What is a Google Business Profile? Is it different from Google My Business? During a restructuring of the system in late 2021, Google changed the name of Google My Business to Google Business Profiles (GBP). GBP is a free, robust search engine feature that helps consumers connect with local businesses, on demand with interactive enhancements such as Google Maps.
This article will give you a crash course on how Google Business Profile works so that you can integrate its advantages into your healthcare business digital strategy for attracting patients in your local market.
Understanding How the Google Business Profile Works
Finding services on Google is quick, easy, and convenient. Any time day or night, healthcare consumers can open a laptop or pull out a mobile device and start gathering information on what care options are available. Google is always “listening” for search intent, and when it detects that a user is looking for local services, directory listings are generated and what appears is the Google Business Profiles page.
What is a Google Business Profile’s role in local search? Because of its prominence in search results, a Google Business Profile is what any establishment needs to reach consumers in a specific local market. The purpose of Google Business Profiles is for medical practices to:
- Be verified: Consumers want reassurance that a business is legitimate and actively in operation. Being listed in Google’s directory effectively authenticates your medical practice.
- Be more competitive: As your medical practice is listed beside others, you can optimize your profile by highlighting what makes yours different than others and build up a star rating that outshines your competitors.
- Be more accessible: Business profiles on Google are interactive and allow consumers to quickly absorb many important details about a business at a glance.
Harnessing the Power of GBP Features
As Google’s interactive business directory feature in search results, GBP offers a few side benefits that help businesses gain strength in digital marketing. Google Business Profile features that work to strengthen your online presence include:
- No additional cost: Getting your business listed in Google’s online business directory is completely free to set up and manage.
- Ratings and reviews: There are several review sites, but only GBP star ratings and reviews will be featured in Google search results. Alongside your basic information (name, address, phone number, or NAP) local consumers can see your aggregate star rating and a preview of your reviews and can click to expand to read all your reviews.
- Analytics reporting: Business owners who use GBP can access reporting that tracks how consumers are finding their business, how many are pulling up directions, going to the website through GBP, and other data that can define target audience behavior in Google search.
- Local search engine optimization (SEO): The strategy behind showing up in search results is known as SEO. One of the core drivers of SEO is the use of key words and consistency in business contact information. By optimizing your Google Business Profile for keywords and NAP accuracy, you can boost your SEO power.
Why Google Business Profile Ratings and Reviews Are Your Best Asset
What is a Google Business Profile’s role in online reputation? Survey data has consistently shown that patients are heavily influenced by what other patients have to say about a provider. In fact, those reviews will often be the deciding factor when a patient is choosing a provider. Having an online reputation management strategy can secure a Google Business Profile that stands up to the competition.
One of the best things about Google Business Profiles is that the ratings and reviews are attached to the listings and hard to miss. This means that patients will encounter your online reputation whether they intend to or not. Having a low-star rating, several recent negative reviews, or no reviews at all can deter patients from considering your practice.
Setting Up and Managing Your Google Business Profile
Some core digital marketing projects are difficult to set up and manage, but the Google Business Profiles platform is relatively easy. The steps to manage business profiles on Google are:
- Claim existing profiles or create new ones: Before creating a new profile, check to see if one already exists. Keep in mind that there may be multiple profiles to claim including additional locations, departments, and provider names.
- Secure ownership of accounts through verification: To ensure that control over accounts is placed in the right hands, businesses will need to go through a verification process through the mail, phone call, text message, or video submission. Businesses with more than 10 profiles to manage can use bulk verification.
- Set up a Google account: Google services require a basic Google account. This works the same way as though you were creating a Gmail account. From there, you will set up an account for your GBP.
- Optimize your profile(s): Fill out your profile information completely, and make sure that the phone number and address match exactly with your website, social media, and any other web properties that grant you editing control. Provide a description and images that make your practice stand out among other businesses listed. Be as accurate as possible with your category selection.
- Keep your profile updated: Inaccurate information on a GBP can negatively impact the patient experience as consumers assume that what is shown GBP is reliable. It is the business owner’s responsibility to keep information accurate and updated as far as address, phone number, or adjusting hours of operation (e.g., holidays, temporary closures).
- Build up your ratings and reviews: The best position to be in for GBP is called the “local pack.” These are the first three businesses that appear in a local search. How to access google business profile’s top placement–especially in a competitive local market–is to have great reviews and high ratings. Consistently requesting reviews from patients can help you bolster your GBP ratings.
Advanced Administrative Tips for GBP Management
Some business situations fall outside the standard set up. Below are some special case scenarios that may apply to your GBP management.
- If you manage multiple profiles: Medical practices with more than one location, locations split off into suites or floors, or individual listings for providers are tasked with managing a batch of listings. Rather than log in to separate accounts, you can manage all listings under a single account.
- If your healthcare business is service area based: For businesses that are mobile, it helps to add the areas you serve to your business profile. If your business does not serve the public from a physical location, you can hide (but not omit) your address to prevent patrons from dropping in. Deleting your address completely can weaken your SEO.
Summary: What is a Google Business Profile (GBP)?
A Google Business Profile is what local proprietors of products and services can opt in to for greater visibility in Google search results. GBP is a feature in Google’s search engine results page (SERP) that serves as an interactive business directory making it exceedingly easy for consumers to search and find local businesses. In addition to basic information about each business, Google displays each location on a map so that consumers can plan where to go.
- Local businesses that take the time to claim, optimize and maintain their GBPs benefit in the following ways:
- Implied endorsement from Google: When listed in Google, this confirms that your business is real, legitimate, and currently in operation. However, to maintain that level of credibility, business owners must be diligent to keep contact information and hours of operation accurate and up to date.
- Accessibility: Strategically integrated into the search engine results page, GPB is designed to be interactive making it easy for consumers to absorb basic information about your business at-a-glance and quickly build familiarity with your brand.
- Competitive opportunity: Listed alongside your local competition, you can optimize your profile to be more appealing by comparison.
- Stronger online presence at no additional cost: GBP is a major factor for local search engine optimization (SEO), and, unlike other search engine marketing (SEM), this business service is free. To maximize your visibility to patients searching for services online, an optimized GBP is a must.
- Built-in online reputation management: Because ratings and reviews are included in the basic information of your local healthcare business, patients will inevitably encounter your online reputation. To best manage your reputation on Google, actively request reviews from patients, and monitor incoming reviews replying to each to show that you care about patient feedback.
- User-friendly platform: GBP interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. Depending on what method you use–text message, phone call, post card, video submission, bulk–it can take a while to complete your verification process. That aside, updating hours, uploading images, accessing activity reporting, and uploading photos is straightforward.
While most healthcare business owners can manage GBP on their own, some will opt to hand it over maintenance to the digital marketing service they use. This frees up medical practice administrative teams to direct their efforts to providing excellent customer service for patients so they can generate more positive Google reviews.
Dominate Local Google Search Results with a Complete Online Visibility Strategy
If you find your local competitors are performing better in search results, a strong digital marketing strategy can help you catch up. Our medical practice digital marketing services are designed to cover all the bases for local search visibility. We have extensive knowledge of Google Business Profile optimization, local search engine optimization strategy, online listings, and reputation management, and more. Our team of experts has worked with healthcare businesses of all kinds to help them overcome competitive market pressures and catapult your practice to the top of search results! Contact us to learn more!
