I am Bhuwan Kshetri. Born in Nepal, living in New Zealand, I help businesses get more visible online by optimising their Google profile. The rankings on this site run off that same public Google data, and this guide is what I would tell a cousin who just opened a clinic in Baneshwor and asked, “Why am I not on the map?”
Do these first, the rest can wait
Claim or create the Google listing.
Fill in the name, the pin, the hours, the photos and the category.
Ask two happy customers a day for a Google review.
Reply to every review.
Steps 5 to 7 help. They do not save a listing with eight reviews and the wrong category.
What this is
When someone types “physio Baneshwor” or “फिजियोथेरापी काठमाडौं,” Google does not show a blog. It shows a map and three names. Those three get the call. Everyone else is under a tap most people never press.
Local SEO is just the work that decides whether you are one of those three. Not your logo. Not a new website. The listing on Google, the pin on the door, and the reviews next to your name.
Try this in the next two minutes
On your phone, search your trade and your area. Look at the top three. That is who you are losing to today.
Examples people actually type: momo near Thamel. Electrician Patan. Dental clinic Chabahil. Consultancy Putalisadak. Guest house Lakeside Pokhara.
The seven steps, in the order that pays
Step 1: Get the Google listing in your name
Fifteen minutes, free, the non-negotiable one
Three situations, and each needs something different.
- Nothing on the map: create one at google.com/business.
- A card exists but you cannot edit it: claim it.
- The old staff Gmail is gone: recover access. Do not start a second listing.
Google will ask you to prove you run the place. Video of the signboard is the usual method now. Postcard to a Kathmandu address is slow. Do not pick postcard if video is offered.
Use a Google account the business owns. When the receptionist leaves and takes the Gmail, the listing goes with them. That happens constantly here.
Step 2: Fill it like a real shop, not an ad
One afternoon, free
Name: the words on the signboard, not “Best Physio Clinic Kathmandu Cheap.”
Category: Physiotherapist, not “Medical clinic.”
Address: landmark plus floor. Drag the pin to the actual door. “Kathmandu” alone is useless.
Hours: including whether you close for Dashain and Tihar.
Phone: one number, the same one on Facebook and the signboard.
Photos: the front, the room, the work, in daylight. Ten is better than one.
A Baneshwor clinic, before and after
- Before
- Best Physio Clinic Kathmandu Nepal. Category: Medical clinic. Address: Kathmandu. No hours. One photo. “We provide the best service.”
- After
- Sagarmatha Physiotherapy Centre. Category: Physiotherapist. Address: New Baneshwor, opposite Everest Hotel gate, second floor. Pin on the door. Hours set. Dashain marked closed. Fourteen photos. Services listed one by one.
Step 3: Ask for reviews the day they feel better
Ongoing, free, the habit that compounds
Do not buy reviews. Google deletes them, and a pile of five-star reviews in one week looks fake.
Ask while the person is still in front of you. Send the Google review link on WhatsApp. A QR code on the bill helps. Two asks a day is enough.
Write the message in the language they spoke. Nepali in, Nepali out.
Step 4: Reply to every review
A few minutes a week, free
A good review: thank them by name and mention what they came in for.
A bad review: apologise, say what you will fix, and take it to WhatsApp. Do not fight in public.
Step 5: If you have a website, say where you work
One paragraph, free if you already have a site
One paragraph that names the area: Baneshwor, Lazimpat, Lakeside. Put the name, address and phone as real text in the footer, not only as a picture.
No website? That is fine. Keep Facebook accurate. Google still ranks the listing first.
Step 6: Use the same name and phone in a few real places
One afternoon, free
The Google listing, Facebook, Yellow Pages Nepal, NepalYP, and your professional body if you have one.
Five clean listings beat fifty junk directories. Do not pay someone who promises two hundred citations.
Step 7: Touch it once a month
Ten minutes a month, free
Add two photos. Reply to new reviews. Fix the hours before Dashain. Answer a question on the listing if someone asked one.
A listing that last changed in 2023 looks closed.
What about ChatGPT?
More people now ask an assistant “best physio in Baneshwor” instead of scrolling a map. The assistant reads the same public information: your Google listing, your reviews, and a few other sites that mention you.
There is no special AI trick. A complete listing with recent reviews is what gets you named. After you finish steps 1 to 4, ask ChatGPT and Gemini the question a customer would actually ask, in English and in Nepali, and see if you appear.
This is not only a Kathmandu problem
Fewer listings are complete in Pokhara, Itahari and Butwal, so a shop that fills the profile and asks for reviews can move faster there than in the valley.
Questions I get
How long does this take?
The listing can be live within days. Reviews take months. A steady trickle of real reviews beats one big burst.
Do I need an agency for this?
Not for steps 1 to 4. Those are things any owner can do directly, in an afternoon, with no special tools.
Should this be in English or Nepali?
Match what people actually search for, not what reads better to you. Many clinics genuinely need both.
What if I have no shop and go to the customer instead?
Set a service area on the listing instead of an address. Everything else, especially asking for reviews, still applies.
Is Facebook enough on its own?
No. The map that shows up in a Google search is Google's own, not Facebook's.
Does this help me on Top Rated Nepal?
Yes, because this site scores public Google reviews, and paying cannot buy a higher place. The same reviews that help you here help you everywhere else you show up on Google.