Plumber category changed to "mechanical contractor"

[HoosierBuff]

Has this happened to anyone else. . . I'm wondering this this just a local scammer or a wider google error.

I have a plumber who plummeted (plumbeted?) in the rankings when his category was changed to "mechanical contractor" - per Google mapmaker it was changed by "google".

 

[Scott Rawlins]

I have also noticed G adding cats in other verticals as well. None of these added cats are in the dash, but they are on the GMB page. Examples:

Dentist - G added Dental Care
Plastic Surgeon - G added Aesthetic Surgery Centres and Specialized Clinic Surgeon
Plumber - G added Craft Facility Contractor, Home Services, Household Repair Service, Hydraulics, Office Repair Service and Tradesperson

And these are only a few I've seen. However, there is no MM history like yours with the ones I've found. I hope this is a bug. It seems to be across the board for all verticals, but not sure. No time to check.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I highly doubt this is actually Google. Any edit made to a listing via Google Maps by a user will show up as "Google" in MapMaker. If the edit removed the main category, I would think it's someone trying to kill the ranking. Plumbing is a very spammy industry which is why it's one of the 2 industries Google started Advanced Verification with.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

I agree in his case. But in mine, these cats have been added by G I assume. It's so odd and random.

Joy - you noticing these extra cats with any of your clients?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Scott,

I'm still off on maternity leave so I can't check clients to see but do you want to post a link to a few of the ones you saw it on? If you don't want to post publicly feel free to PM me and I can look later

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Oh yeah, I forgot. I hope all is going well with the new baby. I'll shoot you an email as soon as I can.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Re: Plumber category changed to "mechanical contractor"

Message me through the forum - I also don't have access to my work email

 

[HoosierBuff]

Hi all,

Just a quick follow up. I changed the category back, and they went from being 40th on maps to #4.

I have to admit to being a bit surprised that this impacted it as much as it did (to think of all the on-site information on the page that says "this is a plumber" and yet, google wouldn't rank it for plumbing because of the new category).

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hi all,

Just a quick follow up. I changed the category back, and they went from being 40th on maps to #4.

I have to admit to being a bit surprised that this impacted it as much as it did (to think of all the on-site information on the page that says "this is a plumber" and yet, google wouldn't rank it for plumbing because of the new category).

Probably why this is an effective spamming tactic