For most family doctor profiles the best primary category is Family practice physician — use it when: individual family physician. Choose Medical clinic instead if clinic or group practice brand. Choose General practitioner instead if common in UK/AU/CA (GP surgery). Health categories describe who is licensed to treat patients at this location, so match them to the clinicians on site rather than to every treatment on your website.
Open the free tool for a family doctor → tick what you really offer and get a copy-ready setup sheet
Primary category
- Family practice physician — Individual family physician
- Medical clinic — Clinic or group practice brand
- General practitioner — Common in UK/AU/CA (GP surgery)
Secondary (additional) categories
Add one only if the condition is genuinely true at this location. Fewer, accurate categories beat a full list of nine.
- Urgent care center — only if: walk-in urgent care who else uses it
- Pediatrician — only if: children's appointments by a pediatrician who else uses it
- Vaccination center — only if: vaccinations / travel clinic who else uses it
- Medical laboratory — only if: on-site lab tests who else uses it
Categories to avoid
These are often added to family doctor profiles but usually describe a different or broader business:
- Hospital
- Emergency room
- Pharmacy
Address or service area?
Usually a storefront: show the full address exactly as it appears on your signage, and keep it identical on Google, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places and your website. Service-area vs storefront rules.
Starter services to add
Categories say what you are; services say what you do. Good first entries:
- Annual physical / check-up
- Vaccinations
- Chronic condition management
Check before you change anything
Search “family doctor” on Google Maps in your own area, open the top few profiles and note their primary category (shown under the business name). Use what's common as a sanity check, not a template — your categories must describe your business. Ready to switch? How to change your category safely.
Profile problems?
Suspended, stuck in verification, or not showing on Maps? See the free fix guides: suspended profile · verification failed · not on Maps · name rules.