A holiday website checklist covers five checks before the rush. Publish holiday pages early, post your hours and closures, and plan how to pause orders. Match shipping and gift card terms to federal rules, and lock down every login.
Publish holiday content before shoppers start searching
Google suggests finding seasonal trends and planning ahead. The goal is "to have high quality content available on your site a little before people are searching for it," according to Google Search Central. For a small business, that means putting holiday menus, catering pages or gift pages up early. This way, the content is live before shoppers start looking for it.
Post your holiday hours on your website and in your structured data
Put your regular and holiday hours on your website, and add them to your Local Business structured data too. Google Search Central explains that seasonal hours use validFrom and validThrough dates. A day you're closed all day should have both opens and closes set to "00:00." Google's own example in that guidance lists a business "closed for winter holidays."
On your Google Business Profile, special hours handle short-term changes. They work "so that your regular hours don't change," according to Google Business Profile Help. Post your hours in all three places: your website, your structured data and your profile.
Plan how to pause orders without taking your website down
If you can't fill orders for a stretch, Google Search Central recommends you "keep your site online and limit the functionality." That means turning off the cart and adding a banner across every page. The banner should explain the delay and any pickup or delivery options still available.
Google calls taking a whole website down "an extreme measure," one that should last a few days at most. For a one or two day closure, the same guidance points to returning a 503 page. It warns never to return a 503 response for robots.txt.
Google advises banners over full-page interstitials for promotions. It notes that intrusive pop-ups "may lead to poor search performance," according to Google Search Central.
Match your shipping dates and gift card terms to federal rules
Holiday sales come with rules attached. The eCFR text of the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule covers merchandise ordered online. It requires sellers to have "a reasonable basis" for shipping within the time they state. If no time is stated, the deadline is within 30 days. If the buyer is applying to the seller for credit, the deadline extends to 50 days.
If a shipment will run late, the FTC guide to the rule has requirements. The seller must seek the buyer's consent to the delay. The seller must also offer to cancel the order with a prompt refund. Refunds for most payment methods are due within seven working days. The rule doesn't cover every sale, including seeds and growing plants or C.O.D. orders, and state laws can add buyer rights the federal rule doesn't.
Gift cards carry their own federal terms. Under eCFR rules, gift card funds can't expire sooner than five years from the date they were issued or last loaded. Dormancy or inactivity fees can only start after a year of no activity. They must be stated on the card. They can happen no more than once a month. Any fees or expiration terms need to be disclosed before purchase, and those terms "may not be changed after purchase." Check every shipping date and gift card term on your website against what you can deliver and what these rules require.
Lock down logins before the holidays
The FTC tells small businesses to turn on automatic updates. It also says to require multi-factor authentication to protect sensitive information. Back up important files regularly.
Our guide to what a restaurant website needs for orders covers restaurant website orders. Our guide to Core Web Vitals scores covers Core Web Vitals scores.
Frequently asked questions
Should I take my website down while I'm closed for the holidays?
No. Google recommends keeping your website online and limiting its functions instead. This includes turning off the cart. Add a banner that explains the delay and any pickup or delivery options.
How do I show holiday closures to Google?
Show them in three places. Post them on your website as text and in your Local Business structured data with validFrom and validThrough dates. Also add them as special hours on your Google Business Profile.
Do I have to ship online orders within 30 days?
Under the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, sellers need a reasonable basis to ship within the time they state. If no time is stated, the deadline is 30 days.
Can holiday gift cards expire?
Under the federal gift card rule, funds can't expire sooner than five years from the date of issue. This also applies to the last time the card was loaded.
Are holiday pop-up promotions bad for search results?
Google advises using banners instead of full-page interstitials for promotions. Intrusive pop-ups may lead to poor search performance.
A holiday website checklist comes down to five checks. Publish early, post your hours everywhere, and pause orders without going offline. Match shipping and gift card terms to federal rules, and lock down logins. Our web development team can help you get your website ready before the rush.
