Search your business name on Google Maps and look at the few words just under your name. That’s your Google Business Profile category, and it’s one of the main ways Google works out which local searches to show you for. The good news: checking and choosing your Google Business Profile category takes about ten minutes, and you can do it yourself.
What is a Google Business Profile category?
Primary category: the single category that best describes what your business is. It shows under your name on Google Maps and in search results.
Additional categories: optional extra categories for other things your business genuinely does. They don’t show as prominently, but they help Google understand the full picture.
You choose both inside your Google Business Profile. Google gives you a set list to pick from, so you can’t make one up. [Karen: light confirm]
Why your Google Business Profile category matters for local search
Your primary category matters because it tells Google what kind of business you are before it reads anything else on your profile. Google’s own help pages describe categories as a way to help customers find you when they search for a business like yours (Google Business Profile Help: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177). [Karen: link written from memory, please click it]
The reality is that a vague category leaves Google to guess. Picture a remedial massage therapist listed as “Health and wellness centre”. It isn’t wrong, but someone searching for remedial massage near them is looking for something more specific, and Google has less to go on. (That’s a made-up example, not a client.)
Your category can also change what appears on your profile. Depending on the category, Google may offer different features, such as bookings or a services list. [Karen: light confirm]
How to check your category in ten minutes
You don’t need any tools for this. Just your phone and a notepad.
- Open Google Maps and search your business name.
- Read the words just under your name and write them down exactly.
- Ask yourself: is this what a stranger would type to find someone like me?
- Sign in to your Google Business Profile and open the business category setting. [Karen: confirm the menu wording]
- Look at your additional categories. Note any that are missing, and any that don’t fit any more.
- Search Google Maps for your main service plus your suburb, and look at the categories the businesses at the top are using.
Step six isn’t about copying anyone. It’s about seeing the words Google already connects with that search. If every business at the top uses a more specific category than yours, that’s a useful clue.
How to choose the right primary category
Choose the most specific category that describes what your business is, not everything it does.
- Go specific. “Bookkeeping service” is more useful than “Accountant” if bookkeeping is what you actually do.
- Describe the business, not a keyword. Google’s guidelines ask businesses to choose categories that represent their core business. [Karen: light confirm]
- Pick one primary. If you do three things, give the primary to the one that brings in most of your work, or the one you most want more of.
- Use additional categories for the rest, as long as you genuinely offer them.
- Don’t add categories you don’t offer. It won’t help, and it can confuse the people who do find you.
Here’s how that can look, using made-up businesses. Category names are illustrative, so pick the closest match from Google’s own list.
| Business | Vague primary category | More specific primary category | Possible additional category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remedial massage therapist | Health and wellness centre | Massage therapist | Sports massage therapist |
| Bookkeeper for sole traders | Accountant | Bookkeeping service | Tax preparation service |
| Pilates studio | Gym | Pilates studio | Yoga studio |
| Naturopath | Health and wellness centre | Naturopathic practitioner | Nutritionist |
When should you change your category?
Change your category when it no longer matches what your business is, or when you notice you’re turning up for the wrong searches. Maybe you’ve narrowed your services, or you picked the closest option years ago and never went back.
One tip: change it once, carefully, and then leave it alone for a while. Chopping and changing makes it hard to see what’s working, and big edits to a profile can sometimes prompt Google to check it again. [Karen: light confirm, this is general experience rather than a published Google rule]
Does your category help with AI search too?
It should. When someone asks an AI tool like ChatGPT, or sees a Google AI Overview, about local businesses, the answer draws on what’s published about those businesses online. Your Google Business Profile is one of the clearest public descriptions of what you do, and a specific category makes it easier to match to the question. [Karen: light confirm, sound reasoning rather than a published claim]
If you’re not showing on Google Maps at all, start with my earlier post on why your business doesn’t show up on Google Maps [Karen: paste the 9 Sep blog URL], then come back to this one.
Your next step
Open Google Maps, search your business name and write down your category. If it’s broad, or it isn’t quite you, change it today. One setting, ten minutes.
If you’d like to go further, my free guide, How to drive more traffic to your website using your Google Business Profile, walks you through the rest of your profile. [Karen: guide landing URL not on file] And if you’d like a second pair of eyes on your profile, get in touch at https://blossomandgrow.com.au and we’ll have a chat
