US Healthcare Google Benchmarks 2026: 9 specialties, 20 cities
How does your specialty compare on Google? We studied 9,452 US healthcare and aesthetic businesses across 9 specialties and 20 metros. Ratings are high everywhere; review depth and weekend access vary enormously between specialties and cities.
- Deepest review profiles: Dental (typical 319.5 reviews); thinnest: Hair Restoration (33).
- Most open at weekends: Med Spa (74.2%); fewest: Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery (14.5%).
- Highest average rating: Physical Therapy (4.89★); lowest: Dermatology (4.62★).
- Full patient-review studies: med spa and dental; more specialties to follow.
- Every practice welcome — retainers from $499/mo, Goals-Driven engagements, Performance-Linked Payout Models available.
- Dallas, Texas LLC
- US client team · Central Time (CST)
- 25+ US healthcare clients
- BAA signed with every client
- HIPAA compliance training across client and delivery teams
- Contracts and invoices in USD
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Primary Care · North Dallas, TXCase study →
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MedSpa · North Dallas, TX
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Skin Care · Beverly Hills, CA
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Dental · Christiansburg, VACase study →
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Pediatrics · Blacksburg, VACase study →
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Pediatric Dentistry · Blacksburg, VACase study →
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Dental · Roanoke, VACase study →
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Functional Medicine · Telehealth · USACase study →
“They were able to get all my ideas and work with me over a period of three to four months and create this amazing website. It's super customized, very modern, and it incorporates all the elements that I had wanted — the patient portal, nice pictures, a very interactive website, patient reviews. I would highly recommend their company to anyone who wants to make an excellent website.”
9 specialties on Google, side by side
Short answer: every specialty averages 4.62★ or higher, but a typical dental profile has several times the reviews of a typical hair restoration profile.
| Specialty | Studied | Avg rating | Typical reviews | 500+ reviews | Under 50 | Open a weekend day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental | 2,318 | 4.79★ | 319.5 | 30.9% | 9.1% | 25.5% |
| Med Spa | 555 | 4.87★ | 148 | 13% | 15.9% | 74.2% |
| Dermatology | 1,330 | 4.62★ | 125 | 19.7% | 31.1% | 27.5% |
| Chiropractic | 1,035 | 4.77★ | 125 | 11.1% | 27% | 30.8% |
| Physical Therapy | 854 | 4.89★ | 122 | 2.9% | 22% | 20.6% |
| Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery | 874 | 4.74★ | 107 | 7.7% | 29.9% | 14.5% |
| IV Therapy & Wellness | 1,535 | 4.81★ | 52 | 4.6% | 48.4% | 65% |
| Medical Weight Loss | 632 | 4.79★ | 42 | 4.1% | 53.8% | 48.4% |
| Hair Restoration | 319 | 4.74★ | 33 | 1.6% | 58.3% | 39.5% |
US businesses on Google across 20 metros, September 2026. "Typical reviews" is the median review count. Verified national roll-ups.
City-by-city benchmarks for each specialty
Med Spa Google benchmarks
555 med spas · 4.87★ · typical 148 reviews · 74.2% weekend.
Dental Google benchmarks
2,318 dental practices · 4.79★ · typical 319.5 reviews · 25.5% weekend.
Dermatology Google benchmarks
1,330 dermatology practices · 4.62★ · typical 125 reviews · 27.5% weekend.
Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery Google benchmarks
874 plastic surgery practices · 4.74★ · typical 107 reviews · 14.5% weekend.
IV Therapy & Wellness Google benchmarks
1,535 IV therapy and wellness clinics · 4.81★ · typical 52 reviews · 65% weekend.
Medical Weight Loss Google benchmarks
632 medical weight loss clinics · 4.79★ · typical 42 reviews · 48.4% weekend.
Hair Restoration Google benchmarks
319 hair restoration clinics · 4.74★ · typical 33 reviews · 39.5% weekend.
Chiropractic Google benchmarks
1,035 chiropractic practices · 4.77★ · typical 125 reviews · 30.8% weekend.
Physical Therapy Google benchmarks
854 physical therapy clinics · 4.89★ · typical 122 reviews · 20.6% weekend.
Three patterns across specialties
- Ratings don't differentiate. Every specialty averages between 4.62 and 4.89 stars.
- Review depth does. From 33 typical reviews (Hair Restoration) to 319.5 (Dental): the bar a practice has to clear depends heavily on its specialty.
- Weekend access splits by business model. Walk-in style services such as med spas (74.2%) and IV and wellness clinics (65%) open at weekends far more often than appointment-led practices; Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery is lowest at 14.5%.
Method: Google Business Profile data (via SearchApi) for businesses matching each specialty in 20 large US metros, collected September 2026 by the Ichelon data team. Profile metrics only on this page; review themes are published for med spa and dental, where they have been verified. Aggregates only; cities under 10 businesses suppressed. These are visible patterns, not Google's ranking formula.
Related pages from the US team
Med spa study
Full study with patient review themes.
Dental study
Full study with patient review themes.
Healthcare marketing, USA
How Ichelon Consulting US helps practices grow.
Physician citation sites
Where practices should be listed.
Every practice welcome — Goals-Driven engagements from $499/mo
We benchmark your last 90 days, agree monthly goals with you, and track them live on Ichelon Agency OS with a report every Monday. Performance-Linked Payout Models are available. Our US leadership is based in Dallas, and strategy calls run in US business hours.
Common questions
Which healthcare specialty has the most Google reviews?
Dental: the typical US dental practice in our study has 319.5 Google reviews. Hair Restoration has the fewest, with a typical 33.
Which healthcare practices are open on weekends?
Med Spa leads, with 74.2% listing a weekend day on Google; Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery has the fewest at 14.5%.
How was this data collected?
Public Google Business Profile data for 9,452 businesses found through Google searches in 20 large US metros in September 2026. City figures are verified averages; cities with fewer than 10 businesses in a specialty are not shown. No business is named.
Can I use these benchmarks?
Yes, with credit to Ichelon Consulting Group (CC BY 4.0).
A note on this guide: it explains marketing practice, not legal advice. Rules on privacy, advertising and insurance change and vary by state, so confirm anything compliance-related with your own counsel.
Want your practice benchmarked against your specialty and city?
A free 30-minute call with the US team. We'll compare your Google profile with your benchmark.
Key findings
- Across 9,452 US healthcare and aesthetic businesses in 9 specialties and 20 metros, every specialty averages 4.62 stars or higher.
- Dental has the deepest review profiles (typical 319.5 reviews); hair restoration the thinnest (typical 33).
- Med spas are most often open at weekends (74.2%); cosmetic and plastic surgery least often (14.5%).
- Physical therapy has the highest average rating (4.89 stars) and dermatology the lowest (4.62 stars).
- 58.3% of hair restoration businesses and 53.8% of medical weight loss businesses have fewer than 50 reviews.
How to cite this report
US Healthcare Google Benchmarks 2026: 9 specialties, 20 cities, Ichelon Consulting Group, 2026. https://ichelonconsulting.com/us/healthcare-google-benchmarks-2026
Free to quote and reuse with attribution and a link to this page.
Related research
Questions this report answers
What is the average Google rating for US healthcare practices?
High across the board. Ichelon Consulting US studied 9,452 healthcare and aesthetic businesses in 9 specialties and 20 metros in September 2026. Every specialty averaged 4.62 stars or more, from dermatology at 4.62 to physical therapy at 4.89.
Which healthcare specialties have the most Google reviews?
Dental, with a typical (median) 319.5 reviews per practice and 30.9% above 500. Med spas follow at 148. Hair restoration is thinnest at 33, and medical weight loss sits at 42, based on the 9,452-business study.
Which types of US practices are open on weekends?
Med spas lead at 74.2% open at least one weekend day, followed by IV therapy and wellness at 65%. Cosmetic and plastic surgery is lowest at 14.5% and physical therapy is at 20.6%, according to the 20-metro benchmarks.
How can I compare my practice to others on Google?
Use the specialty benchmarks. The report gives national roll-ups for 9 specialties, including typical review counts, share with 500+ and under 50 reviews, average rating and weekend opening, plus city-by-city pages for each specialty across 20 US metros.
Articles from this research
Questions people search for, answered with figures from this report.
Common questions
Do more Google reviews help a medical practice rank higher in local search?
They can. Google's own help page says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. Reviews are one signal among several, so a practice with fewer reviews can still outrank a busier one if it is closer to the searcher or a better match for the query. Use your specialty's typical review count as the bar to clear, then keep the profile complete and accurate.
Why does the benchmark report use the typical (median) review count instead of the average?
A handful of very large practices with thousands of reviews would pull an average far above what most practices actually have. The median is the middle profile once every business is lined up from fewest reviews to most, so half sit above it and half below. That makes it a fairer target for an independent practice. If your count is below the median for your specialty and city, you are behind most local competitors, not just the biggest ones.
Can a practice offer patients a discount or gift card for leaving a Google review?
No. Google's contributed-content policy says businesses must not offer incentives such as payment, discounts or free services in exchange for reviews, and must not discourage negative reviews or selectively ask only happy patients. Separately, the FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials bars incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment and bans fake reviews and review suppression. The safe approach is to ask every patient, in the same neutral way, with no reward attached.
Do business hours on a Google Business Profile affect local ranking?
Google does not list hours as a ranking factor. It does say that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results, and it recommends keeping regular and special hours up to date. In practice, wrong hours cost bookings and draw complaints even when rankings hold. Check holiday hours before each holiday, list weekend hours only if the phones are answered, and review the profile whenever staffing changes.
How often should a practice compare its Google profile against specialty benchmarks?
A quarterly check is enough for most practices. Each quarter, record your review count, average rating, the number of new reviews in the last 90 days, your reply rate and whether hours, categories and website links are correct. Compare the count with your specialty's typical figure for your city. Review volume builds slowly, so monthly snapshots mostly show noise, while a quarterly view shows whether your request routine is actually closing the gap.