A doctor who sees patients directly can have their own Google Business Profile, separate from the hospital or nursing home where they consult. Keep it to the facts on your signboard: name, recognised degrees, speciality, registration number, chamber address and timings. List only chambers where patients can reach you at fixed hours, and reply to reviews without ever confirming that someone was your patient.
Does a doctor need a profile separate from the clinic?
If patients come to see you in particular, usually yes. Google treats doctors as individual practitioners who can have their own profile, as long as patients can reach you directly at the listed place during the listed hours.
Patients in Asansol and Durgapur often search for a doctor by name before they search for a hospital. A neighbour recommended a particular orthopaedic surgeon, and the first thing they do is type that name into Google. If nothing useful shows up, or the only result has last year’s timings, they ring a hospital desk and hope someone there knows.
Google’s guidelines name doctors and dentists as individual practitioners, and allow the profile to carry a title or degree such as Dr. or MD [1]. You qualify for your own profile when you work in a public-facing role and patients can contact you directly at the verified location during the stated hours [1].
How you name it depends on where you practise. If several doctors see patients at the same nursing home or hospital, the organisation should have its own profile, and yours should carry only your name, not the hospital’s [1]. If you are the only doctor at a branded practice, Google prefers one shared profile named in the form “brand: practitioner name” [1].
For the clinic itself, our earlier guide to Google Business Profile for clinics covers categories, photos and a monthly routine. This post is about the doctor.
- You run your own chamber aloneOne profile in your own name, at the chamber’s address.
- You are the only doctor at a branded clinicOne shared profile, named with the clinic’s brand and then your name.
- You consult at a hospital with other doctorsYour own profile with only your name, separate from the hospital’s.
- You work across more than one specialityStill one profile. List the services within it.
What about doctors who sit at several chambers?
List the chambers where you see patients at fixed hours every week, under your own sign. Leave out places you visit now and then.
Plenty of doctors here consult in more than one place: a morning chamber in town, afternoons at a nursing home, an evening session somewhere else. Google’s guidelines don’t set out a separate rule for this. They do say a practitioner profile is for a place where patients can reach you during the stated hours [1], that a business showing its address on Google should keep permanent signage with its name there [1], and that a practitioner shouldn’t have several profiles to cover different specialities [1].
Read together, a sensible approach is one profile for each regular chamber that has your signboard and fixed timings, and none for places you visit occasionally. Where you consult inside a hospital with other doctors, the profile there carries your name only [1].
The ethics code adds a local twist. It calls it improper for a physician to put up a signboard on a chemist’s shop, or in places where they don’t live or work [2]. If one of your chambers is inside a medicine shop, talk to the West Bengal Medical Council or your own adviser before you list that address. This post explains Google’s rules and the published code. It isn’t legal advice.
Timings are where multi-chamber listings usually go wrong. Use your regular hours, and set special hours for holidays, conferences and other one-off changes [3]. Special hours suit a closure of up to 6 days in a row, while for 7 days or more Google asks you to mark the profile as temporarily closed [3]. If you run a separate session for one service, such as a weekly diabetes clinic, Google’s More hours lets you show it without changing your main timings [3].
- CheckYou see patients there at fixed hours, under your own sign.
- NameYour name and degrees, without the hospital or shop name.
- HoursRegular timings, plus special hours for the days you are away.
- MatchThe same details on your website, signboard and letterhead.
What can a doctor put on the profile under the ethics code?
The facts you could put on your signboard: name, recognised qualifications, speciality, registration number with the State Medical Council, address and timings. Leave out boasts, cures and patient stories.
Doctors in India work under a code of ethics that limits self-promotion. The version the National Medical Commission publishes on its website is the Code of Medical Ethics Regulations of 2002, from the former Medical Council of India [2].
Clause 6.1.1 says that soliciting patients, directly or indirectly, is unethical, and bars a physician from publicity that draws attention to their skill, qualifications, achievements or specialities in a way that amounts to self-aggrandisement [2]. The same clause says a doctor shall not boast of cases, operations, cures or remedies [2]. It does permit a formal announcement in the press about starting practice, changing address, temporary absence, resuming practice or a public declaration of charges [2].
The code is specific about the signboard too. Clause 7.13 says it should show only your name, qualifications from a university or statutory body, titles, speciality, and registration number with the name of the State Medical Council [2]. Clause 1.4.1 asks every physician to display their registration number in the clinic and on prescriptions, certificates and receipts [2]. Keeping your profile to that same content keeps it on familiar ground.
A few more lines matter online. You may show only recognised degrees and qualifications after your name [2], and you shouldn’t claim to be a specialist without a special qualification in that branch [2]. The code also treats printing your own photograph on a letterhead or signboard as self-advertisement [2], so some doctors use a photo of the chamber entrance as the main image instead of a portrait.
- Your name with title and recognised degrees, exactly as on your signboard.
- Your speciality, using the most specific matching category.
- Your registration number and State Medical Council, in the description.
- The chamber address, a phone that is answered during your timings, and the timings themselves.
- Your consultation fee, if you choose to declare it.
- No success rates, cure claims, before-and-after photos or patient stories.
How should a doctor reply to reviews?
Briefly and politely, without confirming that the reviewer was your patient or saying anything about their care.
Google says helpful, positive replies show that you respond to people [4], and it checks replies against its content policies before they appear [4]. For a doctor, the bigger limit is confidentiality. The code says confidences that patients share should never be revealed unless the law requires it [2]. Clause 7.14 says a practitioner shall not disclose a patient’s secrets except in a court under the judge’s orders, where there is a serious and identified risk to a specific person or community, or for notifiable diseases [2].
A public reply that says “you came in with chest pain and refused the ECG” discloses exactly that. Even a kind reply that names the treatment does. Keep every reply general, whether the review is warm or angry.
Asking for reviews needs care in a doctor’s chamber as well. The clinic guide covers Google’s own rules on asking fairly. On top of them, the code’s line against soliciting patients [2] is a good reason to keep it low-key: a card at the desk with the review link, offered to everyone, and nothing in return.
- A warm thank-youThank them for their time. Don’t mention a visit, an illness or a treatment.
- A complaint about waitingApologise for delays in general terms and invite them to call the chamber.
- A complaint about treatmentDon’t discuss it in public. Share a phone number and ask them to get in touch.
- A review you don’t recogniseReply calmly and generally. Don’t argue or guess who wrote it.
Where does your website come in?
It backs up the profile. Patients and AI assistants cross-check the two, so the same facts should appear in both places.
Give each doctor a page on the clinic’s site or a personal site with the same details: name, degrees, speciality, registration number, chambers and timings. When someone asks Google, ChatGPT or Gemini which doctor nearby treats their problem, the answer draws on what is published about you. Our AEO and GEO guide explains how that works, and the free AI visibility check shows what assistants say about you today.
Our SEO, AEO and GEO service keeps profiles, pages and listings in agreement for doctors and clinics across Asansol and Durgapur, and our website service builds doctor pages that open quickly on a phone. We work to the same rule the code sets for you: no claims about results that can’t be backed up.
A checklist for a doctor’s profile
Set aside half an hour with whoever manages your appointments. They already know which chambers and timings patients ask about.
If you would like help, book a call and we will go through your profiles with you.
- Search your own name on a phone and note every listing that appears.
- Claim and verify the ones that are yours, one for each regular chamber.
- Keep the name to your name, title and recognised degrees.
- Add your speciality, registration number and State Medical Council.
- Set real timings for each chamber, and special hours whenever you are away.
- Take down cure claims, success rates and any patient photos.
- Reply to new reviews without mentioning any visit or treatment.
FAQ
Should my profile name include the hospital where I consult?
Not if several doctors practise there. Google says the practitioner’s profile should carry only the practitioner’s name, and the organisation should have its own separate profile [1].
Can I make separate profiles for my different specialities?
No. Google’s guidelines say a practitioner shouldn’t have multiple profiles to cover all of their specialisations [1]. Use one profile for each regular chamber and list your services within it.
Can I put my consultation fee on Google?
The ethics code permits a public declaration of charges [2], so showing your fee sits within it. Keep it up to date, and check with your State Medical Council if you are unsure.
What should I do when I’m away at a conference?
Set special hours for the days you are away if the break is up to 6 days in a row, and mark the profile temporarily closed for 7 days or more [3]. Tell patients on WhatsApp too, if they have agreed to hear from you.
Can a patient’s thank-you photo go on my profile?
Only with the patient’s clear permission. The code bars publishing patients’ photographs or case reports in any medical or other journal in a way that identifies them, unless they agree [2]. The same care makes sense online, and many doctors choose not to post patient photos at all.
Sources
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help
- Code of Medical Ethics Regulations, 2002, National Medical Commission
- How to set Special hours, Google Business Profile Help
- Manage customer reviews, Google Business Profile Help
How this article was made: researched and written by Ritam Ghosh of RIGZZ GROWTH, Asansol, with AI assistance, from the sources listed above. Every figure links to its source. Spotted something wrong? Email admin@rigzz.com and we'll correct it.
