One hospital, several clinics, multiple practitioners: how many Business Profiles are appropriate?

Google's own guidelines describe departments within hospitals, universities, businesses and government institutions as potentially eligible for their own profiles — but only when the department operates as a genuinely distinct, public-facing entity. Google's illustrative example is a hospital's Department of Dermatology: a name different from the main hospital, typically its own customer entrance, a distinct most-representative category, and hours that may differ from the main institution's.

• Distinct name Google guideline

  Different from the main business and from any other department — not just a wing or floor label.

• Typically its own entrance Google guideline

  A department sharing the main building's single public entrance is a weaker case.

• A distinct, specific category Google guideline

  Its own most-representative category, separate from the parent organisation's.

• Hours that may genuinely differ Google guideline

  If it keeps the same hours as the main building for no operational reason, that's a signal it isn't really distinct.

Illustrative candidates worth weighing against those tests: the main hospital itself (clearly its own profile); a hospital pharmacy that is distinct enough to have its own public entrance and signage (may qualify as a department); a public imaging department with its own waiting area and booking process (may qualify); a specialist outpatient clinic with its own name and hours (may qualify). None of these is automatic — each needs to be checked against the full set of tests, not approved just because it sounds separate.

A different entrance, floor, waiting room or name on its own isn't enough. Google's acceptable examples (a hospital dermatology department, a distinct optical centre, a branded café within a larger business) are genuinely separate operations; its rejected examples (a product section in a shop, a hot food bar in a shopping centre) show that cosmetic separation inside one operation doesn't qualify.

• Appointment booking. Where a department or practitioner takes appointments rather than walk-ins, that should be reflected accurately rather than implying walk-in availability that doesn't exist.
• Accessibility attributes. Google supports attributes covering step-free entrances, accessible toilets, accessible parking and hearing loops — worth setting accurately per location, since accessibility needs genuinely vary building to building.
• Department hours. A department with its own profile puts its own hours on that profile; it shouldn't simply inherit the main hospital's hours if its actual opening times differ.
• Emergency vs. routine. An emergency department's availability and a routine outpatient clinic's booked hours are different things and shouldn't be blurred into one set of hours or one implied level of availability.
• Accurate service descriptions. List what a department or practitioner actually provides; avoid describing capacity or specialisms that aren't genuinely offered.
• Location accuracy. For large sites, make sure the mapped pin and address correspond to where patients should actually arrive, particularly where a department has a separate entrance from the main building.