If you want to rank #1 on Google My Business or the Google Business Profile then you need to understand categories. Google has over for 4000 to choose from.
Get the complete list of 4000 Google Business Categories
https://bigwestacademy.com/gmbcategories/
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https://bigwestacademy.com/gmbcheatsheet/
Here Is The Transcript:
You want to get your business ranked high on the Google business profile, formerly known as Google My Business, right? Well, let’s jump into something that is extremely important but very overlooked. It’s called the categories. Categories are a very simple and easy thing to set up and an easy thing to change, but most people don’t understand how important this is when it comes to showing up on Google.
In this short video, I’m going to show you how to choose, optimize, and then I’m going to give you a complete list of all the different Google categories that you can choose from. There’s almost 4,000 of them, so stay tuned for that.
Real quick, let’s look at this chart. This is the top 20 ranking factors when it comes to local SEO or Google Business Profile ranking. This list was compiled by interviewing local SEO experts and what they thought were the major ranking factors. It was compiled by Darren Shaw over at Whitespark.ca, who is one of the most respected authorities when it comes to Google My Business or the Google Business Profile.
Let’s check out the very first ranking factor. It is your primary business category, your primary GMB category. Okay, the first thing I want to do is show you how to correctly select the category that is going to be best for your business. Now, let’s use an electrician out of Seattle as an example. So I’m going to type in, “Electrician Seattle WA.” A typical search term that you might see somebody use when they’re looking for an electrician in their area. Now we’re going to scroll down to the Google Business Profile or the Google My Business 3-Pack. Now, right here, next to the reviews, this is where you’re going to see the primary category that this business owner has selected. You’ll notice that all three of them say electrician.So that’s your clue. If you want to rank for electrician in your area, then make sure you use electrician as your primary category.
Now, I want to show you a way that you could possibly get this wrong and really hurt your business if you don’t do it right. Now, here’s a list of all Google’s categories. There’s over 4,000 of these, and I’m going to show you how to get this list in just a minute, but I want to show you how you can easily mess this up. So in the example of the electrician, you have different options when it comes to electrician. Electrician, of course, is the one that was chosen and that is the best one for that specific contractor. But we had a client who was an electrician who wanted to rank for electrician in his city, but he had chosen electrical installation service. And although that sounds great, and you’re like, “Why would Google care if it says that versus electrician?” He was not ranking.
As soon as we switched it over to electrician, he bumped up into the top three and has been up there ever since. So it is that important, that powerful. And you can see there are lots of different options for each different types of industry. Now, some industries you want to be very careful. For example, attorneys, there are all kinds of categories that Google will give you options to choose. You can see right here, I just typed in, “Google categories for attorneys” and it gave me five right here just on the home screen. Personal injury attorney, criminal justice attorney, family law attorney. So it depends on what kind of attorney you are, will determine what you will choose when it comes to the primary category. So just be aware of that when you are selecting the category and you can always go back and change it, which I’m going to show you how to do that in just a minute here. You definitely don’t want to get this wrong.
Now, the best way to optimize your category and make sure Google knows what it is you want to rank for is to make sure you mention that category in a heading on your website. So let’s look at my business here. So Big West Marketing here you can see that my category is marketing agency. So what I did on my website, bump over to my website here, is I made sure in big, bold letters at the top called the heading, I made sure that Marketing Agency was contained in that heading title. Google will actually match this up with this over here, and it’s one more factor that can help you rank high. So make sure you take care of that. And if you want other tips on what to do to your website to rank higher on Google My Business, then watch my other video specifically on how to optimize your website for Google My Business.
Moving on. Now, if you like the information you’ve seen in this video so far, please feel free to subscribe so you can get updated news whenever I talk about new things that are coming along with Google My Business, marketing, et cetera. This channel is for you, so make sure you hit subscribe and like the video. Ask me any questions in the comments below, I will get back to you. Moving on.
Now, what if you have a category that you want to change? Let’s jump into the back end of my account so you can see exactly where you go to make this change. So make sure, first of all, you log in to the Gmail account that you use to set up your Google Business Profile or Google My Business. So I’m logged in using my Gmail, and then I search for my business name in Google and it’ll give me several options here.
I have to be logged in to see these little options, but what I’m going to do is click on edit profile. I’m going to click on business information, and you can see right here this little pencil icon next to business category, that’s going to let me select a new category if I would like to. Now note, the primary category really is the only one that matters when it comes to ranking on Google. The secondary categories or additional categories can help out a little bit, and it can give your potential clients clues to other services you offer or other products that you offer, but it is not necessarily going to help you rank on Google. Now, I promise you how to get this list here of all 4,000 of Google’s primary categories that you’re allowed to choose. All you need to do is go to bigwestacademy.com/gmbcategories. That will give you a free PDF that you can print out, or you can leave on your desktop anytime and refer to it when you’re deciding to select or you want to change your primary Google Business category.
One last thing guys, I want to leave you with this free cheat sheet for Google My Business or the Google Business Profile. Everything I know, everything I use with my clients to get them ranked up on the Google 3-Pack. This is yours free. All you got to do is click on the link down in the description, or you can just go to bigwestacademy.com/gmbcheatsheet. Once again, my name is Joe Burnich with the Big West Academy and I will see you in the next video.
