Google’s official advice for website owners emphasises that website should remain active during the pandemic.

An important step, Google says, is to not disable your website altogether. Although business owners might find it tempting to turn off their websites to avoid paying fees or disappoint customers they can’t serve, Google says that this might harm your website rankings when the site it brought back online.

Turning your site off “is an extreme measure that should only be taken for a very short period of time (a few days at most), as it will otherwise have significant effects on the website in Search, even when implemented properly,” wrote John Mueller, a trends analyst at Google, in a blogpost.

Read More: Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: How to pause your business online in Google Search

Review the guidance from Google My Business on how to change your business hours or indicate temporary closures.