Google Business Profile for clinics and nursing homes

For most patients, your Google Business Profile is the first thing they see about your facility — before your website, sometimes before they even know your name. Getting the mechanics right matters more than most clinics assume.

Claiming and verifying

Claiming a profile is straightforward; verification is the step worth setting expectations on. Google chooses the verification method (postcard, phone, video, or another option depending on the listing) and controls the timing — it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and there is nothing a facility or an agency can do to speed that up beyond providing accurate, complete information the first time.

Choosing the right categories

The primary category should be the most specific and accurate option Google offers for what you are — "General practitioner", "Dental clinic", "Nursing home", rather than a broad catch-all. This is one of the most common mistakes we see, and one of the easiest to fix. Secondary categories can then add the specific services you offer beyond the primary category.

Services, hours and photos

List the services you actually offer, not an aspirational list of everything you might one day provide. Keep hours accurate, including special hours for holidays. Use real, recent photos of the exterior, reception and facility rather than stock imagery — patients use photos to judge whether a place looks like what they expect before they visit.

Posts

Short, factual updates work well here — a new doctor joining, a timing change, a health camp — rather than promotional claims about outcomes. Posts are a good place for genuinely useful, timely information, not a marketing channel for claims that belong nowhere near a health context.

Reviews: how they work, and what you may and may not do

Reviews influence both local visibility and a patient's decision to visit. You can ask patients who are happy with their visit to leave a review, and you can respond publicly to reviews. What you cannot do is incentivise reviews or fabricate them — Google's policies prohibit both, and healthcare adds a further layer of care: a public response should never confirm or discuss a specific patient's condition or visit, even to correct a negative review, because that risks a patient-privacy breach on top of any advertising-rule concern.

NAP consistency across listings

Your name, address and phone number should read identically on your Google Business Profile, your website and any other directory you appear on. A small mismatch — a missing floor number, an old phone number left on one directory — can quietly work against your local visibility even when the profile itself looks complete.

Common mistakes

• Wrong or overly broad category — the single most common issue, and usually the easiest to fix.
• Inconsistent address or phone number — across the profile, the website and other directories.
• Stale hours — no update for holidays or a changed schedule.
• No recent photos, or stock imagery — patients use photos to judge whether a place matches expectations.
• Incentivised or fabricated reviews — against policy, and it undermines the reviews that are genuine.
• Multiple doctors or locations merged into one listing incorrectly — each location generally needs its own profile.

Frequently asked questions