Medical Practice Marketing
Patients check your Google profile, reviews and social pages before they call. We keep all three current, accurate and worth a look, so your front desk can stay on the phones.
Sound Familiar?
Hours, photos and insurance details drift, and patients see the wrong version first.
The office manager is stretched, so social goes quiet for months at a time.
Patients read the replies, and silence looks like a practice that doesn’t listen.
So the practice stays off social and leaves the conversation to everyone else.
What We Do for You
One team handles the places patients check before they book.
01
Built around your services and health awareness dates, written and scheduled for you.
02
Written consent for any patient story, and replies that never confirm who your patients are.
03
A request system your front desk will use, and replies that build trust.
04
The fields, photos and pages that decide whether patients click, on Google and in AI answers.
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Graphics and short videos that look like your practice, not a stock template.
Results
A dermatology practice. We worked on every part of his presence, from the website to social, and that connected effort is what got him into AI answers. For another healthcare client, a strategy of video, carousels and graphics that linked back to the site lifted traffic to its targeted pages by 20%.
Free Audit
We look at the places patients check before they call, then send a one-page report with what’s working and three quick wins. No cost, no contract.
Sample Report
Google Business ProfileNeeds photos
Average rating4.6 stars
Review replies2 of 10
Booking link on mobileBelow the fold
Shows up in AI searchNot yet
Example only. Your report covers your own practice.
The Guide
If you run a medical practice and want more new patients, we’d recommend starting with the places patients check before they ever call you. That means your Google profile, your reviews, your website and your social channels, and now the AI tools patients ask for recommendations.
The way patients pick a doctor has changed quickly. In a 2026 survey of about 1,000 US adults, patients who looked for a new doctor in the past year used AI tools 36% of the time, Google search 34% of the time and recommendations from another doctor 32% of the time. A year earlier, AI tools were at 17%. The survey comes from rater8, a company that sells review software, so treat it as a vendor survey, but the direction matches what we see with our own clients.
This guide walks through how patients find a practice now, what they check before booking, the five parts of a practice’s online presence, what to post through the year, how to stay HIPAA-safe, what to measure and when to bring in help.
In This Guide
A few years ago, most new patients came from a referral, an insurance directory or a Google search. Those channels still matter, but what’s new is that a patient can now type “best dermatologist near me who takes my insurance” into an AI tool and get a short list of names back.
Those AI answers don’t come from nowhere. They’re built from what’s already online about you: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your website, your social profiles and what other sites say about you. If those pieces are thin or out of date, the AI has less to work with, and it may recommend the practice down the street instead.
We’ve seen this work in the other direction too. One of our dermatology clients put real work into every part of his digital marketing, from his website to his social channels. That connected effort is what made him show up in AI search so quickly, and he’s now recommended regularly in his local area. No single channel did that on its own.
AI tools also get things wrong. In the same survey, 66% of patients said they’d seen incorrect provider information from an AI tool, and 60% said they trusted an AI summary without checking it. If your hours, location or accepted insurance are wrong somewhere online, there’s a good chance a patient will see the wrong version first.
Coming soon: How Patients Choose a Doctor Now: AI, Google and Reviews
Once a patient has your name, they look you up. This is where most practices lose people without ever knowing it.
Reviews carry the most weight. In the rater8 survey, 55% of patients said they’d walked away from a doctor because of online reviews, and 75% said they wouldn’t book a provider rated under 4.0 stars. 66% said the way a provider responds to reviews affects whether they trust them.
What’s interesting is which reviews hurt the most. The top deal-breakers were rude or unhelpful staff and “the doctor didn’t listen,” both at 52%. Concerns about the care itself came in lower, at 45%. So a lot of what decides whether a new patient books has more to do with the front desk and the visit experience than with medicine.
After reviews, patients usually check three things:
We think about a practice’s online presence sort of like a set of connected rooms. A patient can walk in through any door, but they should find the same practice in every room.
For most practices, this is the first thing a patient sees. Get the basics right first: the correct primary category, accurate hours, your booking link, current photos of the office and team, and every location listed separately. Then keep it up. Add photos regularly and reply to reviews.
Coming soon: Google Business Profile for Medical Practices: The Fields That Decide the Click
Ask happy patients for reviews as part of your normal follow-up, and reply to reviews in a way that builds trust without confirming that anyone is your patient. A short, warm reply that invites the person to call the office works better than a defensive one.
Your website is still the trust step before someone contacts you. It should answer the questions patients actually have: what you treat, who the providers are, which insurance you take, where you are and how to book. A booking button should be visible without scrolling on a phone.
Social is where patients get a feel for your practice. Educational posts, team introductions and seasonal health reminders do well for practices. We’d recommend posting consistently, even if that means fewer posts, over bursts followed by months of silence.
Most practices already have patients’ contact details. A monthly email with a useful health tip, a reminder about what’s coming up and news from the practice keeps you in mind between visits, and makes referrals easier.
We’re not saying you need to fix all five at once. Start with your Google profile and reviews, because that’s where most patients form their first impression, and then work outward.
Most practices struggle with what to post, so they either post nothing or post the same office photo every few weeks. A content calendar fixes that.
Health awareness months give you a built-in reason to post. November is National Diabetes Month, for example, and the Great American Smokeout falls in November too. Each month, pick the observances that match the care you provide and build two or three posts around them. Confirm the dates with the sponsoring organization before you post.
Insurance season matters as well. HealthCare.gov open enrollment runs from November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027, and patients have until December 15 to enroll for coverage that starts January 1. Medicare’s open enrollment window closes December 7. Many patients start the year on a new plan, and some will be looking for a new doctor who takes it. A clear post about which plans you accept, and an updated insurance page on your website, can catch those patients.
Coming soon: The Open Enrollment Checklist: What Your Practice Should Post Before January
Coming soon: A 12-Month Health Awareness Content Calendar for Practices
Free Calendar
Every month’s observances, plus three post ideas your team can adapt. Free to download.
A lot of practices avoid social media because they’re nervous about HIPAA. That’s understandable, but it usually means they leave the conversation to everyone else.
The basics are manageable. Don’t share anything that could identify a patient without their written permission. That includes photos, stories, and replies to reviews that confirm someone was seen at your practice. Testimonials and before-and-after photos need documented consent. When in doubt, educate instead of sharing a specific case.
This section is general information, not legal advice. Check with your compliance lead before you change how you handle patient information.
Coming soon: HIPAA-Safe Social Media for Medical Practices: What You Can and Can’t Post
You don’t need a complicated dashboard. Each month, we’d track:
If those numbers move in the right direction over a few months, the work is paying off.
Free Audit
We’ll review your Google profile, website and AI search visibility, then send a one-page report with three quick wins.
Plenty of practices handle this in-house, especially smaller ones. It usually makes sense to bring in help when the office manager is already stretched, posts go out irregularly or not at all, or the practice has grown faster than its online presence.
If you’re not sure where you stand, we offer a free Patient Acquisition Presence Audit. We look at your Google profile, your website and whether you show up in AI search for your specialty in your area, then send you a one-page report with what’s working and three quick wins.
Resources
Free tools and practical guides for getting found, checked and chosen by new patients.
Free Audit
We review your Google profile, website and AI search visibility, then send a one-page report with three quick wins.
Articles
Guides on Google profiles, reviews, HIPAA-safe social and what to post each month.
We review your Google profile, website and AI search visibility, then send a one-page report.
