Helping People Find You Online: Your Guide to Creating A Google Business Profile
And how to make sure it ranks high in online search results
At Circe Health, we bring modern business tools to holistic healthcare practitioners who are looking for practice growth, sustainable success, so you can focus on the important work that you do.
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The Well is free to read for all subscribers, giving you unlimited access to all past, present and future editions. So far I’ve written a collection of 55+ articles, covering practice building topics, behind-the-scenes career stories from colleagues and must-haves for a strong online presence. If you know anyone else who’d be interested in this newsletter, I’d be grateful for your help in sharing it with colleagues and friends!
We’re back this month with a host of fresh topics that bring you up to speed on the latest tools and tricks that you can easily implement in your practice and career building efforts. At the end of last year I shared my predictions for 2025 in the ‘What’s In Store For 2025’ article - for those looking for a refresh it’s linked below here:
And to start the year off right, if there would be one key take-away from what’s to come this year, one action I’d recommend you take - it is to prioritise the time and energy you invest in your online presence. It can be as simple or as big as you want. But do it you must, because the number of people searching for your services online will only grow and you’re missing out without a clear presence online.
Crucial ingredients of an effective online presence
Your website is the most important ingredient for an effective online presence that helps clients find you and helps them decide to book their treatments with you. In essence, it’s the online version of your treatment space - so you want to give it the same amount of care and attention. As a certified website designer I’ve written about the topic before, from website design for practice growth to website must haves. There’ll be more on this topic to come, but today it’s another part of your online presence that I’ll cover - your Google Business Profile.
Whether you’re tech-y or not, this article will help you get set up with step-by-step guidance and I’ll share some key tips on how to customise it and make the most of this powerful marketing tool. As I’ve shared before, Google Search is now putting business profiles front and centre in their online search design, and your Google profile gives an important first impression to future clients who are searching for holistic care online. They might start with a Google search and then go to different platforms, including your website, social media, directories you’re on and any other online sources, all to make sure you’re the right practitioner for them.
The Google powers that be, and how to make the most of it
Whether you like it or not, Google has a profound influence on your success in connecting with clients online, it’s a trusted place for many people to search and find what they’re looking for. And this makes a well-designed Google business profile a powerful marketing tool for you. When set up correctly, it builds awareness for your business, grows your word of mouth marketing through reviews, and it helps new client find you online. And the good news is that it’s free. So let’s get practical and I’ll walk you through the steps to make the most of your Google Business Profile, answer some common questions I get from practitioners and share ways to boost your ranking!
One thing to note before we start our checklist of actions to take: to create your profile, you must have a physical location where clients come to meet with you or you must provide services in which you visit clients in their homes or at their businesses. Therefore, online-only businesses cannot have Google business pages - at least for now.
For the initial practical steps and guidance on how to set things up, firstly head over to Google Business Profile to see if there’s already a profile for your business or you can follow the steps there to set up a new one. During set-up you add the name of your business, its location, select your business categories, enter service areas of your business, and add website and contact details.
To rank high for the correct Google searches you want to make sure to select the right business category that you fit into, if you don’t do this people won’t be able to find you. Make sure you use the terms that your clients use for your treatments, and leave out wording that is overly technical or detailed. For service areas you can select up to 20 areas and it’s worth adding more than just your own postcode so you’ll reach people in the wider area around you. It is crucial to have a working website link added to your profile so make sure it directs people to the homepage of your own website or directly to your booking page.
Making sure your Google Business Profile stands out
Once it’s verified (which is a crucial step, but can sometimes take a while) you want to go back in to customise it. This customisation is really important because it allows you to design a Google profile that stands out with high quality details. It makes your profile look real and authentic which will help more people select your profile. Crucial ingredients to rank high on Google results are:
a clear list of services you provide
up-to-date business hours
professional photography. This should include images of you and images of your treatment space - ideally inside and outside. Businesses that add photos receive 43% more requests for directions on Google Maps and 35% more clicks through to their website
a clear booking link that takes people straight to a booking page, whether that’s part of your own website or a separate page
a strong description of your business that’s concise and that converts visitors to bookings. This doesn’t need to have keywords in it because that’s not how it’s being ranked, so just focus on the clarity of your message here
Some final tips for success
Keeping your profile up to date is always good practice, so if you already set up your profile a while ago have a look at it now and consider what you can improve. Always double check that your links works and your website is up to date. If your Google profile takes visitors to a website that’s not well-designed with easy navigation it won’t be effective in converting visitors to new clients, and you’ll lose all the people you’re attracting through your Google profile.
And of course, collecting reviews is a crucial step to optimise your presence on Google and make sure it translates to more (new) bookings. I’ll write about that in an upcoming article but in short; make a habit of asking new clients (monthly or quarterly) for their review either via a link to your Google profile or a QR code.
And remember that your Google profile is an extension of your brand, so make sure the way it looks and the information you share is consistent with the branding on your website, social media, and any other online place your profile can be found. People will check if they can trust you, like you and are ready to book your treatments, based on all different online sources.
1:1 support
Looking for personalised support? At Circe Studio we help holistic practitioners design an online presence that performs best for their clients, and for themselves. If you would like 1:1 support to improve your Google Business Profile or overall online presence - you can book an Online Presence Review or if you’re looking for website design support feel free to schedule in a 30-min Circe Studio intro call.