TL;DR: Set special hours in your Google Business Profile for every December closure and reduced day, and confirm your hours for official holidays even when they are unchanged, which Google itself recommends. Special hours cover up to six days in a row; a longer closure should be marked "Temporarily closed." Keep your website, phone message and booking system matching what Google shows.
What does a patient with a cracked molar see when they search "dentist near me" on Boxing Day? If your Google Business Profile still shows regular hours while your door is locked, the answer is a wasted trip and a frustrated patient. As of October 2026, the holiday stretch is about eight weeks away, which is the right time to get your hours in order for every location in Toronto and the GTA.
This guide walks through how special hours work, the 2026–2027 Ontario holiday dates to plan for, and how to keep every channel consistent.
Why do holiday hours matter for dental SEO?
Google is direct about it. Its local ranking guidance states that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results, and it lists business hours, including special hours, among the information to provide. It also warns that inaccurate information may mean your Business Profile does not show up for relevant searches in your area.
According to the same guidance, local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot change your distance from a searcher, but you can keep your information complete and accurate, as Google asks. Holiday hours are one of the easiest places to get that right, and one of the easiest to forget.
There is also a professional reason. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) Advertising Guidelines bar statements that are "unclear, untrue or misleading," and require dentists to personally control all printed and electronic material about the practice, including material published on the practice's behalf. Your Business Profile is practice information that the public sees. Treat its hours with the same care as anything else published about your practice.
Which holidays should Ontario practices plan for?
Ontario's Employment Standards Act lists nine public holidays. Three of them fall in the coming holiday stretch:
- Christmas Day — Friday, December 25, 2026
- Boxing Day — Saturday, December 26, 2026
- New Year's Day — Friday, January 1, 2027
If you run reduced hours on days that are not public holidays, such as December 24 and December 31 (both Thursdays this year), those days need special hours too, added as custom dates.
Pro Tip: Block 30 minutes in your practice calendar for the first week of November to set every December and early-January date at once. Doing it in one sitting means no date is missed when the front desk gets busy in December.
How to set special hours in Google Business Profile
Google describes special hours as the tool for when your hours change for a brief period, so your regular hours don't change. Based on Google's own help article, the web steps are:
- Go to your Business Profile.
- Select Edit profile, then Hours.
- In the Business hours section, next to Special hours, select Edit.
- Choose the date. To confirm a date Google suggests, select Review. To add your own, select Add a date.
- If you are closed, check the Closed box. If you are open, uncheck it and enter your opening and closing times.
- Select Save.
If your practice closes for lunch on a reduced day, Google lets you add more than one set of hours for a date: select More, then Add hours.
What details trip practices up?
"Open with main hours" must be on
Google states that for special hours to show on your Business Profile, your business hours must be set to "Open with main hours." If your profile isn't set to "Open with main hours," special hours will not appear. Check this first.
Confirm holidays even when nothing changes
Google suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even if they are the same as your regular hours, so customers can see the hours are accurate. If your practice is open on a date Google flags, confirm it rather than leaving it blank. A searcher who sees confirmed hours has less reason to doubt them.
Special hours replace the whole day
Special hours replace your regular hours for that day. If you are open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on December 24 instead of your usual day, enter exactly those hours. Do not assume Google will merge them with your normal schedule.
The six-day limit
Special hours are meant for temporary changes or closures of up to six days in a row. If your practice closes from Christmas through New Year's for seven or more consecutive days, Google recommends marking the business "Temporarily closed" instead. Count your days carefully before choosing.
Pro Tip: After saving, search your practice name on Google from a phone using mobile data, not your office Wi-Fi, and check each holiday date shows correctly. That is the view your patients will see.
Managing several GTA locations at once
Group practices with offices in, say, Vaughan, Brampton and Etobicoke can update hours in bulk using Google's spreadsheet upload. Enter each affected date in the Special hours column. Google's format is YYYY-MM-DD: HH:MM-HH:MM in 24-hour time, and an x marks an all-day closure. Separate multiple sets of hours with a comma.
One warning from Google's own documentation: columns left empty in a spreadsheet can erase existing information for those columns. Download your current data first, edit only what needs to change, and keep the rest intact.
Keep your website and other channels in sync
Your Business Profile is one channel among several. A patient may check your website, call your office or try to book online. When those disagree, trust drops and the RCDSO's standard on unclear or misleading statements becomes a real concern.
- Website: add a short holiday hours notice on your contact page and homepage.
-
Structured data: if your site uses schema markup, Schema.org's
specialOpeningHoursSpecificationproperty is designed to override general opening hours, withvalidFromandvalidThroughdates for the period. - Phone: record a holiday voicemail message that matches your Google hours and tells patients how to reach your practice's after-hours arrangements.
- Online booking: block the closed dates so the system does not offer appointments you cannot keep.
Staying inside RCDSO advertising rules
Holiday updates are a natural moment to post a seasonal note, and it is easy to slip into promotion. The RCDSO Advertising Guidelines prohibit incentive programs, including giveaways, contests, draws or free products or services. They also bar testimonials and superlative or comparative terms. A holiday post should stick to facts: dates, hours and how to reach the practice. Skip "holiday specials," gift draws or year-end offers. If you are unsure whether a seasonal message fits the rules, check with the RCDSO before publishing.
For more practical guides for Canadian practices, visit ebiko.ca.
How does your practice handle the Christmas to New Year's stretch: full closure, reduced hours or business as usual? We would like to hear what works for your team.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help: How to set Special hours
- Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
- Government of Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Public holidays
- RCDSO: Advertising Guidelines
- Schema.org: OpeningHoursSpecification
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I add holiday hours to my dental practice's Google listing?
In your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, then Edit next to Special hours. Add each holiday date, check Closed or enter your reduced hours, and select Save. Your profile must be set to "Open with main hours" for special hours to appear.
Q: Should I mark my dental office temporarily closed over the holidays?
Only if you close for seven or more days in a row or for an unknown period, which is when Google recommends "Temporarily closed." For closures of up to six days in a row, use special hours instead.
Q: Do I need to confirm holiday hours if my practice is open as usual?
Google suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even when they match your regular hours. It signals to people searching that your listed hours are accurate for that date.