MapGap · guide

How to change your primary category on Google Business Profile

Your primary category is the one category Google treats as what your business is. Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking. Here are the steps to change it, what Google’s guidelines say to check first, and what happens after you save.

1. Check before you change it

Google’s guidelines for categories say to:

• Pick a category that completes the statement “This business IS a”, not “this business HAS a”. A motel with a pool is a “Motel”, not a “Swimming pool”.
• Choose the most specific category that still represents your main business, for example “Nail salon” instead of “Salon”. Google says it adds more general categories behind the scenes, so you don’t need to add those yourself.
• Not use categories only as keywords, or to describe features of your business.
• Not use a category that belongs to another business located inside yours, or to the business yours is inside.
• If you have several locations offering the same service, keep the same primary category on all of them.

2. Change the primary category

These are the steps from Google’s “Manage your business category” help page. Sign in with the Google Account that manages the profile.

1. Go to your Business Profile (search your business name on Google, or open it in the Google Maps app under Business).
2. Select Edit profile.
3. Next to “Business category”, select Edit.
4. In the “Primary category” box, enter a category.
5. Pick a category from the list that shows up. You can’t type in a category of your own.
6. Select Save.

The category in the first field is your primary category. Google’s help pages say you can select up to 9 more categories as additional categories, using Add another category in the same box, and remove one with Remove.

3. What happens after you save

• Possible re-verification. Google’s help page says that if you add or edit a category, you might be asked to verify your business again.
• Review. Google reviews edits to a verified profile. Its help page says reviews usually take up to 10 minutes, but sometimes up to 30 days. The edit shows as Pending while it’s under review, Accepted once it’s live, or Not approved if Google can’t confirm it’s accurate (you may be able to appeal).
• Google can change it back. Google says that if it gets reports that your business info isn’t accurate, it might update your profile, and you’ll get a notification and an alert in Edit profile.
• Features can change. Google says some profile features depend on your category (for example menus and order links for restaurants, booking buttons for health and beauty businesses), so check those after a change.

Google doesn’t say how a category change affects rankings beyond saying categories affect local ranking, and neither can we. Nobody can promise a ranking change from a new category.

4. If the category you want isn’t in the list

Google says you can’t create your own category. If the specific one you want isn’t available, choose a more general category that describes your business. Google also says it can detect category information from your website and from mentions of your business around the web.

5. See what local competitors use first

Before switching, it can help to write down the primary and additional categories of the businesses that show up for your searches (our guide on finding a competitor’s categories covers how). You can compare them in a spreadsheet or paste them into MapGap:

• Enter your business and up to five competitors, each with a Primary category and an Additional categories box.
• MapGap lists the categories competitors use that you don’t have at all (primary or additional), ranked by how many competitors use each, and tags any that is a competitor’s primary category. The free preview shows the count of those, including how many are a competitor’s primary, and the top 2 rows in full.
• One limit to know: a category you already have as an additional category doesn’t appear in that list, even if it’s a competitor’s primary. If you’re deciding whether to promote one of your additional categories to primary, compare the competitors’ primary fields directly.

MapGap doesn’t look anything up on Google, doesn’t edit your profile, and doesn’t tell you which category to pick. It only compares what you paste in. The full list and CSV are $9.99 one-time on Whop.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help, “Manage your business category”: support.google.com/business/answer/7249669
• Google Business Profile Help, “Guidelines for representing your business on Google” (Categories and Chains sections): support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
• Google Business Profile Help, “Edit your Business Profile” (Category section, Maps app steps): support.google.com/business/answer/3039617
• Google Business Profile Help, “Understand what happens to your Business Profile edits”: support.google.com/business/answer/3038311