---
name: set-correct-business-categories
description: "Pick the business type that fits your real work. Check what you saved and what is live."
category: Digital Plumbing
stage: —
definitive_article: /digital-plumbing
status: needs-work
---

# Set Correct Business Categories

The wrong business type can confuse people who find you on Google. This guide helps an owner choose the right type for the work they do. Start with the main service your business really sells.

**The path:** Real work → Available categories → Saved choice → Public check.

**Use this when:** a Google Business Profile has inaccurate categories or the business’s actual main work changes.

## Inputs
- The exact Business Profile and current editing access, with its verification state known.
- The owner-backed core business description and real additional services or departments.
- Current primary and additional categories, plus their source evidence and any existing review issue.

## First-run prompt

> Match the actual business to Google’s available categories. Make the authorized minimal category edit, then record whether it is saved, pending or publicly visible. Do not select a false category to mimic a competitor or promise a ranking lift.

## Steps
1. Describe the business as a whole and its main activity. Consider its important revenue service, but do not choose a category for a minor high-priced offering that misrepresents the overall business.
2. Open the exact Business Profile and record current categories. Verify the role supports the edit and read any existing verification or pending-review notice before submitting another change.
3. In Edit profile → Business category, search the current available list. Choose the most specific accurate primary category. If the exact one does not exist, a truthful broader category is valid; you cannot create a custom category.
4. Add only a few appropriate additional categories for genuine business activities. Do not add one for every product, planned service or independently operated neighboring business.
5. Compare the proposed set with the website’s actual service claims. Competitor categories can suggest a question to check, but are not proof of what this business does or what will improve its ranking.
6. Save the authorized change and record the submitted values and time. Category edits may prompt reverification. Preserve that state and use the supported review or verification route rather than repeatedly resubmitting until a badge changes.
7. Read the management state and public profile after the provider processes the edit. Check whether the intended choice is visible; a saved form or elapsed number of days is not acceptance proof.
8. Save the chosen categories, factual reason and review result. If rejected, identify the provider’s stated reason and the exact next action, without changing to an inaccurate category just to get through.

## Definition of done (QA checklist)

- [ ] The primary category accurately describes the real business and is available in Google’s list.
- [ ] Additional categories represent genuine appropriate activities.
- [ ] The change is backed by business facts, not only competitor positions.
- [ ] Submitted, pending, verified and public-visible states have distinct evidence.
- [ ] No ranking, suspension or processing-time guarantee is invented.

## Example(s)

**Fictional teaching example.** Oak Repair installs fences as its core service. The picker offers “Fence contractor,” so that is a more accurate primary choice than a broad contractor label. The owner does not provide landscaping, even though a nearby competitor lists it. That category is left out. The lesson records one submitted primary edit and marks the public result pending until it is actually observed.

## Handoff and Content Factory context

Give the category record to the Business Profile owner. Use [verify google business profile](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=verify-google-business-profile#task-verify-google-business-profile) if the edit triggers verification, or [ensure nap consistency across platforms](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=ensure-nap-consistency-across-platforms#task-ensure-nap-consistency-across-platforms) when the underlying business facts disagree.

This setup supports the [Content Factory](https://blitzmetrics.com/content-factory/). Produce gathers real source material; Process makes useful assets; Post places and checks them; Promote distributes suitable work within its own scope. This check does not automatically execute all four stages. Use the actual next step above; catalog neighbors are not prerequisites.

## When this runs

Run for genuine business changes and discovered category defects. A scheduled review may flag drift, but should not automatically resubmit or experiment with categories.

## First-run setup and continuity

Open the supplied task file and its linked source. Verify the project’s real inputs, account, access and output folder before work. This Markdown file is a guide; it does not install an app, connect an account, supply a subscription or create a schedule. Carry out work already authorized; do not ask for the same approval again. Keep any unsupplied destination or new action outside that scope clearly pending.

Save source IDs, versions, decisions, checked outputs and next owner in the project tracker. Before a retry, check the saved state and other workers’ changes. A model name does not guarantee memory or a running timer. Repeated work needs an actual configured trigger and durable state; one-off work can be started by the prompt above.

Keep agent media muted with volume zero before playback. If mute cannot be verified, use captions, metadata or still frames. State the limit: silent visual checks do not prove spoken-word accuracy or audio quality. Do not start sound through the user’s speakers unless explicitly asked.

## Write up the real run

For every actual attempt, [write its meta article](https://blitzmetrics.com/meta-article-prompt/) with this recipe and revision, trigger, steps performed, output evidence, measured result, gaps and next owner. Failed, blocked and partial attempts also get a written record. A draft can satisfy writing; publishing it follows the existing job scope.

Keep one stable execution ID across retries and edits. A separately scoped child task may have its own ID linked to its parent. Writing the parent’s meta record is part of that run, not an endless new chain. The [recipe and meta-article guide](https://localservicespotlight.com/meta-articles/) explains this distinction. Teaching examples are not real executions and must not enter the run count.


<!-- factory-layer:start -->

## Factory chain (do not treat this as isolated)

- **Phase:** Gate
- **Importance:** 3/5 `●●●○○` — frequency 3, revenue 3, gating 3 (supporting)
- **Suggested previous station:** —
- **Suggested next station:** —
These stations are generated neighbors, not verified prerequisites or handoffs. Follow the task’s actual Inputs and Handoff sections.
- **Handoff:** Record only the property IDs, access and checks required by this task in the client register. Pass the verified result to the task that needs it.

## Model routing (same factory, any engine)

- **This task's lane:** `any` — Any capable chat model (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini). SOP following, drafts, checklists.
- **Single-engine path:** Use the capable AI app you already have. Check its required tools and access before starting. Pass the actual result and proof to the next task.
- **Optional multi-engine:** A tested local model may draft; a stronger model may review facts and voice. Use supported tools for approved actions. Pick models from observed quality and cost; a model name does not prove it can run this task.
- **Never** store the working state in one vendor's memory. Files in the Content Library are the bridge.

<!-- factory-layer:end -->
## Definitive article & links

- Canonical article: https://blitzmetrics.com/digital-plumbing
- Exact task: [Set Correct Business Categories](https://local-service-spotlight.github.io/task-library/?task=set-correct-business-categories#task-set-correct-business-categories)
- Writing standard: [Article Guidelines](https://localservicespotlight.com/article-guidelines/)
- [Digital Plumbing training](https://blitzmetrics.com/digital-plumbing/)
- [Google Business Profile categories](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7249669?hl=en)
- [Google business representation rules](https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en)

## Review and evidence still needed

The source contributor status is preserved. It is not certification of this draft or proof of account access, completed work or a live outcome. The worked example teaches the method and is explicitly fictional.
- Current category availability and public acceptance require the actual profile; no edit was made during drafting.