The digital presence of medical spas and dermatology practices hinges significantly on their visibility in search engine results. Despite investing in state-of-the-art facilities, experienced and incredibly talented practitioners, and cutting-edge treatments, many practices struggle to appear in local search results.
Read on to learn how you can effectively optimize your med spa Google Business Profile to ultimately enhance visibility and attract potential patients.
Understanding the Importance of Google Business Profile
A med spa Google Business Profile represents more than just a basic business listing. Instead, it actually serves as a digital storefront that significantly influences a potential patient’s decision. Research indicates that 93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product or leveraging a service. That makes your Google Business Profile optimization crucial for practice growth.
Here’s how you do it.
Essential Profile Optimization Steps
Verification and Ownership
The foundation of an effective online medical spa practice presence begins with properly claiming and verifying your profile. Many medical spas and wellness practices operate under the assumption that their profiles are fully operational, yet they remain unverified. Without completing the verification process – whether that be through phone, text, email, or video – the ability to manage and optimize your profile is limited.
Quick tip: if you can’t edit your profile, you haven’t finished the process. Get that postcard from Google, or do the phone verification. Just. Get. It. Done. It’s important!
Categories Matter
A common oversight in profile optimization in the inadequate selection of business categories. Now you may think that as a med spa, just picking “medical spa” and calling it a day is enough. But its not. Think about it – don’t you also offer specific services like Botox, dermal fillers, or laser treatments? Add those relevant secondary categories as they’re vital for highlighting your services. After all, your future patients are searching for specific treatments, not just “med spa.”
Cover the Basics
Get your:
- Name exactly right (including whether you use “Medical Spa,” “MedSpa,” or “Med Spa”)
- Address correct (including your practice’s suite number if relevant – and yes, it matters!)
- Phone number for your front desk (not some random service or someone’s cell phone)
- Hours listed correctly (including those random days you close early for staff training)
Enhance Your Visual Content Strategy
Leverage Photos That Work
It’s time for a dose of reality. The stock photos included in your Google Business Profile aren’t fooling anyone. Rather than utilizing stock photos, implement a more strategic approach to visual content. Here’s where we at Growth99 recommend you start:
- Your real front desk staff (smiling, please!)
- Your actual treatment rooms (but make sure they’re spotless first)
- That fancy new laser you just invested in
- Your waiting area (when it’s looking its best)
- Before/afters (following all the proper guidelines, of course)
Quick tip: Take new photos when the seasons change. A quarterly photography schedule ensures visual updates reflective of seasonal changes and ongoing practice improvements. After all, your facility looks different in summer versus winter, and patients are keen to notice these details.
Review Management Protocol
Here’s something nobody talks about – negative reviews can actually help you. While a bit confusing, it’s true. Here’s why. A perfect 5.0 rating looks suspicious. A 4.8 with thoughtful responses to the occasional criticism? That looks real, and cultivates trust between you and your potential patients.
There are best practices associated with review management. Here’s what we recommend:
- Response protocol
- Implement specific response strategies
- Reference specific feedback and incorporate it into responses
- Maintain and uphold professional communication standards
- Negative review management
- Institute a 24-hour response timeframe to ensure you’re providing timely responses
- Address any concerns in a systematic manner
- Facilitate any sort of offline resolution
- Review optimization
- Highlight specific treatment feedback
- Acknowledge and respond to staff performance
- Document actionable improvement recommendations
Focus on Content Strategy Implementation
Your med spa Google Business Profile offers various content posting opportunities. Instead of just posting random “promotional” content, be sure to share content that your patients actually care about. Implement a strategic approach that focuses on:
- New treatment protocols you’ve mastered
- Staff certifications (people love knowing they’re in expert hands)
- Behind-the-scenes glimpses (keep it professional, but personal)
- Seasonal treatment tips
- Those tiny improvements you’ve made to the patient experience
The Nitty-Gritty Details
Multiple Location Management
For practices with multiple locations, individual profiles are essential. And even more so, individual profile management is equally as important. Each med spa Google Business Profile requires:
- Unique photos specific to the location
- Location-specific reviews and review management
- Staff highlights
- Special offers based on local demand
- Community-specific content development
Things Can Go Wrong On Your Google Business Profile Listing
And the odds are that they will. Watch out for:
- Random phone number changes
- Weird hours updates (especially around holidays)
- Incorrect map pins (especially in newer buildings)
- Spam profiles trying to copy your business
How to Prevent Things Going Wrong and Integrate
Prevent such changes by doing the following on a regular basis:
- Implementing unathorized modification monitoring
- Verifying operating hours
- Confirming location accuracy
- Listing authenticity verification
And most importantly, ensure that your medical spa Google Business Profile should integrate seamlessly with:
- Website optimization
- Social media strategy
- Email marketing protocols
- Professional partnerships
- Industry directories
Bring in the Professionals To Help
Effective management of your med spa Google Business Profile represents a crucial investment in practice development. As the primary point of contact for potential patients, and one of the first areas that they’re searching, profile optimization directly influences the potential for practice growth and patient acquisition.
Consider implementing professional profile management services like the one offered by Growth99 to ensure optimal performance consistent monitoring of your digital presence. That’s right – we specialize in med spa and dermatology Google Business Profile management. We know the industry, understand the compliance requirements, and most importantly, know what works to ensure you get more patients.
So, What Now?
Your Google Business Profile isn’t just another marketing checkbox – it’s often the first impression potential patients have of your practice. And in the competitive world of medical aesthetics, first impressions do matter.
The optimization of your medical spa Google Business Profile requires systematic implementation of best practices and consistent monitoring. In an increasingly digital world, professional profile management will give you a leg up in encouraging patient acquisition and practice growth.
Your future patients are out there, searching right now. Make sure they can find you.
Need some help making sense of all this or looking to understand what professional Google Business Profile management looks like? Contact us and let’s discuss making your med spa impossible to miss on Google.
