How do you fix a Google Places category issue?

[WebMO]

I have a Google Places listing that has the category set to 'Garage Door Supplier', yet if you do a search in Maps on this same phrase and zoom into the area of the map where the business is located, it doesn't get flagged as a garage door supplier. If you just search on the business name, is does get flagged in the right location.

I spoke with Google (yeah, an actual human) and they were baffled. The only suggestion they had was to try adding a few more categories to see if maybe that would force an update.

Has anyone ran into this, and if so, did you find a fix?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Mark,

This is one of those questions where it's hard to provide insight without knowing a ton of information and being able to look at the listing myself.

How did you speak with someone at Google? Was it via their new data issues phone number or did they phone you?

How old is the listing?

How old is the business (how long has it been online)?

Where does the business rank in the local pack in the main organic SERPs (not when actually inside of Google Maps) when searching for 'garage door supplier'? Are you in the top of the pack? Not in the pack at all?

Is 'garage door supplier' the complete search term, in which case Google is using your location to provide results, or are you adding a geo term to that search term, as in, 'garage door supplier san diego'?

How many categories do you currently have on your Places/Google+ Local page? If you've already got 5, I seriously question the advisability of adding more as that would likely incur a penalty (5 is the limit).

Are you confident that your Google+ Local listing is violation free in every way?

These are some of the questions I would want answers to, but again, without actually being able to see your unique results for your unique business, I can only be general.

What I can point out here is that 'garage door provider' and 'Joe's House of Garage Doors' are 2 totally different types of searches. What Google shows within maps.google.com for your business name is simply based on your business name, but what they show on a keyword search is going to be based on your rankings. In other words, if you search for 'chinese restuarant san francisco' there are hundreds of possible results, but Google is only going to show you pinned A-J rankings on the maps. Who shows up their is based on all of the factors that go into rankings. Does this make sense?

Please, feel free to provide further details if you can.

[WebMO]

How would one go about knowing if a Google+ Local listing was violation free? I'm not aware of anything and of course Google didn't say anything (but I'm guessing maybe they wouldn't).

Although can a listing be under penalty and still show up on other categories in Places? This business shows up #1 for 'entry gates' in Maps and Places, even though their primary category is set to 'garage door supplier'.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Mark,

By violation-free, I mean that the listing complies with all of these guidelines:

http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528

*Note, Google updated their guidelines last week, so worth re-reading even if these are already familiar to you.

Yes, a penalized listing can sometimes still show up for various terms. Please understand, I'm not suggesting that you've been penalized, but it's something one has to consider whenever a site is failing to rank for something. It's just kind of a given that you have to consider that. Sometimes, a penalty is at fault...other times a lack of rankings boils down to other things like stiff competition, distance to center of business, number of reviews or one of hundreds of other factors. So, there is a ton to consider.

[WebMO]

Thanks for the policy update, I hadn't seen that.

Based on this, I would say the listing is clean. I would say the most obvious issue is that if you go to Maps and zoom into the business location as close as you can get and then do a search on 'garage door supplier' a pin doesn't show up, not even a little orange dot. It does for the other garage door companies in the neighborhood though.

It's the same result as if I had searched for 'flower shop' or some other non-matching category. Google doesn't see it as a garage door company. You can do the exact same search on 'entry gates' and the pin shows right up.

If you go into their listing though, it says 'Garage Door Supplier' for the category.

I suspect there's a mismatch in Google's database, but not sure how I can force it to sync back up. The support person at Google agreed, but could only suggest poking the listing by making a few edits and saving.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Mark,

Have you considered hiring a local SEO consultant to help you with this? The list of questions in my original response are things you need to go over with someone in person to whom you can disclose all the details of your unique business. I don't specialize in troubleshooting issues like this one, but perhaps you could book some time with someone like Andrew Shotland, Mike Blumenthal or Nyagoslav Zhekov in a consulting position to see if they can advise you in an actionable manner and in full possession of the details. Sorry I can't offer more specific advice, but this really sounds to me like a case in which you need one-on-one help from someone who is looking at your listing and history with you. Hope this suggestion helps.