FFP Guides

Online bookings

How to add a Cliniko booking link to Google Business Profile

In your Business Profile, under the Booking transaction link category, add your Cliniko hosted booking URL, filtered to a specific appointment type if useful. Google's own help does not describe how these clicks are reported in analytics, so add UTM parameters yourself before pasting the link in, rather than relying on Google to label the source for you.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Method
A booking URL added as a local business link under the Booking transaction category, not a live availability integration, using Cliniko's hosted booking page rather than an embed
On mobile
Most Google Business Profile traffic, and almost all Maps traffic, is on a phone. The booking link on a profile typically shows as a single button, so make sure the filtered Cliniko page it points to opens straight into booking, not a general practice homepage the patient then has to find their own way from.
Can you track bookings?
Not natively. There is no Cliniko help article for this pairing, and Google's own current guide for these links does not mention UTM parameters, campaign tracking, or how a click on one is reported in Google Analytics. What is confirmed is only that this is a plain outbound link, not a live availability integration, so nothing about the click itself is tracked unless you tag the link yourself before adding it to the profile.

Add Cliniko bookings to Google Business Profile

  1. In Cliniko, go to Settings, Online bookings, and use the Bookings URL builder to create a link. Filter it by business, practitioner or appointment type if you want the profile to send new enquiries somewhere specific, for example a New patient page, rather than the general booking list.
  2. Sign in to your Business Profile at business.google.com, or find the listing on Google Maps and select Edit profile.
  3. Choose the Booking transaction link category (alongside Food ordering and Pickup and delivery, if those apply to the listing) and select Add link.
  4. Paste in the Cliniko URL and save. You can add up to 10 links in total across categories, so this does not need to be the only link on the profile.
  5. If you run more than one booking related link, use the Business preferred setting to choose which one appears at the top.
  6. Check the link on both the Search and Maps versions of the profile, since Google surfaces these links slightly differently between the two.

Track the bookings

  1. Before pasting the URL into your Business Profile, add UTM parameters to it yourself, for example utm_source=google, utm_medium=local, utm_campaign=business-profile, so GA4 can separate these clicks from generic Direct traffic once someone lands on the linked page.
  2. Because this is Cliniko's hosted booking page, not an embed, the UTM parameters travel with the click in the URL and are not lost the way they are for an embedded iframe, so this is a reliable way to see this channel specifically in GA4's source and medium reports.
  3. Set up Cliniko's own GA4 event tracking as usual (a GTM container ID under Settings, Online bookings, with a GA4 Event tag on the bookings/confirmation page path) so a booking that started from this link is both attributed correctly and counted as a conversion.
  4. Check GA4's own referral or acquisition reports under the tagged source and medium after a few weeks, since Google's help pages give no figure or timeframe for how often the profile itself is checked or refreshed.

A link, not a live booking integration

It is worth being clear about what this actually is. Google's current help article for local business links describes adding a URL under a transaction category such as Booking, choosing it from a small set of categories, and optionally marking it as the preferred link if you have more than one. It does not describe a connected, real time booking experience where Google shows your actual Cliniko availability inside the profile itself.

Cliniko's own help centre has no dedicated article for Google Business Profile, unlike its guides for WordPress, Wix or GoDaddy. That is telling on its own: from what is documented on both sides, the mechanics here are entirely on Google's end, adding a URL to a links field, and Cliniko's part is simply generating a good link to put there.

Send it somewhere specific, not the general booking page

A generic link to your whole practice's booking page asks a patient who found you through Google Maps to make an extra decision before they can book anything. Cliniko's Bookings URL builder lets you filter a link by business, practitioner or appointment type, so the link on your profile can point straight at, for example, a New patient consultation, matching what most people searching on Google are actually after.

This filtered link works the same as any other Cliniko hosted booking link once it is live, it is simply the URL you have chosen to put in the Booking field on your profile.

Why tagging the link yourself matters here

Google's current documentation for these links says nothing about UTM parameters or how GA4 reports a click on one. Left untagged, there is no confirmed way to tell whether a booking came from your Business Profile's Booking link specifically, versus someone who searched your practice name and landed on your site directly.

The fix does not depend on Google at all. Because this link points at Cliniko's hosted booking page rather than an embed, any UTM parameters you add to the URL before pasting it into the profile travel with the click and show up correctly in GA4's acquisition reports. Build the tagged link once, using Google's own Campaign URL Builder or by hand, and use that exact URL in the Booking field rather than the plain link Cliniko gives you by default.

Sources

  1. Google Business Profile local business links are added under a transaction category, which includes Booking, Food ordering and Pickup and delivery, from business.google.com or by selecting Edit profile on Google Maps. Up to 10 links can be added per category, and one link can be set as the business preferred link shown at the top. Google Business Profile Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  2. Google's current help article for managing local business links, including the Booking category, does not mention UTM parameters, campaign tracking, or how clicks on these links are reported in Google Analytics. Google Business Profile Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  3. Filtered Cliniko booking links can be built by business, practitioner and appointment type using the Bookings URL builder under Settings, Online bookings, and used as a standalone link rather than only as an embed. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  4. Cliniko's GA4 conversion tracking fires a GA4 Event tag on page views where the page path contains bookings/confirmation, set up using a Google Tag Manager container ID entered under Settings, Online bookings. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.