The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Local Listings
    4. Google Places category language issue

    Google Places category language issue

    Local Listings
    5 2 674
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • RBO
      RBO last edited by

      Hi there!

      I've recently added a new listing in our Google Places for Business account. When adding the basic info initially, the category suggestions where in English, so I just picked one. We are based in The Netherlands however, so I'd like to use the Dutch categories.

      When I edit our existing listing, the category suggestions are Dutch. When I edit our new listing, suggestions keep showing in English. Does anyone know how I can change this?

      I tried to switch language settings in my Google account, but it seems like the categories are just stuck on a certain language once the listing is set up?

      Thanks for your help!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • MiriamEllis
        MiriamEllis last edited by

        Hi Pieter!

        My guess is that what you're experiencing falls under the following Google guideline:

        In countries where more than one language is spoken, choose a primary language that you want your listing to be displayed in. Even if users have their browsers set to another language, they'll still be able to find your business on Maps.

        I am not aware of a way to manually reverse this once you've chosen to create a listing in whatever primary language you started with. Unless one of our community members has a better idea, I think you'd be best off actually contacting Google on this to see if they can help you make such a switch. Sorry not to have an easy solution on this one!

        RBO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RBO
          RBO @MiriamEllis last edited by

          Hi Miriam,

          Thanks for your help!

          We only use Dutch in The Netherlands, so I didn't have any choice when adding  a new listing. It just defaulted to English, even though I chose a location in The Netherlands and our existing listing is in Dutch.

          I guess you're probably right that the only solution is to contact Google about this.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MiriamEllis
            MiriamEllis last edited by

            Hi Pieter,

            Right, I did understand that your primary language would be Dutch, but what I don't get is why the listing would have automatically defaulted to English, given that you're located in the Netherlands. That seems pretty odd, so Google is probably the best bet for getting an answer on this.

            RBO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • RBO
              RBO @MiriamEllis last edited by

              A friend of mine, working for a child daycare center, experienced the same issue lately. Seems like some flaw in the Google system. Hope this has been resolved along with the major Google Local Business Center update.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post
              • How do you select a Google category for the SERPs?
                MiriamEllis
                MiriamEllis
                0
                2
                174

              • List of categories for Google Business for the UK
                RyanPurkey
                RyanPurkey
                0
                2
                1.7k

              • Google Places - Should my category choice be manual keywords or selected from default list
                PeteC12
                PeteC12
                0
                5
                398

              • Google Places & Google My Business
                BruceA
                BruceA
                1
                4
                1.1k

              • Does anybody have any data on what percentage of people actually click on a Google Places / Google+ listing VS call the business direct from the SERPs?
                0
                1
                194

              • Google Places Australia - Categorisation Issue
                MiriamEllis
                MiriamEllis
                0
                3
                287

              • Help with Google Places, local listings & Google+ please!
                MiriamEllis
                MiriamEllis
                0
                6
                212

              • Google Plus Business (How to replicate categories from Places)- Advanced
                mgordon
                mgordon
                0
                5
                942

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy