GMB category named "POI Establishment" - what is that?

[Tim Colling]

GMB told me today that one of my clients' GMB listings had a "pending change" in which it was adding a category called "POI Establishment" to the listing.

Does anyone know what that category means? I declined the change because I don't know what it means. The client is a home health care and hospice agency.

 

[stankolev]

In the Google API`s there is point of interest and establishment but they are types not categories.

Place Types | Places API | Google for Developers

developers.google.com

Geocoding API overview | Google for Developers

Geocoding converts addresses into geographic coordinates to be placed on a map. Reverse Geocoding finds an address based on geographic coordinates or Place IDs.

developers.google.com

establishment: typically indicates a place that has not yet been categorized.
point_of_interest: indicates a named point of interest.


In our DB we have ~240K listings with categories and only 8 have ever had this category. Also the category was called "Establishment POI" not "POI Establishment"

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Tim Colling, I have a theory. A few questions:

1. To what extent does your client have listings on the usual suspects (rather than just a GMB page)?

2. If you've got those citations (and maybe aggregator listings), what are the typical categories selected on those listings?

3. To what extent did you create listings between when you created (or claimed) the client's GMB page and when you saw the "POI Establishment" category pop up?

 

[Martin Briggs]

I got a pending "POI Establishment" as an additional category today for a dentist.

Wasn't there some chatter about this at the end of last year? Is it a spam tactic or a bug?

 

[Oliver Keates]

"POI Establishment" was automatically added to additional categories without my approval for various verifed listings over the last week? Should one remove this particular category?

 

[Cordell Crowley]

We had this added as a secondary category overnight to 543 of our clients' listings... Not sure if we should change these or just roll with it. Still not sure entirely what it is.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Are any of the categories missing? I'm wondering if Google removed a category and this somehow automatically replaced it.

 

[Cordell Crowley]

Are any of the categories missing? I'm wondering if Google removed a category and this somehow automatically replaced it.

Not for any of my listings at least. Regardless of if they had 1, 2, 3, or 4 categories, the POI Establishment was tacked on as an extra additional category for each one. Example Screenshot:

UPDATE: I'd posted earlier that 543 of our clients' listings had it added on, but that number is now 604. So Google is still going through and adding this category to each listing.

 

[Oliver Keates]

@rustybrick published an article Google My Business: POI Establishment Category which is worth a read.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Okay skip that theory, I just checked a bunch of our listings. It was added to every dentist I have checked thusfar. No categories got removed in this industry either. I'll check with Google to see if I can get an answer on what's going on and update you.

 

[Amy Toman]

I've actually seen it on a plumber of ours, as well as on chiropractors. But oddly, for one chiro listing that has two locations, the "POI Establishment" has only appeared on one of the two. Would love to hear what's up.

 

[Annika Neudecker]

Seeing the same thing this morning on a bunch of self storage facilities in our account. Strange! Doesn't seem like all of them got the mark but a bunch in NYC did.

 

[keyserholiday]

My best guess is somebody at Google messed up. I am seeing it for the three brands I manage:
263/461
108/220
6/45

All three are different categories. The main category is not being removed as it is being added as a secondary. I am attaching a screenshot for one of the brands.

 

[keyserholiday]

Seeing the same thing this morning on a bunch of self storage facilities in our account. Strange! Doesn't seem like all of them got the mark but a bunch in NYC did.

It's hit and miss and I am not seeing a clear pattern. One brand had 3 of their 12 Texas locations with is pending update.

 

[AndySimpson]

Hey all...just jumping in on this one....so would you edit and remove or just leave for the short term as it might get fixed / removed automatically? Thank you

 

[NathanD]

Strange, just checked financial institutes and it was hit or miss 20 of 68 locations

 

[Cordell Crowley]

Hey all...just jumping in on this one....so would you edit and remove or just leave for the short term as it might get fixed / removed automatically? Thank you

We're leaving as it is until we know more.

Interestingly, I tried manually adding "POI Establishment" to some of the other listings we have that didn't get it automatically added, and you can't manually add it. It simply doesn't show up as an option for a category when I try. That makes me wonder if there's some hidden benefit, even if it's very minor, to having it added on since it's something Google attaches to the listing themselves.

Curious to hear what Joy finds out.

 

[Tim Colling]

Upon review this morning, I can report that this "POI Establishment" category has been added to almost every one of the GMB locations in my Agency Dashboard (that's the only dashboard that I use so it may or may not be a factor).

While I removed the first instance that I saw yesterday and reported in my original post that started this thread, I will just leave the rest alone for now until we learn more about whether Google will fix this and remove them all.

Never a dull day when our clients' well-being depends upon Google.

 

[Jon Cahen]

I've had about 100 of 150 listings get the "POI Establishment" added as a secondary category, making 11 total categories.
Client pages in these industries: dental, home remodeling, dermatology, landscaping, SAAS.

 

[JaraMoser]

A vast majority of our listings have gotten this category added as well, all local medical practices/providers. Keeping an eye on this oddity for sure