Almost every Indian doctor we speak to has a Practo profile. Most also have some presence on Google. But when it comes to where to invest real time and budget, the answer isn't obvious — and the wrong choice can mean months of effort with minimal patient return.
Having managed digital growth for 20+ healthcare professionals across India, here's our honest comparison.
Practo: Strengths and Limitations
What Practo Does Well
Intent is extremely high. When someone is on Practo, they are actively looking to book a doctor. The platform captures patients who are already in decision mode — they're not browsing or researching, they're ready to book. This gives Practo-sourced leads a very high conversion rate once you appear.
Specialty filters benefit niche specialists. Patients searching for an "interventional cardiologist" or "paediatric orthopaedic surgeon" on Practo are filtered immediately to the right specialty. On Google, these searches often return general results before specialty-specific ones.
Review credibility. Practo verifies that reviewers are actual patients, which gives its reviews more credibility than anonymous Google reviews. A 4.8 on Practo carries more weight in certain demographics.
Practo's Limitations
You're renting visibility, not owning it. Your Practo listing lives on Practo's platform. If they change their algorithm, raise prices, or go offline, your visibility disappears. You have no ownership of the patient data generated through their platform.
Cost scales with success. Practo's prime listing features require paid subscriptions, and the cost increases for competitive specialties in metro cities. You are, in effect, paying for visibility in someone else's ecosystem.
Limited local reach. Practo performs best in metros. In tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Practo penetration drops sharply — Google Maps and WhatsApp are the dominant patient discovery tools.
Google: The Long-Term Asset
What Google Does Well
You own the visibility. A well-optimised Google Business Profile and clinic website represent assets you own. Once built, organic Google rankings don't require ongoing payments to maintain. This is fundamentally different from Practo's model.
Wider reach. Google has a dramatically larger audience than Practo. Every patient in India uses Google. Practo's user base, while substantial, is a subset.
Future-proof through AI. As Google AI Overviews become standard, your Google presence is the foundation for GEO (AI search) visibility. There's no equivalent pathway from Practo to AI search citation.
Google's Limitations
Takes longer to build. Google Maps rankings and organic search visibility take 3–6 months of consistent optimisation to establish. Practo can generate visible results faster for a new clinic.
The Verdict: Both, in the Right Order
Use Practo to generate immediate patient flow while your Google presence is being built. Once your Google Maps ranking and clinic website are generating consistent organic traffic (typically at the 4–6 month mark), your reliance on Practo naturally decreases. The goal is to eventually own your patient acquisition channel rather than renting it indefinitely.
Priority order:
- Claim and fully optimise your Google Business Profile (free, high ROI, foundational)
- Launch a basic, well-structured clinic website
- Activate Practo for immediate lead flow while Google builds
- Invest in Google Maps SEO and content for long-term owned visibility
📊 Practygo data: Clients who invest in Google-first strategy for 12+ months generate an average of 2.4× more monthly enquiries than equivalent clients who rely primarily on Practo — at lower ongoing cost.