Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a patient sees, before your website and before they ever call. For many clinics, it’s also the most neglected.
This guide goes through the profile field by field, with what to put in each one and why it matters. Set aside an hour, open your profile in another tab, and work through it top to bottom.
Categories: tell Google exactly what you are
Your primary category is one of the strongest signals Google uses to decide which searches you appear for. Choose the most specific option for your main service, then add secondary categories only for services you genuinely offer.
- A physiotherapy clinic: Physiotherapist as primary, with Sports medicine clinic or Massage therapist as secondary if you offer them.
- An acupuncture and TCM clinic: Acupuncturist as primary, with Traditional Chinese medicine clinic or Massage therapist as secondary where they apply.
- A dental office: Dentist as primary, with more specific categories like Pediatric dentist or Emergency dental service only if that’s a real part of your practice.
Search your main treatment and city, open the top three competitors and look at their categories. If they all use one you’re missing, consider whether it fits you.
Services and description: speak the patient’s language
Services
Add every treatment as its own service, with one or two plain sentences. Write “Help for lower back pain and sciatica”, not just “Manual therapy”.
Description
You have 750 characters. Open with who you help and where, then what makes your clinic different, then how to book. Leave out links, promotions and lists of keywords.
Attributes
Fill in everything that applies: wheelchair access, languages spoken, online appointments, parking. Patients filter by these.
Photos that build trust
Real photos answer the quiet questions patients have before booking: is it clean, is it welcoming, can I find the door?
- The outside of the building and the entrance, so patients can find you.
- Reception and waiting area.
- At least one treatment room.
- Your team, in their own clinic, smiling.
- Parking or the nearest transit stop.
- No stock photos, and no images with text or logos plastered over them.
Booking, calls and messages
- Add an appointment link that goes straight to your online booking page, not your homepage.
- List a phone number that’s actually answered during your listed hours.
- Only turn on messaging if someone will reply within the same day. Unanswered messages look worse than none.
- Set holiday hours ahead of every long weekend.
Posts and updates: a simple monthly rhythm
Updates won’t rank you on their own, but an active profile looks cared for. Aim for one post every week or two. Ideas that work for clinics:
- New hours, a new practitioner or a new service.
- A seasonal tip, like desk stretches in January or sports injuries in spring.
- A behind-the-scenes photo of your team or clinic.
- A reminder about direct billing or how to book online.
Practitioner profiles and other details
Google allows individual practitioners to have their own profiles alongside the clinic’s. That can help a well-known practitioner be found by name, but it also creates more listings to manage. If a practitioner leaves, update or close their profile so patients aren’t sent to someone who’s no longer there.
Never add your city or keywords to your business name. It breaks Google’s guidelines and is one of the most common reasons profiles get suspended.
Measure what changed
Once a month, open the Performance section and note searches, calls, website clicks and direction requests. Write down what you changed that month. After three months, you’ll see which actions actually moved the numbers for your clinic.
Your profile is your front door. Keep it open and inviting.