Tracking down the source of a Google involuntary category change

[HoosierBuff]

Hi All,

I have a real estate agency that for some reason keeps on getting the primary category changed to "Business center" in GMB. I presume Google is getting this info from somewhere. I have looked across the major business listing sites, and checked infogroup. We are submitted to the major DB's and have the right category.

Is there any other place I should look to find out where google is getting this info?

 

[aputtock]

I think this might be a result of a Google glitch that has been editing categories. Not sure where the info is coming from, but we have experienced it as well. It seems to have abated in frequency, which is good. Keep an eye on it.

 

[Rich Owings]

@HoosierBuff Are you paying for a service like Yext or Moz Local?

 

[HoosierBuff]

I am using Moz local, but, the categories there are correct

 

[Cordell Crowley]

I can confirm we've been having a similar thing happen- specifically on the categories. Get a GMB listing claimed, go through and update all the info, and then have the categories get marked through in orange and switched back to what they were originally. It does seem to be a category-specific glitch.

 

[Justin Mosebach]

I've occasionally seen this with hotels.

This is happening for the "Attributes" section of a restaurant client. "Catering" keeps getting removed, even though they do it and it's mentioned on their website!

 

[j_holtslander]

I've seen this happen too. "Stationery shop" changed to "Pen store"
Subscribing to the thread.

 

[kathleen.rhodes]

The categories keep being changed for an HVAC client that I have. Google (or someone) keeps deleting HVAC, as well as several other relevant and legitimate categories - not sure what to do. 2019-10-25_1123

 

[Cordell Crowley]

The categories keep being changed for an HVAC client that I have. Google (or someone) keeps deleting HVAC, as well as several other relevant and legitimate categories - not sure what to do. 2019-10-25_1123

This is exactly the case we've got right now with a client. They do HVAC and Electrical work, with the primary focus being HVAC. So, we wanted to make HVAC Contractor the primary category and then fill out the additional with other relevant categories. But anytime we try making a change, Google kicks it all out and switches them to "electrical engineer" which is what their primary category was before we got the listing claimed.