Google Business Profile for GTA Dental Clinics: A Checklist

When someone in the GTA searches for a dentist near them, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see. It shows your hours, phone number, photos, reviews and directions, on Google Search and Maps.

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. You can't move your clinic closer to every patient. You can make sure Google has complete, accurate information, which Google says makes a business more likely to show up. This checklist goes in the order I'd work through it, with a link to Google's own help page for each rule.

One verified profile per location

Google's guidelines for representing your business say not to create more than one profile for each location. Duplicates can confuse what appears on Maps and Search. If you find an old or duplicate listing for your clinic, deal with it before you polish the main one.

Verify the profile. Google's local ranking page says verification tells Google you're authorized to represent the business, and a verified profile is more likely to appear. Your photos also won't show publicly until the profile is verified.

Use your real clinic name

Google asks that your name match your real-world name, the one on your signage and stationery. Adding extra information to the name is not permitted. That includes taglines, phone numbers, URLs, and descriptions of services or locations.

So “Bloor West Dental” is fine. “Bloor West Dental | Best Emergency Dentist Toronto” breaks Google's rules, and “best” also runs into the RCDSO's rules on superiority claims, which I cover in RCDSO advertising rules for dental websites.

Decide on dentist profiles

Google treats dentists as individual practitioners. Its guidelines say a practitioner can have their own profile if they're public-facing and can be reached directly at the verified location during stated hours. Support staff should not create their own profiles.

• Several dentists at one clinic. The clinic has its own profile, and each dentist's profile is separate. A dentist's profile name shouldn't include the clinic's name.
• One dentist at a branded clinic. Google says it's best to share a single profile, named in the format “[brand]: [practitioner name]”.
• One dentist, several services. A practitioner shouldn't have multiple profiles to cover different specializations.

Choose categories carefully

Google's category help page says the categories you select affect your local ranking. Pick the most specific category that describes the clinic as your primary category. For a general practice, that's usually “Dentist”. Add only a few extra categories for real departments or services, and don't add one for every treatment.

Be careful with categories that name a specialty or a title. The RCDSO's article on titles says a general dentist can't present an area of treatment as a specialty, and it names “cosmetic dentist” as an example. Use a specialty category only if a dentist registered in that specialty practises there.

Address and map pin, no service area

Use your full, precise street address and check the pin sits on your building. Google doesn't accept P.O. boxes or virtual offices where you don't operate.

Google's service area page says service areas are for businesses that visit or deliver to customers. Patients come to a dental clinic, so most clinics don't need one.

Hours, holidays and special hours

List your regular patient-facing hours, including evenings or Saturdays. Google's special hours page covers temporary changes such as holidays, for closures of up to six days in a row. For closures of a week or more, Google says to mark the business temporarily closed.

Google also suggests confirming your hours for official holidays, even if they're the same as usual. Set those dates a week or two ahead.

Phone, website and booking link

• Phone. Use a local number that rings at the clinic. Google prefers it over a central call centre line, and you can add up to two more numbers.
• Website. Enter the full URL, starting with https://. Point it at a page that exists. After a redesign, old links should redirect to the new pages.
• Booking link. Google's edit your profile page says some categories can add extra links, such as appointments. If your profile offers it, link to your booking or appointment request page.

The website link is easy to break during a rebuild. When I rebuilt Brampton North Dental's site, old URLs were redirected (301) so the old WordPress pages kept their ranking. My post on redesigning without losing your Google rankings has the full steps.

Write a plain description

Google allows up to 750 characters, with no URLs or HTML, and asks you to focus on the business and leave out promotions, prices and sales. Say who you are, where you are, the main services, whether you're accepting new patients, the languages your team speaks and whether you accept the Canadian Dental Care Plan. My CDCP website guide covers how to word that.

I'd hold the description to the same standard as your website. Leave out “best”, “state of the art”, free offers and anything that promises results.

Fill in attributes

Attributes are the yes-or-no details that show on your profile, such as accessibility features. Google's attributes page says some are only available in certain countries or categories, and some may be filled in from what visitors report. Check yours rather than leaving them to chance.

For accessibility, Google gives specific tests. A step-free entrance at least three feet (one metre) wide counts as wheelchair-accessible, and a reserved accessible parking spot counts for parking. Answer honestly. A patient who uses a wheelchair is relying on it. Edits are usually reviewed in about 10 minutes, but can take up to 30 days.

Add real photos

Google's photo tips suggest at least three exterior photos, three interior photos and three team photos, plus three showing your work and one of each common area. Exterior shots help patients recognise the building when they arrive.

• Photos: JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels or larger, in focus and well lit, with no heavy filters (Google's photo guidelines).
• Videos: up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, 720p or higher.
• New photos can take 24 to 48 hours to appear.

Keep patients out of the shots unless you have their written consent. The RCDSO treats patient images as personal health information.

Match your website exactly

Write your clinic name, address and phone number the same way on your profile, your website and anywhere else you're listed. “Suite 200” in one place and “Unit 200” in another is a small thing, but it's easy to fix. Adding local business structured data to your site, as listed in the dental website checklist, helps Google read those details directly.

Reviews: Google's rules and the RCDSO question

Google's review policy is strict. Businesses may not offer incentives such as payment, discounts or free services in exchange for a review. They may not discourage negative reviews or ask only happy customers for reviews, and they may not ask staff to collect a set number of reviews.

For Ontario dentists, the RCDSO's rules sit on top of Google's. The College bars incentive programs in advertising, and its FAQ on gifts calls incentive gifts to patients, such as gift cards, credits and rebates, inappropriate. I couldn't find RCDSO guidance that speaks directly to asking patients for Google reviews. Check the RCDSO's current guidance, or ask its practice advisory service, before you set up any review request process.

Replies need care too. The RCDSO's social media guidance describes a dentist who replied to a negative review with the patient's photos, and treats it as a privacy breach. Keep replies short and general, and never mention treatment details. Reviews stay on Google. They don't belong on your website.

A monthly routine

• Check hours and add special hours for upcoming holidays.
• Add a few new photos of the team or the clinic.
• Reply to new reviews, briefly and without patient details.
• Check that the website and booking links still work.
• Look for any changes to the profile you didn't make, and correct anything wrong.

What I'd do

Spend one afternoon on the setup above, then 20 minutes a month on upkeep. Start with the name, categories, hours and website link, since patients act on those first. If you'd rather hand it off, my patient growth plan at C$600/month covers your Google Business Profile, local SEO and a monthly report.

Your profile sends patients to your website, so the site has to finish the job. See how I handle dental website design for GTA clinics.