Why my primary business category that I have selected is changed to other category in local pack view?

[Siva]

Hello everyone,

I work with a curtain shop store in my location.

I have chosen "Curtain Shop" as my primary category and when I search for my brand it is showing "Window treatment store" as the primary category.

Do I need to optimize my page for Curtain Shop or for "Window treatment store"?

Need your thoughts

Thanks
Siva

 

[JoyHawkins]

"Curtain shop" (some countries call it "curtain store") is a different category than window treatment store. I would look at your main keywords and see which one correlates strongest with the top ranking businesses and make that one as your primary category.

 

[Siva]

Curtain shop is the main keyword that fit to my business and will use the same.

Any reason on why Google is showing "window treatment store" as the category instead of category that I selected which is "Curtain Shop"

Thanks a ton Joy Hawkins

 

[JS Girard]

If you have secondary categories, Google will sometimes adjust the category it shows to the one it thinks matches the query better.

 

[Siva]

If you have secondary categories, Google will sometimes adjust the category it shows to the one it thinks matches the query better.

Thanks a lot, but I haven't mentioned Window treatment store and attaching the categories that I selected and categories which Google is showing.

Asking again because only for this client I am facing this issue. Attached the category which I selected and what Google is showing

Thanks Again.

 

[JS Girard]

OOooh, I got it! We have a fantastic bit of multilanguage clownery on Google's part!

In the US and Canada, Window treatment Store and Curtain shop are separate categories, but in India and the UK, they are the same name! For some reason, once you go into Maps, it shows you categories with NOT the India settings, which reveal the difference:

We see that in Quebec with European French categories sometimes, but especially with building vs. home inspector, which are translated with the same french name.

If you go into the GBP to select a category, "curtain shop" is there twice in the list, isn't it? Similar to this:

translated weith the

 

[JoyHawkins]

Great catch JS.

 

[JS Girard]

The "fun"part with this? Regardless of which identical option you select it will redirect to Window treatment store. At least that's what happen in French. The only way to get the category you actually want (which for "Inspecteur en bâtiment" is important as only one of them has predefined services!), you have to temporarily change your language to one where the categories do have different names.

 

[Siva]

OOooh, I got it! We have a fantastic bit of multilanguage clownery on Google's part!

In the US and Canada, Window treatment Store and Curtain shop are separate categories, but in India and the UK, they are the same name! For some reason, once you go into Maps, it shows you categories with NOT the India settings, which reveal the difference:

We see that in Quebec with European French categories sometimes, but especially with building vs. home inspector, which are translated with the same french name.

If you go into the GBP to select a category, "curtain shop" is there twice in the list, isn't it? Similar to this:

translated weith the

Hi JS Girard, yes there are 2 categories with Curtain Shop

 

[JS Girard]

That would be the problem. Check for a non-english language in pleper where the categories are different and switch to that language before selecting the "real" curtain shop category and saving the change. You can switch back to English after.

 

[Siva]

The "fun"part with this? Regardless of which identical option you select it will redirect to Window treatment store. At least that's what happen in French. The only way to get the category you actually want (which for "Inspecteur en bâtiment" is important as only one of them has predefined services!), you have to temporarily change your language to one where the categories do have different names.

Got it JS. Thanks a ton

 

[Siva]

That would be the problem. Check for a non-english language in pleper where the categories are different and switch to that language before selecting the "real" curtain shop category and saving the change. You can switch back to English after.

Thanks a ton for your great help.

 

[Siva]

Got it JS. Thanks a ton

I tried this JS.

Changed the language to German as it was mentioned the category as "Curtain Shop"

But unable to change the category and still seeing the same category "window treatment centre".

Changed the language by clicking on settings > Language > And selected German as a language

Am I missing anything.

Thanks
Siva

 

[WilliamGMBE]

@Siva

Great to see this discussion. I think @JS Girard answer could be the solution.

Just wanted to add, if you want to be fully sure of the primary category Google shows, then I suggest you go to the indivitual business page with the share button and then see what the categories that are showing up there. The primary category there is usually the correct one google uses.

With search result and other pages we have seen that google sometimes jumbles up the categories to have the one that closely matches your search term as the main category. In very rare scenario, it also changes the meta data too from where all tools pick up the primary category.

This is something we have noticed.

 

[JS Girard]

@Siva

Great to see this discussion. I think @JS Girard answer could be the solution.

Just wanted to add, if you want to be fully sure of the primary category Google shows, then I suggest you go to the indivitual business page with the share button and then see what the categories that are showing up there. The primary category there is usually the correct one google uses.

With search result and other pages we have seen that google sometimes jumbles up the categories to have the one that closely matches your search term as the main category. In very rare scenario, it also changes the meta data too from where all tools pick up the primary category.

This is something we have noticed.

That's not helpful for the specific case I discuss. What's going on is the same category is shown with different names because of regional variations. A good exemple is the category "physical therapist", In Quebec, this will show as "Physiothérapeute", but in Europe it shows as "Kinésithérapeute", and sometimes map will just... randomly show with the European name to Quebec users. (the language controls for Maps on Web do not allow to select a regional variation)

 

[JS Girard]

I tried this JS.

Changed the language to German as it was mentioned the category as "Curtain Shop"

But unable to change the category and still seeing the same category "window treatment centre".

Changed the language by clicking on settings > Language > And selected German as a language

Am I missing anything.

Thanks
Siva

Oh crap, switching the language for NMX is STUPID because you need to go to GBP dashboard options. Switching it with the Google Search sidebar will not actually work.

Have you tried switching language with Account settings: Your browser is not supported. (Sorry, forum doesn't let me use a raw URL) and then setting the category to "Gardinengeschäft"? The issue should not be present as the category "window treatment store" has not been translated in German according to Pleper.

 

[Siva]

Oh crap, switching the language for NMX is STUPID because you need to go to GBP dashboard options. Switching it with the Google Search sidebar will not actually work.

Have you tried switching language with Account settings: Your browser is not supported. (Sorry, forum doesn't let me use a raw URL) and then setting the category to "Gardinengeschäft"? The issue should not be present as the category "window treatment store" has not been translated in German according to Pleper.

I haven't tried with the Account setting features like you said. Will give it a try now