Local SEO and Google Business Profile Overhaul for a Nairobi and Mombasa Clinic Group
Anonymised private healthcare clinic group
Context
Our client operates a group of outpatient clinics with branches across Nairobi, including locations in Westlands and South B, and a branch in Mombasa near Nyali. The group offers general consultations, diagnostics, and a small number of specialist services, competing for patients who typically search on their phones for something like "clinic near me" or "doctor open now" when symptoms arise rather than planning visits in advance. This makes local search visibility, and specifically Google's map pack results, one of the most important channels available to a business like this, arguably more important than the group's own website.
Each branch had been set up on Google Business Profile independently over several years by different staff members, with no central ownership or consistent naming, categories, or information across locations.
The Problem
The Google Business Profile listings were a mess. The South B branch had two duplicate listings, one from years earlier at a previous address the clinic had since left. The Mombasa branch had incorrect operating hours that did not reflect its actual extended weekend hours, causing confused patients to call asking if it was open. None of the branches had a consistent primary category, with one listed as "medical clinic," another as "doctor," and a third simply as "hospital," which fragmented how Google understood and ranked the group as a whole.
Review management was similarly neglected. Response rate to patient reviews was under 10 percent, and a cluster of negative reviews about wait times at the Westlands branch sat unanswered for over a year, sitting prominently near the top of the profile for anyone researching before a visit.
On the website side, there was a single generic "locations" page listing all branches with a few lines of text each, no dedicated page per branch, and no content addressing common local search queries like which clinics near a given area offer walk in consultations or accept specific insurance providers, a genuinely important search behaviour among Nairobi patients comparing options quickly.
What We Did
Audited and consolidated every Google Business Profile listing. We merged the duplicate South B listing, verified ownership of all profiles under a single central account, corrected operating hours and holiday schedules for every branch, and standardised categories across the group so Google could clearly associate all locations with the same core service type.
Built out complete, accurate profile information for each branch. This included updated photos of each clinic's actual waiting area and entrance, since patients frequently choose based on how a clinic looks before they arrive, accurate service lists per branch since not every location offered every specialist service, and correct insurance and payment information including which branches accepted mobile money payments for consultation fees.
Created a structured review response and generation process. We wrote response templates for common review scenarios, cleared the backlog of unanswered reviews within the first two weeks, and set up a simple post visit SMS asking satisfied patients to leave a review, timed to arrive an hour after their appointment while the experience was still fresh.
Built dedicated location pages on the website. Each branch received its own page with locally relevant content, directions referencing recognisable Nairobi and Mombasa landmarks, parking information, and a clear list of services and specialists available at that specific site rather than a group wide generic list.
Developed location specific content addressing real local search behaviour. We created pages and short guides answering questions like which Nairobi clinics offer walk in service on weekends and what to expect from a general consultation, structured to rank for the branch specific and near me style queries patients actually use.
Set up call tracking on each Google Business Profile listing. This let the group see, branch by branch, how many calls originated directly from Google search and maps rather than relying on front desk staff to ask and record how each patient found them.
Results
Within four months, combined map pack visibility across tracked local search terms rose 2.8x, with the most significant gains at the previously fragmented South B and Mombasa branches. Calls attributed directly to Google Business Profile listings rose 47 percent, a meaningful shift for a business where phone calls remain the dominant path from search to booked appointment. Average star rating across the group rose modestly as the review response process took hold and new reviews began outweighing the old unanswered cluster. Cost per new patient acquired through digital channels fell 34 percent, largely because local search now carried volume that had previously required paid promotion to replace.
What We Would Do Differently
We would have insisted on centralising ownership of the Google Business Profile listings before doing any other work, since the early weeks lost time chasing down which staff member at which branch held admin access to which listing. We also initially treated the review response backlog as a lower priority than the technical profile fixes, and in hindsight should have started clearing negative unanswered reviews on day one given how visibly they sat on the Westlands profile. Finally, we would build the branch specific insurance and payment information pages earlier, since once they went live we saw a disproportionate amount of engagement on them relative to their small size, suggesting this was a sharper piece of unmet demand than our initial content plan accounted for.
Client identity withheld under a confidentiality agreement. Figures come from engagement reporting and are rounded.
Ready to build your own growth system?
Tell us your goals and we will show you exactly how we would approach it.
Book Your Free Strategy Call →