Closing temporarily? What your website should say

Key takeaways

If your business closes temporarily, keep the website live and add a clear notice: the closure dates, the reason if helpful, what still works (such as orders, emergencies or messages), how to reach you and when you reopen. Mark the closure on your Google Business Profile. Google advises against taking the whole site offline.

• Keep the site live and add a clear, dated notice.
• Say what still works and how to reach you.
• Mark the closure on your Google Business Profile.
• Remove the notice as soon as you reopen.

What should a website say during a temporary closure?

It should say when you are closed, when you expect to reopen, what still works, such as online orders or emergency contact, and how messages will be handled. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) recommends a short banner on every page and a fuller note on the contact page.

• What information should every business website have?
• Holiday and seasonal opening hours on your website

Should you take the website offline?

No. Google's guidance on pausing a business advises keeping the site available and limiting functionality, such as disabling the basket, rather than removing it. Taking the site offline can affect how it appears in search and leaves customers with no information at all.

• Business details Google shows, and where it gets them

What about Google Business Profile?

Mark the business as temporarily closed or set special hours on your Google Business Profile, so Maps and local results show the closure. Update it again the day you reopen. Customers often see Google before your site.

• Google Business Profile vs website: what goes where

What should existing customers be told?

Tell existing customers how ongoing orders, bookings, subscriptions and support are affected, and who to contact. Email them directly as well as updating the site. Pause or reschedule recurring payments if the service will not be delivered.

• A support page for existing customers
• Subscription terms on your website: what to show

How do you handle new enquiries?

Say whether you are taking enquiries or bookings for after reopening, and when you will reply. An auto-reply on email and a note beside forms prevent people assuming they have been ignored. Keep an emergency route if your customers need one.

• Say what happens after someone enquires
• Out-of-hours and emergency contact details online

When is a closure notice unnecessary?

A notice is unnecessary for very short closures that fall within normal holiday patterns already shown in your hours. For anything longer than a few days, or unexpected, a notice saves wasted journeys and unanswered calls.

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a business closes for a refurbishment, updates its door sign and social media, but not its website or Google profile. Customers arrive to a locked door. A banner and a Google closure, set the same day, prevent it.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Temporary closure checklist

• Add a dated banner to every page.
• Say what still works.
• Mark the closure on Google.
• Email existing customers.
• Set email auto-replies.
• Remove notices the day you reopen.

• What buyers want to know before they ask for a quote

Next step

Write your closure notice and Google update now, even if no closure is planned, so it is ready if you ever need it.