Chapter two has already established that Google has no categories for most interventional treatments. This is the lesson that solves that problem. The services list accepts custom entries, which makes it the primary place you can name what you actually provide.
Why the services list matters so much
Unlike categories, services are not restricted to a fixed list. You can add custom entries with your own names and descriptions. For an interventional practice, this is the difference between a profile saying only that you are a psychiatrist and one saying exactly which treatments you administer.
It is also the most commonly empty section on clinic profiles. Practices spend weeks agonising over categories and leave the field that accepts free text completely blank.
Building your services list
Add one entry per distinct treatment or service, using the name a patient would recognise:
- Each interventional treatment you provide, named plainly.
- Psychiatric evaluation and diagnostic assessment.
- Medication management.
- Treatment-resistant depression consultation.
- Virtual consultation, if offered.
- Any therapy modalities delivered on site.
Use the real product or treatment names correctly. Where a treatment is a registered trademark, use the mark as a brand and not as a generic label for its whole class.
Writing service descriptions
Each service takes a short description. This is prime space and it is almost always wasted or left empty. Describe process and logistics, which is what patients want and what keeps you clear of efficacy claims:
- What happens at the appointment, in order.
- How long a session takes, including any monitoring period.
- How many visits a typical course involves.
- Whether the patient needs someone to drive them home.
- Whether an evaluation is required first.
- Insurance and self-pay basics.
Do not write outcome claims, success rates, or comparisons. Chapter one covers the limits, and they apply in full here. Notably, factual process detail also outperforms promotional language with patients, so the compliant version is usually the better version.
Attributes worth setting
Attributes are structured facts that appear on your profile and feed filters. Set every one that is accurate:
- Accessibility: wheelchair accessible entrance, parking, and restroom. Genuinely used as a filter.
- Health and care: online care and telehealth indicators where offered.
- Appointments: appointment required, accepts new patients, online booking.
- Payments: accepted methods, insurance acceptance where the attribute exists.
- Amenities: restroom, wifi, gender-neutral restroom.
- Planning: whether a referral is needed.
- Identity attributes: only where accurate and where you wish to display them.
Never set an attribute that is not true. Accessibility attributes in particular create a real expectation, and a patient who cannot get through your door has been actively misled.
Keeping it current
Services drift. Review the list whenever you add or retire a treatment, change your accepted plans, or stop taking new patients. The accepting new patients signal is worth particular attention: leaving it on while you have a three-month waitlist generates enquiries you cannot serve and reviews you will not enjoy.
A complete services list with real descriptions, plus accurate attributes, is a genuine relevance advantage, and it takes an afternoon. Photos are next.