Your Clinic's Second Website - Google Business Profile

You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and with me today is my cohost on the Podiatry Marketing Podcast, Jim McDannald. Jim, how are doing this morning?

Things are good, Tyson. Things are good here in in Montreal. So I hope things are staying staying cool there in Australia.

Yeah. So it's I love doing this. We all like doing this about this podcast the most is we are on opposite sides of the world, yet it feels like we're in the same room because we're talking together all the time.

Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. I mean, like, I actually have kind of the Australian time zones, like, in my head now that you we've been doing this podcast and kind of, you know, bantering back and forth over the last few months. So it's been a it's been a real pleasure, you know, kind of spanning the globe here with you.

Yeah. What's good too is because prior to COVID, I used to go to America every year. So and I've always got a lot I've got a lot of American friends, so you're always in tune to where you have the time zones in the world at different times. So it's whereas it used to really confuse me. I was just I couldn't get my head around it.

But I've got this app. I don't know if you've seen this app called Time Buddy.

I've seen that, like, I just kinda, like, asked Siri what time it is in, you know, Sydney, Australia or something like that. So I used to be horrible I used to be horrible. I lived in the West Coast. I lived in Central Time. I lived on the East Coast.

So, like, I used to struggle just with The US time zones, and now you're, like, the day before us now. So it's always crazy.

You said that song. Maybe the song Modern Girl. As soon as you said that, oh, no, I just use Siri, and all of sudden, oh, and that song is Modern Girl. But anyway, so today's topic, we are gonna talk about your clinic's second website, Google Business Profile. Please elaborate.

Yeah. So not a lot of people realize. Everyone knows they have their, you know, tysonfootandankleclinic.com. That's your website. That's where, you know, that's what everyone puts time and effort into

Yeah.

Online to really build that out and kind of be that digital, home on the web for your practice. But sometimes, you know, relatively new over the last five to seven years is what you what used to be called Google My Business, and now they've recently switched the names of it to basically Google Business Profile. And this is the little box that shows up in Google search results when you search your name as a provider or the name of your clinic.

So what do people so you class it as your second website. So you get your main website, which is one that you're trying to drive everybody to all the time, and we've discussed website elements previously. So you Google profile website. Why is that so important?

Why it's so important is that when you when people type things into Google, obviously, that's the way they look for your address, they look for your clinic, they look for a podiatrist in, you know, Cairns, Australia. Everyone's going there. Yeah. And Google's incentivized to keep people on Google's platform. They they used to be the old style of Google.

It was basically there was no ads, there was no map. It was basically 10 blue links that people would click on and leave Google to go somewhere else. But now Google's incentivized with ads and other other things to keep them keep you in the Google ecosystem.

It has changed.

It totally has changed, but, that's how they make, you know, what billions or that's why they're a trillion dollar company. Right? As they they want to generate revenue on their platform. So Gmail or Google Docs. So they just wanna keep you there.

They don't wanna actually wanna send you away anymore.

So because I remember years ago when anytime someone gave you their web address, they'd always say w w w or www. And they get, know, like tysonfranklin.com or yeah. You're yeah. It was it was weird. And then all of a sudden, I saw my wife find out, but she was just typing, and she just put the businessname.com.au.

I went, where's your www. I don't need them anymore. Oh, when did that change? And now that was yeah. It wasn't that long ago that you had to put in the w's before the website, and you did.

You would type in a name and you get list of the 10 top businesses and that was it. So you're saying now Google wants to keep you Google fied as much as possible.

Yep. They wanna keep you on that Google platform. And the way they're trying to do this now, like I said, you kinda have this almost second website or second home page for your practice, you know, on their platform. And that's when you type in your actually, you type in your own provider name, you know, Jim McDaniel DPM, there'll be a small profile. And also, you know, like Tyson Franklin Podiatry Clinic.

You know, you type it in there and you're there. So it has you know, number one, has your contact information. So your address is there. You'll have like a Google map with directions

Yeah.

There so you're you know, they don't want you to go back. They don't wanna send you to your clinic website anymore. They want all the interactions to happen there. So like I said, you know, it's your your address, your phone number. Usually, there's like a click to, you know, do an online scheduling there.

Also, your hours, can be updated on this platform. So when you sign up, for Google Business Profile, you're you're you're given kind of a dashboard. And it's this dashboard where you go and you update all that information. Now if you're gonna be gone for the holidays, you know, you put in the days your clinic is closed. But, you know, they really wanna keep you optimizing your Google My Business listing or actually your Google Business profile listing.

I keep slipping back to the old ways we called. But that that's you know, and then also you can upload photos of, you know, the the exterior of your clinic, or the interior of your clinic of you treating patients. Patients can actually upload photos there. You know, if you don't upload anything, what's gonna happen is you're gonna get that weird looking, like, Google car that drives by places. So Yeah.

If you if if you're in, like, a big multi specialty clinic or there's bushes in front of your your clinic or something, you're not gonna get some nice photos. You're gonna get some really generic looking things. So I

did see one. I one the other day. I was looking at someone's business and I thought, I'm just gonna go for a wander down the street because you could you can wander down the street with it. And there's one business that I looked at and all of a sudden it must have been bin day because there's this big two bins at the front of their business and there's rubbish coming out everywhere and there was like a there was a dog there and there was a bommy car and I'm going, that does not look good for for particular day.

No. You don't want that first impression to be, you know, like you said, like a a dumpster a dumpster fire in front of your practice.

Yeah.

Some random day that car was driving by. Also, another important aspect of these Google my these Google business profiles is that's where your reviews live as well. And if you look at the color of the review compared to the other information on that, it really draws your eye. You have these gold stars. You have this, you know, whatever out of five ranking, and the number of reviews is very clearly spelled out there.

So this is all kind of in a small box inside of Google results. Also, this is an area where you'll sometimes see, a way to publish on Google's platform called Google posts. So this is something where if you have, maybe you're providing a new type of care or there's a new podiatrist coming into your clinic, there's, you know, you have a partnership with a physio or a physical therapy clinic and you wanna pronounce, you know, pronounce that to the world. This is an area where, you know, you can kinda put those Google posts in there. Will help you, you know, rank and, provide some some insights into what's going on in your practice.

I think another aspect is that they also do have like a products and services area as well. So, you know, just like you have those pages on your website about diabetic care or sports medicine, you really need to either yourself needs to build up this Google business profile or hiring someone else that is kind of a Google kind of professional, someone that works in a Google ecosystem to kinda help you optimize that Google Business Profile to the best of your ability.

So how often should people be going back into that profile, updating it, putting in new information, photographs? Is this something you touch on once a month, every six months? Should you do it weekly? What what what's your thoughts?

Yeah. So generally, I'd say at least once a week you need to go in there, because what's gonna happen is that's also gonna be the dashboard for your Google reviews. So, and you want to provide, you know, personalized, replies Yeah. To these Google reviews. So it's really, really important, that that happens.

So, like, at least once a week, and that same time, if there's something new going on in practice or something to announce about the practice, that is a a kind of an efficient to be efficient with your time, that is a good time to go ahead and put in that Google post. Maybe you do a a newsletter with your practice, and that's a way to, like, promote the newsletter or maybe some of news items from your newsletter can fit into there once a week. But it doesn't have to be every single day. That's a bit much when it comes to the post. But, yeah, once a week kind of jumping into that Google My Business profile once it's built out or Google Business profile once it's built out.

So once you start putting information into there, does that have an impact on your ranking as you're shown in the organic search?

Yeah. So there's some kind of controversy these days, like how much that's gonna really, you know, cause you to rank. Because what happens a lot of times right now is that, especially if there's a there's a location associated with your search, so you say like podiatrist near me or podiatrist in, you know, in like Sydney, Australia, that won't usually show up. Usually, it's really name based. Yeah.

Sometimes your products and services might trigger some things. Like, if you don't have let's say, someone is looking for, like, plantar fasciitis treatment and you don't have plantar fasciitis as, like, one of the symptoms or one of the, you know, services you provide in there. Like, it will sometimes you'll sometimes see these little mentions in the in the plain Google results that, or even in the maps that, like, you know, Tyson Franklin Podiatry treats this. And if you don't have it, sometimes it'll actually try to pull that information from your website, say Yeah. That information is seen on your website, but it's not necessarily in your Google business profile.

So there's a it's a little questionable whether it's a super strong signal ranking for, like, I would say, like, kind of symptom queries or when you're asking questions about specific types of treatment. But definitely, all your contact information, all your hours, all that stuff is really important because if you get complaints or people say that, like we'll get into that a little bit as far as, like, some of the issues that can happen if you have a a bad Google My Business profile or duplicate profile that leads to someone, you know, kind of a bad user experience or bad patient experience and they complain, it definitely can have a negative effect on when and how much you're showing up.

Yeah. I was gonna ask about that because if you if you had your business in one location and you move locations, because I've seen some business with they've got two Google profiles where they're in two different locations, and you're sort of wondering which is the which is the real one.

Yeah. So this is a huge, huge problem for a lot of clinics, especially for if if someone say, you know, has worked with three or four different marketing companies that they didn't like or, you know, or they started someone in their office started their Google My Business profile, but all those different people have never talked to each other about that there's this you know, there there's three different, you know, there's three different, Tyson Franklin podiatry locations for the same location. We're not we're not talking about a multi location practice. We're talking about the same practice listed, you know, or you moved. Right?

You moved across town. You moved two blocks this way to a better building. These duplicates can be really negative on your rankings because, like I said, if someone type you know, types in the name of your clinic and gets an address and directions and then they show up, you know, five, ten minutes before their appointment, and you're not there, or, like, you're you moved two years ago, but no one updated the Google Yeah.

Every time, yes. File.

Well, it's gonna be pain in ass for them, so you're probably gonna maybe get a negative review. They're gonna maybe complain to Google saying that, like, this is not where they're at. So you really have to, like, go in there and nuke or, you know, delete those or merge sometimes even merge these duplicate listings into the same listing to make sure that, yeah, your patients are showing up at the right the right location.

I heard once to make sure that your details that say are on your website or other directories and also in Google is identical. That if you have if your business is in Shop 2 Slash 494 Mulgrave Road, but then in Google, it just says 494 Mulgrave Road or just has 2 Slash, it doesn't have the shop. You should be trying to keep them as identical as possible. The phone numbers are exactly the same. Everything you do, the con yeah.

The contact email on your website is the same one that you actually have in your Google. Is that still true?

Yeah. You have all these, like, local listing websites or sometimes, you know, national websites that, you know and this is a a kind of a run, I'd say, what's called link building, in a way or just kind of referral links. Because if, you know, if if you have if, you know, if if all those things are kind of kept in, you know, decent order and, like you said, if if if it's if one website says that you're located on Fifth Street, another one says you're on Sixth Street, another one says you're on Third, it could be it could be kind of a confusing signal to Google, and other search search engines. I think that's a like, from what I understand, kind of the the SEO experts and the and the folks that I work with and, the people that I've you know, some of the conferences and talks I've been to on this subject say, really, that's less of a big deal as long as you're, if you're searching on Google and your Google My Business or your Google Business profile is updated and verified and you don't have duplicates running wild out there, I think that that's the first place to start.

There used to be a lot of people charging a lot of money per month for, like I mean, there's a there was used to be a system called Yext Yeah. Would charge people up to, like, 500 a thousand dollars a month to, like, make sure everything was in sync all the time. And there's been some experiments with people that show that that doesn't really work anymore. Like, Google is now smart enough. If you have if you put in the information into Google to, like, kind of disregard some of those other kind of negative signals because as long as you don't have duplicates yeah.

What about if you have more than one location? Say you have three businesses, could be in the same city, let's say Brisbane for example, million people or 2,000,000 people, you've got four clinics in north, south, East, and west. Should you have one Google, You might have one website, but for your Google profiles, should you have four different profiles?

Yeah. So generally, what what happens and how this breaks down, I'll kind of break it down not only by location, but also by provider.

Yeah.

So you it gets a little tricky here, but so if you have a physical location somewhere that has its own address, has its own clinic, it should have its own Google business profile. Just so it's on the map, you know, obviously, you can flag it a little bit different. You know, let's say it's like Tyson Franklin Podiatric Clinic on Fifth Street versus Tyson Podiatric Clinic on Main Street. It just you know, you can put that in the title. You'll one of the things you'll also see sometimes, you know, like, there's multiple doctors, right, at these clinics as well.

And, like, if you're a solo practice, it really doesn't make sense to both have a clinic and a provider listing, at least at least to begin with until maybe you get a certain number of Google reviews. It's you know, if you get the point where your clinic has 50 or a hundred more than your local competitors, like, think it's I think it's okay then to start a provider one. But like for a while, it makes sense to like have your if you're solo provider in a single location, just keep it, you know, tight, you know, like Cannes Cannes Podiatry Clinic, Tyson Franklin. And then basically, what you're doing is you're sending all the reviews. You're kinda like, you have one location that makes sense.

Over time, you could split those those up. That would make sense.

Can you can you go and split them up after the reviews have been done? Or no, you just set up a second page and then just kick it off?

Yeah. So there's basically what's called like a location listing or like a business listing and then a provider listing. That same thing kinda happens with lawyers. Right? There's a a law practice, and then there's a lawyer listing.

So you can have two, and that's totally fine. And you can have one for a location and then all, you know, one for all the different providers, all the different podiatrists in the practice. I will mention though that, like, you'll see this sometimes maybe when you look up, like, air conditioning or plumbing or, more kinda like home services things, what's called, like, keyword stuffing in the, like, the listing, like, in the title of the the business. So you really need to make sure that your business listing is the like, of your legal business name. It doesn't have to have the LLC or the PC, but this needs to make sure it's your legal business name because otherwise, you run into what's called keyword stuffing.

You'll see like best podiatrist, foot doctor, ingrown toenail specialist, cans, like Queensland, Australia. You know, like, you'll have all this stuff. And basically, what they're trying to do is they're trying to game Google

Yeah.

In to like like we talked about previously, like when you type in certain things, they're hoping that by like stuffing these keywords in there that somehow the Google magic will reward them because like they have all these words there that no one really wants to see.

Is this the title of is this the name of the business? Like, the name of the business here. So, well, I might have, say, Tyson Franklin, podiatry business coach. So that's my

best thing

to have for Google. But if I put Tyson Franklin, legend, awesome, podiatrist, business coach, marketing specialist, online guru, if you start putting all this stuff in that title, people are thinking putting all those words in, I am gonna get found more often. But then Google will look at that and go, no. You're a tool. And so what will they do to you if you try doing that?

Yeah. So they'll blacklist you. Oh, okay. They'll they'll they'll put a big penalty on you and you'll probably have to go through some process to say, hey, like, you know, like that doesn't

I've been blacklisted from so many places but never Googled.

We'll we'll talk about that in another podcast. I'm not sure we have I'm not sure we have the time or the the I'm not sure the audience is quite ready for that one yet. But Sorry. But but yeah. But it is one of those things where you do have to go through a process to be reinstated.

It's not easy, and it can be and, you know, like like I said, this is a powerful platform. You know, a lot of people, whether it's Google Ads, Google Business Profile, people are googling, you know, these services, your name, your clinic's name, and you wanna try to stay in the good graces of Google to the best of your ability. So it's really an important component to, like, to play within those rules. And and there's we could probably even put some of the rules and a little bit more information about Google Business might Google Business profile and the the show notes from today.

Yeah. That'd be great because, like, I I think most people listening to this do wanna do the right thing. And and you might get the odd cocky person that thinks, oh, I can outsmart Google. I do recall a podiatrist telling me once where they had like these black strips down the side of their website, and they used to have all these words in there in black text so no one could see it. And I'm thinking, I'm pretty sure Google could see it.

Well, anyone that knows SEO or knows that, like, you know, there's screen readers, there's way there's kind of invisible layers where you can kinda see what's actually happening there, and it's pretty obvious to folks. But I think, you know, like like I mentioned, I think it is important to to emphasize how important this Google Business profile is, and that's why I said it's like it's basically a second website that not a lot of people know they have because this is this can be a positive, you know, way to grow your practice when you make it a priority. Like I said, if it just if you just have these, like, weird Google Street View dumpster fire images, you don't have any pictures of you treating your ideal patient. Your logo's not on there. Your hours are out of whack.

There's no contact information, you know, or it's not updated in a way that feels like you know, it doesn't kinda reflect the branding of your website. Yeah. It's basically just taking your website and try to like kinda mash that into like what Google has there. You know, if you don't make that a priority, you know, and other people bounce you. Like, it doesn't look professional.

They're gonna go search the name of another clinic or another Sydney Podiatrist or wherever you're located at. So it's a really important, you know, kind of pillar, I would say, of your online presence. You know, website, you know, good SEO, Google business profile is definitely up there. And something that either someone in your staff that's knowledgeable about this can help you with, or, you know, looking for outside help is one way to approach it.

Okay. Just one more Google question. Well, I like I like how you circled back around to that it was your second website because that was what we were talking about. The yeah. The Google is your second website.

So even if somebody was if they were just starting their own business now, they've got they've got the website up. And but I think you already touched on this. You just said if they don't have time to do it themselves, they could get the receptionist to do it. Or are there people that you you know, do you look after this sort of stuff for people, or this is something you get to do yourself? It's too easy.

No. I think, at least at the beginning, I think it's something that, has to be kind of a part of kind of a overall kind of digital plan for practice. And this is something I usually set up for patient, you know, for for the clinics I work with to make sure that, you know, patients can find it. Like I said, there's some ongoing things. You know, it's not just a set it and forget it situation.

It does include, you know, real responses to these reviews, whether it be positive or negative reviews, you know, getting out Google business posts, keeping the hours consistent. You know, as much as we wanna make some of these things be kind of set it and forget it, it is something that requires kind of ongoing information. And sometimes, there can be bad actors, even in podiatry and other types of businesses that will try to make duplicate listings of your practice. So you have to have some level of surveillance and some level of like, you know, like Google chain recently changed its name from Google My Business to Google My or Google Business profile. Right?

Like Google enjoys like having this moving target. Missing money. Yeah. It's it's like going to Costco. I think I've mentioned this on previous podcast.

Like going to Costco. Right? You know, the Cheerios were on this aisle, you know, last week and now they're like like over buy, you know, the bread or they're over at a different aisle now. It's like it's a bit of a you have to stay recent with the platform to make sure that you can optimize and get the maximum amount of benefit, not only for yourself, but for the the patients in your local area. Because that they're the ones that, you know, are looking for that great care you provide.

And by making it easier for them, for building a profile that's easy to interact with like I said, unfortunately, people are not just gonna click this blue link and go back to your website and learn about how great you are there. Google is incentivized to keep them on that Google Google business profile and just have all the interactions work through them. So until, like, Google gets overtaken or something happens, you have to play their game, and that's just the way it is.

That makes perfect sense. So I think we've covered this topic pretty well. It's have you got anything else to finish up with? Or do you think you're you've I

think you've given my all this time. I think, you know, there's definitely some areas we can touch base within future podcast when it comes to online reviews and strategies around that. There's definitely things like social posting and stuff that we'll talk about. I think that's a good synopsis of this Google Business profile for today.

No. That's fantastic. Okay, Jim. Thanks for that. And I'll talk to you again next week.

Alright. Talk to you next time. Okay.

See you. Bye.

Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.