Google Showing GMB Categories in Packs & Local Search Results

Google is now showing Google My Business primary categories in some Google local search results, both in pack listings and in the expanded map listings.

Brian Barwig was the first to notice the difference, although looking back on some screenshots, it does appear in a few of them.  However, because of the nature of the businesses, it isn’t always obvious it is pulled from GMB categories.

Here is a result that shows two different categories being displayed in the pack.

The category name doesn’t seem to make an explicit difference to how local pack results are chosen.  For example, the above was for a search of “shoes Seattle” and the first result wasn’t even in the shoe store category, but rather in the running store category.  So it doesn’t seem to make a huge impact on which results they display.

The category could definitely affect CTR though.  If someone notes the first result says “running store”, they could skip over it if they are looking for shoes other than running ones.

Here is another example, from the expanded listing, which shows 3 different categories.

It isn’t exactly clear why it triggers for some searches but not others.  But it seems that for branded packs, Google is more likely to pick up a company’s tag line rather than display a GMB primary category.

For example, here is a listing for Disney Stores.

No category is displayed, however on the expanded page, it does show they are tagged as toy store.

What impact will this have?  Hard to say.  There has been discussion over the best categories for businesses to be in, but as we can see in the sport shoe example, having an optimum category rather than a more broad one could be better.  But it could have impact on the pack results, although again the sport shoe store example seems to defy that logic slightly too.

This is one of the many changes we have seen as Google made significant changes to how local results appear in the regular search results, primarily with the 3-pack change from the 7-pack.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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