Would changing the main business category drop a GMB rankings significantly or at all if it's in the same industry?

[nnw]

I know there are many factors in this but here's my situation. I have a client in the fitness industry and his main category on GMB is physical fitness program. I think his main category should be Gym and physically fitness program should be listed as a sub category. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

What are the GMB's that rank for your keywords using for their primary GMB category? Do you rank well for those, currently?

Changing the primary GMB category normally will have a dramatic effect.

 

[nnw]

I just took over the GMB and we don't rank well for any keywords. We are middle of the pack for physical fitness but nothing else at the moment. It is a very competitive market. My thought was because there are thousands of monthly searches for the keyword gym and just less than a thousand for physical fitness program it would be better to set gym as a primary category. Gym does describe the business because he has a physical location with exercise equipment. So a sub category would be a physical fitness program. I just don't want to drop completely off the map. So wondering if I should just build off the current main category or change strategy because we don't rank well anyway.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

The only way to know is to test it out. You would have to make the category change, measure the impact, and if it's desirable you keep it, and if not you switch it back.

I'm happy to take a closer look if you want to post the business details here as well as the keyword you're trying to rank for. If you're not comfortable posting the details here you can sign up for the private forum here as an option.

 

[bruce@brucejone]

I have been using this tool to answer the question of what categories others are using that are ranking for certain keywords. PlePer Tools - GMB Category Helper

 

[nmosier85]

As Bruce said, taking into consideration what categories competitors are using should play a part in the categories that you choose.

 

[nnw]

Thanks guys. I appreciate all of your advice.

 

[s_banks]

Changing the category scares me because I've changed the main category on a few listings to a similar category which resulted in suspensions. It took about a month to get reinstated.