Three of its stars - Anthony Geary, Maurice Bernard and Laura Wright - also earned nominations in the lead acting categories.
"General Hospital" will compete with NBC's "Days of Our Lives," CBS' "The Young and the Restless" and the canceled "All My Children" of ABC for best soap opera.
"The Bold and the Beautiful" on CBS won that trophy for three years, but the show was not nominated this year.
Regis Philbin, who left "Live! With Regis and Kelly" last year, has one last chance to win best talk show host with partner Kelly Ripa. Philbin has won the award once, sharing it with Rosie O'Donnell. First-time host Anderson Cooper, last year's winner Dr. Mehmet Oz, Rachael Ray and the six co-hosts of "The Doctors" were also nominated in the category.
Producer Bill Geddie, executive producer of "The View," will receive a Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award.
The ceremony will be held in Beverly Hills on June 23.
See a full list of nominees for the Daytime Emmys 2012.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
