Moonraker Practice Guides
10 ranking factors.
A clearer priority list.
Google Maps, AI visibility and the myths.
Whitespark’s 2026 report, applied to therapy practices.
How to interpret the findings
Use the report to choose your focus.
What was studied
Whitespark’s 2026 report was published on November 6, 2025.
- 47 experts scored 187 factors from 0 to 5.
- Totals rank their opinions about importance.
For your practice
This guide adds Moonraker’s interpretation for therapy practices.
- The survey is not Google’s algorithm documentation.
- It does not measure therapy-specific outcomes.
Use the findings as a prioritization tool. Confirm platform rules and measure the results for your own practice.
Your presenter · Moonraker
I’m Chris Morin.
Helping therapists build practices that make a positive difference.
My background in massage therapy and digital marketing led me to start Moonraker in 2019.
Choose useful actions for your practice without chasing every claimed ranking trick.
01 · Google Maps
Be findable.
Be accurate.
Start with the real practice: its category, location, hours and public reputation.
Google describes local ranking through relevance, distance and prominence.
Whitespark 2026 · Expert survey
The Maps top ten.
- 01
Main business category
- 02
Distance from the searcher
- 03
Search terms in the real name
- 04
Location within the searched city
- 05
Open when the search happens
- 06
Google star ratings
- 07
Publicly displayed address
- 08
Other relevant categories
- 09
Written Google review volume
- 10
Correct map-pin position
Ordered by the survey’s scores. Bonus: how recently reviews were posted.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Choose the closest accurate category.
Expert survey score: 227 points.
What this means for your practice
The main category tells people what kind of business this is.
- Choose from the categories currently available in your region.
- Match the actual primary business, not every treatment offered.
- Describe individual modalities in services and on relevant pages.
Use the most accurate available option. Do not invent a category name.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Distance changes the result.
Expert survey score: 225 points.
What this means for your practice
Someone searching nearby may see a different set of practices from someone across town.
- Assess visibility from locations relevant to your actual audience.
- Keep the real practice address and map pin accurate.
- Evaluate an office move as a business decision, including costs and accessibility.
A rented mailing address cannot substitute for an eligible operating location.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Use the name people actually know.
Expert survey score: 223 points.
What this means for your practice
The survey rates name keywords highly. That does not authorize adding search phrases to a listing.
- Match the name used consistently on signage, the website and business materials.
- Keep service and location information in the appropriate fields.
- A DBA filing alone does not establish a different real-world name.
Keep the listing accurate. Do not rename the profile just to chase a query.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Represent the real city.
Expert survey score: 213 points.
What this means for your practice
An actual location in the searched city is distinct from simply naming that city on a website.
- Describe where your practice really operates.
- Use an accurate location page for each eligible office.
- Do not create extra listings at friends’ homes or unused offices.
Telehealth coverage and a physical office are different facts.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Publish hours that reflect reality.
Expert survey score: 189 points.
What this means for your practice
Availability is useful information for people deciding when and how to contact you.
- Check normal hours and any applicable holiday changes.
- Follow Google’s guidance for your business type and appointment arrangements.
- Do not claim round-the-clock operation because a form is always online.
An hours change should reflect a real operational change.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Treat ratings as earned feedback.
Expert survey score: 181 points.
What this means for your practice
People may consider ratings when choosing a practice. There is no universal star-score target that guarantees placement.
- Keep reviews voluntary, genuine and free from incentives.
- Avoid soliciting therapy clients or anyone vulnerable to pressure.
- Check your professional rules before adopting any review process.
A marketing goal never justifies pressure on clients or a conflict of interest.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Show an address only when eligible.
Expert survey score: 176 points.
What this means for your practice
The survey ranks a visible address highly, but the report’s author questions whether the observed effect is a direct ranking factor.
- Show a genuine customer-facing office when it meets Google’s rules.
- Hide the address where the applicable service-area rules require it.
- A coworking address needs proper staffing, signage and customer access.
Choose the correct profile setup for how the business actually operates.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Add only relevant categories.
Expert survey score: 173 points.
What this means for your practice
Additional categories should describe genuine parts of the business.
- Review the available options and use a small accurate set.
- Do not treat every specialty as a separate business category.
- Recheck category-dependent details when the practice changes.
More categories are not automatically better. Accuracy is the useful goal.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Review quantity is not a quota.
Expert survey score: 170 points.
What this means for your practice
The survey considers the number of written reviews, but a therapy practice needs an appropriate approach to public feedback.
- Do not buy, swap or script reviews.
- Professional affiliations can create conflicts of interest.
- Do not ask colleagues to pose as clients or insert target keywords.
Build a trustworthy public presence without prescribing monthly review targets.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Put the pin where people should arrive.
Expert survey score: 165 points.
What this means for your practice
A correct map position helps visitors find the real office.
- Check the displayed address and map location together.
- Confirm that directions lead to the appropriate building or entrance.
- Include useful arrival and accessibility details on the website.
Do not move the pin toward a more desirable search area.
Whitespark 2026 · Maps
Keep the public information current.
Expert survey score: 164 points.
What this means for your practice
Recent voluntary feedback may help people understand the current practice experience.
- Monitor new public feedback without turning it into a solicitation campaign.
- Correct outdated practice information.
- Handle concerns privately without confirming a care relationship in public.
Bonus factor: review recency. Keep privacy and professional obligations ahead of freshness targets.
02 · AI visibility
Clear information.
Credible context.
Make the practice easy to understand across relevant sources.
AI products use different systems. The survey’s AI category combines expert judgments across them.
Whitespark 2026 · Expert survey
The AI visibility top ten.
- 01
Independent curated selections
- 02
A page for each substantial service
- 03
Presence on relevant industry sites
- 04
Credibility of editorial mentions
- 05
Review-platform authority
- 06
Relevant geographic information
- 07
Number of editorial mentions
- 08
Google star ratings
- 09
A clear area of expertise
- 10
Easy-to-scan website content
Ordered by the survey’s scores. Bonus: reviews across appropriate platforms.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Seek genuine editorial recognition.
Expert survey score: 179 points.
What this means for your practice
Independent selections can give people context about a practice’s work.
- Look for relevant editorial coverage with clear selection criteria.
- Contribute useful information and verifiable expertise.
- Disclose ownership or sponsorship in any comparison you publish.
A self-published “best” list is not independent recognition.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Give each service enough explanation.
Expert survey score: 170 points.
What this means for your practice
A focused page can answer the questions a brief directory description cannot.
- Explain who the service is for and how you approach it.
- Include relevant clinicians, formats and availability.
- Answer real questions in plain, accurate language.
There is no required FAQ count or guarantee that an AI product will recommend the page.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Show up in the professional context.
Expert survey score: 167 points.
What this means for your practice
Relevant associations, training organizations and publications can help people verify your work.
- Keep earned memberships and directory profiles accurate.
- Link to public credential verification where appropriate.
- Contribute expertise that serves the publication’s audience.
Focus on the quality and relevance of the relationship, not a backlink quota.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Make the mention meaningful.
Expert survey score: 160 points.
What this means for your practice
An unstructured citation is a reference to the practice in ordinary editorial content. It may include a link.
- Contribute useful expertise to relevant articles and community resources.
- Make names and credentials easy to check.
- Avoid patient stories or details that could identify someone in care.
The context and credibility of a mention matter more than a recognizable domain alone.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Use appropriate public profiles.
Expert survey score: 156 points.
What this means for your practice
Review sites and professional directories serve different purposes. Not every directory supports public reviews.
- Choose platforms relevant to your audience and profession.
- Correct identity, contact and service information.
- Follow each platform’s rules and your professional obligations.
Do not turn profile maintenance into a campaign for colleague-written testimonials.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Explain where care is available.
Expert survey score: 153 points.
What this means for your practice
Geographic information helps a person determine whether they can work with you.
- Separate office locations from telehealth coverage.
- Describe actual availability and licensing areas accurately.
- Make local pages useful beyond swapping a city name.
A page for a city does not create an office or establish Business Profile eligibility.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Build a body of genuine contributions.
Expert survey score: 147 points.
What this means for your practice
Repeated recognition can come from useful work over time: articles, presentations and professional participation.
- Keep a record of meaningful appearances and contributions.
- Prefer relevant audiences over automated mention volume.
- Distinguish independent coverage from paid syndication.
A press release copied across many sites is not the same as many independent endorsements.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Keep ratings in perspective.
Expert survey score: 146 points.
What this means for your practice
The AI section also rates Google stars as relevant, but it does not establish a threshold used by every AI product.
- Do not infer an algorithm rule from a survey score.
- Let genuine reviewers choose their own words.
- Avoid solicitation, incentives or relationship-based pressure.
Make the practice easy to evaluate through accurate services, credentials and accessible information.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Make your expertise easy to understand.
Expert survey score: 138 points.
What this means for your practice
A coherent description helps people recognize the problems you are equipped to help with.
- Explain your actual strengths and scope of practice.
- Give substantial services their own useful detail.
- Keep the overall story consistent across pages and profiles.
A generalist practice can still be clear. Do not invent a narrow specialty for search.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Structure answers for the reader.
Expert survey score: 137 points.
What this means for your practice
Headings, short paragraphs and useful lists help people find the information they need.
- Use descriptive headings and logical sections.
- Put key information in readable text.
- Answer questions directly, then add the necessary context.
Readable structure is useful across search experiences. It does not require a special AI page format.
Whitespark 2026 · AI
Maintain the right profiles.
Expert survey score: 136 points.
What this means for your practice
The bonus factor concerns reviews across different platforms. The practical action depends on what is appropriate for the profession.
- Start with accurate profiles in places your audience uses.
- Do not pursue a fixed number of review sites.
- Apply the same privacy, authenticity and conflict-of-interest checks everywhere.
A small, accurate public presence is a sounder starting point than a review-distribution target.
03 · Common myths
Spend your effort
where it helps.
Separate a low-rated Maps tactic from something that may serve another purpose.
Low survey scores do not prove that a task has no value for visitors, accessibility or other search surfaces.
Whitespark 2026 · Expert survey
Ten tactics to put in perspective.
- 01
Adding GPS data to photos
- 02
Chasing social follower counts
- 03
Buying Google ads for organic rank
- 04
Hitting an exact title length
- 05
Treating an XML sitemap as a boost
- 06
Putting keywords in review replies
- 07
Stuffing image metadata
- 08
Increasing social post volume
- 09
Stuffing meta descriptions
- 10
Posting on a rigid social schedule
Whitespark’s survey gives these tactics low Maps priority. Bonus: social engagement as a Maps ranking tactic.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Photos do not need a GPS ritual.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Whitespark’s survey places photo geotagging among the lowest-rated Maps tactics.
- Use useful photos that accurately represent the practice.
- Check image permissions and remove sensitive information.
- Spend the time on clearer photos and better page context.
Adding coordinates to image files is not a proven way to improve your rankings.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Followers are a different measure.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
A follower count can describe a social audience. It does not tell you whether people can find the practice on Maps.
- Define the purpose of a social account.
- Look at relevant conversations and qualified inquiries.
- Do not buy followers to influence local search.
Measure social activity against its own business purpose.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Ads buy advertising placement.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Google says businesses cannot pay for better local organic ranking.
- Evaluate paid campaigns separately from organic visibility.
- Keep advertising costs and outcomes measurable.
- Do not interpret an ad placement as a Maps ranking gain.
An advertising budget is not an organic ranking payment.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Write a useful title, not a character target.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
A concise title helps explain the page. Exact length is not a magic ranking formula.
- Use an accurate description of the page’s topic.
- Avoid repetitive keywords and unnecessary boilerplate.
- Check how the title appears, knowing Google may rewrite it.
Clarity matters more than reaching a particular character count.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
A sitemap helps with discovery.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
An XML sitemap identifies URLs for search engines. It does not guarantee indexing or a ranking boost.
- Keep the sitemap accurate when important pages change.
- Make pages reachable through useful internal links.
- Use Search Console to investigate indexing problems.
Low Maps priority does not make a sitemap useless.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
A review reply is not an SEO paragraph.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Public feedback should be handled with care, especially where a reply could reveal a treatment relationship.
- Do not add service and city phrases just for search.
- Do not confirm care or discuss clinical details publicly.
- Follow your practice’s professional and privacy review process.
Keep sensitive issues out of public replies.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Accessibility is different from metadata stuffing.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Whitespark gives image metadata keywords low Maps priority. Meaningful alt text still helps people understand images.
- Describe informative images with concise alternative text.
- Use empty alt text for purely decorative images.
- Provide text equivalents for important information in diagrams.
Image recognition is not a reason to omit useful alternative text.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
More posts are not a Maps strategy.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Publishing frequently may support an audience, but volume alone is a poor reason to create content.
- Choose topics useful to the people you want to reach.
- Keep information accurate and sustainable to maintain.
- Track meaningful audience response separately from local search.
Publish with a purpose, not to fill a ranking quota.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Write descriptions people can use.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
A meta description can help explain a result. Repeating keywords does not make it more useful.
- Summarize what the visitor will find on that page.
- Include relevant practical context in natural language.
- Remember that Google may select a different snippet.
Treat the description as a preview, not a keyword container.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Choose a sustainable publishing rhythm.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
The survey gives low Maps priority to the frequency of social posting.
- Choose a schedule your team can maintain well.
- Use social content for education, relationships or announcements.
- Judge it against those goals rather than expected Maps movement.
You do not need a daily posting schedule to complete your local-search basics.
Lower-priority Maps tactics
Engagement needs a purpose.
Low priority in the Maps survey.
What this means for your practice
Social likes and comments can signal interest on that platform. They are not a substitute for accurate practice information.
- Notice whether the audience is relevant to your work.
- Offer a useful route to more information when appropriate.
- Keep social and search measurements separate.
Bonus myth: treating social engagement as a direct Maps ranking shortcut.
Put the findings to work
Choose three useful improvements.
Start with a clear problem and record what changes.
- 01
Maps
Correct one important fact.
Review category, contact details, location and applicable hours.
- 02
Website
Improve one service page.
Answer the questions someone needs to decide whether to contact you.
- 03
Reputation
Strengthen one real connection.
Update a professional profile or contribute useful expertise.
- 04
Measurement
Review the practical result.
Look at relevant visibility and inquiry quality over time.
Your next step
Let’s talk about
your practice.
Bring your questions to a free strategy call.
