Google My Business for Therapists: The Complete Setup Guide

If you had to pick one thing to do for your practice's local visibility and nothing else, it would be this: build a complete, accurate, and active Google Business Profile. No other single action produces as much return for as little ongoing effort — and yet most therapists either skip it entirely or set it up once and leave it untouched for years.

This guide covers everything you need to do, in the order you need to do it.

Claim and Verify Your Profile First

Go to business.google.com and search for your practice name. If a profile already exists (which it might — Google sometimes creates them automatically from public data), claim it. If not, create one. Verification typically happens by postcard to your practice address, by phone, or via video verification. This step is non-negotiable: an unclaimed profile can be edited by anyone and will often contain outdated or incorrect information.

Category Selection: The Most Important Decision You'll Make

Your primary category tells Google what you are. For most therapists and psychologists, the correct primary category is Psychologist or Psychotherapist, depending on your qualifications and how patients typically search for you. Choose the most specific, accurate category — not a broad one like "Healthcare" or "Clinic."

You can add secondary categories for additional services you genuinely offer: Child Psychologist, Couples Therapist, Speech Therapist, and so on. Don't add categories just to appear in more searches. Google detects the mismatch between your categories and your actual website content, and it works against you.

Business Name: Keep It Clean

Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your professional registration. Do not add keywords. "Anxiety Therapist London — Dr. Smith" violates Google's guidelines and can get your profile suspended. Let your category and content carry the keyword signals.

Your Description: 750 Characters to Be Human

The business description doesn't directly affect rankings, but it influences whether someone contacts you after finding you. Write for the person reading it, not for the algorithm. What approach do you use? Who do you work best with? What can a patient expect from working with you? Skip the CV. Skip the jargon. Be specific and clear.

Photos That Convert

Upload real photos of your space — consulting room, waiting area, building exterior, and ideally a professional headshot. Do not use stock photography. Google favours profiles with genuine, recent images, and patients make trust decisions based on photos before they ever read your description.

Aim for at least 10 photos to start, and add new ones every few months. Interior shots should show a calm, professional environment. The aesthetic matters: cluttered or overly clinical-looking spaces create hesitation in patients already anxious about seeking help.

Services and Attributes

Use the Services section to list your specific offerings: individual therapy, couples counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, EMDR, and so on. Be specific. These terms help Google match your profile to more specific searches.

Attributes let you add useful details: "Online appointments available," "Wheelchair accessible," "Speaks Spanish." These are especially valuable for practices serving international clients or patients with accessibility needs.

Getting Reviews the Right Way

Patient reviews are the most powerful local ranking signal you have. You cannot incentivise reviews. You cannot request them in ways that feel coercive given the therapeutic relationship.

What you can do: at the natural end of a completed treatment course, mention simply that an honest review helps other people find the right support. Make it easy — share a direct link to your review page. Respond to every review professionally.

Reviews accumulate slowly for therapists. That's expected. Consistent quality over years matters more than a sprint of activity. Never buy or fabricate reviews — the risk to your practice reputation is not worth it.

Google Posts: The Most Underused Feature

Google Posts let you publish short updates directly on your GBP listing. They appear in your profile for 7 days and signal to Google that your profile is active. Use them to share short, useful content: a note on how you approach a common presenting issue, information about availability, or a link to a new article on your website.

One post per week is enough to maintain the activity signal. This takes less than 10 minutes and most practices never do it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Wrong primary category — The single most common error. Check yours now.

Inconsistent name, address, and phone number — These must exactly match every other place they appear online. Even small formatting differences weaken your citation signals.

No response to reviews — Responding to reviews (positive and negative) signals engagement and builds trust. Silence looks like indifference.

Ignoring the Q&A section — Anyone can ask and answer questions on your GBP. Monitor it and answer questions yourself before inaccurate answers from others appear.

Setting it once and forgetting it — An active, regularly updated profile consistently outperforms a complete but static one. Thirty minutes a month is enough to stay ahead.