Putting your clinic on Google Maps, step by step
When a woman in Nasr City searches for "gynaecologist near me", the map shows up before any website. What she sees there is your Google Business Profile: the clinic's name, address, hours, phone and a chat button. This guide walks through creating and verifying the profile step by step, the rules that keep it visible, and reviews, which are what need the most care in an OB/GYN clinic.
Before you start: five things to have ready
- A Google account in the clinic's name. A clinic email address, not the secretary's personal account. Whoever owns the account owns the profile, and if she leaves the clinic, the keys go with her.
- A permanent sign with the same name. Google may ask you to film it, and the name on the map has to match the one on the sign.
- A phone the clinic controls. A number the clinic itself answers. A number answered by an automated voice menu won't receive the verification code.
- The hours of each branch. By day, plus any holidays you already know about.
- Ten minutes with the clinic empty. If Google asks for a verification video, no patient can appear in it.
Step 1: Add the clinic, or claim its profile if it already exists
Many clinics are already on the map, added by a visitor or a patient. Search for your clinic's name on Google Maps first.
- If you find it with no owner: open it on the map, then "Claim this business", then "Manage now".
- If you don't find it: go to
business.google.com/addand follow the steps. - If someone else owns it (a former employee, or a marketing company): request ownership from the same page. The current owner has three days to reply, and if they don't, you may be able to claim the profile, though not always.
Step 2: The name on your sign, and not a word more
The most common reason a clinic's profile gets suspended is a name stuffed with search words. Google doesn't allow you to add a description of your services, your area or your phone number to the name, and it suspends profiles that do.
| Accepted | Puts the profile at risk of suspension |
|---|---|
| Dr. Mona Abdallah Clinic | Dr. Mona Abdallah Best Gynaecologist Nasr City |
| Al Nakheel Clinic: Dr. Mona Abdallah | Al Nakheel ICSI & 4D Ultrasound Clinic – 010… |
If you're the only doctor in a clinic with a brand name, Google suggests a single profile in the form "Clinic name: Doctor's name". If more than one doctor works there, the clinic gets one profile, and each doctor who sees patients there can have a profile under their own name only. A doctor can't have two profiles for different specialties.
Step 3: The primary category says what the clinic is
A clinic has one primary category and can add up to nine more. Google suggests a simple test: the clinic "is" something, not "has" something. An OB/GYN clinic with an ultrasound machine has Obstetrician-gynecologist as its primary category; ultrasound is a service it offers, not a category. Related categories include Fertility clinic, for a fertility practice, and Women's health clinic. There's no category for ICSI alone, and you can't invent one.
Changing the primary category after verification may trigger a new verification. Choose it once, carefully.
Step 4: Address, pin and hours
- The real address, with the pin on the building's entrance. A clinic is somewhere patients go, so its address isn't hidden behind a "service area", which is for businesses that visit customers at home. Virtual offices and PO boxes aren't accepted.
- Opening hours for each day. For holidays, use "Special hours": add the date and choose "Closed". A closure of a week or more is set as "Temporarily closed".
- A clinic that works by appointment only doesn't list hours, under Google's guidelines. Most OB/GYN clinics in Egypt see patients at known hours, so they list them.
Step 5: Verification, without a patient in sight
Google chooses the verification method, and you can't change it: a text to your phone, email, a live video call during business hours, a recorded video, or a postcard. The review takes up to five business days.
If you're asked for a recorded video: at least 30 seconds, filmed live on your phone in one continuous take, with no cuts or editing. Show:
- The street: a street sign, the building number, or a well-known shop next door.
- The clinic's sign, with the same name you entered.
- Proof that you run it: you unlock the clinic door with your key, or walk into the consulting room.
Don't show an ID card, papers with numbers on them, or anyone's face. In an OB/GYN clinic, that means filming before the first patient or after the last, with the waiting room empty and patient files out of the camera's view.
If you're asked for a postcard: it arrives in about two weeks, and its code expires after 30 days. Don't edit the name, address or category while you wait.
Step 6: The chat button opens the clinic's WhatsApp
Google's old chat feature ended on 31 July 2024. In its place there's now a "Chat" field in the profile: you choose WhatsApp and paste a chat link with the clinic's number, in the form wa.me/2010XXXXXXXX. The field only appears after verification, and only in certain regions; if you don't see it in your profile, it hasn't reached your area yet. If you set both WhatsApp and text messages, only text is shown, so choose WhatsApp.
The booking link is a separate field with stricter rules: the patient has to be able to complete the booking from it, and WhatsApp links and Facebook pages aren't accepted. WhatsApp belongs in the chat button.
This is where one button on the map becomes the whole way to book. A patient who finds your clinic at ten at night taps it, and if a bot that books answers the clinic's number, she leaves with an appointment before she goes looking for another clinic.
Two branches means two profiles
Each branch gets its own profile with its own address, hours and phone, under the same name and the same primary category. A branch can't have two profiles. A doctor who sees patients at both branches has one profile in their own name, at the branch where they spend most of their time, or relies on the two clinic profiles.
Reviews: ask everyone, and reveal no one in your reply
Google allows a clinic to ask patients for reviews, with conditions:
- Everyone, not only the satisfied ones. Choosing whom to ask based on how happy they are is explicitly forbidden.
- Nothing in return. No discount on the consultation and no free follow-up in exchange for a review, or for removing one.
- No pressure at the clinic. The secretary doesn't take the patient's phone and write the review with her.
- No reviews from the team. Not from the secretary or the assistant, or their relatives.
Replying is what needs the most care. Egypt's Code of Medical Ethics (2003) forbids a doctor from disclosing a patient's secrets, and in an OB/GYN clinic, just saying that someone was your patient is a secret: it may mean a pregnancy, infertility or a miscarriage. So a reply doesn't confirm the reviewer is a patient, doesn't mention why she came, and doesn't discuss the details.
| A reply that reveals | A reply that doesn't |
|---|---|
| "We're sorry for the wait at your pregnancy follow-up on Thursday…" | "Thank you for writing. We'd like to hear from you directly; please call the clinic on the number shown here." |
Replies are reviewed before they appear, which usually takes minutes and sometimes longer.
What goes in the description, and what doesn't
A profile is facts: the name, your title and specialty as registered with the Medical Syndicate, the address, hours, phone, branches and the languages you consult in. Egypt's current Code of Medical Ethics forbids doctors from advertising themselves, and the draft annex on doctors in the media that the Syndicate is discussing (its second general assembly is set for 23 October 2026, according to the press) bars claiming a higher title than the one registered, unproven claims, and publishing patients' images or data without written consent. So keep these out of the description and photos:
- "Best", "first" and "guaranteed".
- ICSI success rates, or any outcome.
- Before-and-after pictures, ultrasound images, and any picture of a patient or her baby.
- Prices presented as an offer.
We'll update this section when the annex is adopted. If you're unsure about a particular sentence, the Syndicate is the one to ask.
If the profile is suspended
- Fix the cause first. Usually it's the name (extra words), an address that doesn't match the sign, or a duplicate profile for the same branch.
- Then file one appeal with evidence from the appeals tool in your profile: the clinic licence, a utility bill with the same address, or a photo of the sign. An appeal can be filed only once, and it's reviewed again only with new evidence.
- Don't create a new profile. A new profile for the same address is a duplicate, and it drags out the suspension.
Questions
Do I need a website for the profile to show?
No. The website field is optional. If you add one, it has to be the clinic's own website, not a Facebook page or a link that redirects somewhere else.
How long until the clinic shows up?
The verification review takes up to five business days. A postcard, if you're asked for one, arrives in about two weeks.
Can someone write a fake review of the clinic?
You can report any review that breaks Google's policy, such as one from a competitor or one that doesn't describe a real experience. Google decides whether to remove it. And in your reply, the same rule applies: no confirmation and no details.
A WhatsApp button on the map that books, even after the clinic closes.
In the demo we'll show you how a patient books on your clinic's number, and how anything the bot can't handle reaches the secretary.
Sources
- Adding or claiming a Business Profile, and requesting ownership: Google Business Profile Help, answer/2911778 and answer/4566671.
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google (names, individual practitioners, branches, address and hours): answer/3038177.
- Categories: answer/7249669. Special hours: answer/6303076.
- Verification methods, and verifying with a video recording: answer/7107242 and answer/14271705.
- The end of Google's Business Messages on 31 July 2024, and the WhatsApp chat field: answer/14919056 and answer/15013580. Booking link rules: answer/13769188.
- Google Maps content policy (reviews): answer/7400114. Replying to reviews: answer/3474050. Appealing a suspension: answer/4569145.
- Egypt's Code of Medical Ethics, Minister of Health Decree No. 238 of 2003, articles 10 (advertising) and 30 (patient secrets).
- The draft annex on doctors in the media and when it will be discussed: Masrawy, 1, 4 and 10 October 2026.
- All Google pages above as we saw them on 14 October 2026; the interface and the rules change.