Google is launching a brand new feature to all local businesses, a feature we first saw being tested back at the beginning of September.

Back in September we saw that Google was displaying alerts in the local knowledge panel showing that the business could have different hours due to the holiday – in this case, Labor Day.  Now Google has announced this is available to all businesses to show different hours for a known holiday.

In addition to showing that the holiday might affect hours, businesses can now add their own holiday hours to their Google My Business listing that will revert back to the regular hours after the holiday.  Even if a business doesn’t add special holiday hours, Google will show a disclaimer alerting searchers that the business may have different hours for the holiday.

Google also now allows businesses to add special hours for any day for special events, up to 365 days in advance.  This would be great for days such as Black Friday – not traditionally a holiday, although Google could consider it one and flag it – as well as special clearance events with earlier or later opening hours.

To take advantage of it, you must already provide regular hours for your business.  The full details can be found here.