Multi-practitioner office GMB names for practitioners

[KristiSimone]

I was listening to Local U Deep Dive and Local U Last Week in Local and I heard a podcast about GMB pages for multi-practitioner offices. In summary, they were discussing that we should be setting up/claiming GMB pages for individual practitioners in a dental, medical or law offices.

As we have been doing this, I have noticed that the individual pages are a bit different on the back-end. For Services, we can add specific services (without a description) that are listed directly under the specific Category. From the Podcast, they were discussing that this is a great place to also add keywords (dental implants Dublin OH).

My questions are:

• Do you think these individual practitioner pages are beneficial for SEO and Local SEO?
• Are there reasons not to do it?
• How are you optimizing these pages differently than the practice GMB page?
• How are you naming?

Based on GMB, we have been naming them as follows:​

Practice Page: The Grove City Center for Dentistry​

Practitioner Pages: ​

The Grove City Center for Dentistry: Bryan Simone DDS​

The Grove City Center for Dentistry: Kyle Lowe DDS​

​

Thanks, everyone!​

 

[s_banks]

I have been listing them in this manner:

Practice Page: The Grove City Center for Dentistry
(link to location page)

Practitioner Pages:
Bryan Simone DDS
Kyle Lowe DDS
(link to profile page or their own branded website)

I view the benefit of practitioner pages as an opportunity to gain more map coverage. Having personal branded sites gives the opportunity to gain more SERP coverage.

 

[dannanelli]

I was listening to Local U Deep Dive and Local U Last Week in Local and I heard a podcast about GMB pages for multi-practitioner offices. In summary, they were discussing that we should be setting up/claiming GMB pages for individual practitioners in a dental, medical or law offices.

As we have been doing this, I have noticed that the individual pages are a bit different on the back-end. For Services, we can add specific services (without a description) that are listed directly under the specific Category. From the Podcast, they were discussing that this is a great place to also add keywords (dental implants Dublin OH).

My questions are:

• Do you think these individual practitioner pages are beneficial for SEO and Local SEO?
• Are there reasons not to do it?
• How are you optimizing these pages differently than the practice GMB page?
• How are you naming?

Based on GMB, we have been naming them as follows:​

Practice Page: The Grove City Center for Dentistry​

Practitioner Pages: ​

The Grove City Center for Dentistry: Bryan Simone DDS​

The Grove City Center for Dentistry: Kyle Lowe DDS​

​

Thanks, everyone!​

Hi Kristi,

• Do you think these individual practitioner pages are beneficial for SEO and Local SEO?
  • They can be but I have heard people complain that they can dilute the rankings for the main practice listing. It depends on how you structure the categories across all listings I believe.
• Are there reasons not to do it?
  • Once they are created, they can't be removed unless the practitioner leaves the practice or passes away. So if you end up regretting that you made them, you are stuck with them.
• How are you optimizing these pages differently than the practice GMB page?
  • This table from Whitespark.ca is super helpful for this!
    • https://3lj2u1keh5v3kanri461tjcc-wp...ds/2018/02/Optimizing-Listing-Information.png
    • Reference: https://whitespark.ca/blog/handle-practitioner-listings-gmb-citations/
• How are you naming?
  • Per Google's request I would do it like this: "Multiple practitioners at one location: If the practitioner is one of several public-facing practitioners at this location, the organization should create a listing for this location, separate from that of the practitioner. The title of the listing for the practitioner should include only the name of the practitioner, and shouldn’t include the name of the organization.
    • Reference: Guidelines for representing your business on Google - Google My Business Help
  • Example
    • Practice Page: The Grove City Center for Dentistry
    • Practitioner Pages:
      Bryan Simone DDS
      Kyle Lowe DDS

I hope this info is helpful!

 

[Cherie Dickey]

Practitioner pages can compete with the practice listing, so in most cases I do not create one if it doesn't already exist. The only time I really see a benefit in creating them is when we are trying to reach different categories in a highly competitive areas. This is not unlike trying to manage multiple websites for multiple services though..it's Nth times the work, and only really makes sense if you need to have a really concentrated SEO strategy for each unique service due to high competition.

If you have 6 attorneys competing for the same terms, most of those listings are most likely going to be filtered. The practice listing will also struggle to not be filtered as well - especially if you have one attorney who is really great at networking and earning reviews. It's harder to earn reviews for the practice listing as well because the reviews end up being spread across multiple listings. It's also kindof a nightmare when you have multiple practitioners who are less tech savvy or less interested in promoting themselves or their listing upset because their partner seems to be the one showing up in search most of the time.

If multiple listings already exist, and there is really only one general service for the business, normally I will deoptimize the practitioner listing(s), and optimize the practice listing. If the practice is targeting different services, I will optimize the practice listing for the primary service, and the practitioner listing(s) for the unique secondary services that make the most sense for them, and link the listing to their bio page.

I name the pages the same way you do.

This is just how I've done things... I would be interested in hearing the podcast though. Do you have a link?

 

[dannanelli]

Practitioner pages can compete with the practice listing, so in most cases I do not create one if it doesn't already exist. The only time I really see a benefit in creating them is when we are trying to reach different categories in a highly competitive areas. This is not unlike trying to manage multiple websites for multiple services though..it's Nth times the work, and only really makes sense if you need to have a really concentrated SEO strategy for each unique service due to high competition.

If you have 6 attorneys competing for the same terms, most of those listings are most likely going to be filtered. The practice listing will also struggle to not be filtered as well - especially if you have one attorney who is really great at networking and earning reviews. It's harder to earn reviews for the practice listing as well because the reviews end up being spread across multiple listings. It's also kindof a nightmare when you have multiple practitioners who are less tech savvy or less interested in promoting themselves or their listing upset because their partner seems to be the one showing up in search most of the time.

If multiple listings already exist, and there is really only one general service for the business, normally I will deoptimize the practitioner listing(s), and optimize the practice listing. If the practice is targeting different services, I will optimize the practice listing for the primary service, and the practitioner listing(s) for the unique secondary services that make the most sense for them, and link the listing to their bio page.

I name the pages the same way you do.

This is just how I've done things... I would be interested in hearing the podcast though. Do you have a link?

Cherie, those were great insights! Thank you!