Practice not showing up on Google? Here’s why.

Why is my practice not showing up on Google?

Google decides which practices appear in local results using three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher), and prominence (how well-known your practice is).^[1] When a practice only shows up for its own name, one of those three is broken. The fix starts with finding out which one.

Work through the causes below in order. The first few can hide you completely. The later ones decide how often you appear.

Is your Business Profile verified and active?

Nothing else matters until this is right. Sign in to your Google Business Profile and confirm it says verified. Then check for a suspension notice or a pending edit that Google has not accepted.

Many practices find the profile was verified years ago by a former office manager, and nobody on staff can log in. If so, recovering ownership is step one.

Is your primary category right?

Your primary category is the single biggest relevance signal you control. It should describe what most of your patients come to you for, in the words Google offers. A general dental office wants "Dentist." A pediatric office wants the pediatric category. A category that is too broad or slightly off tells Google you are something else.

Add secondary categories only for services you actually offer and want patients to find, then fill in the services list on the profile. Keep your business name as it appears on your sign. Adding keywords to the name is not the fix.

Do your name, address, and phone match everywhere?

Google compares your profile with what the rest of the web says about you. If directories, insurance-carrier listings, and your own website show an old suite number, an old phone number, or a different version of your name, Google has less confidence about which details are correct.

Pick one exact version of your name, address, and phone number, then correct every listing you can find to match it. Moves and phone-system changes are the usual source of mismatches.

Do you have duplicate listings for the practice and each doctor?

Duplicates split your reviews and confuse Google about which listing to show. Google treats doctors and dentists as individual practitioners with their own rules.^[2] In multi-provider practices, doctors can have their own profiles under those rules, which is how duplicates pile up.

For a solo practitioner at a branded practice, Google says to use one shared profile named in the format "[brand/company]: [practitioner name]."^[2] If you are solo and have two profiles (one for the practice, one for you), the fix is usually to merge them into one. Search your practice name, your doctors’ names, your phone number, and your old addresses to find every listing.

Are you checking from the wrong place?

Distance is one of Google’s three factors, so your results change with the searcher’s location.^[1] Searching from your own front desk shows you at your best, because you are standing on top of your address. A patient three miles away sees something different.

To see what patients see, search on a phone from a few spots a few miles out, or ask staff who live in different directions to send screenshots. You will rank less often the farther a searcher is from your office. That is normal, and no setting on your profile removes it.

Is your practice prominent enough?

Google describes prominence as how well-known a business is.^[1] In practice, that comes from your reviews, links to your website from other local sites, and mentions of your practice around the web.

The fastest honest lever is a steady habit of asking every patient for a review. Our guide to getting more Google reviews the compliant way covers how to ask without breaking Google’s rules or HIPAA.

Does your website support your profile?

Your website tells Google what you do and where. A single "Services" page with a bulleted list gives Google little to match against a search like "dental implants Anaheim."

• One page for each core service, written for patients, with your city named naturally.
• Your name, address, and phone number on every page, matching the profile exactly.
• A clear page for each location if you have more than one.
• A website link on the profile that points to the right location page.

Our plain-English guide to local SEO for dental and medical practices walks through the website side in more detail.

Are your hours and holiday hours current?

Wrong hours cost you patients even when you do appear. A profile that shows you closed when you are open sends people to the next practice on the list. Set your regular hours, then add special hours before every holiday and office closure.

A diagnostic checklist you can run this week

1. 1

   Confirm access and verification

   Sign in to your Business Profile, confirm it is verified, and check for suspension notices or rejected edits.

2. 2

   Check the primary category

   Make sure the primary category matches what most patients come to you for, and that the services list is filled in.

3. 3

   Audit name, address, and phone

   Pick one exact version and compare it against your website and the directories that list you. Note every mismatch.

4. 4

   Hunt for duplicates

   Search your practice name, each doctor’s name, your phone number, and old addresses. List every profile you find.^[2]

5. 5

   Test from other locations

   Search on a phone from several spots a few miles away instead of from your own office.

6. 6

   Compare your prominence

   Count your reviews and how recent they are, and compare with the practices that do show up.

7. 7

   Review your website

   Check for one page per core service and per location, with matching contact details.

8. 8

   Fix hours and holiday hours

   Correct regular hours and add special hours for upcoming closures.

What does this look like at a typical office?

Picture a family dental office in Anaheim. The owner searches "family dentist Anaheim" from her desk and sees her practice. Patients keep telling the front desk they found a competitor instead. Searched by name from anywhere, the office shows up.

Running the checklist turns up three problems. An associate dentist who left four years ago still has his own profile at the practice address with the old phone number. Two directories list the suite number from before the office moved. The website has one services page. Together they give Google mixed signals about who this office is and what it does.

The fix is a list of ordinary tasks: ask Google to update or remove the old associate’s profile, correct the directories, and build a page for each core service. Results take time and depend on the competition nearby, so the owner tracks new-patient calls rather than checking her ranking every morning.

If you would rather hand the whole thing off, I handle Business Profiles, local SEO, and reviews as part of medical and dental practice marketing in Southern California.