Did you know that selecting the right primary and secondary Google My Business (GMB) categories can make a huge impact on your online local visibility?
With more than 3,000 business categories to choose from, as well as categories regularly changing, we know that it can be hard to select the best category every time.
Whether you are a new business owner, a business owner who just discovered GMB or a business owner who is looking for different online results, we wanted to share some quick tips that will help you choose the best GMB categories.
You will want to be extra careful when setting up your primary business category, as this is most important in Google’s local search algorithm.
This means that there is more value associated with the primary category, so you are most likely to show up when a customer is searching locally for your service.
When choosing this category, we recommend browsing all of the categories and choosing the category that most accurately describes your business.
After you have selected your primary category, and to further increase your online visibility, we recommend selecting around three to four additional secondary categories.
Although Google allows up to 10 secondary categories, having too many selected can confuse Google and may dilute your ability to rank for your primary category.
When deciding on your secondary categories, think about your goals and the services that align with those goals. If you need guidance when setting your business goals, check out this episode of Marketing 101 for helpful tips!
Keep in mind, if your first selections do not show improvement over time, you can update your choices at any time.
As we mentioned above, you can change your categories if they are not helping you hit the marks with your online visibility.
We suggest that you take time to restrategize your listing, as well as your goals.
If you don’t have the time or the resources, choose a digital marketing agency that you can trust.
At RevLocal, we have a dedicated team of marketing experts who can provide you with a competitive local search strategy.
It never hurts to identify a few of your competitors by looking them up on Google by searching their business name and location.
We suggest that you pay attention to the category that you see appearing the most when you search. You can look closely at their secondary categories, too.
Although this sounds easy, this approach can be a bit tricky because it does not mean that their categories will be the best fit for your business.
Use common sense and make sure that you aren’t advertising categories of services that you don’t legitimately offer.
We know that as a business owner you wear many hats, so keeping your GMB listing relevant as you evaluate your goals, or even just keeping up seasonally, can be challenging.
If you are strategic with choosing the best categories, your GMB listing will have better success in local searches, which means more success for your business.
If you aren’t sure where to start with your GMB strategy, our team at RevLocal would love to help! Request a demo with one of our marketing experts today.
Do you want to learn more about GMB and challenge your knowledge of the available Google categories? Watch our podcast for what you should know about Google My Business!
Nicole Roser, Brand Relationship Manager
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