We have put on line a simple, searchable interface to the Google Local Business Center (LBC) categories and synonym lists. The idea is to to assist in early planning and judicious picking of the most appropriate categories for your LBC listing. At this point, the categories included are for the US LBC only.
Late last year I published the Google LBC Category list as an HTML page of all the categories but I wanted to make the list more manageable so I have placed it in a database with a simple search interface.
Google LBC Category Preview Tool
Your feedback and suggestions would be welcomed!
[...] You can access the tool here. And here’s Mike’s brief explanation of how it works. [...]
Pingback by How to Choose the Right Category in Google’s Local Listings — February 8, 2010 @ 4:06 pm
Hi Mike,
Nice tool, however, why do we see every keyword twice or more?
& more interesting- how does a “flagged” keyword (such as Locksmith, for example) affect the other synonyms or related keywords? should we assume that those words are flagged as well?
Comment by Abby (44 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
Great tool. What are the odds you can add the category ID? That would be a huge help. Thanks again for all of the great information.
Comment by Jason (40 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
Oooh, fantastic, Mike. Really coming along with this!
Comment by MiriamEllis (610 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 6:51 pm
@Jason
are you referring to the bulk upload categories?
Comment by Mike (2486 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 7:50 pm
@Abby
I am not seeing double categories. Can
you send me a screen
shot?
Comment by Mike (2486 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 7:54 pm
Mike – has anyone else commented on Google slipping the County into the LBL page? I’ve seen this with a couple of my clients listings — it may be there for a few days and disappears.
http://screencast.com/t/YTAzZmJiY
No big deal, I suppose, except for when they said the Westminster, CO was in Delaware County. No such county in Colorado!
Becky
Comment by Becky DeGrossa (6 comments) — February 8, 2010 @ 11:03 pm
Hi Mike
Nice little tool – I will have a good play with. I’m based in the UK so if you do a version covering UK GLBC categories give me a shout.
Good stuff…
Comment by Andrew (13 comments) — February 10, 2010 @ 2:06 pm
Hi Mike
Great tool, thanks for putting that together.
I’m also seeing dupes in the synonyms, search for “dental” and in the synonym list for some of the categories I see “….dental, dental, dental….”
Reuben
Comment by Reuben Yau (6 comments) — February 10, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
@Reuben
Abby sent along a screen shot and I saw what she was seeing.
Somehow along the way, we doubled up all of the data and when we purged the double categories forgot to purge the doubled up synonyms…thanks for the heads up…as soon as the programmer can get back on it, we will get it fixed.
Comment by Mike (2486 comments) — February 10, 2010 @ 11:20 pm
[...] guru Mike Blumenthal recently released a tool that allows you to search the entire database of Google Maps categories [...]
Pingback by Choose The Right Categories for Your Google LBC Listing | The Expand2Web Blog — February 11, 2010 @ 12:53 am
Cool tool. I don’t think it is duplicating results…just the formatting of the results makes it look that way.
Comment by Allen Hirsch (1 comments) — February 19, 2010 @ 6:13 pm
@Allen
It was duplicating the synonyms but we fixed that. Let us know if there are more bugs that you find
Comment by Mike (2486 comments) — February 19, 2010 @ 6:20 pm
[...] a brief tutorial on how to utilize this awesome [...]
Pingback by Local SEO - Choosing the Right Category in Google’s Local Listings : Pay Per Click Marketing & Advertising Blog — February 23, 2010 @ 12:10 am
Hi Mike,
Great tool. I have used it today when choosing categories for a business listing client.
Comment by SE-Man (1 comments) — February 24, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
[...] design expert Mike Blumenthal released the beta version of a Google LBC Category Preview tool that allows you to search [...]
Pingback by Best Practices for Your Google Local Business Centre Listing | SEO Global Network — March 11, 2010 @ 6:40 pm
Mike – Thanks for creating such a great tool.
Let me make sure I understand your approach:
1) Use the Google LBC Category Preview tool.
2) In the Google LBC – Use the “Categories” that best matches the type of service/product I put in.
For instance, if I need a category for “Home Improvement” (for a home improvement contractor), I should choose the category “Sunroom Contractor” as I’m not a home improvement store? Is this correct?
Do the keyword phrases that are used most to find the site not work as well as the Pre-Existing Categories that Google already lists?
Or is it that the Pre-Existing Categories will actually alow our 7-box listing to show up for more terms? This woud be an awesome reason to use the pre-existing categories.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer these questions.
Comment by Mickey (3 comments) — March 25, 2010 @ 11:18 am
My approach
1)Pick 7 to 10 words/phrases that describe the category of thing that you do
2)Search on the 10 phrases + your city in google and see if they show a 7 pack
3)Of the ones that show a 7 pack, take those words and check them in the Adwords Keyword tool to determine the relative number of searches on those phrases
4)Then and only then use the keyword tool to find a primary category that properly describes your business. In your case you are, I assume, a home improvement contractor. Rather than search on home improvement, search on contractor ( http://www.blumenthals.com/google-lbc-categories/search.php?q=contractor&val=hl-gl%3Den-US%26ottype%3D1 ) . If “home improvement contractor” is not a formal category pick the category that is the most comprehensive of what of you do…ie “contractor” rather than “Sunroom Contractor”.
5)Regardless of whether they are categories or not, put your next 4 top phrases in order of volume.If there is a category that is very, very close to your phrasing, choose that over your phrasing if it does equally well in your Adwords research.
6)Test to see how well you rank for those 4 additional categories. If you are not showing up, pick a phrase further down the list for which you do show up….a less popular word that is less competitive is better than a more popular word for which you do not show up
7)Measure the value of the phrase that you chose and track the traffic from Google Maps
8)Determine if you need to go for more competitive or different words that generate more traffic/business.
9)Develop a plan to do so and then start over.
Comment by Mike (2486 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 6:51 am
@Mike – Thank you for taking the time to layout such a great step-by-step formula to choosing the correct categories.
Comment by Mickey (3 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 10:59 am
@Mickey
No problem. You can put it in my paycheck.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1088 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 11:28 am
Mike, this may be obvious to others, but I’m unclear about the advantage of using an existing category for a list.
In the video by Don Campbell, and presumably the basic driving force for this tool, you are suggesting that we not create categories that don’t exist in Google’s database.
If my client is a therapist that only does marriage therapy or couples counseling, why would I want to compete with all of those in the larger categories of counseling and therapy and not create my own category of couples counseling — for which a 7-pak shows — and for which there is much less competition enabling me to rank?
I apologize if this is a very remedial question that has already been thoroughly discussed, elsewhere, but it is a sticking point for me right now. You can point me elsewhere to save time, if needed!
Thanks,
Becky
Comment by Becky (3 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 11:52 am
I am not sure I understand you question.
Google requires that you use at least ONE category from their list. Google does not have a category for “marriage therapy” or “”couples counseling”. So before you will be allowed to use your “long tail” category you need to provide Google with an overarching category. They will not let you proceed unless you do so.
If your client does only “marriage therapy” and “couples counseling”, you would then enter “Marriage Counselor” or “Family Counselor” (search: http://www.blumenthals.com/google-lbc-categories/search.php?q=counseling&val=hl-gl%3Den-US%26ottype%3D1) into the first category field and then “marriage therapy” and “couples counseling” into fields two and three. I would then try to find either a category or a phrase that works well for spot 4 and 5 based on your research.
The use of Google’s formal categories are neither good nor bad in slots 2-5. The measurement criteria as to whether you use their or your category is whether they get you properly qualified clientele.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1088 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
Mike,
That clears it up. For some reason, I took Don’s comment in his video to mean that we should never use a category not in Google’s list, which is obviously not what you’re saying.
Thanks,
Becky
Comment by Becky DeGrossa (6 comments) — March 26, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
[...] Also, we talked about defining categories for your Google Places Page in the interview. Mike Blumenthal has a nice tool that helps you determine which categories best match your business, products and services here – Google LBC Category Preview Tool. [...]
Pingback by Local Search (SEO) Interview with Will Scott from SearchInfluence | The Expand2Web Blog — September 4, 2010 @ 2:54 pm