Google Business Profile for hypnotherapists: what to put in each section

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your practice in Google Maps and in the map results on Google Search. For a hypnotherapist, the short version is this: fill in every section truthfully, use your real business name, choose an accurate category, add real photos, then ask every client who finishes with you for a review. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and a complete profile with genuine reviews helps with the two you can influence.

I've run Google Ads for hypnotherapists, and only hypnotherapists, for over 12 years across Australia, the UK, the US and Canada. The profile isn't an ads product, but it's often the first thing someone checks after seeing an ad. In October 2026 we went through our own HypnoLeadFlo profile section by section, so where I mention our profile, that's what we actually changed, checked against Google's own guidelines. If you'd rather talk it through, you can book a call with me.

The short answer: complete it, then get reviews

The two things that matter most on a hypnotherapy Business Profile are complete, accurate information and a steady flow of genuine reviews.

Google's own tips to improve your local ranking come down to a short list: verify the business, make your information as complete as possible, keep your hours accurate, add photos and videos, and reply to reviews. The same page says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.

Most profiles I look at are half done: a name, a phone number, maybe a logo. Finishing it costs an afternoon. Reviews take longer, because they only come from real clients, one at a time.

What actually helps you show in the map

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known your business is).

Distance is out of your hands. Relevance is where the profile does the work: the right category, a plain description and a services list that names the issues you help with. Prominence is partly reviews and partly how well known you are generally.

Beyond what Google publishes, I won't pretend to know the exact weighting, and I'd be wary of anyone selling a precise list of "ranking factors". Google also says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Can you have a profile if you work from home or online?

You can have a Business Profile if you see clients in person during your stated hours, but Google says online-only businesses aren't eligible.

Google's eligibility guidelines say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. If every session you run is on Zoom, a profile isn't open to you.

If you have rooms with permanent signage, list the address. Google's guidelines for representing your business don't accept PO boxes or virtual offices, and expect permanent signage at a storefront address.

If you work from home, it's less clear-cut. Google's other option is a service-area business: you remove the address and list up to 20 areas you serve instead, such as suburbs, towns or postcodes, generally within about two hours' drive of your base. Google's examples are plumbers and cleaners who travel to customers, and its guidelines expect signage at any address you show. So if clients come to your home, read those two pages before you choose which set-up fits.

Either way, it's one profile per practice. Google says a practitioner shouldn't have several profiles to cover different specialties, so no separate listings for anxiety, smoking and sleep.

Each section and what to write

Each section of your Business Profile should say plainly and truthfully who you are, where you see people and what you help with, in the words a client would use.

Business name

Use your real-world name: the one on your website, invoices and signage. Google's guidelines don't allow service or location information in the name, so "Jane Smith Hypnotherapy" is fine if that's your trading name, and "Jane Smith Anxiety Hypnotherapy Brisbane" isn't unless that's genuinely the name. Our own profile still carried an old business name, so we changed it to HypnoLeadFlo, the name we actually trade under. Expect a name change to sit in review before it shows.

Category

Choose one primary category that says what the practice is. Google asks you to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business, and not to use categories as keywords. Its test is that the category finishes the sentence "This business is a", not "This business has a". Type "hypnotherapy" into the category box and choose the closest match Google offers.

Hours

Read Google's hours rule before you fill this in. The guidelines say businesses that operate only by appointment shouldn't provide hours, and plenty of hypnotherapy practices work exactly that way. If you do list hours, they have to be true. Ours said "Open 24 hours", which it never was, so we corrected it.

Phone

Google says the number must be under your direct control. Use one you answer, or one that goes to a system that replies when you're in session. If your profile is linked to Google Ads, be deliberate here. I've seen Google put a linked profile's number on a practice's ads, so calls from paid ads rang a personal mobile and never reached the follow-up system.

Website

Link to your homepage or main service page, with tracking tags so your analytics can separate visits from the profile. Ours points to our homepage with utm_source=google, utm_medium=organic and utm_campaign=gbp on the end.

Description

You get up to 750 characters. Google's business information guidelines say no URLs or HTML, and to focus on the business rather than promotions, prices or sales. Say what you help with, how sessions work, where, and how long you've been practising. Don't promise outcomes or use words like "cure". We rewrote ours the way I'd explain it on the phone. A hypnotherapy version might read:

Jane Smith Hypnotherapy helps adults with anxiety, overthinking, sleep problems and phobias. Sessions are one-to-one in a quiet room in [suburb], and every client starts with a short consultation to talk about what's going on and whether hypnotherapy is a good fit. I've been practising since [year] and I'm a member of [association]. Results vary from person to person.

Services

Add each main issue you work with as a service, with one or two factual sentences about it. We added six to our own profile. If you add prices, keep them the same as your website.

Photos and videos

Use real photos only: your logo, a cover image, you and the room. Google's photo and video guidelines say photos should be in focus, well lit and represent reality, in JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, with 720 by 720 pixels recommended. Videos can be up to 30 seconds. Our testimonial videos run longer than that, so we cut short highlights to fit. Never post a photo or video of a client without their written consent.

Posts

Posts are short updates on your profile. We put up our first one in October 2026. I wouldn't treat them as a ranking lever, because Google doesn't mention posts in its ranking tips. They're for the person reading your profile.

Section by section: a quick reference

This table sums up what to put in each Business Profile section and why it matters for a hypnotherapy practice.

Getting reviews, step by step

The way to get Google reviews is to ask every client, every time, with a direct link, and never offer anything in return.

Google's rules are plain: reviews can't be bought, incentivised or gated, which means only asking the people you expect to be happy. Asking a client who's happy with their sessions is fine, as long as everyone else gets the same ask.

1. Get your review link. Open your profile at business.google.com, choose Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link. Google's help page on review links says the QR code version can only be made on a computer, not a phone.
2. Ask everyone who finishes with you. Not just the clients you expect five stars from. Google's policy on fake engagement says businesses can't selectively ask for positive reviews or discourage negative ones.
3. Ask in person, then send the link the same day. A quick word at the end of the last session, then a text or email while it's fresh. They'll need a Google Account to post, and it doesn't have to be a Gmail address.
4. Tell them they can keep it general. Many clients don't want to say publicly what they came in for, and they don't have to.
5. Never pay or offer anything for a review. No discount, free session or gift. Google removes paid and incentivised reviews, and reviews from family or anyone with a conflict of interest aren't allowed either.
6. Reply to every review. Briefly, politely and without personal details.
7. Make the ask part of your routine. If your booking system or CRM can send the review link automatically after the final session, set that up.

Reviews are slow, and I won't pretend otherwise. Our own profile had no reviews when we started working on it in October 2026, and the only honest way to change that is asking people who genuinely worked with us.

Replying to reviews without breaking confidentiality

Reply to every review briefly and politely, and never confirm what a client came to see you about, even if they mentioned it themselves.

Google's tips on replying to reviews say to keep replies short and professional, avoid the same generic thank-you for everyone, skip promotions, and protect the reviewer's privacy. For a negative review, acknowledge it, apologise where it's appropriate, and invite the person to contact you directly.

"Thanks so much, Sarah, I really appreciate you taking the time" is a good reply. "So glad the sessions for your panic attacks worked" is not, because you've just published a client's health information. I'd also check your professional association's code on testimonials and reviews, since some have their own rules.

What not to do with your Business Profile

The quickest way to damage a Business Profile is to try to game it: keywords in the name, a second profile, a virtual office address, photos that aren't really yours, or reviews you paid for.

Each of those is against Google's guidelines, and none of it is worth the risk to a listing that takes months to build.

The profile is one of the best free things you can do for a local practice, but it builds slowly, and you can't control when it starts bringing in enquiries. I'd set it up properly once, keep the review habit going, and pair it with something that brings in clients now. I've compared the options in how to get hypnotherapy clients and in my honest guide to hypnotherapy marketing, and if you're weighing up the free route against paid, SEO or Google Ads first covers that.

If you'd like Google Search ads bringing in consults while your profile builds, see if your area is free. HypnoLeadFlo has generated over $6M in client bookings for hypnotherapists, and we only take one practice per area.

James Brine

Founder of HypnoLeadFlo. I've spent 12+ years running Google Ads for hypnotherapists and nothing else, across Australia, the UK, the US and Canada. My clients' campaigns have generated $6M+ in client bookings. I only work with one practice per area.