How Finland's Largest Wellbeing Region Ensured Public Access to Services on Google and In-Car Navigation Systems

local seo for health services

Overview

Pirkanmaan hyvinvointialue (Wellbeing Services County of Pirkanmaa) is Finland’s most populated wellbeing services region, formed on January 1, 2023, as part of a nationwide reform to organize healthcare, social welfare, and rescue services under unified regional governance. The county serves over 500,000 residents across 23 municipalities, including Tampere, Nokia, and Ylöjärvi, and operates more than 600 service locations.

To ensure that the public could easily find and trust information about services like health centers, social work units, and other key service points, Pirkanmaa partnered with PinMeTo in late 2024 to take control of its local digital visibility on networks such as Google, Apple Maps, Bing, and in-car navigation systems.

local seo for health services Pirha

Monthly Results on Google 3 Months After Onboarding 


Before PinMeTo

Until early 2025, only a few locations were present and verified in the county’s Google Business account. 500+ key service locations across Pirkanmaa were either unclaimed or non-existent on Google, Apple Maps, and other digital platforms—despite being actively used by citizens every day.

The primary public data source used, PTV (Palvelutietovaranto), uses a different data structure than platforms like Google or Apple Maps. While reliable, its entries often required reformatting or enrichment to be fully compatible with consumer-facing services.

Pirkanmaa has actively invested in maintaining the accuracy of its website and PTV data. However, the structure of these sources wasn’t always optimized for visibility on external platforms. Many entries were missing essential information like categories, contact details, or even proper naming conventions—making them unsuitable for direct publishing to Google.

The Challenges

1. Underused Digital Presence

Despite the county’s extensive network of service points, only a few listings were actively managed in their official Google Business Profile (GBP) account prior to onboarding. Many listings existed unclaimed across the web, lacking consistency or proper verification—making it harder for residents to locate accurate, trustworthy information.

This posed a serious challenge for a region responsible for 600+ critical service points—from healthcare centers and dental clinics to other essential public services. With no consistent visibility on platforms where citizens search (Google, Apple, Facebook, Waze, and more), the county risked not showing up in time-critical moments when people needed help.


2. Complex Data Source Structure via PTV

Finnish wellbeing counties like Pirkanmaa often rely on PTV (Palvelutietovaranto)—a national service information platform used by public organizations to store and distribute service data. While PTV is a trusted source of information, its formatting does not directly match the structure required by platforms like Google or Apple Maps.

  • Location names, categories, and formatting often required refinement
  • Not all fields aligned with the requirements of consumer-facing platforms
  • The manual effort to bridge that gap was considerable

3. Limited Presence Beyond Google
Platforms like Apple Maps, TomTom, Here, and in-car systems are commonly used by residents, especially for finding urgent services like health stations or emergency care. However, Pirkanmaa had no structured process in place to ensure data consistency across this extended network.

After PinMeTo

In collaboration with PinMeTo, Pirkanmaa:

  • Verified all 600+ locations on Google in bulk — ensuring search-ready, accurate listings for the entire region.
  • Replaced fragmented data from PTV by structuring, enriching, and organizing it to meet the requirements of search engines.
  • Published updated, verified listings to major networks, including Google, Apple Maps, Bing, HERE, and in-car navigation systems.
  • Connected through API to pull and format data directly from PTV—ensuring a scalable workflow for future updates.

With PinMeTo's help, the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county has been able to bring its unit information up to date across various search engines and platforms. Our collaboration with PinMeTo has been easy and smooth.

Paula Pasanen, Head of Communications | Pirkanmaa Wellbeing Services County

The Results

3 months after onboarding, Pirkanmaan hyvinvointialue saw big improvements in monthly Google Maps' metrics.
Blog_Menu

Views +123%

Listings_Menu

Direction Clicks +320%

Local Business Directory_Menu

Website Visits +95%

The Solutions

1. Complete Google Claiming and Bulk Verification

PinMeTo worked with Pirkanmaa to claim, structure, and bulk-verify 600+ service locations in Google. This massive step gave the county ownership of its listings, allowing it to:

  • Ensure all location details are accurate and consistently presented
  • Update and manage information centrally and securely
  • Unlock Google Insights to begin tracking visibility and engagement across regions

2. API Integration with PTV for Smart Data Structuring

To bridge PTV’s internal structure with the needs of consumer platforms, PinMeTo implemented a custom API integration that allowed data to be imported, cleaned, and prepared for publishing.

  • Names, addresses, open hours, descriptions, categories, and contact details were standardized
  • Metadata was enriched to meet visibility standards across networks
  • Internal logic handled hundreds of updates quickly and at scale

3. Multi-Network Presence: Google, Apple, and Navigation Tools

Using PinMeTo Listings, Pirkanmaa can now distribute verified location data not just to Google, but also to:

  • Apple Business Connect
  • Bing
  • Facebook
  • Here, TomTom, and other in-car navigation networks

This ensures that people looking for local services—whether via phone, desktop, or dashboard—always find the correct, official source.

What’s Next

With all locations now verified and structured through PinMeTo Listings, Pirkanmaa is positioned to significantly improve its visibility across digital platforms. As accurate data continues to sync across Google, Apple Maps, and navigation networks, the county expects to see increasing engagement from residents searching for healthcare, social services, and emergency support.

The foundation is now set for a stronger, more consistent digital presence—ensuring the public can quickly and confidently access reliable information about the services they need, when and where they need them.

Looking to make public services easier to find online?

Discover how regions and municipalities boost visibility with PinMeTo.