Pre-defined services can help boost rankings a bit, so as you are adding secondary categories, make sure to click on each one and check off all relevant services.
The categories “Contractor” and “Handyman/Handywoman/Handyperson” are extremely similar, but they have some unique services under each.
Jepto’s Google Business Profile Discovery tool can also help here, as it will tell you all the services associated with each category.
Dig deeper: 5 top tips to boost your local SEO efforts
Can you switch the primary category depending on the season?
Absolutely! This is a vital strategy for seasonal businesses like HVAC, lawn care, farms and more.
Adjusting the primary category to match seasonal demand allows these businesses to optimize their visibility for relevant searches year-round.
If you’re in the HVAC industry, make sure to switch your GBP category from “air conditioning repair service” to “furnace repair service” at least a few weeks before the cold weather hits.
This ensures Google has time to reassess your business profile and rank it for furnace and heating terms.
Many other industries also benefit from this strategy. For example, a lawn care business that does snow removal in the winter will want to switch its primary category from “lawn care” to “snow removal service” a few weeks before the first snowfall hits.
Suppose your business operates a haunted house during the fall. In that case, there’s a specific category for that, which can boost your profile’s relevance and give you a competitive edge in “haunted house near me” searches.
Once the Halloween season ends, you can easily switch to a more relevant category for the winter months to maintain visibility for your core services.
Avoid the local filter with strategic category tactics
If you have multiple listings verified at the same address, such as a practitioner or department listing, it’s crucial to carefully select categories for each.
Overlapping categories can trigger Google’s local filter, reducing your visibility. To avoid this, ensure that each listing at the same address has distinct categories.
For example, a dental clinic with both a main office listing and a practitioner listing should assign unique categories to each.
The main office might use “dentist,” while the practitioner listing could use “emergency dentist” or “pediatric dentist.”
You need to confirm using local rank tracking grids that the listings are not actually filtering each other. Even if they have separate categories, this filtering can still happen if the categories are too similar.
If you see an irregular pattern with inverted pins (like the one below), the local filter is likely at work.
You can also use category optimization to get your listing unfiltered if you are being filtered by nearby business listings you don’t have control over.
For example, realtors tend to have major issues with the local filter when many individual realtor listings are verified to the same broker’s address.
If you’re in a position like this, try changing your primary category to something none of the other listings use.
Dig deeper: 11 local SEO tools you should be using
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