Most new patients never reach your website. They search, they look at the three results on the map, and they call one of them. If you are fourth, you may as well not exist for that search.
That is a harsher funnel than most practice owners assume, and the fixes are mostly unglamorous rather than difficult. Here is what actually decides it.
What Google is actually ranking
Google is explicit about the three factors behind local results:
- Relevance. How well your profile matches what was searched. Controlled by categories, services and description.
- Distance. How far you are from the searcher or the area searched. Largely outside your control.
- Prominence. How well known and well regarded the business is. Reviews, links, mentions, consistency.
The instinct is to focus on distance, which you cannot change, and to neglect relevance, which you can change this afternoon. A practice listed under a generic category, with no services filled in, is losing searches it is geographically best placed to win.
Do this first: set the most specific primary category available, add every secondary category that genuinely applies, and fill in the services list with the actual procedures you offer, named the way patients say them. "Same-day crown" belongs in there. So does every insurance plan you accept, in the profile and on your site.
The practitioner listings most practices never claim
Here is the structural advantage in healthcare that most practices leave on the table.
Google's guidelines allow a separate profile for each public-facing practitioner, in addition to the profile for the practice itself. A three dentist practice can legitimately hold four profiles: the practice, plus one for each dentist.
That matters because patients search for people as well as places. Searches for a named provider, or for a specialism a particular associate holds, can surface a practitioner profile that the practice profile would not win. Each one carries its own reviews, its own specialisms and its own presence.
The rules are specific and worth respecting: a practitioner profile is for a real individual who is public-facing at that location, it uses their name rather than a keyword phrase, and it should not duplicate the practice when the practice is a single-practitioner operation. Claim them properly, keep them current, and remove them when someone leaves. A profile for an associate who left four years ago is an active liability.
Reviews, and the rule healthcare gets wrong
Reviews are the largest lever inside prominence, and healthcare has a constraint that no other category has.
HIPAA binds your reply. You cannot confirm the reviewer was a patient, and you cannot mention any detail of their care. That rules out the reply almost every practice instinctively writes:
"We're so sorry your crown didn't fit properly, Sarah. Please call the office and we'll get you rebooked."
That reply confirms she is a patient and discloses her treatment. It is a disclosure, publicly, permanently, in response to someone who was merely annoyed. Practices have been penalised for exactly this.
The compliant version says nothing about the person or their care:
"Thank you for the feedback. We take all concerns seriously and would like to discuss this directly. Please contact our office manager at [number]."
The same constraint applies to asking for reviews. A generic request is fine. A request that references the visit is not:
- Compliant: "We hope you had a great experience. If you have a moment, a review helps other people find us."
- Not compliant: "We hope you're feeling better after your procedure last week."
The second one, sent by automated recall software, is how most practices break this rule without noticing. Check what your reminder system actually sends.
Within those limits, ask constantly and ask specifically. You cannot prompt someone to mention their procedure, but patients who write detailed reviews on their own initiative are describing services in language that helps you rank and helps you get quoted.
The rest of the checklist
- Hours, including holiday hours. Wrong hours generate the angriest reviews in this category, and Google demotes profiles with a pattern of corrections.
- Appointment link. If your booking system supports it, connect it. It removes a step from a funnel that has very few.
- Photos, refreshed. Exterior shot so people can find the door, interior so they know what they are walking into, and the team. Stock imagery is worse than none.
- Q&A section. You can post and answer your own questions. Do it, with the insurance and parking questions your front desk answers ten times a day.
- Posts. Low weight individually, but a profile that has been dormant for a year reads as a business that may not still be operating.
What gets a healthcare profile suspended
Same rules as everyone else, and one that catches practices in particular.
Your profile name must be your real business name. "Smile Dental of Austin" is fine. "Smile Dental of Austin | Emergency Dentist | Implants | Invisalign" is a suspension waiting to happen, and it is common enough in this category that plenty of practices are carrying that risk right now.
The other frequent one is a practice at a shared medical building listing suite information inconsistently, or several practitioners' profiles pointing at slightly different versions of the same address. Pick one exact format and use it everywhere.
FAQ
Why is my dental practice not showing in the Google map pack?
Usually relevance rather than distance. Practices commonly sit under a generic primary category with an empty services list, which means they lose searches they are geographically best placed to win. Set the most specific primary category available, add genuine secondary categories, and fill in services using the words patients actually use.
Can each dentist or doctor have their own Google Business Profile?
Yes. Google's guidelines allow a separate profile for each public-facing practitioner in addition to the practice's own profile, so a three dentist practice can legitimately hold four. Each carries its own reviews and specialisms, and patients frequently search for a named provider rather than a practice. Remove profiles promptly when a practitioner leaves.
How should a healthcare practice respond to a negative Google review?
Without confirming the person was a patient and without referring to any detail of their care, because HIPAA binds the reply. Thank them for the feedback, state that concerns are taken seriously, and invite them to contact the office directly. Naming their treatment or apologising for a specific procedure is a public disclosure.
Can a medical or dental practice ask patients for reviews?
Yes, provided the request is generic. "We hope you had a great experience" is compliant, while "we hope you are feeling better after your procedure" references care and is not. Most breaches happen through automated recall software rather than deliberately, so check what your reminder system actually sends.
Does adding keywords to my practice name help rankings?
No, and it risks suspension. The profile name must match your real business name, and appending service keywords is a common violation in healthcare listings. Put the services in the services field, where they count for relevance without putting the profile at risk.
What is the fastest improvement most practices can make?
Categories and services, followed by hours accuracy. Both take an afternoon, both feed the relevance factor directly, and most practices have never completed either properly. Insurance plans accepted, listed by name, is the highest value single addition in dentistry.
The short version
The map pack decides more of your new patients than your website does, and most practices lose it on relevance rather than on distance. Fix categories, fill in services, get the hours right, claim the practitioner profiles you are entitled to, and keep the name clean.
Then check what your review software is sending patients, because the most common compliance mistake in this category is a well-meaning reply or reminder that mentions someone's treatment in public.
Kaymak covers what happens before the map: whether ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity name your practice when a patient asks for a recommendation. The live demo is free, no signup. See also AEO for dentists and the four numbers that decide whether a clinic grows.
Sources: Chatmeter, Google reviews for doctors and HIPAA compliance · Local Falcon, Google Business Profile for healthcare practices · Zanda, managing Google reviews in healthcare
HIPAA obligations depend on your entity and jurisdiction and this is not legal advice. Google's guidelines change without notice, so check the current official version before editing a live profile.