4. Categories have different names in different countries.

For example, in Canada Google My Business calls the Real Estate Agent category “Estate Agents.” This is likely because categories in Canada tend to be more similar to the way they are named in the UK.

5. The categories you see on Google might not be the way they appear in the Google My Business dashboard.

Every category has a GCID which does not change and a category name which varies based on the country. Sometimes Google displays the GCID in the search results which can be really confusing if you’re trying to figure out why your competitor is showing a category that you don’t “appear” to have as an option in the Google My Business dashboard. In this example, Brodie Clark asked on Twitter why he couldn’t find the Heating Contractor category to add to his client. This is because “Heating Contractor” is actually the GCID for the category that’s named Central Heating Service in Australia.

6. The concept of “category dilution” is not true according to our testing.

This concept states that you could “weaken” your ranking for a category if you have more than one category on your Google My Business listing. Instead of putting all your ranking power in one category, it would theoretically be dispersed amongst all the ones you pick. We have found the opposite to be true. Adding more categories often results in an increase in ranking and clicks because you now show up for more related queries. For example, we added the category “Employment Attorney” to a law firm in Florida when we noticed that they take a lot of employment-related cases. This is what happened to his ranking 48 hours later for local rankings for the query [employment lawyer cityname].

7. The primary category holds more ranking power.

A business should pick their primary category wisely because it holds more ranking weight than secondary categories. The primary category is the first category you select in the Google My Business dashboard.

How Category Names Can Change and Be Considered Primary