Google Business Profile categories: how to choose your primary and secondary categories

Google Business Profile categories tell Google what your business is, and the primary category is the one with the biggest influence on which Google Maps searches you appear in. As your primary category, choose the most specific one that describes your core activity; add as secondary categories only those that also describe what you are (Google allows up to 9), and don't change the primary category without measuring before and after.

It looks like just another field on the form, but in the profiles we review it's one of the most common mistakes: categories that are too generic, unrelated to each other or added because they "sound like a keyword". Here's how to research them, choose them, change them and measure the effect.

What Google Business Profile categories are and how many you can add

The category is the type of business you declare on your Google profile (what used to be called Google My Business; Google renamed it Google Business Profile in November 2021, so you'll come across both names). According to Google's own help, the categories you select influence your local ranking. Google's example is clear: if your primary category is "Pizza restaurant", it may show your business when someone searches for "restaurants", "Italian restaurants" or "pizza".

There are two types:

• Primary category: only one, and it's mandatory. It's the one that best describes your core activity.
• Additional or secondary categories: optional. Google's help on bulk uploading profiles states that you can add up to 9 additional categories, which makes 10 in total.

There are three details worth knowing before you touch anything. First, you can't make up a category: you have to choose one from the list suggested by autocomplete. Second, Google adds by itself the more general categories that sit above the one you choose; in its guidelines for representing your business it explains that if you choose "Golf resort", it implicitly includes "Resort hotel", "Hotel" and "Golf course", so there's no need to add the redundant ones. Third, the icon your business appears with on Google Maps depends on the category you choose, as stated in the same bulk upload guide.

Why the primary category carries more weight than the others

Google sums up local ranking in three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. The category is the most direct signal of relevance: if someone searches for "dentist" and your profile says you're a dentist, Google doesn't have to guess.

Google doesn't publish how much each factor weighs, so the closest thing to a benchmark is the opinion of specialists. In Whitespark's Local Search Ranking Factors 2026 survey, in which 47 local SEO experts took part, the profile's primary category comes out as the number one factor for the local pack and Maps. It's a survey of opinions, not Google data, but it matches what we see in practice: with the wrong primary category, the rest of the profile is fighting an uphill battle.

Secondary categories: useful, but not a numbers game

Secondary categories help you appear in searches for activities that are also yours. A BrightLocal study published in 2023 of 1,050 businesses in the United States found that profiles without additional categories had the worst average map position (7.6), compared with 5.9 for those using four. But the same study found exceptions: among electricians, the two best average positions belonged to profiles with three and with zero additional categories, and those using five or more had the worst average position (7.9). It's a study from another country covering seven sectors: take it as a hint that what counts is that the categories fit, not how many you have.

How your profile changes depending on the primary category

The category doesn't only affect where you appear. It also decides what you can show on your profile. Google explains this on its page about managing your business category: depending on the type of business, different features are enabled. That's why a badly chosen category can leave you without the booking button or without the menu.

If you run a hotel or a restaurant, our guide to optimising the Google profile of hotels and restaurants in Tenerife covers the rest of the fields worth working on.

Categories, services and attributes: what goes where

Google's rule for categories fits in one sentence: choose the ones that complete "this business is...", not "this business has...". The guidelines add that you should use as few categories as possible, that they should be as specific as possible and that they mustn't be used just as keywords or to describe attributes.

Google's examples make it clear: a motel with a pool goes in as "Motel", not as "Hotel" or "Swimming pool"; a burger chain that also sells desserts goes in as "Fast food restaurant" or "Hamburger restaurant", not as "Dessert restaurant". What you have or what you sell is described in other fields:

Another detail from the guidelines that is rarely taken into account: Google can also infer the category from the content of your website and from mentions of your business online. If your profile says "Immigration attorney" and your website talks about everything except immigration law, the signals don't add up. Your website and your profile have to tell the same story, something we go over in our local SEO guide for Tenerife.

How to research your primary category on Google Maps (step-by-step method)

There's no need to guess. The categories used by the businesses that already appear at the top for your searches are the best clue to what Google understands by each search. This is the method we follow:

1. Write down 5-10 real searches your customers make. With and without the town, as people search in Tenerife: "dentista La Laguna", "implantes dentales Santa Cruz", "clínica dental cerca de mí". If you have customers from abroad, add searches in their language too (for example, "dentist La Laguna").
2. Search for them on Google Maps from your area. Results change depending on where the searcher is, so do it from the business or by moving the map to the area you're interested in. Note down the top 3-5 results for each search.
3. Look at their categories. The public profile usually shows only one category next to the name. To see the primary and secondary categories at a glance, Chrome extensions such as GMB Everywhere display them directly in Maps; as of October 2026 it has a free version and paid plans.
4. Build a frequency table. Which primary category the top results have in common and which secondary categories come up again and again.
5. Look up the exact name and similar categories. The dashboard's autocomplete suggests the accepted categories. To explore the full list and related categories, PlePer's category finder lets you filter by language and country.
6. Put it through a reality check. Keep only the categories that describe what your business is. A competitor using a category doesn't mean it applies to you, and copying categories that don't fit exposes you to edits or problems with your profile.

If a search that matters to you is dominated by businesses in another category, you may not win it with your profile, but with a good service page on your website.

Category examples for typical Tenerife businesses

These examples are for guidance only. The exact category names change depending on the dashboard language and the country, so always check the wording that autocomplete offers you. And in every case, a secondary category only goes in if the business also is that.

The case of the Canarian restaurant

In the Spanish-language category list we consulted on PlePer (October 2026), we didn't find a specific category for Canarian cuisine, although there are categories for many other regional cuisines. When the exact category doesn't exist, Google's guidelines say you should choose a more general one. What makes no sense is choosing a category for another cuisine just because it exists. The "Canarian" side is worked into the business's real name if it includes it, the description, the menu and the website.

The garage and the tyre shop

Google itself gives this example: in its guidelines, the outlets of a tyre chain use "Tyre shop" and also "Auto repair shop". That's the model to follow: two real activities of the same business, each with its own category. What doesn't fit is adding categories for services the garage subcontracts.

Common mistakes with Google profile categories

• Using categories as keywords. The guidelines expressly prohibit it. If you're looking for a category for every service you offer, you're using the wrong field.
• Too many unrelated categories. A hair salon with "Cosmetics store", "Spa" and "Beauty school" but no shop, spa or school dilutes its relevance and may trigger edits or reviews.
• A primary category that's too generic. Google gives the example of choosing "Nail salon" rather than "Salon". If there's a more specific category that describes you, use it.
• Adding the category of a business located inside yours. Google gives the example of a chain coffee shop inside a bookshop: the coffee shop uses "Coffee shop" and the bookshop doesn't add that category. If your gym has a café run by another company, each has its own profile and its own categories.
• Changing the primary category every few weeks. You won't know what has worked, and every change may end in a new verification.
• Several locations with different categories. The guidelines ask that all the locations of a business offering the same service share the category that best represents it.

Changing your Google profile category without nasty surprises

Google warns in its help that if you add or edit a category, it may ask you to verify your business again. It doesn't always happen, but if it does you'll have to complete it, so prepare the change and avoid making it in the middle of the high season.

Steps to change the category

1. Go to your Business Profile (for example, by searching for your business name on Google while signed in).
2. Select "Edit profile".
3. Next to "Business category", select "Edit".
4. Under "Primary category", type and choose a category from the list.
5. For secondary categories, use "Add another category"; to remove one, "Remove".
6. Save the changes.

Checklist before you change your primary category

• Take screenshots of how the profile looks today: categories, services, attributes, menu or booking links.
• Download or note down your performance metrics for the last few months (we explain which ones further down).
• Change one thing at a time: don't change the category, the name and the address all at once.
• Make sure you have access to whatever Google might ask for in order to verify (the phone, the email account and the premises themselves).
• After the change, check that features you were using, such as the menu or the services, haven't disappeared.
• Let several weeks pass before judging the result. Our rule of thumb is not to touch the primary category again for at least a month, and preferably two.

If the category you need doesn't exist, Google says in its bulk upload guide that you should choose the next best option and that you can suggest a new one by sending feedback from the help menu. There's no guarantee it will be added.

How to measure whether the category change has worked

The Business Profile performance dashboard is the free tool for comparing before and after. These are the metrics that tell you the most about a category change:

Three tips to keep the comparison fair:

• Compare equivalent periods. In Tenerife, the tourist season makes the figures for hospitality, accommodation and retail in tourist areas swing a lot. If you can, compare with the same period the previous year as well as with the previous month.
• Take ads into account. Google states that performance data includes views, searches and actions from both organic results and Google Ads. If you change your ad spend at the same time, the comparison isn't valid.
• Look at the searches, not just the totals. More views from searches that don't bring in customers isn't an improvement.

Rank-mapping tools, such as BrightLocal's Local Search Grid, show at which points in your area you appear for each search. And to find out whether those visits turn into enquiries, you need to measure on your website with Google Analytics 4.

Next steps to review your profile categories this week

1. Open your profile and note down your current primary and secondary categories.
2. Do the 5-10 searches exercise on Maps and note down the categories of the top three.
3. Check that each category passes the "this business is..." test. Remove the ones that don't.
4. Move anything that's "this business has..." to services, products or attributes.
5. If you decide to change the primary category, save today's performance metrics and look at them again in one or two months.

If you'd rather we review it with you, the category is one of the first things we look at when we work on a business's local SEO in Tenerife. And if you're weighing up how much budget to put into it, our article on how much SEO costs in Tenerife may help.