2026-10-02 · Agentic Realism
Google Business Profile: a checklist for a therapist in Lausanne
Ten settings, and the right way to reply to reviews in a care profession
On a “trade + town” search, the Google profile shows up before your website. Category, address, services, photos, reviews: a checklist you can follow yourself in two hours — and how to reply to a review without ever confirming that someone consulted you.
The short answer
For a practice, the Google Business Profile shows up before the website on a “trade + town” search. It is free. Three things matter: a precise primary category, complete and accurate information, and reviews you reply to without ever confirming that someone came for a consultation. Allow two hours to put it in order, then ten minutes a month.
The situation
Someone wakes up with a locked back, or has been looking for weeks for someone to talk to. They type “osteopath Lausanne” or “psychotherapist Pully” on their phone. Before any website, Google shows a map and three practices. The choice is made there, in a few seconds: a name, a rating, opening hours, a button to call.
Many therapists’ profiles were created one day and then forgotten. The category is too general, the hours date from three years ago, there is no photo of the entrance, and the number leads to an old line. Nothing serious taken separately. Together, it is enough for Google not to know when to show you — and for the person to call the practice next door.
- 1RelevanceDoes the profile match what is searched? Category, services, description.
- 2DistanceHow far is the practice from the searcher? Out of your hands.
- 3ProminenceIs the practice known? Reviews, mentions, website, consistent details.
Distance is not up to you. The rest is. This checklist follows the order in which the profile is filled in.
The checklist, in order
1. Take back control of the profile
Search for your name or your practice on Google Maps. If a profile exists, click “Claim this business”; otherwise create it from business.google.com. Google will ask you to prove you practise there: a short video, a call, an email or a letter, depending on what it offers in your case. Until the profile is verified, your changes are not published.
2. The name: yours, without keywords
The name must be the one on your door plate: “Cabinet de la Louve” or “Marie Dupont, osteopath”. Adding “Lausanne”, “affordable” or a list of specialities to the name breaks Google’s rules and can get the profile suspended.
3. The primary category
This is the setting that weighs most. Type your profession and take the most precise category Google offers, rather than a general one such as “Wellness centre”. Add secondary categories only for what you actually practise.
4. The address — or the service area
If you see people at a practice, give the exact address, with the floor or the name on the doorbell in the description. If you visit people at home, or work from home without wanting to display your address, hide it and give a service area instead. In a shared practice, each practitioner can have their own profile under their own name, at the same address.
5. Real opening hours
Give the hours when you can actually be reached or visited. Fill in special hours too — holidays, local public holidays: a profile that says “open” on a closed day leaves a poor first impression.
6. Phone, website, booking
A number someone answers or calls back from. Your website address. And, if you use an online diary, the booking link in the dedicated field: it is often the most used button on the profile.
7. Services
List your services one by one, with duration and an indicative price. This is where Google understands what you do — and where the person checks whether it fits. If you are registered with a body recognised by supplementary insurers, say so in the description.
8. The description
You have 750 characters. Say who you work with, what you offer, where, and in which languages. Write as you would speak to a new patient on the phone. No promise of results, no superlatives.
9. Photos
Three are enough to start: the building entrance, so people can find you; the consultation room; a portrait. Never a patient, not even from behind, not even with verbal consent.
10. Attributes and consistency
Tick what is true: wheelchair access, by appointment only. Then check that your name, address and phone are written the same way on your website, on local.ch and search.ch, and in your professional association’s directory. Discrepancies weaken the profile.
Reviews: the delicate point for a care profession
Reviews count, for Google and for the person who is hesitating. But a practice is not a restaurant. The mere fact that someone consults you falls under professional confidentiality, and health data is sensitive data under Swiss data protection law.
Three rules hold in almost every case.
Never confirm the relationship. A public reply must not reveal that the author of the review came to you, or why. Thank them for the message, not for the consultation. This applies too — above all — to a negative review.
Avoid
- “Thank you for your trust over these six sessions.”
- “Glad your lower-back pain is better.”
- “As I explained at the practice…”
Prefer
- “Thank you for taking the time to leave this message.”
- “I cannot comment on a personal situation here.”
- “You can reach me directly at the practice.”
Do not ask just anyhow. Google forbids offering a benefit in exchange for a review, and asking only satisfied people. If your profession is regulated, advertising must remain objective, neither misleading nor intrusive: check with your professional association before asking for reviews systematically. A discreet link on your website or card is generally the reasonable limit.
Reply to everything, briefly. A short, calm reply to every review, positive or not, shows the practice is looked after. A plainly false or abusive review is reported to Google rather than argued about in public.
What can be delegated, what stays with you
Filling in the fields, writing a first description, comparing your details from one directory to another, preparing a draft reply to a review: all of that can be delegated, to a person or to an assistant.
What stays with you: what you say about your practice, the choice of whether to ask for reviews, and every word published under your name. An assistant can prepare a reply; it must not publish it. And that limit is set in the access rights, not in an instruction: if you hand the profile to someone, add them as a manager, keep the owner role, and remove their access when the job is done. It is the same line as for the rest of a practice’s admin, described in Privacy is not a slogan.
What it costs
The Google Business Profile is free, and you can follow this checklist on your own: allow two hours, plus Google’s verification delay.
If you would rather hand it over, our Google Business Profile package is CHF 270 — creation or takeover, categories, services and description written, a method for asking for reviews — and CHF 390 with a 30-day follow-up. An express audit of the site and the profile is CHF 220. You only pay if you approve the proposal.
The limits
A complete profile guarantees no position. In Lausanne, some categories have dozens of practices within a kilometre, and the distance between the searcher and you weighs heavily. What the profile does guarantee is that the person who lands on it finds accurate information and a simple way to reach you.
Nor does it replace a website: the profile says you exist, the site says how you work. And if your diary is full and you are not taking new patients, you can stop at accurate hours and a phone number.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a website to have a profile?
No. A complete profile is enough to start. A clear site then strengthens it and gives you a place to detail your approach and your prices.
I see people at home. Can I hide my address?
Yes. You can hide the address and list the towns you serve instead. The profile stays visible on local searches; it simply does not appear as a precise point on the map.
How long before there is an effect?
Corrections are visible within days once the profile is verified. The effect on searches is measured over several weeks, in the profile’s statistics: calls, direction requests, clicks to the website.
Going further
The profile is often the first brick. What comes next, for a practice, is appointment requests arriving in one place and reminders going out on their own: that is what the therapists and clinics page describes. We are based in Lausanne and the 30-minute diagnostic is free.