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HuttenlocherTechnologies

Industries · 4 min read · Updated October 25, 2026

Hurricane season: keeping your website and Google listing current

Short answer: When a storm is coming, customers check Google and your website to see if you’re open, closed or coming back. Businesses that update both quickly keep their customers informed and keep Google’s information right.

Before the season

  • Make sure at least two people can log into your Google Business Profile, website, and social accounts, from their phones.
  • Know how to set special hours and mark the business temporarily closed on Google.
  • Have a short notice ready to post on your website’s home page.
  • Write down who to call if your website goes down, and print it. Our who-to-call card is made for this.

When a storm is coming

  1. Google Business ProfileSet special hours for the days you’ll close, or mark the business temporarily closed if you don’t know when you’ll reopen. Temporarily closed doesn’t hurt your listing the way marking it permanently closed would.
  2. WebsiteA banner at the top of every page: closed from when, when you expect to reopen, and where you’ll post updates.
  3. SocialPost the same information, and pin it.
  4. PhoneUpdate your voicemail greeting.

After

  • Reopen the profile and remove special hours as soon as you’re open.
  • Take the banner down, or change it to “We’re open.”
  • Post photos showing you’re back. Customers wonder.
  • Watch for storm-related scams aimed at your customers using your name, and warn them.

Written by Nikita Huttenlocher, founder and lead engineer at Huttenlocher Technologies, a web design and software company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Questions

Does marking my business temporarily closed hurt my ranking?

It can reduce how often you appear while it’s set, which is the point; customers aren’t sent to a closed business. Reopen it as soon as you’re open.

Can you update our site for us during a storm?

Care plan clients text us a change and we make it the same day, storms included.

Start a project

Tell us what you're building.

A website, a booking system, an app, or the thing you've been running out of a spreadsheet for three years. A few lines is plenty.

01The person who'll build it writes back
02A planning call, then a written plan with the price and the date
03A preview on your phone while it's being built
04Launch night handled: redirects, email, Google
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