Local SEO for medical and allied health practices

Search "local SEO for medical practices" or "allied health SEO" and you'll find mostly agency pages. They all read the same, and none of them link to where any of it actually comes from. Local SEO is the work of getting your clinic ranked as a place, on Google Maps and in local search results.

I ran one Google Business Profile for my multidisciplinary clinic in New Zealand. A Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your clinic on Google Maps and in local search. I used posts on it to introduce each practitioner. I wasn't sure that was the right call.

Turns out I had it right. Google's own guidelines back that setup. Hardly anyone selling local SEO for healthcare points a clinic owner to the page that actually says so.

In brief: Google ranks your clinic on three things: how well your listing matches the search, how close you are, and how well known you are. Being well known mostly comes from reviews and links, so ask every patient for a review and keep your details the same everywhere they appear. Set your Google Business Profile up the way Google actually recommends for your situation. Directories can help your bookings, but they aren't an SEO requirement.

This post covers the local layer only: your Google Business Profile, keeping your details consistent, reviews, and which directories are worth your time. For the general on-page and technical side, read our healthcare SEO guide. Also, if you're chasing ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews, this post covers that instead.

How Google actually ranks a local listing

A Google Business Profile for a clinic works the same way as one for any other business. Reviews matter because they feed straight into how well known Google thinks you are.

Google ranks a local listing on three things: relevance, distance, and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search. Distance is how far you are from the person searching. Prominence is how well known you are. Google names the actual signals: "how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have" (Google). So links and reviews both feed straight into that third factor.

There's a plainer rule sitting underneath all three. Google says businesses "with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results." Get the basics right, and you show up. But an inaccurate profile "might not show up for relevant searches in your area" (Google). Get them wrong, and you can vanish from the results. One line is worth repeating to anyone trying to sell you a shortcut. Google says it straight: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google" (Google).

One listing for the clinic, or one for each practitioner?

This is the question I actually had. I wasn't sure I'd got it right while I was running my own clinic.

I set up one Google Business Profile for the practice. Several practitioners worked there, so I used posts on that profile to introduce each one. I never gave anyone their own listing.

Google's guidelines say that's a fine way to do it. They also say the opposite is fine.

A clinic location gets its own profile. A practitioner can have a separate profile too, but only if they're public-facing. They also need to be reachable directly at the clinic during its stated hours. Support staff don't qualify. Where that's the case, Google's rule is plain: the practitioner's profile should carry only their own name, kept separate from the clinic's (Google). For a solo practitioner working under a brand, Google recommends a different setup instead: one shared profile, named "[brand]: [practitioner name]" (Google).

So the choice sits with you. One profile per clinic, with the team shown inside it, fits the rules. A separate profile per eligible practitioner fits the rules too. What doesn't fit is running several profiles for one person's different specialities. Google says so directly: "a practitioner shouldn't have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations" (Google).

NAP: boring and accurate beats polished

NAP is agency shorthand for name, address, phone: the three details that need to match everywhere your clinic is listed. Google doesn't use the term itself. It's language the SEO industry invented for something Google actually cares about.

Google's own local-ranking page backs this up. Complete, accurate information helps you show up, and inaccurate information can stop you showing up at all (Google). So your clinic's name, address, and phone number need to read the same everywhere: your website, your Google Business Profile, and every directory you're listed on.

I don't have a story where this went wrong for me. I never had reason to check it closely at my own clinic. But this is Google's own mechanism. An agency didn't invent it, so the ten minutes it takes to check are worth spending.

Whether directories are worth your time

I listed my clinic on Healthpoint and a local business directory. I also had a couple of smaller, niche business sites. I didn't see much booking volume come through any of them directly. What I think they did help with was links back to my own website, and that feeds straight into the prominence factor above.

Healthpoint describes itself as a source of "up-to-date information about healthcare providers, referral expectations, services offered and common treatments" (Healthpoint). In Australia, Healthdirect plays a similar role, but it's backed by government rather than a business. HealthEngine describes itself as a place to "find and book healthcare providers" (HealthEngine). So it sits closer to a booking marketplace than a directory. HotDoc is a booking platform clinics can choose to list on too. Whether either is worth paying for is a business decision based on bookings. SEO doesn't require it.

There's one thing about directories that nobody selling them mentions. A directory listing counts as advertising under AHPRA's own definition. AHPRA is the regulator for health service advertising in Australia, and its rules name "public and professional directory listings" directly (AHPRA). You're not responsible for what a patient writes in a review function you don't control. But you are responsible for anything you write yourself on that profile, the same as on your own site.

How to handle pages for multiple locations

If I were advising a practice with two or three real locations today, I'd build one page listing them. Each location would click through to its own page, with its own web address. I wouldn't build a page for every nearby suburb that isn't an actual clinic.

Doorway pages are near-identical pages built to target different suburbs or regions, all funnelling visitors to the same destination. Google calls that pattern doorway abuse, and its policy names it directly. One example: "having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page." Another: "creating substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browseable hierarchy" (Google Search Central).

Google's own structured-data guide points the same way, from a different angle. It says to "define each local business location" as its own entity. Each one needs the "fully-qualified URL of the specific business location" (Google). That means each location gets a real page of its own.

No single Google page spells out "build a locations page that links to one page per location" in those exact words. That's what these two pages add up to when you read them together. It isn't a rule stated outright, but it's the clear implication. A single page that lists every location with no page behind each one isn't what Google's model expects. A real location, separately staffed, with its own content and its own page, earns its place there. A suburb where you don't have a clinic, with the place name swapped into an otherwise identical page, is exactly what the doorway policy bans.

Reviews: asking well, without breaking the rules

An automated follow-up message is the baseline. It goes to every patient, at the same point in their visit, whatever else you do.

In my experience, a real person asking converted best. The ask from the practitioner or the owner, in person, had the strongest response.

Here's where it gets tricky. Google bans choosing who gets asked based on how happy they seemed. Its policy names the practice directly: merchants can't "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" (Google). It also bans pressuring anyone while they're still on the premises. So an ask that only goes to the patients who look pleased is exactly the practice that rule is written to stop.

The fix is simple. Make the in-person ask something every patient gets, at the same point in the visit, with no pressure attached. Then keep the automated message running underneath it, as the baseline for anyone who wasn't asked in person. Never trade a discount, a gift, or anything else for a review. That one has no grey area.

New Zealand osteopathy is stricter again. The Osteopathic Council of New Zealand (OCNZ) bans testimonials "whether from patients or any other person," full stop. It also tells osteopaths to "Ensure no online testimonials are posted on their social media sites" (OCNZ). Reading that as covering Google reviews too is a reasonable call, but it isn't something OCNZ has stated directly. We haven't checked whether New Zealand's Physiotherapy Board carries the same rule, so don't assume it does.

The checklist, and what Opal does next

• Match your Google Business Profile setup to what Google actually describes.
• Keep your name, address, and phone identical everywhere they appear.
• Judge a directory by the bookings it actually brings in.
• Build one locations page if you run more than one real site, and skip the suburb pages.
• Ask for reviews in person when you can. It converts best, and an automated follow-up should run underneath it as the baseline.
• Never trade a discount, a gift, or anything else for a review.

That's the work we do inside AI-powered growth for clinics.

FAQ

How does Google actually rank a clinic in local search?

Google ranks a local listing on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search, distance is how close you are to the person searching, and prominence is how well known you are, which comes from "how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have" (Google).

Should my clinic have one Google Business Profile, or one for every practitioner?

Both are allowed. A clinic with several practitioners can run one profile for the practice and introduce each person through posts, which is the setup Google backs by default. A practitioner can also get a separate profile, but only if they're public-facing and reachable directly at the clinic during its stated hours (Google). What isn't allowed is one person running several profiles to cover different specialities.

Do I need to list my clinic on directories like HealthEngine or Healthpoint?

Not for SEO directly. At my own clinic, I listed on Healthpoint and a local business directory, and saw little booking volume come through either. What they seemed to help with was links back to my own website, which feeds into the prominence factor above. Whether a directory is worth paying for comes down to the bookings it actually brings in, not the listing itself.

Can I only ask my happiest-looking patients for a review?

No. Google's own policy bans that outright: merchants can't "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers" (Google). The fix is to make the in-person ask something every patient gets, with an automated follow-up running underneath as the baseline for anyone who wasn't asked in person.

Do I need a separate page for every suburb my clinic serves?

No, and building one is risky. Google calls near-identical pages built for different suburbs "doorway abuse", including "having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" (Google Search Central). If you run more than one real location, build one page listing them, with each location linking through to its own page.