yes. OpenHours updates the badge in the browser every 30 seconds, even on cached pages.
Can I add holidays in advance?
Yes. Add special dates as closures or special hours, for one day or a date range.
What is LocalBusiness schema?
Structured data that describes your business and its opening hours to search engines.