Running a medical practice can be demanding on its own, but online reputation management is another factor that can influence your patient’s choices. Today, social media and online review websites play a massive role in how people choose healthcare. If your practice has negative reviews, it can hurt your practice’s trust and credibility. As 2025 moves forward, it’s important to pay attention to how your online reputation influences your patients, and the best way to manage it is by practicing techniques to manage your online presence. 

Below, we’ve provided an easy-to-understand guide to start improving your online reputation with the latest reputation tactics and methods for keeping your patients active and engaged. 

Exploring The Basics of Online Reputation

Online reputation management is about how your practice is recognized on the internet. It contains various aspects about your practice’s brand image, products, services, and overall quality you’re able to provide. In the digital space, online reputation is made through reviews from credible websites, social media platforms, and even search results. Online reviews, in these cases, can make or break your practice’s reputation, as they can influence your patient’s decision-making practices. 

How Online Reviews Shape Your Patient’s Decisions

Patients rely on online reviews to judge the quality of a company’s services. According to the survey company Reputation, about 54% of consumers put their trust in online reviews first, more so than the opinions of family members, company statements, and social media influencers. People rely on online reviews because they are perceived to be the most trustworthy, as these reviews can help people predict what their experience will be like when they use a company’s product or service. 

For those within the healthcare industry, this means that if your online profiles have reviews containing negative experiences, then any new patients who review your profile will be more likely to leave and look to your competing practices for treatment. Online reputation management holds immense power in how your patients make decisions about their treatment, and it’s because of this power that medical practices need to take more control over their brand image to influence how your patients view you as a credible, reliable medical practice. 

What Makes Online Reviews Credible? 

Online reviews are perceived to be credible and reliable on a variety of factors. While some of those factors depend on the patient’s personal preferences, here’s the basic structure that makes up what makes reviews trustworthy: 

• Comments: Reviews with comments will give your patients a better understanding of the nature of your practice; it will inform them about previous experiences, changes in demeanor, the quality of your services, and the overall opinions that people have about your practice. 
• Star Ratings: Star ratings help give a brief summary of any review; they are a visual representation of the quality of your services/products you offer.
• Volume/Quantity: The more reviews your practice has, the more trustworthy your products and services will be received. If more people have positive experiences at your practice, then it will influence future patients in their trust and confidence in your services. 
• Relevancy: Reviews need to be relevant to matter. Patient reviews, in general, should range between a few months to a year at most in their timeliness, as older reviews won’t reflect the current quality of your services.
• Responsiveness: Responding to negative reviews and addressing issues are a great way to show how you engage with your patients. It will show credibility and resourcefulness and give your practice a more positive light by being active in your patient’s care. 

The Best Review Platforms Your Patients Trust 

According to RepuGen, at least three websites stand out as reliable resources for patients to find online reviews: 

Google Reviews

Google Reviews is an ever-popular patient resource as it’s provided on the most recognizable web platform. At least 75% of people check Google Reviews when searching for healthcare providers as they’re able to provide the most detailed information about your practice. It provides contact information, star rating, and hyperlinks to your website and social media accounts. 

WebMD

WebMD provides an alternative to Google Reviews for its ability to provide healthcare information and connect with various specialties nationwide. While there is less awareness and operates at about 49% usage, it’s still a good resource to check for reviews and manage your online reputation from. 

HealthGrades

HealthGrades is similar to WebMD, but focuses more on providing patients with direct connection to doctors and healthcare providers. It features a review section for practice profiles, but is considered the least used at about 25% usage.  

These three websites are what patients rely on to gain detailed information about your practice. If you want to improve your online reputation management, focus on these platforms. For the hows of online management, we’ll look into some tactics below to help you have better control over your practice’s success. 

Top 5 Tactics To Refine Online Reputation Management

Monitor Your Review Platforms and Online Listings

• Update Your Information: Make sure your practice is listed on review platforms like Google, WebMD, and HealthGrades. Add contact information, website links, and social media accounts on these platforms to build your brand image. 
• Create A Management Schedule: The best way to monitor your reviews is to put it into a schedule. You can keep track of these reviews once per week, get notifications from your Google Business Profile and social media accounts, and keep track of what your patients are saying about your practice. 

Gain Feedback and Respond To Reviews

• Collect Feedback: Online reputation management involves engaging with your patients is by collecting their feedback. In the office, you can educate staff members on requesting reviews from your scheduled patients or provide an online survey form on your website for gaining feedback from current patients. From there, you can collect feedback and address online reviews over a gradual period.  
• Reply To Reviews: Replying to reviews, especially negative ones, is difficult because even a positive, professional response can seem common stock. During replies, the best way to address negative responses is by suggesting solutions that are tailored to their experience. Your responses should provide some levels of transparency that are willing to demonstrate those changes, and, most of all, offer empathy for your patient’s position. 
• Automate The System: Depending on the size of your practice, automating your system could help manage online reputation management in the face of a large influxes of reviews. Through automated platforms like BirdEye, ReviewTrackers, or RepuGen, you can track reviews and address feedback through a more systematic approach. 

Online Reputation Management and Social Media Presence

• Post Updates Regularly: Alongside making sure all your profiles are accurate, you should use your online profiles to share news, educational content, and promotional offers. Adding images to posts and keeping information consistent will also help with maintaining your profile reputation on various platforms.
• Run Advertisement Campaigns: For social media accounts, you can use advertisement campaigns to educate on health topics, promote services, and even share success stories of previous patients. 
• Messaging and Response: Make sure to enable messaging on your accounts; another way to add messaging is by adding a chatbot feature to your website. You can use these avenues to respond to inquiries about your services and produce a sense of timeliness with your patients. 

Develop Your Content with SEO

• Develop Your Online Voice: Newsletters, blogs, and FAQ sections are a great way to build your brand’s voice and tone. Keeping your writing tone consistent can help your practice appeal to patients and aid online reputation management. 
• Use Local SEO: Local SEO is considered the best way to utilize search engine optimization as it’s able to narrow down your audience to your location. It’s an excellent way to reach out to the audience most likely to use your services. 
• Build and Earn Backlinks: Backlinks can provide ways to connect with patients through other brands and companies that you work with or partner with. One great way to use backlinks is by connecting locally with your community and building partnerships with businesses your audience knows well. 
• Optimize Your Website: Your website is the best way to control your online reputation as it represents your official online profile for your business. Updating your website through its design and accessibility features can help ensure your brand appeals solid online. 

Gather Testimonials and Case Studies For Online Reputation Management

• Share Diverse Cases: Testimonials can provide a great way to show the results of your practice’s treatment and give people a good idea about your services and reputation. If you’re using a patient’s stories with your practice, receive their consent before sharing their story. 
• Use Interactive Media: Testimonials are often more reliable when used in a multimedia format. Formats such as videos, images, and text can be combined to make their stories more interactive and engaging for new patients. 
• Promote Across Social Media: As stated before, advertisement campaigns can include patient success stories. Testimonials can be used to promote your services across all of your social media platforms, such as Facebook, X, and Instagram. 

Optimize Online Reputation Management With Optimized360

Any practice dedicated to excellent patient care starts by learning online reputation management techniques. At Optimized360, we work with hundreds of healthcare providers to optimize and improve their presence online with web design, search engine optimization, and more. If you want to gain more traction and improve your outlook, contact us today for a consultation.