For most marketing agency profiles the best primary category is Marketing agency — use it when: full-service marketing. Choose Internet marketing service instead if digital / SEO / PPC. Choose Advertising agency instead if ad creative & media buying. Many B2B and creative businesses have no shopfront. If clients never visit, set up a service-area profile and hide the address rather than listing a home address.
Open the free tool for a marketing agency → tick what you really offer and get a copy-ready setup sheet
Primary category
- Marketing agency — Full-service marketing
- Internet marketing service — Digital / SEO / PPC who else uses it
- Advertising agency — Ad creative & media buying
Secondary (additional) categories
Add one only if the condition is genuinely true at this location. Fewer, accurate categories beat a full list of nine.
- Website designer — only if: website design who else uses it
- Social media agency verify — only if: social media management
- Graphic designer — only if: graphic design who else uses it
- Video production service — only if: video production who else uses it
1 category is marked verify: it may not appear in every account or country. If you can't find it in Google's dropdown, skip it rather than picking something close but wrong.
Categories to avoid
These are often added to marketing agency profiles but usually describe a different or broader business:
- Software company
- Print shop
Agencies must show a staffed office address or be a service-area business — virtual offices violate Google's guidelines.
Address or service area?
Can be either: show the address if customers come to you, add service areas if you also travel to them, or hide the address if you only work on-site. Service-area vs storefront rules.
Starter services to add
Categories say what you are; services say what you do. Good first entries:
- Local SEO
- Google Ads management
- Social media management
Check before you change anything
Search “marketing agency” on Google Maps in your own area, open the top few profiles and note their primary category (shown under the business name). Use what's common as a sanity check, not a template — your categories must describe your business. Ready to switch? How to change your category safely.
Profile problems?
Suspended, stuck in verification, or not showing on Maps? See the free fix guides: suspended profile · verification failed · not on Maps · name rules.