You may have already come across Google Posts. They were first teased out in January 2016 as a tool for politicians to gain online traction during campaign season. A few months later, Google Posts launched for a small number of local businesses and have since continued to expand from industry to industry, incorporating healthcare in the process.

What are Google Posts? An overview. 

Google Posts come in an eye-catching “card-like format” and live within a business’s knowledge panel. The free feature is similar to Facebook posts visually and functionally. Doctors can use them to highlight promotions, patient reviews, or any other content you want to showcase in your knowledge panel.

Here’s what it looks like within the knowledge panel: 

You can even upload videos!

Why are Google Posts important? 

Google Posts give your practice more coverage on the world’s most powerful search engine. They’re also thought to affect ranking within search results, though given Google’s secrecy around its algorithm, it’s hard to say definitively how much impact they truly have. Still, experts agree that Google Posts are a low-effort way to amplify your visibility on Google, improve consumer engagement, and even increase appointment bookings. And with colorful images and direct calls to action, patients are more likely to click through to your content.

How does Doctor.com leverage Google Posts for clients? 

While anyone has the ability to manually create a Google Post, Doctor.com has introduced a new feature that saves eligible customers time and puts great reviews front and center. When you enable the new feature, our technology starts creating images and text from your four- and five-star patient reviews (collected through the ReviewHub™) and auto-publishing them once a week in the form of Google Posts. Brightly colored calls to action also direct patients to book appointments online. This supplements your review-collection efforts by broadcasting the best patient testimonials on Google in addition to Healthgrades, Vitals, and the other sites Doctor.com partners with.

Here’s what Doctor.com testimonials in Google Posts look like:

Learn more about how Doctor.com partners and works with Google here. For a deeper dive into leveraging every tool Google offers practices, watch our webinar: “How to Conquer Google and Outrank the Competition.”