For a lot of new patients, your Google Business Profile is the first thing they see, before your website. If that profile has a phone number and directions but no way to book, you’re asking them to call during office hours.
There are two ways to fix it. Which one you can use depends on your booking software.
Option 1: an appointment link (works with any booking software)
Every online booking system gives you a public booking page with its own web address. You can add that address to your Google profile as an appointment link.
- Find your public booking page. In most clinic software it’s under the online booking settings. Open it in a private browser window to check that a patient can see it without logging in.
- Sign in to Google with the account that manages your clinic’s profile and search for your clinic’s name. Your profile’s edit tools appear above the search results.
- Choose Edit profile, then find the contact section and the field for appointment links.
- Paste your booking page address and save. Google may take a little while to show the change.
Once it’s live, your profile shows a booking link. It’s simple and it works with any system.
Option 2: a built-in Book button (selected booking systems)
Some booking systems connect to Google directly, through what Google calls Reserve with Google. Patients can then pick a time from inside Google without opening another site.
This depends on your provider, your plan and your country. Jane, for example, offers this connection for clinics in Canada and the US on some of its plans. Check your provider’s own help pages, or ask their support team, before you set it up. If it isn’t available to you, Option 1 still works.
Check it like a patient would
- Search for your clinic on your phone, not your computer.
- Tap the booking link and book a test appointment, then cancel it.
- Make sure the services shown match what a new patient needs, like an initial assessment.
- Check that your opening hours on Google match your real hours, including holidays.
The same fix belongs on your website
The booking page you used for Google is the same one your website should link to, on every page, from a button that says what it does: Book online. A button that says “Contact us” sends people to a form, and many of them won’t fill it in.
If you’d like us to check your Google profile and website together, we’ll do it and send you what we find.