I'm Shashikant Shah, a digital marketing expert in Kathmandu. I work with clinics, hospitals, dentists, physiotherapy and pain centres across Nepal on the part of care that happens before the first visit: the Google search, the Maps listing, the reviews and the call. I've worked with Ayush Hospital, NPCRC, Daradia (The Pain Clinic) and two pain conferences, my prices are published, and because I'm also a software engineer I build the booking pages and the tracking myself.

Short answer: digital marketing for healthcare in Nepal is local search and trust, inside the rules. A Google Business Profile with the right category, doctor names, real photos and answered reviews, a page for each treatment in the words patients type, a booking path that works on WhatsApp and Viber after hours, and calls counted so you know what a new patient costs. No promised cures, no fake reviews.

How patients choose a clinic in Nepal

Someone in Lalitpur wakes up with back pain and types "physiotherapy near me". A mother in Bhaktapur searches "child dentist in Kathmandu" and reads the reviews. A man in Dharan looks up a doctor's name his cousin mentioned. Google Maps shows three clinics, and the one with the right category, real photos, a current phone number and recent reviews gets the call.

Trust comes before price. Patients look for the doctor's name, the qualification, the hours, and whether the last review was answered. A clinic that never replies looks closed. A clinic that replies to a complaint calmly looks safe.

The booking itself happens by phone, Viber or WhatsApp, and often after hours. If the number on the profile rings out at 8pm, the patient books the next clinic on the list. Almost nobody tracks how many calls came from Google, so nobody knows what a new patient costs.

The problems I see most often:

  • A Google Business Profile listed as "Hospital" for a physiotherapy centre, with no doctor names and no photos of the actual rooms.
  • A website that lists departments but has no page for the treatment people actually search, like "root canal in Pokhara" or "knee pain physiotherapy".
  • Reviews that go unanswered for months, and one angry review sitting at the top with no reply.
  • Facebook boosts that promise outcomes, get flagged by the platform, and bring likes rather than patients.
  • No idea which calls and WhatsApp messages came from Google, so the marketing budget is a guess every month.

What I do for clinics and hospitals

  • Google Business Profile management: the right primary category, a listing for each doctor where it helps, real photos, hours that match, and a reply to every review within a day.
  • Local SEO: a page for each treatment and each location in the words patients use, with the doctor, the qualification and how to book on the page.
  • Technical SEO: a site that loads fast on a phone and that Google can read, because a patient in pain doesn't wait for a slow page.
  • Google Ads, where the rules allow it: exact match on the treatments you offer, negatives for jobs and free camps, and calls counted as conversions.
  • Booking that works after hours: a WhatsApp and Viber button, a short appointment form that goes to your reception, and an auto reply that gives the hours and location at 9pm. Built by me as part of web development and automation.
  • Tracking: calls, direction requests, WhatsApp clicks and form bookings counted in your own Business Profile and Analytics, without storing any patient details, so the monthly report says what a new patient cost.

The first 90 days

Days 1 to 30. I fix the Business Profile first: category, doctor names, photos, hours and services. I answer the reviews that are waiting and set up review requests your reception can send after a visit. Tracking goes in so we have a baseline of calls and messages.

Days 31 to 60. The treatment and location pages go live, and the booking path gets its WhatsApp and Viber buttons and after hours reply. If ads make sense for your clinic, they start here, on exact match with calls counted.

Days 61 to 90. We look at calls, direction requests, bookings and reviews against the baseline, and decide where the next quarter goes. You get all of this as a written plan before we start, with what's not included.

Who I've worked with in healthcare

Ayush Hospital is on my case studies page under the scope delivered: patient-facing content strategy and promotion. I've also worked with NPCRC, Daradia (The Pain Clinic), PainCon 2025 in Dhaka and the Nepal Pain Conference 2.0; their logos are on my homepage. I don't attach numbers to those, because they weren't tracked to a standard I'd publish.

The published result closest to a clinic's situation is a Kathmandu clinic on local SEO: map views went from about 2,100 to about 9,240 a month in six months, and calls went up about 85%. It came from an engagement I worked on as part of an agency team, so read it as the account's total, not mine alone. The method is on the case studies page.

What it costs for clinics and hospitals

My prices are published. An audit of your profile, your pages and your booking path with a 30 day action plan is USD 249, about NPR 34,000. A four week sprint is USD 899, about NPR 122,000. Ongoing work is USD 1,800 a month, about NPR 245,000. What each one leaves out is on the pricing page. The first thirty minute call is free, and if a single clinic only needs the profile fixed, I'll say so.

Questions clinics and hospitals ask

Can you advertise our treatments and results?

Not the way a shop advertises a sale. The Nepal Medical Council and the platforms both restrict health claims, before and after photos and anything that promises an outcome. What I can do is make sure people who are already looking for a physiotherapist, a dentist or a pain clinic find you, see real information, and can book. That's most of the work anyway.

How do we handle a bad review about a doctor?

Answer it within a day, in plain language, without confirming or discussing anyone's treatment in public, and offer a phone number. I write the reply templates with you and set up the alerts. Never delete or bury it with fake five star reviews; Google notices, and so do patients.

How long before we see more appointments?

A corrected Business Profile with the right categories, doctor names and photos usually shows more calls and direction requests within four to six weeks. Ranking for the treatment pages, like "knee physiotherapy in Lalitpur", takes three to six months. I'll give you a written 90 day plan with the numbers we watch.

Do you work with clinics outside Kathmandu?

Yes. A clinic in Pokhara or Biratnagar competes for the same "near me" search, and most of the work is remote and in your own accounts. I've worked with pain clinics and conferences in Nepal and Bangladesh, and I travel for the first meeting when it helps.

Will patient data touch your systems?

No. Appointment forms, WhatsApp numbers and any records stay in your accounts and your tools. I set up the tracking so it counts a booking without storing who booked, and everything I build is in your name.

When are you not the right person?

If you want aggressive ads promising cures, cheap boosted posts, or a monthly number under what a handful of new patients is worth to you, I'm the wrong fit. If you need a full time social media person for daily posts, also wrong. I fix how you're found and how you're booked.

All industries · Where I work · Google Business Profile management · Local SEO in Nepal · Local SEO in Kathmandu · How to set up a Google Business Profile in Nepal · All services.

Tell me about your clinic

Send me the name and the area. I'll look at your Business Profile, your treatment pages and what happens when someone calls after hours, and tell you the one thing I'd fix first, whether or not you hire me.

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