A comprehensive Google My Business listing includes using the proper GMB categories.

Google My Business (GMB) should be a considerable component of your online marketing strategy. Adding the proper GMB categories to your Google My Business page ensures potential customers and clients will find you in their search engine results. 

This blog post will discuss 10 GMB categories every restoration contractor needs to add to their Google My Business page for more website traffic.

Getting started with GMB

After you sign up and verify your business listing, add related GMB categories so that potential customers in your service areas can easily find your business on Google. 

Once those looking for a restoration contractor find you and visit your website, they will learn more about your service and how you can help them.

How many GMB categories are there to choose from?

A business owner can currently choose from just under four thousand GMB categories. The allowed limit is 10 GMB categories per listing. 

Because so many GMB categories exist, add GMB categories specific and relevant for your business type while keeping the limit in mind.

Restoration contractors! Add these 10 GMB categories

Let’s suppose you’re a restoration business owner or a marketing professional in the restoration industry. In that case, you are probably well aware that the most lucrative service your business has to offer is water damage restoration. 

When you set up your GMB categories, you will have to choose a primary category to add. The primary category you should choose is Water Damage Restoration Service.

That’s the first one, and the most important—that’s why it’s the primary category! Here are the other 9 GMB categories to include:

1. Fire Damage Restoration Service
2. Upholstery Cleaning Service
3. Building restoration service 
4. Commercial cleaning service 
5. Air Duct cleaning service 
6. Carpet cleaning service 
7. Asbestos Testing Service
8. Construction Company
9. Interior Construction Contractor

One GMB category that we wish we could add was Mold damage restoration; sadly, Google has not made it available as one of their GMB categories. Although you cannot make mold damage restoration a primary category, you can still add it as a subtype under your Water damage restoration category. 

Choosing the best subcategories 

For each category, you will want to ensure that you choose well-known subcategories associated with your category. To find subtypes for your category, you can use an SEO tool like SEMRush. SEMRush allows you to analyze what content your website is already ranking for, and here you will be able to add in search queries as subtypes. 

For example, your restoration business may have content for sewage cleanup, basement flood damage, or emergency flood damage. You should add these as subtypes under your water damage restoration service GMB category. 

In each subcategory, you will have the ability to add 300 characters. Adding more content to your GMB will give you a chance to add more keywords! The content that you write in your GMB categories should be different from the content you write for your website.

Note: Remember that it is only possible to add up to ten categories in total per business profile. Make sure you are adding relevant subcategories as well, but do not add unrelated options. 

How do GMB categories affect rankings? 

Google loves to see what services your business offers by the GMB categories you have added. The more specific and targeted a category, the better chance you have of ranking in it! 

It is essential to keep in mind that Google My Business is for local SEO, which means your GMB listings will only show up for people searching in your city or area. The goal is to rank in the top 3 on your service locations map pack. A Google map pack is the map results commonly shown with search results.

So, if you’re a water damage company, your goal should be to rank for every zip code/area you are servicing. 

It takes time and effort but is worth it!

Final thoughts

Google My Business is a powerful tool for local rankings. When used right, you can gain exposure in the Map Pack for your service locations. 
Contact the water damage restoration seo professionals at Algorithmic Global if you need help optimizing your GMB categories!