Set up your Google Business Profile

Have these ready

• A Google account the clinic owns, set up on a clinic email address rather than anyone's personal Gmail. Owners of a profile have full control of it, including adding and removing people and deleting it, so the clinic should hold that account. (Google Help: Manage owners and managers)
• Your clinic name exactly as it appears on your sign.
• Your street address, main phone number, and website or online booking page address.
• Your phone nearby. Some verification methods use a call, a text or a video.

The steps

1. 1

   Check whether your clinic is already on Google

   Open Google Maps and search your clinic name and suburb.

   • It appears with "Claim this business": select it, then Manage now, and follow the steps.
   • Someone else already manages it (a former staff member, agency or previous owner): go to business.google.com/add, enter your clinic name and address, select your clinic, then Request access. The current owner has 3 days to respond. If they don't, you may be able to claim it.
   • Nothing appears: go to step 2.

   Don't create a second profile for a clinic that already has one. Google's own advice is to use the existing profile, because verifying a new one takes time.

   Sources: Add or claim your Business Profile · Request ownership of a Business Profile · About location assets

   Tick when this step is done
2. 2

   Create the profile with the clinic's account

   Signed in with the clinic's own Google account, go to business.google.com/add and select Add your business to Google. Google's screens then ask for the details covered in steps 3 to 6.

   Source: Add or claim your Business Profile

   Tick when this step is done
3. 3

   Use the name on your sign

   Enter the clinic's real-world name, as it appears on your signage. Google's guidelines don't permit extra information in the name, such as services, taglines or search keywords. Add those details to the categories, services and description instead.

   Source: Guidelines for representing your business on Google

   Tick when this step is done
4. 4

   Choose your primary category

   Start typing your profession and pick the most specific match from Google's list that describes the clinic as a whole. You can't create your own category. Add extra categories only for genuinely separate services, and keep them few.

   Sources: Manage your business category · Guidelines for representing your business

   Tick when this step is done
5. 5

   Add your address or service area

   • Patients come to you: enter your precise street address.
   • You also visit patients (home visits, aged care): keep the address and add a service area as well.
   • You never see patients at your address (mobile only): add a service area and remove the address from the profile.

   You can list up to 20 service areas, and the whole area should sit within about 2 hours' drive of your base.

   Sources: Manage your service areas · Guidelines for representing your business

   Tick when this step is done
6. 6

   Add your phone number and website

   Phone: a number that reaches this clinic. Google asks for a local number rather than a central call centre wherever possible.

   Website: your clinic website, typed in full with https://. If you don't have a website yet, your online booking page is fine here. You can add a separate booking link in step 8.

   Sources: Guidelines for representing your business · Edit your Business Profile

   Tick when this step is done
7. 7

   Verify

   Google decides how you verify, and the method can't be changed. It may be a phone call or text, email, a video recording, a live video call, or a postcard with a code. Follow the on-screen instructions exactly.

   • Google says verification reviews take up to 5 business days after you finish the steps, and on rare occasions longer.
   • If you get a postcard: most codes arrive within 14 days, and a code expires after 30 days.

   Source: Verify your business on Google

   Tick when this step is done
8. 8

   Finish the profile once verified

   Search your clinic name on Google while signed in, then select Edit profile. Google reviews changes before they go live.

   • Hours: regular hours, plus special hours for public holidays and closures.
   • Photos: start with an outside photo so patients recognise the clinic when they arrive, then photos of the clinic and your services.
   • Services: list the services you offer, with prices if you show them.
   • Booking link: on Google Search select Booking, then Add link, and paste your online booking page. Whether this option appears depends on your category.
   • A second owner: at business.google.com open Business Profile settings, then People and access, then Add. Each person needs their own Google account. This keeps the clinic in control if one person leaves.

   Sources: Edit your Business Profile · Manage your local business links · Manage owners and managers

   Tick when this step is done

Reviews: the Australian rules

• Ask every patient the same way. Google allows you to ask for reviews, but not to offer anything for them (discounts, gifts, free sessions), to ask only happy patients, to discourage negative reviews, or to pressure people to review while they are in the clinic. Google's policy also prohibits reviews written with a conflict of interest, such as by staff, so staff shouldn't review the clinic.
• Don't use clinical reviews in your advertising. A review that talks about a patient's condition, treatment, outcome or a practitioner's skill is a testimonial under Ahpra's rules. Don't quote, share, screenshot or embed it on your website, ads or social posts.
• Keep replies short. Thank the reviewer. Don't repeat or agree with clinical details, because engaging with a review may be treated as using it as a testimonial.
• Treat the profile as advertising. Ahpra defines advertising broadly, so we treat the profile description, posts and your replies to reviews as advertising.

Sources: Google Maps user-contributed content policy · Ahpra: Testimonials, understand the requirements · Ahpra: Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service

All sources

1. Google Business Profile Help: Add or claim your Business Profile
2. Google Business Profile Help: Request ownership of a Business Profile
3. Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
4. Google Business Profile Help: Manage your business category
5. Google Business Profile Help: Manage your service areas
6. Google Business Profile Help: Verify your business on Google
7. Google Business Profile Help: Edit your Business Profile
8. Google Business Profile Help: Manage your local business links
9. Google Business Profile Help: Manage your Business Profile owners and managers
10. Google Ads Help: Link your Google Business Profile to Google Ads
11. Google Ads Help: About location assets
12. Google Maps user-contributed content policy: Prohibited and restricted content
13. Ahpra: Testimonials, understand the requirements
14. Ahpra: Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service

All checked 12 Nov 2026.