Key points at a glance
- The Google Business Profile is free of charge and often the first contact with new patients.
- First check whether your practice already exists – Google also creates profiles automatically. Then claim and verify it.
- Primary category, opening hours including public holidays, photos and website link are the most important fields – and they need 15 minutes of upkeep a month.
- Ask all patients for reviews in the same way – with nothing in return, without pre-selection and without pressure to leave the review while still at the practice. A card with a QR code to take home helps.
- When replying, your duty of confidentiality applies: never confirm that someone is your patient.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change – check details with your chamber, your professional association or your tax adviser.
Why the profile matters so much
Anyone searching for “Physiotherapie in der Nähe” (physiotherapy near me), “Kinderarzt Wien Favoriten” or “Kinderarzt Köln-Ehrenfeld” (paediatrician in a Vienna or Cologne district) first sees a map with usually three practices – the so-called Local Pack. These results come from the Google Business Profile (formerly “Google My Business”). Patients see the same details in Google Maps when they look up the route to your practice.
Google itself names three factors for local ranking: relevance (does the profile match the search?), distance and prominence – which explicitly includes the number of reviews and the reviews themselves. You cannot pay for a better position. A complete, well-maintained profile with honest reviews is therefore one of the most effective levers for being found locally. How your website and profile work together is explained in the guide to local SEO.
Setting up and verifying your profile
Search for your practice
Search for your practice name and address on Google and in Google Maps. Google sometimes creates listings automatically – in that case, click “Own this business?” instead of creating a second profile.
Create or claim the profile
Sign in with a Google account at business.google.com. Use a practice account that your team can also access, rather than a private account – and add staff members as managers instead of sharing passwords.
Verify
Google requires proof that you really run the practice. Depending on the case, you can choose between a video, a video call, phone/text message, email or a postcard. For the video, film the practice sign, entrance, rooms and something only an owner has, such as the key to the practice, in one continuous take. According to Google, the review takes up to five working days; a postcard usually arrives within 14 days.
Fill in all fields
Primary category, address, phone number, website, opening hours, services, accessibility, photos. The more complete the profile, the better Google can match it to the right searches.
Maintaining the most important fields correctly
- Primary category: as precise as possible – “Paediatrician” instead of “Doctor”, “Physiotherapist” instead of “Health centre”. Additional categories cover your areas of focus.
- Name: exactly as it appears on the practice sign. Don’t add keywords or slogans (“Dr. Muster – best orthopaedist in town”) – that breaches the guidelines and can get the profile suspended.
- Opening hours: regular hours plus special opening hours for public holidays and vacations. Incorrect opening hours are one of the most common reasons for bad reviews.
- Website and appointment link: link to the relevant page of your website, not just the home page – or directly to your online booking.
- Photos: entrance (so people can find it), waiting area, treatment rooms, team. No patients without express consent.
- Attributes: e.g. wheelchair-accessible entrance, accessible toilet, online appointments.
- Description: two or three factual sentences on your areas of focus, languages and health insurance – without promises of a cure.
15 minutes a month: keeping the profile up to date
A profile is not a one-off project. You are not the only one who can change it: users also suggest edits, and Google applies some of them automatically – different opening hours or a new phone number, for instance. So set aside a fixed slot every month:
Your monthly check:
- Are the opening hours, phone number and address still correct? Have Google or users suggested any changes?
- Are holidays, public holidays and cover arrangements entered as special opening hours?
- Are there new reviews you should reply to?
- Are the photos still right – a new team member, a renovated waiting area?
- What does the “Performance” section show: how many calls, direction requests and website clicks came via the profile?
- Is there news for a short post on the profile, such as new consultation hours or an additional service?
Collecting reviews – fairly and within the rules
Satisfied patients rarely leave a review of their own accord – dissatisfied ones do. That is why it is worth asking actively. Google expressly allows this as long as the review reflects a genuine experience. What matters is how you ask:
How to get it right
- Ask all patients in the same way – in person, with a card or a QR code to take home
- Use a direct review link so that it takes ten seconds later
- Ask, don’t push: “If you were satisfied, we would appreciate a review.”
- Ask for honest reviews – without dictating what they should say
Better not
- Offering something in return (discount, voucher, prize draw) – not even for changing a negative review
- Only selecting satisfied patients and filtering out others
- Pressuring people to leave the review while still at the practice
- Setting your team a quota of reviews or specific content
- Reviews from family, friends or your own (including former) team
- Buying reviews or hiring agencies to write them
These points are taken directly from Google’s review policies. Breaches can lead to reviews being deleted, new reviews being temporarily blocked or the profile receiving a warning notice. For healthcare professions, professional law applies on top – for example when advertising with patient testimonials. The details are in the guides to advertising rules:
Your review QR code in two minutes
Create a free QR code that leads directly to the review window of your Google profile – as SVG or PNG for business cards, appointment cards or your invoice.
Replying to reviews – without breaching confidentiality
Replies show that feedback matters to you – including to future patients who read along. For healthcare professions, however, there is an important limit: the duty of confidentiality applies online too – in Austria, for example, under § 54 ÄrzteG 1998 (Austrian Medical Practitioners Act), in Germany under § 203 StGB (Criminal Code), and for physiotherapy and psychotherapy under the respective professional act. Even confirming that someone was treated by you can be a breach.
How to reply safely:
- Keep it general: “Thank you for your feedback. We take every comment seriously.”
- Don’t mention diagnoses, treatments, appointments or details – not even to set something straight.
- Don’t confirm that the person is a patient.
- Offer a conversation: “Please feel free to contact the practice directly.”
- Only reply once your annoyance has passed – and have a second person read the reply.
- Report insults, spam or reviews unrelated to the practice to Google.
Criticism alone is not a reason for deletion. If a review breaches the policies, report it directly in the profile. If you consider it unlawful, for example because it states untrue facts, you can also report it via Google’s form for legal complaints. In Germany, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) has ruled that a review portal must check, in response to a specific complaint, whether there was any treatment contact at all (BGH, judgment of 1 March 2016, VI ZR 34/15). In persistent cases, in Austria as in Germany, your chamber or a media law attorney can help.
Google, DocFinder, Jameda & co.
Besides Google, patients use other portals – which ones depends on the country. Maintain those that are relevant in your field with the same details: name, address and phone number should be identical everywhere.
| Austria | Germany | |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews & doctor search | DocFinder, Google | Jameda, Google |
| Online appointments | e.g. Doctolib, Latido | e.g. Doctolib |
| Directories | Herold, doctor search of the Ärztekammern (medical chambers) | Das Örtliche, Gelbe Seiten, doctor search of the Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen (associations of statutory health insurance physicians) |
Reviews from Google and other portals can also be shown directly on your website, see Integrations. Which other content belongs on the website is shown in the guide to the content of a practice website.
Sources
- Google – Review policies (prohibited and restricted content)
- Google – Guidelines for representing your business (incl. individual practitioners)
- Google – Business Profile restrictions for policy violations
- Google – Verify your Business Profile
- Google – Tips to improve your local ranking
- RIS – § 54 ÄrzteG 1998 (duty of confidentiality)
- § 203 StGB – violation of private secrets (gesetze-im-internet.de)
- BGH – press release on the judgment of 1 March 2016, VI ZR 34/15 (duties of doctor review portals to investigate)
