Why business is not showing Heart Hospital category when I search for heart hospital in <location> Instead it is showing my primary category Hospital

[Siva]

Hello everyone,

When I searched for heart hospital in <location> Google is not showing "Heart Hospital" which I selected a additional category, Instead it is showing my primary category which is "Hospital"

But for my competitors it is showing the correct category which is "Heart Hospital"

What could be the reason for this?

Thanks in advance
Siva

 

[WilliamGMBE]

I am not sure I follow fully, do you mean that when you searched for 'Heart hospital', your business is showing up with category as 'hospital' which is your primary category?

If the above is your question, then this is the expected standard behavior. The category shown on normal search(without any extension) is usually same as your primary category. I used the term 'usually' because very very rarely we have seen this change.

If you want to be absolutely be sure about the primary category of business(without extension) go to the business page using the share link of that business. That will show the primary category always correctly.

Hope this helps.

 

[Siva]

I am not sure I follow fully, do you mean that when you searched for 'Heart hospital', your business is showing up with category as 'hospital' which is your primary category?

If the above is your question, then this is the expected standard behavior. The category shown on normal search(without any extension) is usually same as your primary category. I used the term 'usually' because very very rarely we have seen this change.

If you want to be absolutely be sure about the primary category of business(without extension) go to the business page using the share link of that business. That will show the primary category always correctly.

Hope this helps.

This helps.

But does this affect the rankings?

I mean if both of my competitors category is showing "Heart Hospital", will they get the boost in ranking and my category is Hospital and will Google degrade the rankings?

Thanks
Siva

 

[WilliamGMBE]

Primary category has a higher correlation with ranking for that particular search term. You can have only 1 primary category. So in your case, everything else being equal, you will be ranking lower from your competitor for the search term 'Heart Hospital' and you will be ranking higher from your competitor for the term 'Hospital'. So, it is upto you to decide.

If you are looking to make an informed choice, can I suggest our Category Finder tool here: GMB Everywhere: Category Finder. We allow 5 free audits a month, so you should be able to do this with the free account itself.

As you can see for the screenshot below, you can add the category in there and we will suggest other categories in there. The data in the dark bubble we have given there is the global search volume for that term. Then if you want, you can select the cateogires and then click 'Compare on Google Trends' button to see the relative volume for your specific geographic location. This is done with Google Trends. This should give you some data to make an informed choice.

Another thing to remember too, that search volume is different from stength of intent. Say in your case maybe people searching for 'Heart hospital' are likely to come to your hospital than people searching for generic term hospital, even though the search volumne of hospital is high. So, this is also something you need to consider.

Hope my answer helps.

 

[Siva]

Primary category has a higher correlation with ranking for that particular search term. You can have only 1 primary category. So in your case, everything else being equal, you will be ranking lower from your competitor for the search term 'Heart Hospital' and you will be ranking higher from your competitor for the term 'Hospital'. So, it is upto you to decide.

If you are looking to make an informed choice, can I suggest our Category Finder tool here: GMB Everywhere: Category Finder. We allow 5 free audits a month, so you should be able to do this with the free account itself.

As you can see for the screenshot below, you can add the category in there and we will suggest other categories in there. The data in the dark bubble we have given there is the global search volume for that term. Then if you want, you can select the cateogires and then click 'Compare on Google Trends' button to see the relative volume for your specific geographic location. This is done with Google Trends. This should give you some data to make an informed choice.

Another thing to remember too, that search volume is different from stength of intent. Say in your case maybe people searching for 'Heart hospital' are likely to come to your hospital than people searching for generic term hospital, even though the search volumne of hospital is high. So, this is also something you need to consider.

Hope my answer helps.

Got it William.

Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation.