Requesting a new Google Business Profile Category

It's been nearly a year since one of our members (shout out to Blossom!) created a Google Business Profile community topic about the lack of an appropriate category for longarm quilters.

Within a few days, we racked up hundreds of upvotes on this topic from other longarm quilters who had the same question.

Since we haven't received any follow-ups from Google (we thought it could take several months to hear a resolution), I recently contacted Google support for help in how to proceed.

Because I contacted support while logged into my own account but was asking on behalf of our industry as a whole, this is the advice I received:

I wanted to make sure I understood what raising a ticket was and the rep explained that it was the same process I took to open a chat with support.

I'll go through these steps with you so that you can open your own ticket. There are no guarantees, but I'm hopeful that if enough quilters request this new category, Google will create it for us. If that happens, those of us who have Quilt Shop as our primary category can edit our profiles to change it to the newly created one.

I think we have a shot; I believe in us! 💪

How to Open a Ticket

• First, log into the Google account tied to your Google Business Profile. At this time, I do not believe you can advocate for change without first having a Google Business Profile established.

• From the grid of dots that represent Google Apps, select Business Profile Manager. You might have to scroll down to find this.

• Next, click on the 3 vertical dots where it shows 'Profile Strength' to open the options menu, and select 'Help & support.'

• Next, you'll see this screen; scroll all the way down.

• Get into your friendliest "May I speak to your manager" mode, and select Contact us. :)

• Fill out the form, select your own business in the first field. In the next field, type in New category request: Longarm Quilting Services and select the next button. It will then suggest a number of new options, select 'Category isn't available' and hit the 'Next step' button.

• You'll get a screen showing "Resources" next. None of these articles will help us, so click 'Next step' at the bottom to move on.

• Choose your method of contact. I selected Chat because that was the recommended method, there was a short wait, and it was nice to have a back-and-forth exchange and documentation of the conversation.

• Fill out the next form with your name and business details. I did not look up the URL for the map location on that field, I skipped that field and continued with the rest of the information.

You can use your own words, or to make it easier, copy and paste the text below in the 'Describe your issue' field:

Please create a category called "Longarm Quilting Services". The closest category I have currently is "Quilt Shop", which does not reflect the service I provide. Quilt shop indicates a retail space that is public and open to visitors. I provide longarm quilting services out of my home and do not wish for people to come by unannounced. The lack of an appropriate category has contributed to confusion and frustration among Google users who believe that I have a retail location. This is also a safety concern as I'm worried that a visitor will attempt to make entry into my home.

This is the text I included in the Related Case ID field, feel free to copy and paste it, too:

A year ago, longarm quilters attempted to get "Longarm Quilting" as a new category. Within a day or two, our topic garnered several hundred upvotes before it was locked (https://support.google.com/business/thread/212024276?hl=en). We have not heard anything since. The issue persists, and our community desperately wants a "Longarm Quilting Services" category.

• When you click Submit, it should start a Chat window. The rep will review your request and you can provide any additional context or answer questions they might have for you.

I'm hoping that if we all request the new category individually and within the same time period, it'll receive enough attention that they will listen to us this time! 

Feel free to email us at [email protected] to tell us what came of your request or if you are a Longarm League member, add a comment to the Circle post.