Google Removing Category

[MKubot]

Hi! Google keeps removing the category "rehabilitation center" from all our listings. My guess is they want this category to mean a physical therapy type rehabilitation instead of addiction rehabilitation. But, when you search for rehabilitation centers, it's mostly businesses in our space that show up. I'm assuming this is because they have to go listing by listing to check/change these. My worry is that we're missing out on these searches by accepting these changes, as people do search these keywords for our services. Is there any harm in continuing to add this category back in?

 

[whitespark]

Hey there. It is no problem to keep adding those categories back. I would recommend keeping an eye on this and always adding them back.

One question is where these changes are coming from. They could be related to data Google is finding online. I would check your website (homepage content and title) and the other major business listing sources to make sure they reference "rehabilitation center". They could also be coming from competitors that "suggest an edit" to deliberately try to negatively impact your rankings. In this case, you just have to keep watching for changes and changing them back.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Hi @MKubot,

Google colour-codes edits. Orange text indicates new data from Google. Orange + Strike-Through indicates data removed by Google. So your screenshot suggests to me that Google took "Addiction treatment center" out of your additional categories and made it your primary category.

While there are some addiction rehab centres in your area using the category, most of the listings I found when searching "Rehabilitation center" (and spoofing my location to be in your geography) are targeted at physical therapy / senior care.

Google will make changes based on information it finds around the web. In cases like this, that's often the issue. So, as suggested by @whitespark, it's worth looking at your major business listings to make sure you're using the right categories.

However, in this case the colour-coding of the edits makes me think this is a matter of how Google intends the categories to be used. I agree with your suspicion that Google intends "Rehabilitation center" to mean something else.

If you decide to take up the fight of adding categories back every time they're removed, you might find yourself in an endless battle. It might be worth giving up the fight for a few days or weeks to see if there's an impact on your leads. Using the categories as Google intends, and not as your competitors are doing, may well be good for your visibility and lead generation. If not, you can back to endlessly fighting the category changes.