Do doctors’ websites influence physician referrals?

Recently I needed a referral for a specialist. My referring doctor gave me a referral based on how quickly a practice could get me an appointment. So never having heard of this doctor, I did a google search on him. I ended up at various websites each containing different content.

Sites had the doctor’s CV, one included a picture and some had the address and phone number of his office. One particular site asked me to give them my email address before telling me more.

However, the first link that came up was patient survey results (see below). The doctor was rated on everything from his personality and bedside manner, to how long it took to get an appointment, to the friendliness of staff and ease of billing, and he didn’t score high on any criteria.

How great would it have been if this doctor could have controlled what I saw about him. Had he had his own website with good SEO, my google search probably would not have gone any farther than his website, which is what I was looking for in the first place. Instead I stumbled on content that gave a negative impression and made me second-guess the referral.

Watch for my next post when I talk more about brand identity for physicians.