How Google popular times work, and can you change them?

It appears below your regular business information on Google Maps and Search.

• Wait time means different things by business type. For a sit-down restaurant, it's how long people wait to be seated.

Source: Google Business Profile Help: About popular times, wait times & visit duration data, checked 15 October 2026

From aggregated, anonymised data from users who've opted in. Google's two help pages name the setting differently: the Business Profile page says Location History, and the Google Maps page says Google Timeline, which it says is off by default.

• Google Maps says it uses differential privacy so the data can't identify anyone.
• Google doesn't calculate busyness for homes or flats.
• If there isn't enough information for an accurate, anonymous figure, Google doesn't publish one.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help: About popular times, wait times & visit duration data, checked 15 October 2026; Google Maps Help: Get information about busy areas from Google Maps, checked 15 October 2026

No. Google says you can't add this information manually. Neither help page describes a way for owners to edit, correct or hide it. What you can control is your listed opening hours.

1. Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile.
2. Check your regular hours match when you're actually open.
3. Add special hours for holidays and one-off changes, so customers don't rely on the popular times graph alone.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help: About popular times, wait times & visit duration data, checked 15 October 2026; Google Business Profile Help: Edit your Business Profile, checked 15 October 2026

Google doesn't give owners advice on this. These are our suggestions:

• Staff up for the peaks the graph shows, and plan stock deliveries for the quiet hours.
• Mention your quieter times in posts, for example a calm weekday morning for families or older customers.
• Watch live visit data during an event or promotion to see whether it brought people in.
• Compare the peaks with the calls and direction requests in your performance report.

Check these:

• Not enough visit data. Google only shows it when enough opted-in users visit.
• You're new. Popular times use the last few months of data, so it takes time to build up.
• Your business is at a home address. Google Maps says it doesn't calculate busyness for residential places such as a house or flat.
• You can't request it. Google says it can't be added manually.

Sources: Google Business Profile Help: About popular times, wait times & visit duration data, checked 15 October 2026; Google Maps Help: Get information about busy areas from Google Maps, checked 15 October 2026

Disclosure: this is our product. Zolyp writes and designs Google Business updates and events in your brand's style and publishes them to your connected profile once you approve, so you can promote a quiet-hours offer without writing it yourself. There's a 3-day free trial, no card required.