When was the last time you looked at your practice profile the way a patient would? Not to update something. Not because a flag was raised. Just looked to see how it appears to a stranger who finds you in a Google search or lands on your website for the first time.
Not sure? This is for you. The checkup below takes about three minutes. At the end, you’ll know exactly what’s working and what to fix — and most fixes take less time than the checkup itself.
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You appear in the places your patients actually search.
Think about where your current patients say they found you. Do you have a presence there? Check your insurance directory listings. Search your specialty and zip code and see who appears. If you’re missing from channels your patients use, that’s worth knowing.
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You have recent reviews — ideally some from the last 6 months.
Pull up your reviews on Google and anywhere else patients are likely to look. Do you have any? Are they recent? A handful of thoughtful reviews from the last 6 months to a year does more for a first-time patient’s confidence than a five-star average from 2021.
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There’s a clear way to book directly from your website.
Go to your own website and ask: if I were a patient who’d never heard of this practice, could I book an appointment in under two minutes? Is there a visible booking button? Another key question in 2026: Does it work on mobile?
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Your Google Business Profile is claimed and current.
This affects visibility, and it’s free. Search your practice name and look at what appears on the right side of the results. First, make sure someone at your practice has claimed it — otherwise, changes suggested by others to your hours, phone number, or address can go live without you being notified. Then check that the address, phone number, and hours are all correct.
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Your accepted insurance plans are accurate everywhere they appear.
Check your website, your Google listing, and any booking platforms you’re listed on. If any of them are out of date, you could miss patients who filtered you out based on incorrect information — or get booked by patients whose plan you don’t actually take.
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Patients can see real, available appointment slots — not just “call to schedule.”
When patients find you online, can they see when you’re actually available? If the only option is calling to check, you’re losing the ones who’d rather book at 10pm from their couch — nearly half of patients schedule care outside of traditional office hours. Connecting your calendar to a booking tool is usually worth the setup time.
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Your profile on booking platforms is pulling its weight.
If you’re on Zocdoc or a similar platform, pull up your profile and check the basics: photo, bio, and visit reasons. Patients use all three to decide if you’re the right fit before they ever book. A profile without a photo or with only one or two visit reasons is leaving information — and bookings — on the table.
None of these fixes require a marketing team or a big project kickoff. In fact, most could be taken care of in an afternoon. So grab a coffee and let’s get started. (Making the coffee will take longer than some of these fixes.)
If the checkup surfaced gaps around visibility, you can now walk through each issue in more detail, including what patients actually see when they search for a provider and why small profile gaps have an outsized impact on bookings.