Google Business Profile Guide for Doctors and Medical Practices

Images are AI-generated.

Someone looking for a medical practice first checks its address, opening hours and phone number. One of the fastest places to see this is the profile in Google Search and Maps. So a doctor's Google Business Profile is less a promotional tool than a patient's route to accurate information. In healthcare, managing it comes with two extra sensitivities: patient privacy and the rules on promoting healthcare services.

In this guide we explain how to set up physician and practice profiles, which information to include, how to reply to patient reviews and what to avoid. This article gives general information; for the limits specific to your profession, follow the current provisions of your medical chamber and the applicable regulations.

Physician profile or practice profile?

Google treats professionals who serve clients one-on-one, such as doctors, dentists and lawyers, as "individual practitioners" and sets separate rules for them. According to Google's guidelines for representing your business on Google:

• A physician who sees patients one-on-one and can be reached directly at the verified address during stated hours may create their own profile. No separate profiles are created for administrative or support staff.
• If several physicians see patients at the same address, the practice gets its own separate profile. A physician's profile name includes only their own name, not the practice's.
• If you're the only physician seeing patients at that address and the practice runs under a brand name, a single shared profile can be used. The name is then written as "[brand]: [physician name]".
• Titles such as "Dr." may be used on the profile.
• A physician doesn't create a separate profile for each specialty; each physician has one profile.

In practice, most cases fit one of two patterns:

• Single-physician practice: One profile is usually enough. The name is written as it appears on the sign and official documents.
• Polyclinic or center with several physicians: The institution's profile plus a profile for each physician who sees patients.

Don't add your specialty, neighborhood or words like "best" to the profile name; it should reflect only the real name. Google treats adding a service description, location or slogan to the name as a violation of its guidelines.

Specialty, services and appointment details

Three fields describe what the practice does:

• Category: Choose the category closest to your specialty from Google's list. You can't type a category that isn't listed; if there's no exact match, use the closest general category.
• Services: Add consultations, check-ups and the procedures you actually perform, using plain names. Don't promise results or recovery in service descriptions; describing the service is enough.
• Description: Write factual details in short paragraphs, such as the physician's name and specialty, how patients are seen and how to get there.

Practical details matter to patients at least as much:

• Address and map location: When your practice appears at the right spot on the building in Google Maps, patients find the door easily. Add the floor and unit number to the address line.
• Opening hours: Enter your patient hours. Set special hours for religious and public holidays, conferences and similar days.
• Phone: A number that can actually be reached for appointments.
• Appointment link: If your category supports it, you can add your booking page to the profile's appointment link field. Check that the link opens the booking screen directly.
• Accessibility: Details such as wheelchair access and elevators help patients plan their visit.

Privacy in replies to patient reviews

Google reviews of doctors are one of the most sensitive topics in healthcare. Review replies are public, and under Turkey's personal data protection law (KVKK) health data is a special category of personal data. The physician's duty of confidentiality comes on top of that. So the basic principle when replying is: the reply shouldn't even confirm that the reviewer is your patient.

What shouldn't appear in a reply:

• The person's name, visit date or appointment time
• Details of a diagnosis, treatment, medication or procedure
• Phrases that confirm a patient relationship, such as "During your examination…" or "During your treatment…"
• Explanations that try to correct the review using information from your records

Even if the reviewer has shared their own health information, don't repeat or confirm it in your reply.

Sample replies that don't confirm identity or a patient relationship:

• To a positive review: "Thank you for sharing. We'll pass your kind words on to our team."
• To a negative review: "Thank you for your feedback. Under our privacy principles, we can't discuss personal matters here. We'd like to talk this over with you; you can call our practice by phone."

You can report reviews you believe aren't based on a real experience or that contain insults to Google; Google decides whether a review is removed. Avoid long explanations that could become an argument; a short, calm reply looks more trustworthy to everyone reading it.

If you ask patients for reviews, Google's rules apply here too: the same request for everyone, with nothing in return and without picking. To speed up replies, BadePlus's review replies feature drafts a reply for each review; in a sensitive field like healthcare, we recommend reading and approving every draft before it's published.

Rules to follow when promoting healthcare

In Turkey, promotion by physicians and healthcare institutions is restricted by regulations on promoting healthcare services and by the rules of the medical profession. The description, services, posts and photos on your Google Business Profile can also fall under these rules. Because the details can change over time, confirm the current limits with your medical chamber or legal advisor.

As a general guide, avoid these on your profile and in posts:

• Promises of treatment results, recovery or success rates
• Superiority and comparison claims such as "best," "only" or "leading"
• Patient photos, patient stories and before-and-after images
• Price, discount or campaign announcements
• Promotional text built from quotes taken from reviews
• Posts that highlight a specific medicine or medical device

Google's own rules point the same way: content with misleading medical information is prohibited; regulated drugs and medical devices are restricted content and can't carry sales calls or promotions. You'll find the details on Google's prohibited and restricted content page.

In posts, stick to informational announcements: changes to opening hours, holidays, a new address, changes to how appointments work, transport and parking. Posts like these help patients and are unlikely to spark debate about promotion.

Photos: the practice and equipment

Photos help patients find the practice and get to know the setting before their visit. Recommended photos:

• The outside of the building and the entrance
• The waiting area and consultation room (empty)
• Access features such as an elevator or ramp
• A portrait of the physician, taken with their permission
• Equipment you use, without a caption making promotional claims

Points to watch in photos:

• No patients, relatives or patient files in the frame.
• No personal information visible on computer screens, calendars or notice boards.
• Use real photos of your own practice instead of stock images or photos of another place.
• Share photos of employees only with their permission.

You can also see our Google Business Profile management for doctors and clinics page, where we cover profile upkeep, privacy-respecting review replies and local rank tracking for physicians and clinics together.

Frequently asked questions

I didn't create my profile, but it shows up on Google. What should I do?

Google can create a profile by compiling business information from different sources. Once you claim the profile and complete verification, you manage its information. The verification outcome is Google's decision.

Do I need to reply to patient reviews?

It isn't mandatory, but Google recommends replying to reviews. In healthcare, short, polite, privacy-respecting replies are the safest approach.

Where should I put my specialty on a physician profile?

Not in the name; in the category, services and description. The profile name should carry only the real name of the physician or practice.

Summary

• Each physician has one profile; where several physicians see patients, the practice also has its own profile.
• Your specialty goes in the category, services and description, not in the name.
• Review replies shouldn't even confirm that the person is your patient; health information has no place in a reply.
• Promises of treatment results, superiority claims and patient photos don't belong on the profile.
• Photos should show the real practice, with no patients or personal information in the frame.