We experienced the power of going digital during the pandemic. Did you know that healthcare professionals can leverage Google even if they don’t have a website?
Google offers a facility called Google My Business (Now Google Business Profile), where you can add photos, videos, contact details, location, services, products, business hours, delivery area, and many more.
It has all the basic features of a website! Of course, a website with high DA authority can boost your GMB rankings. More about it later.
If we just search the term ‘near me’ on Ahrefs (an SEO tool), we observe 956k searches monthly.
Another interesting fact is that if we dig a little deeper and try to find how many searches there are in a month for ‘doctors near me’, it depicts 9470 keywords with a search volume of 956k per month.
The report generated by using the Ahrefs tool suggests that there are 9470 keywords (dealing with various medical specialists) with a total volume of 956K in a month. So, if you think that doctors or hospitals don’t do marketing, think again.
Well, you might think that marketing for healthcare practices requires money, but let me tell you that Google My Business is an absolutely free service.
Optimizing it for better results requires the help of an expert SEO like us. You can create a GMB profile for your practice on your own.
This detailed guide will help you create and optimize a GMB profile to generate more leads for your healthcare practice.
Google My Business (Google business profile) is a free service from Google that allows local businesses to display information about their business, products and services.
You can either create a fresh GMB account or claim it if you see that it has already been made.
If someone else has claimed your listing, you can request access to the profile by following the steps outlined in the article “Gaining Access to a Google My Business Profile You Did Not Create.”
Step 1: Log into the Google Account associated with your business account (or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one).
Step 2: Go to google.com/business and select “Start now” in the top right-hand corner.
Step 3: Enter your business name.
Step4: Choose Your Business Type
In your case, you can check the box “Local store”. However, if you render professional services at different locations at different times, you need to create different GMB profiles for each.
Step 5: Add Your Website Details
You can skip the details if you don’t have a website.
Step 6: Enter the Category of Your Business
This is the most important thing you need to do. You can try typing your speciality like “fertility doctor’, “heart specialist”, “doctor”, “Medical center”, “hospital”, etc.
When choosing categories for your medical practice, select the most specific category that accurately represents your speciality. You can choose one primary category and up to 9 additional categories.
Using the same categories consistently across all your online listings is essential to maintaining consistency and improving local search rankings.
Your ranking depends on choosing proper SEO-optimized categories. You must approach a healthcare marketing company to guide you.
Step 7: Add Your Location on Google Maps
Step 8: Add Your Contact Details
Step 9: Verify Your Listing
Each method helps Google confirm that the listed business is legitimate and operating at the specified location, ensuring that users find trustworthy local results.
Importance of a Complete and Optimized GMB Profile
We created a GMB profile and added basic NAP (Name, address, and phone number) to it. Then, we verified our profile.
Now is the time to complete and optimize your GMB profile. Here’s a complete breakdown of how to do this.
Click on ‘Edit profile’ and add details related to your profile, such as:
“About, Contact, Location, Hours and More”
Try to include a description that includes your keywords.
For better results, include detailed information about your business, profile photos, product photos, and pictures while rendering service. Also, add attributes like “Wheelchair accessible,” “Parking,”” Free Wi-Fi,” etc. You can also mention your date of business opening, hours of operation, and website URL.
You must be cautious when entering this information because every GMB profile has a “Suggest an edit” feature.
Adding the correct information in the first place discourages visitors from suggesting an edit. You should also regularly check your GMB profile to see whether all details are correct. If more of your competitors suggest a wrong edit, Google implements it, affecting your rankings.
For example, consider seeing a link to Dr. Abhijeet Savedakar’s GMB profile.
Importance of Ongoing Management and Updates
Managing your Google My Business (GMB) listing is crucial to maintaining a solid online presence and ensuring your practice remains visible to potential patients.
Ongoing management involves regular updates to your listing, including responding to reviews, posting updates, and monitoring analytics. This chapter will guide you through the importance of these tasks and provide detailed steps to perform them effectively.
Responding to patient reviews is essential for maintaining a positive reputation and addressing any concerns that patients may have. Here are the steps to follow:
The key is to be respectful and address the patient’s concerns. This shows how much you care for your patient.
Also, prompt replies to the review are essential. It is not a good practice to wait for the reviews to accumulate and reply to them at the end.
Most of the time, doctors ask me how to ask for a review.
If you have an enormous hospital, you can generate QR codes for your GMB link, which patients can directly scan and leave a review. You can also have your QR code prominently placed in your hospital, like the billing counter, rooms where you admit patients, and case papers, which can also contain a small QR code.
Make it simple for patients to post their thoughts. Give them a direct link to your GMB listing. Also, show gratitude for their feedback. You can even reward those who share their reviews with discounts or small gifts. Your dedication to excellent service will shine through by actively seeking and handling patient reviews.
Posting timely updates, offers, and events helps to keep your GMB listing fresh and engaging. Here are the steps to follow:
For example, if you are an eye specialist running a camp for people who want to get their eyes checked for cataracts, you can create a post about it and upload it to your GMB profile. That way, Google will show it to patients who are interested in getting it done.
You can also add products to your profile. You might be wondering about it. For example, if you are an orthopaedic doctor, you may be rendering surgical and non-surgical treatments.
In that case, you can add a specific pain point as a ‘product’. For instance, an orthopaedic surgeon can add the following as his products.
A sample of the products is on the page.
For your reference, here are the different types of posts you can create
2. Schedule Posts: Schedule your posts in advance to ensure they are published at the right time. This helps maintain consistency and keeps your listing up-to-date. This option is available in the “Events and offers” and “updates” sections only.
3. Monitor Engagement: Monitor the engagement on your posts by tracking the number of views, clicks, and responses. This helps identify what content types resonate with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Monitoring Your GMB Insights and Analytics
Monitoring your GMB insights and analytics helps to track the performance of your listing and identify areas for improvement. Here are the steps to follow:
2. Track Performance: Monitor metrics such as views, clicks, and responses to track your performance and identify trends and patterns in your data.
3. Adjust Your Strategy: Adjust your strategy based on your analytics data. For example, if you notice that a particular type of post is performing well, you can increase the frequency of those posts.
Following these steps, you can effectively manage your GMB listing and maintain a solid online presence for your healthcare practice.
GMB provides a platform for doctors to showcase their practice, connect with patients, and leverage various features to enhance their online visibility. This chapter will explore some key GMB features doctors can use.
One of the most valuable features GMB offers is the ability to include appointment links and enable online booking. This feature allows doctors to streamline the appointment scheduling process for their patients, making it more convenient and efficient. Doctors can encourage patients to book appointments directly from their GMB listing by providing a direct link to their online booking system.
You need an online booking system to add appointment links to your GMB listing. Once you have set up your online booking system, you can generate a direct link and add it to your GMB profile. This allows patients to easily book appointments with you directly from your listing.
To optimise this feature, doctors should ensure their online booking system is user-friendly and easily accessible. They should also regularly update appointment slots’ availability to ensure everything is clear and comfortable for patients. By leveraging this feature effectively, doctors can enhance patient satisfaction and improve overall practice efficiency.
The demand for virtual care and telemedicine services has recently increased. GMB allows doctors to highlight these services on their listings. By including information about virtual consultations, online prescriptions, and telemedicine options, doctors can attract patients who prefer remote healthcare services.
Doctors should provide clear and concise descriptions of their virtual care offerings to optimise this feature. They can also include relevant certifications or qualifications to build trust and credibility with potential patients. By leveraging virtual care and telemedicine services through GMB, doctors can expand their reach beyond their physical location and cater to a broader patient base.
Another powerful feature of GMB is the ability to showcase awards, accreditations, and affiliations. Doctors can include photos and videos of their practice receiving awards, certifications, or affiliations with renowned medical organisations. This adds credibility to their profile and instils confidence in potential patients.
To optimise this feature, doctors should ensure that the photos and videos they upload are of high quality and highlight the recognition they have received.
You can also provide brief descriptions or captions to provide context and further engage with the audience. You can differentiate your practice from competitors and establish yourself as a trusted healthcare provider by showcasing your achievements and affiliations.
Integrating your Google My Business (GMB) listing with your website is crucial for maintaining a consistent online presence and improving your local search rankings. By ensuring that your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) are consistent across both platforms and linking your website to your GMB listing, you can enhance your credibility and make it easier for patients to find and contact you. This chapter will guide you through the steps to integrate your GMB listing effectively with your website.
Maintaining consistent NAP information across your website and GMB listing is essential for building trust with search engines and patients. Consistent NAP can lead to clarity and positively impact your local search rankings. Ensure your NAP is identical on both platforms, including the format, abbreviations, and punctuation.
Adding a link to your GMB profile on your website makes it easy for patients to access your listing and learn more about your practice. You can add the link to your website’s footer, contact page, or relevant section. This helps to drive traffic to your GMB listing and improve your online visibility.
Here are the key steps to ensure consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) across your Google My Business (GMB) listing and website:
Embedding your GMB reviews on your website can help to build trust and credibility with potential patients. By showcasing positive reviews, you can demonstrate the quality of your services and encourage more patients to book appointments. You can use a plugin or embed the reviews manually using the provided code.
What are the benefits of adding my GMB profile link to my website?
Adding your GMB profile link to your website provides several benefits:
Linking your website to your GMB listing helps to establish a connection between the two platforms and improves your local search rankings. You can do this by adding your website URL to your GMB listing and ensuring that your website includes a link to your GMB profile. This helps to reinforce the relationship between your online presence and your physical location.
Following these steps and consistently integrating your GMB listing with your website can enhance your online presence, improve patient trust, and boost your local search rankings.
To embed your GMB reviews on your website:
This lets you showcase positive reviews directly on your website, building trust and credibility with potential patients.
Maintaining consistent NAP, linking your GMB profile, and embedding reviews can create a seamless online presence that improves patient experience and boosts your local search rankings.
Reviews play a crucial role in local search rankings. They help search engines like Google understand the quality of your services and your patients’ satisfaction with your practice. Positive reviews can improve your visibility and credibility, while negative reviews can harm your reputation if not addressed promptly. Therefore, it is essential to encourage patients to leave reviews and manage them effectively.
To attract more reviews on GMB, follow these best practices:
Script for Asking Patients for Reviews:
Introduction:
“Hello [Patient’s Name], I hope you had a positive experience during your recent visit to our practice. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we would appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your thoughts on Google.”
Request for Review:
“If you are satisfied with the care you received, could you please consider leaving us a review on Google? Your review will help others in our community find quality healthcare services.”
Instructions for Leaving a Review:
“To leave a review, simply search for our practice on Google and click on the ‘Write a Review’ button. You can share your experience and rate our services. Your feedback will help us improve and serve our patients better.”
Thank You:
“Thank you for considering sharing your feedback with us. We value your opinion and strive to provide the best care possible. Your review will make a difference in helping others choose our practice for their healthcare needs.”
Subject: Your Feedback Matters to Us – Leave a Review on Google
Dear [Patient’s Name],
I hope this message finds you well. At [Practice Name], we are committed to providing exceptional healthcare services to our patients. Your feedback is essential to us, and we would appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your experience with others.
Your review on Google can help others in our community make informed decisions about their healthcare needs. Your honest feedback will enable us to continue improving our services and patient care.
To leave a review, simply follow these steps:
Your review will make a difference, and we thank you for considering this request.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Practice Name]
Responding to reviews is crucial for maintaining a positive reputation and addressing patients’ concerns. Here are some best practices for responding to reviews:
Monitoring and managing your review profile is essential for maintaining a positive reputation and improving your local search rankings. Here are some best practices:
To monitor and manage your GMB review profile effectively:
Following these best practices can attract more reviews on GMB, improve your local search rankings, and maintain a positive reputation for your healthcare practice.
Tracking your Google My Business (GMB) performance is crucial for understanding how your listing is performing and identifying areas for improvement. By regularly reviewing your GMB insights and analytics, you can refine your strategy and optimize your listing for better results.
To review your GMB insights and analytics:
To identify areas for improvement and optimization:
The GMB features that have the biggest impact on local SEO are:
Here are the key metrics healthcare professionals should track in their Google My Business (GMB) analytics:
To continuously test and refine your GMB strategy:
By following these steps and regularly analyzing your GMB performance, you can optimize your listing for better results and improve your online presence for your healthcare practice.
Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing is crucial for healthcare professionals to enhance their online presence, improve local search rankings, and attract more patients. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can:
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to leverage the power of GMB for your healthcare practice. By optimizing your listing, you can:
If you need help optimizing your GMB listing or require further guidance on leveraging GMB for your healthcare practice, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team of experts is here to assist you in creating and optimizing a GMB profile that drives more leads and grows your practice.
By following these steps and leveraging the power of GMB, you can take your healthcare practice to the next level and achieve greater success in the digital age.
