The short answer
Posts are short updates, offers and events that show on your Business Profile in Google Search and Maps. To turn them into appointments, post on a steady schedule you can keep, make each post about one specific thing a patient can act on, add a button that goes straight to your booking page or a call, use your own real photos, follow Google's posts content policy, and tag every link so you can see which posts lead to bookings.
What posts are and where they show
Posts let a verified practice share news, offers and events directly on its Google Business Profile. According to Google's posts help page, they appear in the Updates or Overview tab of the profile on mobile and in the From the owner section on a computer, in both Search and Maps.
That placement matters because people who reach your profile are often close to deciding. A current post answers the question they have right then (is the office open Saturday, do you see children, is there a new hygienist) and gives them a button to act on. Google archives posts older than six months unless the post has a date range, so an old post is not a permanent sign.
Choosing the post type
Google offers three post types, each with its own fields:
- •Update: a description, a photo or video and an optional button with a link. Use it for a service explainer, extended hours, a new team member or a practical tip.
- •Event: a title plus start and end dates and times. Use it for an open house, a community screening day or a school visit. If you leave out times, Google shows the event as lasting all day.
- •Offer: a title, dates and times, with a View Offer button added automatically, plus optional terms, a code and a link. Use it only for a real promotion your team can honor, and keep the terms short and clear.
Most practices will use updates most of the time. A promotion that changes the price of care is a business decision for the practice; if you run one, state the dates and conditions plainly and make sure the front desk knows the details before the post goes live.
What to post and how often
Google does not set a required posting frequency. Choose a pace your team can keep for a year, for example one post a week, and use the scheduling and repeat options in the post editor so it does not depend on someone remembering. Ideas that tend to be useful to patients:
- •One service at a time: who it is for, what the first visit involves and a link to the matching page on your site.
- •Practical changes: new hours, holiday closures, parking changes, a new phone line for emergencies.
- •People: a new team member with their role and a photo, used with their permission.
- •Answers to common questions: what to bring to a first visit, how to book for a child, what to do if a crown comes loose after hours.
- •Seasonal reminders: using remaining benefits before the plan year ends, or booking school-year checkups early.
Write in plain words, lead with the point, and keep health statements to things your clinicians would put on your own website. Avoid patient stories or reviews in posts unless the patient has given written permission. Plan posts alongside your other channels with a simple marketing calendar.
Buttons that lead to a booking
The button is where a post turns into an appointment. Google says the button should send people to a site where they can complete the action, such as making a booking or learning more.
- •Link to the exact page: your online booking page if you have one, or the service page with a visible phone number and request form, not your home page.
- •Use a call button for phone bookings: it dials the verified number on your profile. Google may reject posts that put an unverified phone number or email in the text, and the posts content policy suggests the call button instead.
- •Match the words to the button: if the post says book a new patient visit, the page behind the button should let them do that in a few taps on a phone.
- •Keep links on your own domain so the experience is consistent and you can measure it.
Photos, video and Google's rules
Posts can include a photo or video. Real images of your office, entrance and team help patients recognize the place when they arrive, and they are more believable than stock photos. Keep them sharp, well lit and free of patient information on screens or charts in the background. Our profile photo guide covers what to shoot.
Google reviews every post before it goes live, and the post shows as Live, Pending or Not approved. From Google's help pages, the main things to avoid:
- •Misspellings, extra characters, filler text and auto-generated content.
- •Phone numbers, emails or social handles in the text that Google cannot verify as your own.
- •Links to sites that are not trustworthy.
- •Content about regulated products. Google lists health and medical devices and pharmaceutical products among regulated industries: those businesses can post, but not about the products themselves. Post about your services and visits instead.
Measuring results
Measure posts by what patients do next, using three sources:
- •Tagged links: add UTM parameters to every button link, for example source google, medium business-profile and a campaign name per post. Google Analytics then shows visits and booking requests from each post.
- •Profile performance: the Performance section of your profile reports calls, website clicks, direction requests and, for offers, offer views and clicks. Calls count taps on the call button, not answered calls.
- •Front desk: ask every new patient how they found you and record it the same way each time.
Review results monthly and do more of what brings bookings. Keep expectations about search position realistic: Google's local ranking help page names relevance, distance and prominence and does not list posts, so judge posts by the patients they bring rather than by rank. For a fuller setup, see tracking calls and leads from your profile. Posts work best as one part of a complete profile with filled services, attributes, booking links, and Q&A, steady review requests and a website that makes booking easy.
Sources
This guide is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
- •Google Business Profile Help: Create and manage posts on your Business Profile
- •Google Business Profile Help: Photos, videos and posts content policy
- •Google Business Profile Help: Understand your Business Profile performance and insights
- •Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
- •Google Analytics Help: URL builders
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should a practice post on Google Business Profile?
Pick a pace you can keep, such as one useful post a week or every other week. Google does not publish a required frequency. A steady run of accurate, specific posts does more for patients than a burst followed by months of silence, and Google archives posts older than six months unless a date range is set.
Which post type should a practice use?
Use an update for news, a service explainer or a new team member, an event for anything with a date and time such as an open house, and an offer only for a real promotion with a title and dates. Offer posts get a View Offer button automatically, and you can add a link and terms.
Do Google Business Profile posts help local ranking?
Google's local ranking help page lists relevance, distance and prominence and does not name posts as a factor, so treat posts as a way to give searchers current, useful information and a clear next step rather than as a ranking tactic.
Why was our post not approved?
Google reviews each post against its posts content policy. Common causes are a phone number or email in the text that Google cannot verify as the business's own, links to untrusted sites, misspellings or filler text, and content about regulated products. The status icon in your profile links to the policy the post broke.
How do we measure whether posts bring in patients?
Tag every post button link with UTM parameters so Google Analytics shows visits and bookings from posts, check the Performance section of your profile for calls, website clicks and offer views, and ask new patients how they found you.