Google Business Profile Category Change Rejected – Need Advice

[Shahid Anwar]

Hello Experts,

I am managing a Google Business Profile for a moving company in Dubai. Currently, the primary category is set to “Bee relocation service” and the secondary category is “Packaging company.”

When I attempted to update the primary category to “Moving company” or “Moving and storage service,” Google rejected the edit with the following message:

“You can’t make the following edits because content that violates our policies isn’t allowed. Can’t update business categories – Violated policy: Business identity changed.”

My concern:

• I know most competitors in the same industry are using “Removals company” or “Moving company” as their primary category.
• However, Google seems to treat my edit as a complete identity change.

My questions:

1. What is the safest way to shift from “Bee relocation service” to the correct primary category (Removals company / Moving company) without triggering the “business identity change” policy?
2. Should I take a step-by-step approach (gradually adding/removing categories), or is it better to close and re-create the GBP with the correct primary category from day one?
3. Has anyone faced this issue before in the moving/relocation industry, and what worked best for you?

Any guidance or proven strategies will be highly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

 

[JoyHawkins]

I would suggest reaching out to Google support. That is quite the change. Why on earth would they ever have "bee relocation service" as a category? That is not a moving company lol.

Google is blocking the edit because it's so unnatural and those 2 categories aren't related at all.

Before you contact support, I would probably get a good answer from the business owner on why they ever used that bee category so that at least you have some explanation.

 

[Shahid Anwar]

You are absolutely right, as these two are quite different.

The owner of this business is not tech-savvy at all. When I asked him about this, he said he does not know anything related to categories and that someone created this Google Business Profile and selected the wrong category. So, what is the best course of action now? Can you please help me in this regard?

 

[Shahid Anwar]

Google is also giving me an option to appeal against this rejection. So, should I file an appeal?