Some Google Business Profile owners have lost the ability to mark a location as “Permanently closed” in their dashboard, according to reports gathered by Search Engine Roundtable. The option to select “temporarily closed” also appears to be missing for affected accounts.
Hiroko Imai first flagged the gap on LinkedIn: “In Japan’s GBP, the option for a business owner to mark their establishment as “Permanently Closed” has been removed from the dashboard. I’d like to verify whether this same issue occurs in other languages and countries.”
Amy Toman later posted a screenshot showing she still sees the option, which points to an account or listing level difference rather than a platform-wide removal. Google has not confirmed whether the change is intentional, a bug, or a staged rollout.
Owners who rely on the permanently closed status to keep a listing accurate should check whether the option is currently available to them and document the gap if it is missing, since the cause remains unconfirmed.
Per Search Engine Roundtable, September 22, 2026.
