Category Change Penalty - 46 Days, Still 0% SoLV - Need Your Guidance

[Matt Chauhan]

Hi guys,

I need your expert insight on a GBP ranking collapse we can't recover from.

Business: Mold Inspection Service, Sacramento, CA
Place ID: ChIJ5YbSExMPNyYRw7juqpfIOaM
Profile: 4.8 stars, 44 reviews, verified
GBP URL: https://share.google/NXL6MPAdMy6uYYHVT
Local Falcon Trend Report: https://localrank.report/trend-repo...h_type=bar&graph_range=all&show_analysis=true

The Timeline:

Aug 21: Primary category "Environmental Consultant" → SOLV 58.33% for "mold testing"

Late Aug: Changed to "Home Inspector" (testing category fit)

Sept 18: Discovered complete collapse → SOLV 0% → Immediately reverted to "Environmental Consultant"

Today (Nov 3): 46 days later, still 0% SOLV across all keywords.

Current Metrics:

• "mold testing": ARP 12.51 (was ~9) | 45/72 grid points
• "mold inspection": ARP 10.96 | 45/72 grid points
• "indoor air quality": ARP 7.24 | 72/72 grid points
• All showing 0% SOLV

My Questions:

1. Is 46 days with zero recovery normal for category change penalties, or does this indicate something worse?
2. Is there a standard algorithmic "trust reset" period that we should expect? What's the realistic recovery timeline based on your experience?
3. What's the realistic recovery timeline based on your experience with similar cases?
4. Should we be doing anything different, or is this purely a "wait it out" situation?
5. At what point should we consider starting fresh vs. continuing recovery efforts?

The Problem: This isn't slow recovery - rankings haven't budged even 1% in 46 days. It's as if Google has permanently flagged the profile as unreliable.

 

[keyserholiday]

There is no category penalty. You need to dig deeper into the ranking losses.

 

[Matt Chauhan]

There is no category penalty. You need to dig deeper into the ranking losses.

No other change was made at that point in time. The only change that could affect the rankings was the primary category

 

[keyserholiday]

I have found several issues just by taking a five-minute look.

 

[Matt Chauhan]

I have found several issues just by taking a five-minute look.

Hi @keyserholiday,

Thank you for taking the time to look into this further. I would greatly appreciate it if you could share the issues you found. Given the severity of the ranking collapse, understanding these underlying factors is crucial for us to start the correct recovery process. We focused so heavily on the category change timeline that we may have overlooked other critical signals entirely.

Thanks again for your expert insight!