What are Google My Business Categories?

Google My Business (GMB) categories exist so a business or organization can better categorize their business by industry as it appears online across Google which includes Google Search & Google Maps.

How important is ‘Google My Business’ for me?

Any business can promote and leverage this free service from Google, even if your business is not some online or internet based business. It’s more than a directory listing with NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information, opening hours, website link, as it allows a business to connect and engage with its customers online. A business or organization, especially a Local business and even franchise or chained stores today should setup their own GMB profile. Beyond the desktop/web version, Google even has a mobile app to make it easier for a business to receive engagement updates such as posted reviews, reply to reviews, post updates with images also, including offers.

Eventually you will get something looking like this below when someone finds your business via Google Search or Google Maps Search, once you have registered your business with GMB.

and ideally, your goal with GMB is to assure when one searches for your business category in your local area, you would ideally want to appear (rank) near the top of the search results, with many great reviews and ratings.

Choosing your Google My Business Category

Upon registering a business with GMB, you will have the option to select your primary business category from a list of 4094 records (as of October 2022, searchable list below). You also have the option to select secondary categories too but the more you would add, the weaker your primary category would become. So choose an appropriate category that describes your business in terms of what it does, is important, especially for Local SEO purposes. See Choosing a Business Category from Google.

Below you will find this handy Searchable GMB Categories List, updated for 2023, that you can also use to plan the business category types (or industries) you may need extracted via the XtraDat GMB Services.

Google My Business Categories | Business Types