SEO · 6 min read
Google Business Profile for care homes: the free listing families find first
When a family types "care homes near me" or "dementia care in Cardiff" into Google, the first thing they see usually isn't a website at all. It's a small map with three homes pinned to it, each with a star rating, a phone number and a photo. That box — Google's local "map pack" — sits above the ordinary blue links, and it's where a large share of care enquiries now begin. The listings inside it are drawn from something many homes have never properly set up: their Google Business Profile. It's free, it's quick to sort out, and for most homes it's the single highest-return thing you can do online. Here's how to make yours work.
What a Google Business Profile actually is
Your Google Business Profile is the free listing Google shows in Search and Maps — your name, photos, reviews, opening hours, phone number, a "Directions" button and a link to your site. It's separate from your website, and that catches people out: you can have a lovely website and a near-empty profile, and quietly lose enquiries to a plainer home with a fuller one. Think of the profile as your shopfront on the map and your website as the room families step into once they're interested. It works alongside the rest of your care home SEO, but it's the part with the fastest payback.
Claim it — and verify it — before anything else
Search your home's name on Google. If a listing already exists — Google often creates a basic one automatically — claim that one rather than making a second. You'll then verify that the home is really yours, usually by a short video, a phone call or a posted code. Verification matters: until it's done you can't edit key details or reply to reviews, and anyone can suggest changes to your listing. Everything else in this guide depends on getting through this step, so start here.
Get the core details exactly right
Your name, address and phone number — what the trade calls your "NAP" — need to match your website and every other listing exactly, character for character: your CIW or CQC page, carehome.co.uk, your Facebook page, old directories. Inconsistent details are one of the most common reasons a home simply doesn't appear. Choose the most accurate primary category ("Nursing home", "Retirement home" or "Aged care", depending on what you offer) and add secondary ones that fit. Fill in your hours, including whether someone can call at the weekend, and write a plain, honest description of who you care for and where you are.
Photos do more of the persuading than words
After the star rating, photos are the next thing a worried relative looks at. Upload real, recent pictures of the actual home — a bright lounge, a bedroom, the garden, a warm moment in a communal room — not stock images or a single tired shot of the car park. Homes with genuine, plentiful photos get noticeably more clicks and more "Directions" taps than those without. Add a few new ones every couple of months, too; a profile that's obviously looked after reassures people, while one frozen in 2019 quietly suggests a home that's stopped paying attention.
Reviews are the engine
Reviews do two jobs at once: they lift you in the local results, and they're often the deciding factor for the family reading them. You don't need hundreds — a steady trickle of recent, genuine reviews beats a big pile from three years ago. Ask at the natural moments, when a family has just told you how happy they are, and make it easy by sending a direct link. Then reply to every review, warmly and briefly, the critical ones included: a calm, human response to a hard review often reassures the next reader more than a wall of five stars does. Never buy reviews or post fake ones — Google is good at spotting it, and families can usually tell too.
Keep it alive with posts and questions
Google lets you publish short "posts" straight to your listing — an open day, a new activities coordinator, a fresh inspection rating, a vacancy you're trying to fill. They keep the profile looking active and give families a reason to choose you. It's also worth checking the questions section, where anyone can ask and anyone can answer. Seed it with the questions families really ask about funding, visiting and respite, and answer them yourself, so the first reply people see is a correct one from the home rather than a guess from a stranger.
The mistakes that hold homes back
A few habits do real damage. Stuffing keywords into your business name — "Sunnyvale Dementia Nursing Care Home Cardiff" — breaks Google's rules and can get the whole listing suspended; put those words in the description and categories instead. Running two listings for one home splits your reviews and confuses Google about which to show. Letting details drift out of date — old hours, a number that now rings out, an enquiry line no one checks — costs you calls you never even hear about. And treating the profile as "done" the day you set it up: it rewards steady attention far more than a single busy afternoon.
None of this needs a budget or a specialist. Your Google Business Profile costs nothing but an hour or so a month, and for most homes it's where the enquiry journey genuinely starts. Get it claimed, filled in and looked after, then make sure it points to a fast, findable care website that earns the visit once families click through. That pairing — a strong profile and a site built to convert — is the local groundwork we lay for care homes across South Wales and beyond, and it sits at the heart of proper healthcare SEO.
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