GMB Categories for Used Car Dealerships - Are branded categories okay?

[hollykaufman]

I am the Digital Marketing Manager for a small used car dealership. I have noticed one of our competitors uses branded categories "Honda Dealer", Chevrolet Dealer", etc. Their main category is "Used Car Dealer". I have searched high and low and can't find anything specific saying whether this is allowed. Granted, I could have missed it.

I am wondering if this is something we should also be doing, or if it goes against GMB policies.

Our GMB listing: Funkys Automotive - Google Search

 

[Phil Rozek]

@hollykaufman, it's fine to use make-specific categories like those, and I'd suggest using them to the max.

Unlike in the old days (with custom categories), there's no such thing as a GMB category that can get you in trouble. In general, if Google has a category for it, it's OK to use. (The worst that happens is Google auto-updates your categories in a way you don't like, though that's not too hard to remedy.)

 

[hollykaufman]

@hollykaufman, it's fine to use make-specific categories like those, and I'd suggest using them to the max.

Unlike in the old days (with custom categories), there's no such thing as a GMB category that can get you in trouble. In general, if Google has a category for it, it's OK to use. (The worst that happens is Google auto-updates your categories in a way you don't like, though that's not too hard to remedy.)

Excellent, thank you so much for the info!

 

[georgenenni]

I am the Digital Marketing Manager for a small used car dealership. I have noticed one of our competitors uses branded categories "Honda Dealer", Chevrolet Dealer", etc. Their main category is "Used Car Dealer". I have searched high and low and can't find anything specific saying whether this is allowed. Granted, I could have missed it.

I am wondering if this is something we should also be doing, or if it goes against GMB policies.

Our GMB listing: Funkys Automotive - Google Search

Hi Holly!

We manage the Google business profiles for hundreds of dealers, mainly franchise dealers. If a used car dealer used one of the categories for a new car make (I.e. Ford dealer”, it would almost never rank and only potentially appear if they were in a very rural area, and had specific reviews that mentioned those keywords (if at all).

I am sure you already know the very best category is Used car dealer, followed by Car dealer. Sometimes you will see dealers include Car broker, or Car leasing service. Improving from that point of course it’s all about quantity and quality of Google reviews, hopefully also reviews that include keywords about used cars and trucks.

Good luck!