Google Business Profile for Therapists: Setup, Privacy, and Reviews, Step by Step
Short answer: a Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your practice on Google Maps and in the map box at the top of "therapist near me" searches, and you can have one if you see clients in person at an office during set hours. Set it up in order: confirm you're eligible, use your real practice name, pick an accurate category, verify, fill in every field, and never ask clients for reviews.
I opened my practice on maternity leave, in ten-minute windows while my newborn slept. I sent more than 50 networking letters, and the phone stayed quiet; it took eight months to get traction on referrals alone. Today my practice is full, and in my last four months, all but two new inquiries found me on Google or ChatGPT. Your Google profile is often the first place people see you.
Business education, not legal, privacy, or compliance advice. Google's rules change, and your licensing board's advertising rules and your ethics code come first. Google's help pages below were checked on November 1, 2026.
The short version
- You need an in-person office to qualify. Google says a business "must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours." A fully telehealth practice isn't eligible, and a virtual office isn't either.
- Your home address shows if you see clients there. Google only lets you hide your address if you don't serve customers at it. If privacy matters, use a separate office.
- Accuracy beats keywords. Real practice name, one category that matches your license, few extras.
- Never ask clients for reviews. The APA, ACA, and NASW codes all restrict soliciting testimonials, and even replying to a review can confirm someone is a client.
- Keep it matching and current. The same name, address, phone, and website everywhere help Google, and AI tools, describe you correctly.
In this guide
- Can therapists have a Google Business Profile?
- Telehealth-only practices and home-address privacy
- How to set up your profile, step by step
- Which category should a therapist choose?
- How to verify your Google Business Profile
- Writing your description, services, and photos
- Google reviews for therapists: the ethics rules
- Posts, Q&A, and keeping your details consistent
- How your Google profile shows up in ChatGPT and AI answers
- Frequently asked questions
For the bigger local picture (location pages, Bing, directories), see local SEO for therapists.
Can therapists have a Google Business Profile?
Yes, if you meet clients face to face. Google's eligibility guidelines say "a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours," and they list "online-only businesses" as ineligible. Its guidelines for representing your business add that a "virtual office" isn't eligible, and a co-working office counts only with clear signage and customers received there during business hours.
Google treats doctors and similar professionals as "individual practitioners," which shapes how therapists set up:
| Your situation | What Google's guidelines say to do |
|---|---|
| Solo practice with its own name | One profile for the practice, at the office where you see clients |
| Solo practitioner, no separate practice name | One profile in your own name, at your office |
| Group practice with several public-facing clinicians | One profile for the practice location; each public-facing clinician can also have a profile that uses only their own name |
| You treat several specialties | Still one profile; Google says a practitioner "shouldn't have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations" |
| Fully telehealth, or a mailbox or virtual office address | Not eligible |
Telehealth-only practices and home-address privacy
You see clients only by video. Under Google's current rules, you aren't eligible. Don't list a home address you don't see clients at, a P.O. box, or a virtual office to get onto the map. Google says guideline violations can get a profile suspended. Put that energy into your website and directories instead.
You see clients in person part of the week. You're eligible at that office. List the hours you're there, and mention telehealth in your description. If you rent by the day or hour, make sure your practice name is on the signage.
You see clients in an office in your home. Google only lets you remove your address if you don't serve customers there. Its service-area help page says, "If you don't serve customers at your business address, remove your address from your Business Profile." A home office where clients come to you is a storefront in Google's eyes, so the address would be public. If you don't want your home on Google Maps, a small separate office is the way around it.
You travel to clients (in-home or school-based work). Google's service-area setup fits this: you hide your address and list up to 20 cities, postal codes, or areas you serve, within about two hours' drive of your base.
How to set up your profile, step by step
- Go to business.google.com and search for your practice first. If a listing already exists, claim it instead of making a duplicate.
- Enter your real practice name, exactly as it appears on your door, paperwork, and website. Google says your name should "reflect your business's real-world name" and that adding unnecessary information isn't permitted. "Cedar Counseling" is fine; "Cedar Counseling | Anxiety Therapist Austin" is not.
- Choose your primary category. See the next section.
- Add the office address where you see clients, or, if you travel to clients, your service area with the address hidden.
- Add a phone number you control, ideally your practice line, and your website.
- Verify. Google decides which method you get.
- Fill in everything else: hours, description, services, photos, accessibility details, and an opening date if you're new.
Google lets you enter an opening date up to a year ahead, and it shows on Google 90 days before that date. The free checklist shows where the profile fits among your other opening steps.
Which category should a therapist choose?
Google's category help page says the categories you choose "affect your local ranking on Google" and tells you to pick the most specific one that fits. Google doesn't publish its full list, and names vary by country, so type a word into the category box and choose from what appears. Common options:
| If you are... | Primary category to look for | Possible additional categories |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed psychologist | Psychologist | Psychotherapist, Child psychologist (if you see kids) |
| LPC, LMHC, or LCPC | Counselor, or Psychotherapist | Family counselor, Mental health service |
| LMFT | A marriage or family counseling category | Family counselor, Psychotherapist |
| LCSW in therapy practice | Psychotherapist | Mental health service |
| Group practice with mixed licenses | Mental health service, or Psychotherapist | Categories that match services most clinicians offer |
Only use a title your license and board allow; don't choose "Psychologist" unless you're licensed as one. And Google says to use as few categories as possible and not to use them "solely as keywords." Put specialties like anxiety, EMDR, or couples work in your services and description instead.
How to verify your Google Business Profile
Google's verification page lists phone or text, email, live video call, mail, and video recording for eligible businesses. You can't pick: "Verification methods are automatically determined by Google." Reviews of verification "take up to 5 business days," and sometimes longer.
If you get video, you'll be asked to show:
- Your location, such as the outside sign or a street sign
- Your business or equipment, such as branded items or tools you use with clients
- Proof you manage it, such as an employee-only area or "non-sensitive business documents"
For a therapy office, film the street, the building directory, your door sign, and you unlocking your office. Keep every client record, schedule, and calendar out of the frame, including your screen. A blank intake form or your business license works as the non-sensitive document.
Writing your description, services, and photos
Description. You get 750 characters, with no links. A simple structure:
[Practice name] offers [therapy type] for [who you help] in [city or neighborhood], in person and by telehealth across [state]. [Your name, exact license title] helps clients with [two or three concerns, in plain words]. [One sentence on your approach]. [Fee or insurance in one line]. Free 15-minute consultations available.
Use your exact license title and skip claims like "best" or "guaranteed results." Our guide to ethical mental health marketing covers those rules.
Services. Where Google offers the services editor, add one service per specialty ("Anxiety therapy," "Couples counseling," "Telehealth therapy"), each with a short description.
Photos. Google's photo guidelines ask for JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels or larger, in focus and well lit. Add your logo, the entrance, your office, and a real photo of you. An exterior photo "helps customers recognize your business when they visit." Never post photos where a client could appear, even in the background.
How Well Launched helps: Every word here has to fit both Google's rules and your board's. Well Launched writes your Google profile description in your voice and checks it against your board's advertising rules (a quick read, not legal advice), and it puts the profile in order with every other step for your state and license, most of them about 10 minutes each. Launch also designs, builds, and hosts the website your profile links to.
Google reviews for therapists: the ethics rules
Generic guides say "ask happy customers for reviews." For therapists, that runs into ethics codes and confidentiality.
| Code | What it says |
|---|---|
| APA Ethics Code, Standard 5.05 | Psychologists "do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence" |
| ACA Code of Ethics, C.3.b | Counselors who use testimonials don't solicit them from current clients, former clients, or anyone else who may be vulnerable to undue influence |
| NASW Code of Ethics, 4.07(b) | Social workers "should not engage in solicitation of testimonial endorsements" from current clients or others vulnerable to undue influence, including asking to reuse something a client said |
| Your state board | Many add their own advertising and testimonial rules; check yours |
An online review is a public testimonial, so don't ask clients for reviews, don't hand out cards with a review link, and don't offer anything in exchange. Google's own review policy separately bans offering incentives and selectively asking for positive reviews, and it flags reviews based on a conflict of interest, so don't review your own practice or ask staff to.
When a review arrives on its own, you don't have to reply. If you do, never confirm that the person was a client. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services settled with a dental practice for $23,000 after it disclosed patients' information in replies to online reviews. A safe reply, for good and bad reviews alike:
Thank you for taking the time to share this. To protect privacy, we don't discuss whether anyone is or was a client. If you'd like to talk, please call our office directly.
If a review is fake, comes from someone who was never in your office, or breaks Google's policies, you can report it. Google removes only reviews that violate its policies, not ones you simply disagree with.
Build trust ethically instead: colleague endorsements, a complete and active profile, real photos, a detailed website, and articles or talks that show how you think.
Posts, Q&A, and keeping your details consistent
Posts. Google lets you share updates, offers, and events with a photo or video. Posts older than six months are archived. A short post every week or two, like "Now offering evening telehealth," shows the profile is active. Keep posts general, never about a client.
Q&A. Google retired the Business Profile Q&A API in November 2025 and has been replacing the public Q&A section with an AI "Ask" feature that answers from your profile information and reviews. Rollout varies, so check yours. Either way, put clear answers to common questions (fees, insurance, telehealth, how to book, parking) in your description, services, and website, so AI answers have accurate facts.
Consistent details. Your name, address, phone, and website (often called NAP) should match everywhere:
- [ ] Google Business Profile
- [ ] Your website footer and contact page
- [ ] Psychology Today and other directories
- [ ] Bing Places and Apple Business Connect
- [ ] Insurance panel directories, if you're in network
- [ ] Your professional association's directory
If you move or change your number, update every listing the same week.
How your Google profile shows up in ChatGPT and AI answers
People now ask AI tools things like "find me a therapist in Austin who helps with postpartum anxiety." Those tools build their answers from what's public about you: your website, directory profiles, business listings, and reviews. When they all say the same clear thing, it's easier for any tool to describe you accurately.
Your Google profile helps twice: Google's AI features in Maps answer from your profile and reviews, and a complete, consistent profile backs up the same facts your website states. Our guide on how therapists show up in ChatGPT and AI search goes further.
Frequently asked questions
Can a telehealth-only therapist have a Google Business Profile?
No, not under Google's current rules. Google requires in-person contact with customers during stated hours and lists online-only businesses as ineligible. If you see clients in person even one day a week, you can list that office and its hours.
How do I hide my home address on Google Business Profile?
You can hide it only if you don't see clients there. Google lets service-area businesses remove their address, but an office where clients visit, including a home office, shows its address.
Can therapists ask clients for Google reviews?
No. The APA (5.05), ACA (C.3.b), and NASW (4.07) codes restrict soliciting testimonials from clients, and many state boards add their own rules.
How should a therapist respond to a Google review?
Reply in a way that never confirms the person was a client, or don't reply at all. A short note thanking them and inviting them to call the office directly is safe.
How long does Google Business Profile verification take?
Google says verification reviews take up to five business days, though some take longer. Start early, while your other opening paperwork is in progress.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help, Business eligibility and ownership guidelines (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Service-area businesses (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Categories (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Verify your business (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Edit your Business Profile (description, opening date) (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Photo guidelines (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Posts (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Business Profile Help, Report inappropriate reviews (checked November 1, 2026)
- Google Maps user contributed content policy, fake engagement (checked November 1, 2026)
- PPC Land, "Google quietly kills Q&A for an AI button" (December 22, 2025)
- American Psychological Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, Standard 5.05
- American Counseling Association, ACA Code of Ethics, Standard C.3.b
- National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics, Standard 4.07
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, settlement with New Vision Dental over disclosures in online review replies (December 14, 2022)
Get found, in the right order
The free checklist lays out every step to open your practice for your state and license, including when to set up your Google profile. Want the profile, description, and website done with you? See the plans.
Related: How to start a private practice as a therapist · Local SEO for therapists · Psychology Today profile tips
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