Google My Business for Doctors: Boost Your Practice's Online Presence!

Why Every Doctor Needs Google My Business in 2025 (Yes, Even You)

Imagine a patient in your city wakes up with a nagging pain. She doesn’t call a friend. She doesn’t drive around. She picks up her phone and types into Google:

“best general physician near me”
“orthopedic doctor in Salt Lake”
“child specialist open today”

Within seconds, Google shows her a map, a few doctor listings, clinic timings, and reviews. 

And if your clinic isn’t there,  you’ve just missed a potential patient.

Being invisible in search results doesn’t just hurt your practice—it denies people the care they need, from someone they can trust.

That’s why, in 2025, Google My Business (GMB) is no longer optional for doctors.

There’s a solution: Google My Business for Doctors! This isn’t just another marketing gimmick - it’s the digital and social proof of your medical expertise! 

Whether you run a solo practice, a polyclinic, or a specialty setup, GMB helps you show up where your patients are looking- on Google Search and Maps.

We, the top Local SEO Company in Kolkata, have transformed the online presence of more than 450+ clients. With a fully optimized Google Business Profile, you won’t be invisible anymore. You will be able to help more patients find you, get more appointments, and enhance your reputation as an expert healthcare professional!

In the following sections, we will explore how to optimize your GBP to get noticed by the patients looking for your medical expertise. If you want to stand out from other medical practitioners, then keep reading to find out more! 

Before we do, let’s first find out why Google My Business is essential for medical practices and how you can avoid some of the most costly mistakes by setting up a GBP.

Why Google My Business Is Essential for Medical Practices

Google Business Profile has become an essential strategy for healthcare marketing practices. This is how it can help you:

1. Improve Local Search Visibility for Your Practice

A well-optimized Google Business Profile places your medical practice at the forefront in local searches. Whether it’s Google search results or Google Maps, without GBP, your practice won’t show up to the patients who need it the most — you’ll be invisible. When patients search for “doctor near me”, you can be on top of the local results with a fully optimized GBP! 

Sounds unbelievable, right? We’re here to tell you that’s possible with the best SEO Services in Kolkata! With our advanced Local SEO strategies, we helped our client, Smiley Dental Clinic, reach rank #3 from #13 for the keyword “Best Dentist in Dumdum”! You can achieve this too!

Recommended: Google Business Profile: Guide For Small Business Owners

2. Build Trust Through Patient Reviews

Tech Target’s survey found that 72% of patients view online reviews on Google before choosing a provider.

Patient reviews serve as the social proof of your medical expertise. To prove the credibility of your healthcare services, you need a space like your Google Business Profile to showcase reviews from your satisfied patients. These testimonials help build more trust and provides an authentic insight into your medical practice!   

3. More Accessibility for Patients

GBP provides more accessibility for patients. If any patient is in an emergency, they will be able to immediately find your contact through local search results. GBP also provides interactive messaging features that make it easier for them to ask about any queries on the platform itself! 

Setting Up Your Google My Business Profile for Maximum Impact

Learn how to set up your GBP for maximum impact online! Here are the steps:

1. Create Business Listing, Add Information, and Get Started

Log in to Google Business Listing, and go to “Manage Now” to set up your Google business listing. Enter your practice name in the “Provide a business name” option and other NAP(name, address, and phone) details. Always remember, the name of your practice is your identity!

2. Select the Right Categories for Healthcare Services

Google provides you with the option to select from one primary category and multiple other secondary categories. Ensure that you choose the right categories, because this will affect how your patients find you in local search results!

For your primary category, be highly specific. For example, if you are a specialist, then you should choose your specialisation, such as "Cardiologist", instead of choosing the primary category of "General Physician." For secondary categories, add relevant medical specialisations like “Pediatric Cardiologist” or “Cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon”.

3. Verify your Google Business Profile

The verification process confirms the legitimacy of your Google Business Profile. When your GBP is verified, you appear to be more trustworthy and authentic. You can verify your GBP through different methods. Choose the one that’s most convenient for you and move on to the next step!

4. Optimize Your GBP with Relevant Medical Keywords

Your business description defines your medical services and expertise. You should use relevant keywords that patients would usually search for, such as “best general physician in Kolkata” or “best ENT specialist in Garia”.

Make sure to keep it natural — nobody trusts a description that is haphazardly stuffed with keywords. Ensure to highlight what makes your practice unique from others in the area. The GBP profile is the first impression of patients. It’s your chance to stand out from others!

For example, take a look at how SEO experts from the top Digital Marketing Company in Kolkata helped our client Smiley Dental Clinic achieve the #1 rank for the keyword “Best Dental Clinic in Nagerbazar” after GBP optimization with relevant keywords!

5. Add High-Quality Photos of Your Medical Practice

BrightLocal reports that practices with photos get 35% more website clicks and 42% more requests for directions than those without any photos. Patients search for authentic proof related to the medical practices of healthcare services. When you add high-quality images and testimonials of your medical practice, you eliminate the anxiety and doubts from the minds of patients.

Upload high-quality photos of the clinic, staff, and equipment used within the healthcare centre. Make sure to also add interior, exterior, team, and treatment area images, and include short, engaging videos of the clinic. A virtual tour of your medical practice would also leave a positive impression on potential patients!

GBP for Doctors: How it Helps Your Medical Practice

GBP isn’t just a marketing strategy — it’s a tool to help you establish communication with your patients. Find out how:

1. Appointment Booking Feature for Patients

Google My Business's appointment booking feature helps patients to directly get in touch with your healthcare clinic. They can book slots from the GBP without needing to be redirected to a different website. You can also sync it with systems like Zocdoc, saving the time of your front desk staff.

2. Set Up GBP Messaging for Patient Inquiries

GBP messaging is an intuitive messaging tool that you can use for real-time interactions with patients. This lets patients text you directly with questions, where you can respond immediately with solutions. Quick responses help to build more credibility and enhance the reputation of your medical practice! Just make sure you have staff to monitor these messages because patients expect fast responses for medical concerns.

Read Also: The Importance of Google My Business: Why Every Business Needs It

Build a Strong Review Strategy

77% of patients say online reviews are their initial resource when finding a new doctor. Your reviews are not just testimonials — these are social proof of your medical expertise. The following are tips you can follow to build a strong review strategy: 

1. Request Patients for Reviews

After the treatment of the patient, ask them to leave a review on your Google Business Profile. You can ask them to answer specific questions related to your service. You can also send follow-up emails or messages with direct links to your Google Business Profile, making it easier for patients to share their experience!

2. Responding to Patient Feedback while maintaining HIPAA Compliance

Maintain professional standards of medical practices by not revealing the identity or history of your patient when responding to reviews. Keep the response simple. For example, you can respond with "Thank you for your feedback" for positive reviews. If you receive any negative feedback, then request to discuss the concerns through your official number or email.

Track GBP Performance and Monitor Leads

When you track the performance of your GBP, it allows you to have a better understanding of the benefits of your strategies. Learn more about it here:

1. Understanding GBP Insights and Analytics

GBP insights and analytics are like medical test reports of a patient! You can track who’s searching for you, how they found you, and what action they took after discovering your service. 

This also helps you to identify the areas where you can improve and optimize your GBP to help more patients find your healthcare clinic. Below is an example of our client Smily Dental Clinic’s GBP performance improvement in one month!

2. Monitoring Leads from Patients through GBP

Want to know if your GBP is helping you reach out to more patients? Track the "Call now" clicks and direction requests. The number of calls represent the data of potential new patients from GBP, meanwhile the direction requests showcases the data of patients who are planning to visit your clinic. This helps you to keep track of the online visibility and engagement of your patients through your healthcare centre’s GBP.

After FavFly implemented a few strategies for Smiley Dental Clinic, there was an increase in the number of calls received. Check it out below!

Conclusion

Google Business Profile allows doctors to help their services reach patients who are in need of their services or products. It has become a crucial tool in healthcare marketing, and has redefined the way in which patients can reach out to doctors through local search results .