Online reputation management for doctors hasn’t always been a top focus for healthcare practitioners and clinics. Still, in today’s cyber-connected world, you can’t afford to ignore what consumers are saying about your business.

We realize how intimidating this may be, especially if you haven’t considered the web reviews available for your services or practice. It may be frightening and distressing.

Prospective patients may not know if you can help them with their healthcare issues if you don’t have enough reviews on online reputation management websites for doctors. Therefore, it is critical to collect reviews and boost your internet reputation regularly.

Being proactive can help alleviate some of the tension that comes with online narrative comments.

Healthcare organizations may boost their online exposure, acquire vital patient feedback, and promote patient acquisition by claiming a profile on major review sites that have tailored offerings for online reputation management for physicians.

Here are five of the most popular doctor review services and everything you need to know about them.

What is the Importance of Online Reputation Management for Doctors?

It is common for patients to use the internet to learn more about medical services provided by different doctors. 

Many patients use different doctor review services to see which doctors are available and, in a way, “shop around” for the best medical providers. 

This is an excellent chance to ensure that your internet reputation as a physician favors retaining and attracting new patients.

In fact, according to statistics, 37 percent of people use online reviews as the first step in their doctor search, emphasizing the value of doctor review sites.

Further statistics elaborate on this trend in patients using such sites and the best importance of having real patient ratings:

• 60.8% of consumers have avoided doctors based on negative reviews that they have received. 
• A favorable review influenced 59.9% of people to choose a doctor.
• 47.5% of today’s patients trust internet reviews as much as a doctor’s suggestion (48.6%).

This is sufficient motivation for any physician to focus on monitoring their internet reputation, responding to any unfavorable reviews that may arise and having a sustainable model in place to obtain real patient ratings. 

Best Review Sites for Doctors

1. WebMD

WebMD performs two services that complement each other quite effectively. First, many people use WebMD’s “Dr. Google” to look up symptoms and ailments, but the site now has a medical directory.

Your patient can find your clinic if they have an excellent concept of what they require.

Patients may search for a doctor by name, location, ailment, and procedure in the doctor’s directory. Practitioners are listed alphabetically and, on a map, depending on their location in the chosen region. In addition, you can see the physician’s years of experience and WebMD rating in this list view. This basically ensures you can easily locate good MDS reviews online at the ease of a click!

Every month, WebMD attracts an estimated 127 million unique visits. That’s many people that could be potential patients!

Make sure your information is correct, thorough, and up-to-date, just like another website that is tailored for online reputation management for doctors. Many WebMD doctor search boxes appear with the location already filled in, so double-check that you’ve entered all of your office locations.

Remember that you must pay a fee to get listed on WebMD because it is a paid doctor review management platform. 

WebMD is one of the three most frequently visited good MDS reviews website, with 39 percent of patients referring to it. 

WebMD is one of the most famous doctors review management platforms, with over 2.4 million monthly visits. 

Patients may rank doctors on WebMD based on their entire experience and how well the practice communicates diseases and treatments.

Physicians are rated from 1 to 5 stars on WebMD based on the following criteria: 

• Overall score 
• The doctor describes the disease and the therapy options. 
• The doctor takes the time to address all of my queries. 
• Follow-up is provided as needed by the physician 
• Average wait time in the office
• Office flexibility in scheduling 
• Office cleanliness 
• Office friendly staff

2. RateMD

According to the company, over two million people have used RateMDs reviews to help them pick a provider.

On the top page, you’ll find a list of the “best physicians near you” and a list of specializations.

Getting more high-quality reviews is the greatest method to make it to the first page here.

Improve your profile by ensuring that as many patients who obtain service leave comments on the site.

Patients may see when a doctor was last rated, how many ratings there were, the average rating out of 5, educational background, hospital affiliations, and languages are spoken on RateMD.

RateMD employs a five-point scoring system. Reviewers can provide ratings to specific providers based on timeliness, personnel, helpfulness, and general knowledge.

It also ranks the best hospitals and facilities in the United States based on user reviews such as cleanliness and value.

Patients can also give a thorough remark on their physician in the comment box.

Doctors and healthcare providers can claim their profiles by going to the top right of the site’s main page and choosing “Claim Doctor Profile.”

The site also has a forum and blog where people may obtain answers to their health issues and a “Health News” section with articles on health and well-being.

3. Vitals

Vitals has a little more than 3.4 million monthly visits and routinely ranks well in the health search area.

Patients may search for practices by name, location, specialty, and even insurance accepted in this healthcare review directory, making it a patient favorite when looking for a new doctor.

Vitals’ purpose is to enable people to buy health care like experts, regardless of where they are or their requirements.

Please search the database for your Vitals profile to claim and edit it. When you click on your profile name, a popup will display on the right side of the screen, asking if this is your profile. Update your information here by clicking the link and following the instructions to enter your data, such as your company’s name, address, and email address.

Patients are encouraged to rate their doctor on a scale of one to five stars to share their experience.

The review then asks for a headline and comments, where the patient may add further information.

Patients are also asked to provide information on their wait time at the office, as well as how strongly they agree or disagree with the following:

• Appointment convenience
• Timeliness
• Courteous staff
• Accurate diagnosis
• Bedside demeanor
• Spends time with me
• Follows up after a visit

Patients may look for a doctor or dentist by name, specialty, or problem to see what other people think of them.

Vitals also highlights physicians who routinely receive high rankings with a badging system, such as People’s Choice and Top 10 doctors.

The following factors are used to determine the rating: Reviews of patient satisfaction may be found on the internet.

It’s worth noting that Vitals accepts paid ads from physicians. As a result, advertised doctors appear at the top of your search results as “sponsored.”

To protect reviewers, Vitals filters out nasty comments and keeps reviews private.

4. Healthgrades

With over 30 million individuals accessing Healthgrades each month, having an accurate and up-to-date profile is critical.

In an entirely user-friendly experience, Healthgrades delivers information on physicians, hospitals, and health care providers.

Patients may filter down their search results on Healthgrades by insurance, distance, review/rating, gender, age, and even availability.

A provider can update their own information, or someone working on their behalf can do so as well.

The Healthgrades rating for a provider is based on a 1-5 star system, and users can provide a free text review indicating whether they would refer the provider to relatives and friends.

5. ZocDoc

Finding a nearby in-network doctor is simple with ZocDoc, whether you’re on the move using the mobile app or online. In addition, patients may read and post reviews on ZocDoc.

Building patient loyalty and attracting new patients to your business is easier when you list your practice on ZocDoc.

The primary purpose of ZocDoc is to assist patients in finding providers who accept their insurance.

Patients may look for clinics using a familiar name, location, specialty, and approved insurance criteria.

To be included on Zocdoc, physicians must pay a fee.

ZocDoc offers a unique feature: the opportunity to book an appointment immediately from their website! Patients may book directly through the site after reading your evaluations. They can also complete specific office documentation online, saving time in the waiting area during the initial appointment.

Because physicians created ZocDoc, they understand how to make the most of your time.

However, like with other doctor review sites, the more information about your practice, specialty, hours, and experience you can provide, the better.

Best Practices for an Effective Profile on Review Sites for Doctors

Once you’ve created or claimed your profile, you may manage your doctor reviews and ratings by practicing three tips.

1. Make Sure Your Information is Correct and Updated

Always double-check that the information in your provider profile is accurate and up-to-date. Incorrect profile information may influence patients to seek treatment from another practitioner!

It also makes it difficult for patients to get in touch with you or schedule appointments, which may cause them to seek treatment elsewhere.

2. Keep Track of Your Online Reviews

Your healthcare marketing plan should include a focus on reviews and reputation management. It would help if you comprehended what patients see and read about your practice on internet review sites and search engine results.

While ignorance may be bliss, it may also be dangerous. According to research, just 85% of doctors check their ratings online.

If you don’t have time to monitor what’s being written about your practice online, assign a staff member to do so.

Being aware of what is being said will help you better manage your reputation, but it may also help you find areas where your practice may improve.

3. Respond to Reviews

Make sure to respond to what patients are saying about your practice on social media sites that are compatible with your training.

This enables you to lessen the effect of a poor review or to use favorable evaluations to emphasize beneficial aspects of the patient experience.

Responding to reviews, especially negative ones, demonstrates to the reviewer and everyone else who reads the review that you value your patients’ experience.

How to Recover from a Negative Review

Negative criticism, while unpleasant to see, really enhances your credibility. According to a 2013 research, consumers are more likely to believe both positive and negative ratings when they read both positive and negative ratings.

What’s the greatest method to cushion the sting of a poor review? It’s only a matter of responding.

Ignoring the reviews is not a viable choice. This gives the impression that your company is oblivious to its errors. Instead, you want other viewers to know that you value experiences, want to enhance them, and are prepared to go to great lengths to resolve any problems that emerge.

It’s critical to be attentive, and your patients will appreciate seeing that you’re paying attention to their problems.

Patients want to know that they are being heard and acknowledged. Those looking for a doctor read the reviews to see if patients are being listened to.

Negative feedback may be used to demonstrate that you care about your patients and that you want to improve your services.

Nothing is more frustrating than expressing a problem and being met with a weak excuse. Excuses provide you with a barrier to hide behind.

If a mistake has been committed, admit it and try finding a remedy.

While you should never create excuses, there are situations when real reasons for a client’s dissatisfaction exist. Providing these inform the patient and future readers that you investigated the issue, providing context for what occurred.

Furthermore, it might be tough to get through to your patients in an online context. They may still be enraged, and even if you answer with caution, they may retaliate.

You don’t want the dialogue to devolve into a fight with you, especially in front of a large audience. Inform them that you’d like to correct the problem and that they should contact your office for further information.

Finally, you want to make sure that you comply with laws and regulations regarding patient information, such as being HIPAA compliant. Asking your patient to reach out to you privately can help you ensure this.

Why You Should Care about Google My Business for Doctors?

Google My Business for doctors is a great way to manage your online presence. 

With it, you can create or change business information on Google Search and Maps. You can also manage and generate the Google review link of your medical website for your customers. 

Answering questions from people curious about your practice is also a breeze with this tool. 

Overall, Google My Business for doctors is a great way to manage your online presence and get the most out of your medical website.

How Can I Use Google My Business for Doctors SEO?

Claim your listing: When it comes to online listings for businesses, accuracy is critical. Customers need to be able to find the right listing for your business, and if the listing contains incorrect information, it can lead to lost customers and decreased revenue. 

That’s why it’s so important to claim and manage your business listings. 

Google My Business for Doctors is a great example – if you don’t claim your listing, you won’t be able to manage it, and potential customers won’t be able to find accurate information about your business. So take the time to claim your listings – it’ll pay off in the long run!

Optimize Your Google My Business Profile: As a doctor, it is essential to have a strong online presence. One of the best ways to achieve this is through Google My Business. 

By creating a profile and including your name, address, and phone number, you can help potential patients find your practice. It is also important to ensure that all of this information is fully visible on both desktop computers and mobile devices. 

In addition, you can add links from other websites in your Google My Business description section. This will help to further increase your visibility and attract new patients.

Enhance your presence: As a doctor, you want to make it easy for patients to find your practice. One way to do this is to claim your business information on Google My Business.

When you do this, most of the work is done for you. Google will populate your profile with basic information, and you can add additional details as well. However, if your profile does not show up in local search results or has incomplete data, you may want to work on enhancing your presence. 

You can do this by adding photos, videos, and other content that will help patients learn more about your practice. 

In addition, be sure to keep your information up to date so that patients can easily find your contact information and hours of operation. By taking these simple steps, you can ensure that patients can easily find your practice when they need it.

Map Optimization: When it comes to running a successful business, location is everything. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your physical address is easy to find for both search engines and potential customers alike. 

If your address alone isn’t enough to get people there without confusion, be sure to include directions from major roads or landmarks. By taking these simple steps, you can ensure that your business will be able to attract the attention it deserves.

Xoopah and Your Review Sites for Doctors

Xoopah is created to help small businesses expand by making them more discoverable and accessible and allowing them to keep their customers for life.

Xoopah does this by providing small business owners with easy-to-use growth tools to streamline customer interactions, organize relationships, reply to reviews, and more.

With Xoopah’s interaction management toolset, you can easily communicate and make every interaction matter. Online reputation management for doctors could not be then with Xoopah! 

Book a Demo with one of our sales associates to learn more!