Claim it before you improve it
An unclaimed listing can still show up, but you cannot change anything on it, and anyone can suggest edits that go live without you seeing them.
Claiming is free and usually verified by postcard, phone or video. Until that is done, everything below is out of your control.
Fill in all seven days of hours
Missing hours are the most common gap we see, and they cost twice. Google treats an incomplete profile as lower quality, and a patient who cannot tell whether you are open often does not call to find out.
Add your actual break times too. A listing that says open 9 to 9 when you break from 2 to 5 generates angry walk-ins, not bookings.
Photos do more work than the description
Add the building front so people can find you, the reception so they know what to expect, the treatment room, and the team.
The building front matters more than most clinics think. A patient standing on the road looking for your entrance is the moment a listing either helps or fails.
Pick the most specific category
Your primary category decides which searches you can appear in at all. Dentist and dental clinic are not the same query. Neither are eye clinic and ophthalmologist.
Choose the one that matches what people actually type, then add secondary categories for the rest.
Reviews are the tiebreaker
Between two clinics with similar ratings, patients choose the one with more reviews. Volume signals that other people have been there recently.
A steady trickle beats a burst. Ten reviews a month for a year looks healthier than a hundred in one week, to patients and to Google.
In short. Claim the listing, fill every field, add real photos, then build reviews steadily. Most clinics never get past the first step.