Google may update business hours in local listings with AI

Google said that is can use machine learning and AI to update the business hours of local listings when the search company thinks the hours listed are inaccurate. Google wrote “we developed a machine learning model that automatically identifies if business hours are likely wrong, then instantly updates them with AI-generated predictions.”

Why do we care. This is why it is important to regularly, on a consistent basis, review your business hours listed for your business listing but in Google Business Profiles and how searchers see it listed in Google. If Google changes your business details and hours, you can quickly update it in Google Business Profiles. This is just good local SEO practice in general because your listing details may change through Google’s AI or other edits done by Google Local Guides or searcher’s suggested edits.

How it works. How does Google change your listing with machine learning? Google said it looks at multiple factors to determine if the hours listed for a local listing is accurate. These include:

• When was the last time the business updated their business profile
• What other local business hours are set to
• The Popular Times information for that local listing (real user traffic)
• Street View images look specifically for business hour signs on the door

Then if there is conflicting information, Google may go ahead and update the hours automatically.

20 million businesses. Google said the company is on track to update the business hours of “over 20 million businesses around the globe in the next six months using AI.”

Google also uses Duplex to automatically call businesses to verify hours and other details.