Received bad doctor review on Google? What you can do
Online reviews are becoming increasingly important - for doctors, too. But what if a negative review suddenly appears in your Google profile? Read here how you can best deal with the bad review and improve your rating score.
The most important answers to negative physician reviews at a glance:
You have a perfect 5.0 star Google My Business profile. But suddenly there's this one negative review that lowers your rating average to 4.6 stars. Absolutely annoying: because every potential patient in Google search sees this negative review - and might decide they'd rather see another doctor. How should you deal with this situation?
Here's how to best respond to a negative doctor review
Even if you don't feel like it right now: Keep calm first! It is completely understandable that you feel personally attacked. But: Now you should avoid any action in the heat of the moment. Instead, see if you can simply delete the negative review and get rid of the problem.
Deletable is your rating, for example, if you:
- Abusive criticism contains
- employees are called by you by their real names
- False facts are claimed
If one or more of these criteria are met, you can in all likelihood have the unfair Google review deleted.
Should you respond to a negative review?
Many physicians tend to respond publicly to the assessment immediately to "set the record straight." A perfectly understandable impulse. Especially when potential patients read the negative review online, it is helpful to know both sides. So from the perspective of "marketing glasses", it is advisable to respond to the review.
But: From a legal point of view, this is not advisable. Because if you respond to the review publicly, you run the risk of violating your doctor-patient confidentiality. In addition, the review could become indelible, as your response may provide Google with information that could be used against you.
Therefore, there is no clear answer to the question of whether or not you should respond publicly to a Google review. If you are sure that the review is illegal, you should leave it uncommented and try to remove the review.
How to delete your negative rating
There are two ways to delete the review: either you request the deletion yourself via Google or you contact a lawyer directly.
Delete doctor rating yourself on Google
If you want to delete the review yourself, you can do it in four steps:
- Log in to your Google My Business account
- Call the review concerned
- Report the review via the three-point menu
- Justify why the review violates applicable law and/or Google policies
Remove rating with a lawyer
Many mistakes are made by doctors when justifying the deletion of reviews. This is because some requests to remove reviews can be so complicated and difficult to justify for people who are not legally trained that it is worth consulting a lawyer. Some lawyers offer fixed prices for the deletion of reviews (often around 150 euros). So if you are unsure or Google Support does not respond to your request, you should contact a lawyer to have the review deleted.
Take targeted action to improve your physician ratings on Google
To prevent a single negative review from easily lowering your rating score, you should ensure that there are many positive reviews on your Google profile. This is also the best signal for potential patients!
To generate more positive Google reviews, display stands in your practice and linking the Google Maps profile on the website can help, as David Glaser of marketing agency BookedOutDentist advises. The agency helps dental practices attract more new patients and by optimizing the doctor's profile on Google Maps. "It is also very important that doctors specifically ask their (satisfied) patients to write Google reviews," says David Glaser.
Collect many positive Google reviews with Nelly
Another way to automatically gain more reviews from satisfied patients is Nelly. With the medical history and billing tool, you can ask patients to leave a review by text message directly after treatment. With one click on the link, the positive 5-star rating on Google is done quickly - so that future negative reviews can no longer affect you as much. We will advise you on your individual case free of charge and without obligation!
The personal designations used in this article always refer equally to all persons. For the sake of better readability, we have refrained from using double or opposite names.
Fazit: Viele Arztbewertungen bei Google sind das beste Marketing
Damit nicht eine einzige negative Rezension leicht Ihren Bewertungsscore verschlechtern kann, sollten Sie dafür sorgen, dass es viele positive Bewertungen auf Ihrem Google-Profil gibt. Das ist auch für mögliche Patienten das beste Signal!
Auf diese Weise erhöhen Sie nicht nur Ihre Sichtbarkeit im Internet, sondern stärken auch die allgemeine Patientenzufriedenheit. Denn nichts macht zufriedener als eine Echokammer Gleichgesinnter, die sich wohl in Ihrer Arztpraxis fühlen.
Nutzen Sie jetzt mit Nelly das volle Potenzial von Online-Rezensionen – völlig risikolos! Wir beraten Sie unverbindlich und kostenlos zu Ihrem individuellen Fall!
Die in diesem Artikel verwendeten Personenbezeichnungen beziehen sich immer gleichermaßen auf alle Personen. Auf eine Doppelnennung und gegenderte Bezeichnungen wird zugunsten einer besseren Lesbarkeit verzichtet.
You have a perfect 5.0 star Google My Business profile. But suddenly there's this one negative review that lowers your rating average to 4.6 stars. Absolutely annoying: because every potential patient in Google search sees this negative review - and might decide they'd rather see another doctor. How should you deal with this situation?
Here's how to best respond to a negative doctor review
Even if you don't feel like it right now: Keep calm first! It is completely understandable that you feel personally attacked. But: Now you should avoid any action in the heat of the moment. Instead, see if you can simply delete the negative review and get rid of the problem.
Deletable is your rating, for example, if you:
- Abusive criticism contains
- employees are called by you by their real names
- False facts are claimed
If one or more of these criteria are met, you can in all likelihood have the unfair Google review deleted.
Should you respond to a negative review?
Many physicians tend to respond publicly to the assessment immediately to "set the record straight." A perfectly understandable impulse. Especially when potential patients read the negative review online, it is helpful to know both sides. So from the perspective of "marketing glasses", it is advisable to respond to the review.
But: From a legal point of view, this is not advisable. Because if you respond to the review publicly, you run the risk of violating your doctor-patient confidentiality. In addition, the review could become indelible, as your response may provide Google with information that could be used against you.
Therefore, there is no clear answer to the question of whether or not you should respond publicly to a Google review. If you are sure that the review is illegal, you should leave it uncommented and try to remove the review.
How to delete your negative rating
There are two ways to delete the review: either you request the deletion yourself via Google or you contact a lawyer directly.
Delete doctor rating yourself on Google
If you want to delete the review yourself, you can do it in four steps:
- Log in to your Google My Business account
- Call the review concerned
- Report the review via the three-point menu
- Justify why the review violates applicable law and/or Google policies
Remove rating with a lawyer
Many mistakes are made by doctors when justifying the deletion of reviews. This is because some requests to remove reviews can be so complicated and difficult to justify for people who are not legally trained that it is worth consulting a lawyer. Some lawyers offer fixed prices for the deletion of reviews (often around 150 euros). So if you are unsure or Google Support does not respond to your request, you should contact a lawyer to have the review deleted.
Take targeted action to improve your physician ratings on Google
To prevent a single negative review from easily lowering your rating score, you should ensure that there are many positive reviews on your Google profile. This is also the best signal for potential patients!
To generate more positive Google reviews, display stands in your practice and linking the Google Maps profile on the website can help, as David Glaser of marketing agency BookedOutDentist advises. The agency helps dental practices attract more new patients and by optimizing the doctor's profile on Google Maps. "It is also very important that doctors specifically ask their (satisfied) patients to write Google reviews," says David Glaser.
Collect many positive Google reviews with Nelly
Another way to automatically gain more reviews from satisfied patients is Nelly. With the medical history and billing tool, you can ask patients to leave a review by text message directly after treatment. With one click on the link, the positive 5-star rating on Google is done quickly - so that future negative reviews can no longer affect you as much. We will advise you on your individual case free of charge and without obligation!
The personal designations used in this article always refer equally to all persons. For the sake of better readability, we have refrained from using double or opposite names.
Fazit: Viele Arztbewertungen bei Google sind das beste Marketing
Damit nicht eine einzige negative Rezension leicht Ihren Bewertungsscore verschlechtern kann, sollten Sie dafür sorgen, dass es viele positive Bewertungen auf Ihrem Google-Profil gibt. Das ist auch für mögliche Patienten das beste Signal!
Auf diese Weise erhöhen Sie nicht nur Ihre Sichtbarkeit im Internet, sondern stärken auch die allgemeine Patientenzufriedenheit. Denn nichts macht zufriedener als eine Echokammer Gleichgesinnter, die sich wohl in Ihrer Arztpraxis fühlen.
Nutzen Sie jetzt mit Nelly das volle Potenzial von Online-Rezensionen – völlig risikolos! Wir beraten Sie unverbindlich und kostenlos zu Ihrem individuellen Fall!
Die in diesem Artikel verwendeten Personenbezeichnungen beziehen sich immer gleichermaßen auf alle Personen. Auf eine Doppelnennung und gegenderte Bezeichnungen wird zugunsten einer besseren Lesbarkeit verzichtet.
Melanie Schröder
Author
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