Google Business Profile for Therapists: Setup, Categories and Privacy

A therapist can have a Google Business Profile if they see clients in person, at a real location, during the hours they list. A practice that only offers telehealth isn't eligible. The setup itself is quick, apart from waiting on Google's verification. The decisions that need thought are the category, whether your address shows, and how you handle reviews, because a careless reply can confirm in public that someone is your client.

The profile feeds the map results for searches like "therapist near me", so it's often the first thing a local searcher sees of you. It's one part of local SEO for therapists, alongside your site's specialty and location pages and your directory listings. Here's the setup in the order we'd do it.

1. Confirm you're eligible

Google's guidelines for representing your business require in-person contact with customers during the stated hours. A few common setups follow from that:

• An office you rent or sublet, where you see clients on set days: eligible, with hours for those days.
• A hybrid practice: eligible for the office, with the in-person hours listed.
• A virtual office or mail drop: not allowed unless it's staffed during the hours you list.
• Telehealth only: not eligible. Put that effort into your website's pages for the states where you're licensed.

If you're unsure whether your arrangement qualifies, read the guidelines before you create anything. A profile that doesn't meet them can be suspended, and getting one reinstated takes longer than setting it up correctly.

2. Choose a practice profile, practitioner profiles, or both

Google allows individual practitioners to have their own profile, separate from the practice. For a solo clinician these are often the same thing, and one profile in the name you use publicly is enough.

For a group, the practice gets a profile for each staffed office. Profiles for individual clinicians are optional. They can help people who search for a clinician by name, but they can also appear for the same searches as the practice profile and split attention between them. Before you create one for everyone, decide what will happen to a clinician's profile when they leave.

3. Use your real name, without extra keywords

The profile name should be the name on your door, your website and your letterhead. If a practice is called, say, Riverside Counseling (a made-up example), the profile says Riverside Counseling, not "Riverside Counseling | Anxiety Therapist Dayton". Adding keywords to the business name is against Google's guidelines, and anyone can suggest an edit or report it. If you practice under your own name, use it the way your website does, with credentials if that's how you present yourself.

4. Pick the primary category with care

The primary category tells Google what the business is, and it carries the most weight for relevance. Categories that fit therapy practices include Psychotherapist, Psychologist, Counselor, Mental health service, Marriage or relationship counselor and Family counselor.

Match the primary category to your license and your main work. A licensed psychologist would usually choose Psychologist. A licensed counselor might choose Counselor or Psychotherapist. A marriage and family therapist whose caseload is mostly couples might choose Marriage or relationship counselor, with Psychotherapist as a secondary category.

Add secondary categories only for services you actually provide. Don't choose a title-based category your license doesn't support. Accurate representation of credentials is part of every professional code (ACA C.4.a is one example), and a category is a public statement about what you are.

5. Decide what to do about your address

If clients come to an office, show the address. They need to find the door, and a visible address is part of how Google matches you to nearby searches.

Google lets service-area businesses, meaning businesses that go to their customers, hide their address and list the areas they serve instead. A few clinicians fit that description, such as those who see clients in their homes or at schools. If clients come to you, including at a home office, Google's guidelines expect the address to be shown.

So before you list a home office, decide if you're comfortable with that address on a public map. If you aren't, the realistic options are a separate office where you actually see clients, or no profile at all and more weight on your website and directories.

6. Set hours, links and a description

List the hours you're in the office seeing clients, not your telehealth hours. That keeps the profile consistent with the eligibility rule above.

Point the website field at your home page or, for a group, at the page for that office. If you have a contact or scheduling page, use it as the appointment link. In the description, say plainly who you see, what you offer, and whether you also offer telehealth and in which state. Leave out anything that reads like a promise of results, and leave out fees if they change often.

7. Add photos with no clients in them

Useful photos: the building from the street, the entrance, the waiting area, your office, and a current headshot of each clinician. That's enough for a first-time visitor to recognize the door and know what the room looks like before they arrive.

Keep out: clients, even from behind or blurred; anything with a schedule, a calendar, a file or a sign-in sheet in view; computer screens and whiteboards. Check the edges of each photo before you upload it, since that's where a stray appointment card tends to sit.

8. Verify the profile

Google will ask you to verify that the business exists at that location and that you manage it. The method varies and may include a short video of the location. Follow the steps Google shows you, and expect the profile to stay hidden or limited until verification is complete.

9. Handle reviews without confirming who your clients are

Reviews are where a therapy profile differs most from a restaurant's. Google's policies prohibit fake reviews, incentives for reviews and review gating, which means asking only the people you expect to be pleased. The ethics codes add their own limits on soliciting testimonials (APA 5.05, ACA C.3.b and NASW 4.07(b) among them), so read your own code before you decide whether to do anything about reviews at all.

Replies need the most care. HHS has settled cases with health practices that disclosed patient information in replies to online reviews. A reply that mentions a session, a diagnosis, or even the fact that the reviewer was seen, confirms a treatment relationship in public. If you reply at all, keep it general and use the same words for every review:

"Thank you for taking the time to write. Our policy is not to confirm or discuss whether anyone has received services here. If you'd like to talk with us, please contact the office directly."

Many clinicians choose not to reply to reviews at all. This section is general information, not legal advice; for your own situation, check with your licensing board, your professional association or a compliance advisor.

If you already have a profile and want a second look at its name, categories and address setting, send it through the free visibility review. We'll look at it alongside how your website shows up in local searches.