Need guidance: Management asking for phone numbers to be changed on ~60 listings

[mktgabor]

Hello!

Leadership at the healthcare system I work for wants to change the public-facing phone number for about 60 listings (listings are comprised of doctors and multiple practice locations that the doctors work at) that I manage. Currently most of these listings have the same marketing phone number that connects to a call center. Leadership wants the individual practice phone number to be what users call and they want users to see the same phone number whether they're on our website or on our listings. From an SEO perspective, this is a good call. The current phone number and the new phone number both go to a phone tree -- which eliminates the option of phone/text code verification from Google.

Question for the esteemed Local Search Forum community:

Would using Callrail numbers for each practice instead of the practice phone number be a good idea? We could potentially forward Google verification calls outside of business hours to capture the verification code. The only issue is I usually don't see text/phone verification given by Google -- is this something Google would more easily grant to us if we asked support? Currently, we're most often given the business video upload option. When there's no cell reception/WIFI in a building verification/reverification can become very tricky. We're currently having 1-2 unsuccessful video uploads before Google gives us a live Video option -- it's taking us over a month to get a single listing verified/reverified in some cases.

Thank you -- respectfully,

Gabor

P.S. I've been making the argument to my supervisors that having individual physician listings is more stroking the doctor's ego vs. getting good results because we're likely fragmenting our local ranking, as most of the listings have minimal engagement. I've been pushing to go to a practice/specialty/location listing strategy whereby we'd have a listing for each medical specialty we offer at a specific location and that way we'd update the listing description and doctor headshots whenever a doctor joins/leaves the team. If the specialty is no longer offered, I could mark it as permanently closed and should they ever staff it in the future I'd just open it again.

 

[keyserholiday]

Yes, use CallRail for all of the GBPs.

 

[mktgabor]

Yes, use CallRail for all of the GBPs.

Any issue with using the same CallRail for most/all of the listings?

If we change the listing phone number will Google give us the option to re-verify the listings by automated call/text? I ask because I haven't been seeing the call/text option for verification/re-verification. Thank you.

 

[keyserholiday]

Any issue with using the same CallRail for most/all of the listings?

If we change the listing phone number will Google give us the option to re-verify the listings by automated call/text? I ask because I haven't been seeing the call/text option for verification/re-verification. Thank you.

Google won't call a CallRail number.

 

[mktgabor]

Ok, so then it doesn't appear that utilizing CallRail numbers for the added benefit of forwarding Google verification calls is worth the effort. Thank you for confirming that.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@mktgabor - The verification options available for a profile are determined by an algorithm. You have to choose one of the methods presented to you. The support team can't change them for you. Reference.

There's an exception: if you're having technical problems, the support team may give you the option for live video verification. Reference.

Your opening post touches on a whole bunch of different issues so I'm not sure if my contribution answers any of your questions. Hope it's helpful!

 

[David Weller]

@mktgabor - If you're managing 60+ locations and running into issues with the standard Google Business Profile verification process, applying for bulk verification is definitely the right move. It’s designed for businesses with 10 or more locations and can save you a lot of time and hassle. The application process is pretty straightforward. Once approved, future listings you add should also verify much faster.

 

[mktgabor]

@mktgabor - The verification options available for a profile are determined by an algorithm. You have to choose one of the methods presented to you. The support team can't change them for you. Reference.

There's an exception: if you're having technical problems, the support team may give you the option for live video verification. Reference.

Your opening post touches on a whole bunch of different issues so I'm not sure if my contribution answers any of your questions. Hope it's helpful!

Thank you, @Stefan Somborac. Very helpful response. It's a moot point if Google somehow knows that a phone number is a CallRail number and by default they won't call it with the verification code. But, what I was aiming to determine is does changing the phone number on a listing typically give you the option to re-verify via phone/text code. This could still be helpful, as I may have a way to forward calls to my cell phone.

Am I more likely to get the phone verification code option if I skip entering the phone number when I'm creating the listing and then I edit the listing later to add the phone number?

It's amazing that in 2025 we're having to have these insane conversations about how we can nudge Google in the right direction.

In my case, I manage listings for a health system, so everything is about helping patients find their doctors/clinics/hospitals/etc. We're looking at going online with Birdeye soon, but I know even the APIs out there aren't going to get me out of verification/reverification spin cycles.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@mktgabor - Google gives us a hint about how this works in this help document: https://support.google.com/business/answer/2721884

The act of adding a phone number to the profile is not going to open up the option for phone verification. However, if the algorithm trusts that the phone number is associated with the business, then the phone verification option might appear.

How you can create that trust is unclear. I believe having it on your website, your Facebook Page, etc. probably helps. Also, I suspect time matters; if Google found a phone number on your website years ago, that's likely going to be a more trusted number than one you added yesterday. And based on that help document, it's possible that Google buys phone data, so they might have third-party records associating a phone number with a business. (But these ideas are all speculation.)

 

[mktgabor]

@mktgabor - If you're managing 60+ locations and running into issues with the standard Google Business Profile verification process, applying for bulk verification is definitely the right move. It’s designed for businesses with 10 or more locations and can save you a lot of time and hassle. The application process is pretty straightforward. Once approved, future listings you add should also verify much faster.

Thank you, @David Weller. Our main account is bulk verified. We created a second account a few years ago when we hit 100 listings because we stopped getting review notification emails. Would you know what the current process for getting an account bulk verified would be? Respectfully, Gabor

 

[mktgabor]

@mktgabor - Google gives us a hint about how this works in this help document: https://support.google.com/business/answer/2721884

The act of adding a phone number to the profile is not going to open up the option for phone verification. However, if the algorithm trusts that the phone number is associated with the business, then the phone verification option might appear.

How you can create that trust is unclear. I believe having it on your website, your Facebook Page, etc. probably helps. Also, I suspect time matters; if Google found a phone number on your website years ago, that's likely going to be a more trusted number than one you added yesterday. And based on that help document, it's possible that Google buys phone data, so they might have third-party records associating a phone number with a business. (But these ideas are all speculation.)

Thank you, @Stefan Somborac for all of your assistance. There are solid reasons behind why various parts of my company are deciding to change phone numbers, practice names, etc. We just run into the Great Wall of Google and have to find ways of getting through.

Because we have been adding and moving so many physician listings in the last 6 months, which coincides with Google getting more difficult on verifications for us, I'm pitching a reduction of about 75% of our physician listings and not creating individual physician listings in the future. The alternative I'm pitching is to focus on medical specialty/practice location. We can still feature the doctors in the description, photos, updates, etc. but should a new doctor start or a doctor leave, the change process would be far easier and much less likely to trigger reverification. I believe that this will also improve our local SEO as we won't be spreading our reviews among the individual physician listings AND the practice listings, but rather focus reviews primarily to the practice listings. This will also make it far easier of an ask of the practice staff, versus what we have today.

If I have a medical group listing that represents multiple specialties (endocrinology, primary care, urology, rheumatology, etc.) and I were to make the primary category Medical Group or Medical Office and then the secondary categories would be the specialties that we have there. Does that appear sound from a SEO and Google best practices perspective?

 

[Stefan Somborac]

It's a double-edged sword. As you point out, practitioner profiles can siphon off reviews from the main, clinic profile. But if the main clinic profile uses a generic primary category like "medical group" it might suffer from a visibility/SEO perspective.

Here's a thought: use practitioner profiles strategically. Say one particular clinic is not ranking well for a specific type of query, say, urology. Create one practitioner profile for a urologist to help get that search traffic. (This might also have a hidden advantage: you don't have to manage nearly so many practitioner profiles.)