What separates the values?

A pipe with spaces around it (' | '), chosen because commas appear inside category names in several locales and would break a naive CSV parse.

Is the first value the same as the primary category column?

Yes, always. The primary category column exists so you can filter on it without splitting this string first.

Identity field

All categories

Every category the listing declares, primary plus secondary, pipe-separated in one cell.

Column name: categories
Group: Identity
Availability: Every plan, free included

What this column contains

The full category list in the order Google returns it, joined with a pipe. A listing that declares only one category repeats the primary value here.

Where the value comes from

Collected from the listing's complete category set, not just the headline one, so secondary categories that never render prominently in the UI still reach your export.

Example value

Bakery | Dessert shop | Cafe | Turkish restaurant

What people use it for

01Find businesses that straddle two verticals — often the ones with budget for both.
02Audit a competitor's category strategy: a rival covering four categories is competing in four sets of results.
03Widen a narrow lead list without a second scrape, by matching on any category rather than the primary one.
04Cluster a city's listings by category co-occurrence to find underserved niches.

What it will not tell you

Secondary categories are optional, so an empty tail here means the owner never filled them in — not that the business does only one thing.

Questions about this field

What separates the values?: A pipe with spaces around it (' | '), chosen because commas appear inside category names in several locales and would break a naive CSV parse.
Is the first value the same as the primary category column?: Yes, always. The primary category column exists so you can filter on it without splitting this string first.

This is one of 41 columns on every row, on every plan. See the full field reference or check pricing.