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As businesses increasingly recognize the benefits of the Google Business Profile (GBP), leveraging all available features is crucial. Our agency relies on a variety of resources to help a business stand out from the competition. We will optimize images, use insights from our GBP tool for local search, choose the best categories and more. While selecting the right business categories might seem rather straightforward, there is significant potential for missteps. Knowing this, what do you need to understand about category selection?
Understanding Google Business Profile Categories for Businesses
GBP categories are labels you assign to a business to describe what it is, as well as its services or products. These categories help Google understand the nature of the business so that customers are connected with the business when searching for relevant products or services.
When setting up a GBP for a business you first select one primary category. This category should be the most representative of its main activity. This primary category has the strongest influence on Google Search and Maps presence. You may also choose up to nine additional categories, and they must represent the core business appropriately.
Why Is Setting the Correct Google Business Profile Categories Important?
Category selection alone does not determine whether a business appears in Google Map results, but does contribute greatly to overall visibility.
- Improves Visibility – Accurately chosen categories enhance the visibility of businesses in relevant Google searches and Maps results, helping reach the right audience.
- Increases Relevance – Google determines local ranking using relevance, distance and prominence. Proper categorization ensures you hit the first of these metrics.
- Boosts Local SEO – Google automatically localizes search results, so when a locally relevant search takes place, factors like categories influence which business gets prominence.
- Influences Special Features – Some GBP features are category-specific. Setting the correct category unlocks features like online reservations for restaurants, amenities for hotels and so on.
Best Strategies for Selecting Google Business Profile Categories
Making the right GBP category choices now can save a lot of time if you ever need to analyze why an SEO campaign is not going as planned. The following strategies are a quick and effective way to optimize a GBP.
Select the Most Relevant Primary Category
Google offers thousands of category options, allowing you to drill down to a highly specific option. For example, instead of choosing the “Fitness” category, you could opt for “Gym” or “Yoga Studio.”
Include Relevant Additional Categories
Additional categories complement the primary category, thus offering further insight into the services provided by the business. If “Dental Clinic” is your primary category, you could also choose “Cosmetic Dentist” and “Pediatric Dentist” to add additional relevance to the GBP.
Research Competitor Categories
Researching competitors is simple with the GMBspy tool for Chrome. You can quickly check the top Google Maps results and identify common categories. This research lets you know what competitors are doing and see what Google is rewarding.
Apply Category Choices to Your Business Listing Network
If you’re using our comprehensive listing management services, your clients’ data is being distributed to GBP and a host of other platforms. This approach means you can maintain consistency between category choices. Our GBP Sync tool also ensures that categories and other business data are not changed in error.
Contact Us for Comprehensive Google Business Profile Tools
Advice Local creates high-quality tools for Google Business Profile and listing management. We help local marketers and agencies stay on top of business listings with our user-friendly dashboard solution. Call (214) 310-1356 or request a demo today.