Google My Business Categories Missing

[Kasey R.]

I noticed this morning that the category "neurologist" is now gone. For one of my clients that is set as such, their category is showing in red with this message:

The client is located in Pennsylvania for reference. I confirmed other listings for our clients are showing in red as well. Cardiologist was another example.

I started digging into more clients and it looks like a large majority of our healthcare specific categories are missing (Dermatologist, Family Practice Physician, Internist, Gastroenterologist, Transplant Surgeon to name a few more). This is extremely concerning since this can directly impact the results/rankings. Has anyone else seen this or know what is going on?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I noticed the same thing last week. I'm going to ask Google about it. I'll post back here if/when I hear back.

 

[cfazio]

Went to make a primary category change today on an account - "family practice physician" should provider better leads for us - but apparently I can select it anymore?

As well as "doctor" "general practitioner".

Still seeing tons of results come up with "family practice physician" as category in map pack.

 

[cfazio]

Also .... apparently my address is not available in my region as well - has to be a bug.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I just checked and found all these categories are removed now. Due to how many there are, I'm not sure this is intended. Colan has already alerted Google about it so we're waiting to see if it's a bug.

Venereologist

Vascular surgeon

Urologist

Transplant surgeon

Surgeon

Speech pathologist

Sexologist

Rheumatologist

Radiologist

Pulmonologist

Psychosomatic medical practitioner

Psychoanalyst

Proctologist

Physician assistant

Physiatrist

Pediatrician

Pediatric urologist

Pediatric surgeon

Pediatric rheumatologist

Pediatric pulmonologist

Pediatric orthopedic surgeon

Pediatric neurologist

Pediatric nephrologist

Pediatric hematologist

Pediatric gastroenterologist

Pediatric endocrinologist

Pediatric dermatologist

Pediatric cardiologist

Pathologist

Pain management physician

Otolaryngologist

Orthopedic surgeon

Occupational medical physician

Obstetrician-gynecologist

Nurse practitioner

Neurosurgeon

Neurophysiologist

Neurologist

Nephrologist

Neonatal physician

Men's health physician

Kinesiologist

Internist

Intensivist

Infectious disease physician

Immunologist

Hyperbaric medicine physician

Hepatologist

Hematologist

Hand surgeon

Gynecologist

Geriatrician

General practitioner

Gastrointestinal surgeon

Gastroenterologist

Fertility physician

Family practice physician

Endoscopist

Endocrinologist

Doula

Diabetologist

Dermatologist

Cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon

Cardiologist

Bariatric surgeon

Audiologist

Anesthesiologist

Allergist

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Wow, really hope this wasn't intentional.

 

[Kaycie Smith]

Wow. Those are pretty specific cats. Has to be a bug. Thank you @JoyHawkins for keeping us posted.

 

[KimW]

Yup, saw this on all locations in my dash. Hoping its a bug!

 

[Jeffrey]

Yeah I'm experiencing this as well. Let me know if you need more examples

 

[rutkap]

Yeah I'm experiencing this as well. Let me know if you need more exampl

I don't know about you all, but I am leery of ever using the term "clinic" in my keywords or category list. Clinic implies free or cheap to me. Am I alone on this one or do you agree?

Went to make a primary category change today on an account - "family practice physician" should provider better leads for us - but apparently I can select it anymore?

As well as "doctor" "general practitioner".

Still seeing tons of results come up with "family practice physician" as category in map pack.

 

[Pam Weber]

I'm seeing some of the "removed" categories in our clients' public-facing GBP's.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I'm seeing some of the "removed" categories in our clients' public-facing

We are seeing the same thing. Whatever is going on does not seem to be impacting the categories on the front end or rankings.

 

[Conor Treacy]

Clinic implies free or cheap to me. Am I alone on this one or do you agree?

We use "clinic" on both an optometrist site and with a health clinic that we worked with years ago (business no longer exists). For the health clinic, they were a provider specifically for those that were not insured.

I've not worked with an Urgent Care place, but the local one here in Omaha uses "Urgent Care Clinic" on their signage. Then you have "Mayo Clinic" and "CHI Health Clinic" which is more of a walk-in place than anything else.

It may depend on the region as I don't recall "clinic" being used when I lived in California.

 

[KimW]

I'm still seeing categories & addresses in red.
If I remove Audiologist, they both go back to normal.
Changing the order of categories doesn't help.
Is there any update on whether this is a glitch and being fixed or if healthcare categories are going by the wayside?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Kim, No official update from Google yet but I'm pretty confident this is not working as intended.

 

[KimW]

Thanks Colin - They still show live on the front end but my clients are freaking because of all the red in their profiles...

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Yes I'm seeing the same thing and that's why it's likely a bug. I also haven't seen this impact rankings in a negative way so you can let your client know that as well.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I am now seeing the missing categories available once again.

 

[Kasey R.]

I'm still seeing my categories in red today. Anyone else?

 

[KimW]

Looks like my location categories have gone back to normal!
Whew