Using 'location' categories for individual entities?

[jeg]

Our organization manages Google listings for lot of small clinics and dental offices.

A prospect is interested in our services, and we noticed that their DDS providers (people) had their primary category set to 'Dental clinic' (location category).

Questions:

1. Are there any consequences (from Google's POV) in applying location categories to listings for individual people? The concern is getting flagged for re-verification, local search repercussions, etc.

2. If there are no consequences, is there any research or evidence that point to 'mix-and-match' categories being beneficial for SEO? I've searched the forums/Google/GenAI and could not find any meaningful evidence on how these hybrid categories could affect ranking.

TIA!

 

[SabrinaB]

Google typically wants you to pick a category that completes the sentence "This business IS a" rather than "This business HAS a", so I would update the practitioners to relevant "dentist," "orthodontist," etc. categories and set the dental practice's profile as "Dental Clinic."

Once all profiles are updated and verified, you can also update the "Located In" setting on the practitioner listings so it shows as them being located in/at the clinic.