How to Respond to Negative Reviews Online

How to Respond to Negative Reviews Online

Curious about how to respond to negative reviews online? Learn the right way to deal with negative business reviews and maintain your online reputation.

What is online reputation management (ORM?)

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of monitoring, influencing, and controlling an individual or organization’s reputation on the internet.

This can include managing search engine results, monitoring social media accounts, and responding to customer reviews and feedback.

The goal of ORM is to shape public perception and protect an organization’s or individual’s reputation and credibility online.

ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT GUIDE FOR DOCTORS 

First impressions matter, which is why the first impression people have of your medical practice when they Google you really matters.

Which business are you more likely to trust?

Company A:

A business that has a handful of directory listings and a website that is rarely updated.

OR

Company B:

A business that has five pages of organic search results from media interviews, thought leadership op-eds and guest posts.

Maybe you think first impressions of your brand don’t matter.

However, there are many people you have to impress in a digital economy including:

• Potential clients and new patients
• Existing clients and patients
• Potential employees and new staff members
• Vendors
• Potential investors
• Members of the media
• Google quality raters

SEARCH ENGINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Why Google is the new business card.

Positive reviews are a critical trust factor before a new patient schedules the first appointment with a new physician.

Your online reputation results can mean the difference between a thriving practice vs. a flailing one.

When negative media coverage or online reviews about doctors appear online, medical practices see a one-third drop in visits and calls to their offices, causing a potentially disastrous financial impact.

The first page of Google search results tied to a doctor’s name or practice is the new business card.

While some doctors may still choose to ignore this fact; their prospective patients will not.

When a patient looks online for your name or the name of your practice, what do they find?

Positive brand mentions and digital reviews of your practice can influence your search engine ranking and online presence. That is why it is critical to practice digital hygiene and periodic search engine check-ups to assess the health of your practice on search engine results across numerous search engines (not only Google).

Positive reviews and media coverage is an important factor for prospective patients before scheduling an appointment with a new doctor.

Online medical review sites of doctors can benefit your practice by building trust with new patients. But if they are left unattended, they can wreak havoc on your practice by discouraging new patients from never booking a consultation with you.

Unfortunately, negative search engine results can happen to anyone on a variety of websites, whether they are real or undeserved.

Even companies with consistent 5-star reviews receive a handful of 1-star reviews from time to time.

These reviews can take place on:

• Ripoff Report, Yelp, Healthgrades, RateMDs.com, Google Reviews
• Medical review sites for doctors
• Blog post comments from revengeful former employees
• Negative Glassdoor reviews from disgruntled and vengeful interns
• Negative press mentions or news articles
• Negative comments on social media platforms like Twitter

For medical practices, the most common negative reviews include long wait times, poor service, rude office managers or billing issues.

When doctors respond to negative reviews in a professional and constructive manner, this shows potential patients that the doctor is responsive and cares about their patients’ experiences.

Additionally, online reputation management can help create a sense of community and good will with existing patients when a doctor shares positive reviews and replies to comments. Over time, this can help to counteract any negative reviews. Online reputation management can help to protect and enhance a doctor’s credibility and online reputation, which can ultimately lead to more patient acquisition.

Are negative reviews inevitable in a digital economy?

With the rise in healthcare review websites, it is critical for medical practices to learn how to respond to negative reviews in a proper and timely manner.

The very worst thing you can do is let all of the negative reviews sit online with no response from your practice. Think of it like a wound that doesn’t heal, or a cut that slowly keeps bleeding.

The goal is to stop the bleeding before it gets worse.

How do you remove negative information from the Internet?

If you Google the question “How do I get something removed from Google search?” you will see a myriad of companies offering to do the following:

• Suppress negative reviews
• Bury negative content
• Lower negative search results
• Push down search results
• Fix search results through paid removal

Our PR experience has shown that many of these companies are ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts. Why? Because you can’t control content once it has been posted, but you can control how you respond to the content, and what type of content you push out on behalf of your company and through third-party media outlets.

How can you change your negative search engine results?

You can’t change your results, but you can impact your search results through the creation of positive, fresh content and new media interviews to change the narrative.

Internet search results can make or break your digital reputation and personal brand.

Unfortunately, one or more negative search results showing up for your name can have a massive impact on the initial impression people have of you when they look you up. This can also negatively impact your score in Google’s Quality Rater guidelines.

Negative search engine results are not the only thing that leads to a negative impression.

Having nothing come up about your company or medical practice is just as bad as having negative results come up.

Both give a very poor impression when someone is searching for you online.

People like to see an active digital presence when they look you up. No one wants to research a business or New York physician and see a desolate ghost town when they are trying to find more information about you.

Statistics: Online reputation management for doctors

• “91% of searches don’t go beyond page 1 on Google.”
• “25% of a company’s market value is directly related to its reputation.”
• “92% of employers and clients will conduct an online search of your business before engaging with you.”
• “84% of patients research new medical doctors before their first appointment.”

Factors That Determine Your Online Reputation

What factors impact the timeline for results of online reputation management?

The timeline for seeing results from online reputation management (ORM) can be influenced by several factors:

• Existing Online Reputation: The current state of your online reputation can significantly impact the timeline. Social media plays a critical role in search results. If your reputation is already good, it may take you less time to improve or maintain it. However, if your reputation is poor or there is a lot of negative content about your company that our firm needs to counter, it could take longer.
• Strength of the Competition: The competitiveness of your brand name entity recognition and keywords associated with your name can also affect the timeline. If the competition for your name is high, it may take more time to rise to the top of the search results.
• PR & Brand Authority: The strength of your brand can influence how quickly you can improve your online reputation. No foundation. It will take longer to rebuild a positive reputation if no one trusts you to begin with.
• Volume of Online Reviews: The number of online reviews your business has can impact your online reputation. If there are little to no reviews, one bad review will stand out more than a negative review in a sea of hundreds of positive reviews.
• Search Engine Rankings: Your positioning on search engines can influence your digital presence and online reputation. Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help improve your rankings and reputation over time.
• Past Reputation Management Efforts: Previous efforts to build and manage your reputation can also impact the timeline. If previous PR efforts were ineffective or caused further damage, it may take longer to repair and improve your reputation.
• Social Media Presence: Your presence and activity on social media platforms can also affect your online reputation and the time it takes to improve it. An audit will assess how much damage is done and what needs to be repaired.

In your role as CEO of a prominent NYC public relations and social media agency, what advice do you offer doctors when it comes to navigating online reviews and the potential impact on their reputation?

Online reputation management is a burgeoning industry in the digital landscape where Google is your new front door.

What you say matters and not posting anything and staying silent can also impact your reputation and damage trust.

Patients expect instantaneous responses in a 24/7 connected digital world.

Make sure you obtain reviews the right way and in an ethical manner, or else you risk being fined and tanking your search results.

Don’t write fake reviews or have people write reviews who have never used your services.

How can fake reviews hurt a business?

Consumer trust is affected by fake reviews.

A fake review can damage consumer trust and brand reputation.

But most importantly, a fake review can hurt a business by causing negative PR if the business is hit with fines and criminal charges.

The FTC forbids the use of fake testimonials.

Under 15 US Code § 45, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the power to stop and penalize parties “using unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

This makes it a crime to break official rules imposed by the FTC.

WATCH: RMG Founder Kris Ruby on Fox News discusses how to spot negative online reviews with Tucker Carlson 

Navigating the world of online reviews is challenging, which is why plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and cardiologists hire Ruby Media Group to manage their online reputation. They pay for VIP treatment to have a consultant on retainer to craft appropriate responses in real-time to mitigate risk and cause the least amount of harm.

In addition to not causing further harm, you also want to see if you can ’turn the tide’ to influence someone who is disgruntled into someone who can become an advocate.

If people take the time to write a terrible review about your practice, they ultimately want to feel heard, seen and acknowledged. 

How to respond to bad reviews

How should you respond when patients ask about your negative online reviews?

Acknowledge the review and do not pretend it didn’t happen.

Step 1: Make them feel heard. Use their name when replying. “Hi X”

Step 2: Validate their feelings with empathy. Strip the emotion out of what they are saying and objectively try to hear what the complaint is. Address it. Do not ignore it.

Step 3: Know when to stop. If you have tried every possible avenue to be accommodating to someone and they still continue to trash your business in every reply, a public thread of a business owner arguing is never a good look.

Online reviews have tremendous potential to impact your reputation, but ultimately, how you respond to the reviews has a greater impact.

Respond with elegance and grace to reflect positively on your company. All responses should be on-brand. Consumers and patients do not only measure a business by the negative reviews. Ultimately, they measure the business by the way the owner replies. Fundamentally, that is 50 % of the equation and the part that is unfortunately overlooked.

As the practice owner, you have the power to help or hurt your online reputation.

You have more power than you think and that starts with you and how you choose to handle difficult online situations.

Do online reviews matter to the media?

Yes, online reviews matter to patients and search engines when patients are deciding what doctor to go to.

But you know who else it matters to? The media!

When the media Googles your name or the name of your medical practice, what do they find?

When deciding what doctor to quote as an expert, the media is less likely to use a doctor who has terrible online reviews. If you hire a medical PR firm and there are negative reviews about your practice, this will unequivocally hurt your chances of getting quoted as a credible subject matter expert.

Having no results on page one of Google is just as bad as having negative reviews.

Journalists do not want to quote medical experts that have zero digital credibility.

You Received a Negative Review, Now What?

First off, accept that negative reviews are normal and more common than you may think!

If you don’t interface with your customers or patients on a daily basis, this can be hard to see for the first time, so it’s important to be aware and accept that everyone will receive a negative review at some point in their career.

Next, you’ll want to put together a plan to respond to negative reviews. Every business should have a crisis PR plan in place early on in their tenure, and the PR team members should know how to respond to negative reviews.

The first step is to put together a plan to respond to negative reviews. Every doctor should have a standard response for combating negative reviews in place early on in their tenure. The document should be shared with the PR agency or online reputation manager for the medical practice.

Responding to Negative Reviews- Dos and Don’ts

How should a business reply to a negative online review?

Businesses must acknowledge their customers’ concerns to inspire continued loyalty. Think of it this way – when a customer invests their time and effort to evaluate a business and they don’t receive a response, you could lose that customer.

Be sure to respond in a timely manner – if you don’t, they will take their business elsewhere.

Research shows that customer emotions become permanent with time, so it’s best for an effective intervention to take place as close to the experience as possible.

You should never be waiting around for negative reviews to happen.

Ideally, you’ll want to address any of these issues and intervene before those online business reviews are published. This allows them to mitigate the negative experiences and amplify the positive ones in the minds of customers.

Do this through your social media channels and your customer service email account. Additionally, be sure to address and remediate poor reviews before launching an aggressive, proactive marketing campaign.

Reputation Crisis Management | Reputation Repair

Negative reviews impact your bottom line. 

Are you suffering from repeated, unwanted attacks online? Is someone writing fake reviews in an attempt to destroy your reputation? Is a competitor posting false claims about your business to hurt your search engine rankings?

Review Management:

Can a bad online business review ruin a business? The answer is yes. One terrible review can shadow 500 positive reviews. This is the unfortunate reality that many business owners ignore.

READ: Avoid the top social media mistakes companies make.

How can negative online reviews impact your business reputation?

If customer issues are not addressed promptly and online reviews continue to decline, this could lead to a decrease in sales and hotel bookings, ultimately leading to decreased profitability.

Example: Negative restaurant reviews can lead to a decrease in bookings over time.

A restaurants credibility will be called into question if negative reviews are not addressed.

Online Brand Management | Online Reputation Management Tips:

How to address negative reviews

Address and remediate poor reviews before launching an aggressive and proactive social media marketing or PR campaign. The media will look at negative reviews, so it is important that we address the substance of the complaints.

Steps:

1. Issue a statement addressing complaints that customers have had and let customers know the steps your business is taking to resolve issues. For example, reinforcing that a restaurant values their customers and strives to give them the best dining experience possible.
2. Continue to proactively respond to negative customer reviews and take the necessary steps to resolve the issues.
3. Reach out to customers through email marketing and ask if they can post positive reviews/comments on the restaurant’s social media and website, and independent review sites.
4. Make sure that you have adequately prepped the restaurant staff accordingly beforehand. The worst thing you could do is invite people to leave positive reviews without letting the internal team know you have invited them in. This could result in a slew of negative reviews.

Reputation Management: Ruby Media Group has helped thousands of clients manage their online reputation by monitoring social media channels for negative comments or reviews, responding to patient inquiries and complaints, and developing proactive PR strategies to address any potential issues that arise.

How long does reputation management take?

ORM is not a quick fix but a strategic, sustained effort over time.

Online reputation management is an ongoing process, especially for businesses in industries where online reputation is particularly crucial or volatile. While online reputation management PR services can yield significant benefits, it is not an instant solution and requires a strategic, sustained effort over time to effectively improve and maintain a positive online reputation.

At Ruby Media Group, we know how important online reviews are for your business’s revenue and reputation. However, managing your reviews is just as important, if not more so, than simply racking up new ones. In addition, some old positive reviews can quickly change to negative reviews if a customer changes their mind about the service they received. We help you reply to reviews, maintain a positive online image with ongoing public relations services, and defuse potentially damaging situations on social media.

What is the best way to handle negative online reviews?

Responding to negative reviews online is a band-aid approach and not a permanent cure. Online reputation management (ORM) is a multi-faceted process of different steps working together to positively influence your search engine results.

If your business is proactively seeking out (and acting on) your customers’ feedback promptly, you’ll not only retain existing customers, but you will also add new ones through positive word-of-mouth referrals.

How should physicians respond to Google and Yelp reviews?

Make sure your answer is HIPAA compliant.

If you are looking to outsource responses to negative reviews to a reputation management consultant or healthcare PR firm, you need to be extremely careful. It is critical that all responses are HIPAA compliant before responding to any patient reviews.

How do you respond to negative reviews online?

In order to inspire loyalty and continued patronage, businesses must acknowledge and respond to customers’ complaints in real-time on social media.

DON’T ignore the complaint. When a customer invests time to criticize a business and they don’t receive a response, it could snowball into a larger PR or crisis communications issue. You can use this as an opportunity to let the problem grow, or deal with it at the moment so you keep the customer happy and inspire them to stop spreading the negative reviews on other sites.

DO Respond in a timely matter. If you don’t, things could get bad, very quickly. Obviously, the customer is going to take their business elsewhere, but the point here is that this will stop them from trashing you in the process, hopefully! An effective intervention should take place online as close to the experience as possible.

DO issue a formal response. Address the complaint(s) and name the steps you will take to resolve the issue in the future. Make them feel heard.

DO address the issues. Intervene before any other reviews are published. This enables you to mitigate the negative experiences and amplify the positive ones. You can do this through your social media channels and your customer service email account.

DON’T launch a PR campaign until you clean up your digital presence. Be sure to address and remediate poor reviews before launching an aggressive, proactive public relations campaign. You want to clean up your digital presence before reaching out to the media, as this can have a substantial impact on media relations efforts.

DO reach out to happy customers. To combat any negative reviews, you can also consider reaching out to happy customers and asking them to post their own reviews.

DO invite influencers in to increase positive reviews. Reach out to bloggers and influencers in your niche and invite them in to write about their experiences as a customer or client. You can also consider inviting customers who left negative reviews to come back when the issue is resolved. However, this could mean comping their next service or cosmetic procedure.

DO claim ownership of your company listings. Be sure to claim the listing of your business or medical practice name on each review site before someone else does.

How to Remove a Defamatory Review

How can you remove a bad review from Google?

Social Media Defamation

Negative reviews often go hand in hand with social media harassment and defamation.

Many review websites and social media platforms allow you to request the removal of defamatory reviews.

However, just because you request it, doesn’t mean it will actually happen.

Most established review websites and social media platforms allow you to request the removal of defamatory reviews. It’s best to go to the website the review is posted at and look for their policy on the issue (often this can be found in their FAQ or Legal section, but a quick Google search can save the day if this doesn’t yield results).

If the negative reviews are indexed in a search engine like Google, you can visit their Legal Removal Request page, which allows you to seek to obtain a judgment from a court declaring the statements in a review to be false, and then present the court order to Google with the goal of having the relevant URL(s) de-indexed from Google.

READ: Here are the best ways to spot fake reviews.

Monitor medical practice online reviews

As a doctor, one way to earn better reviews is to create a system to ask patients to rate your practice right after their visit.

Pro Tip: Create a formal and systematized process to proactively ask patients to write reviews. Utilize technology apps for this to put it on autopilot.

Remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google

Can you get negative reviews removed?

Step 1:

Request review removal:

To ask Google to remove or delete an inappropriate review from your Business Profile, report the review. Google will only remove reviews that violate their policies.

• Remove reviews from your Business Profile on Google – Android – Google Business Profile Help
• Google Prohibited and restricted content:

Remember, you must be able to prove the review is false or that it violates a policy or community standard.

Choosing the Best Online Reputation Management Service 

How can you choose the best ORM service provider to remove negative reviews?

Many Doctors approach RMG who need help fixing their reputation online after negative reviews have hurt their practice.

Online reputation management is a critical component for any physician in private practice.

When choosing the best online reputation management service for a medical doctor, ask the following:

• What is the agencies background in PR and SEO?
• Does the agency have additional capabilities in crisis management?
• How does the agency handle negative reviews? What is their approach? Do they want to bury the review with new press articles, or are they focused on responding to the current negative reviews? No two agencies have the same approach.
• Do they engage in black hat tactics that can hurt your company long term?

What ongoing ORM services can RMG provide?

An online reputation management PR company like RMG provides a variety of services to help individuals and organizations manage their online reputation.

Ruby Media Groups PR services can include:

1. Brand Monitoring: RMG will monitor the Internet for positive and negative brand mentions of the client’s name, brand, or keywords in order to identify any potential reputation issues. We use brand sentiment analysis software to do this.
2. Crisis Management: If a negative review or comment is found, our firm will work to quickly address the issue and mitigate any potential damage to your reputation.
3. Content Creation and Distribution: RMG will create and distribute positive PR content, such as press releases, blog posts, and news articles, to counter any negative information that is ranking or indexing on search engines about your company.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): We will proactively work to improve your search engine rankings by optimizing the existing content on your website.
5. Social Media Management: We will manage the client’s social media accounts, creating and publishing content, responding to comments and reviews.
6. Review Management: We manage and respond to negative reviews on various platforms like Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, etc.
7. Reputation Building: We will build the client’s reputation by highlighting their accomplishments, awards, and positive feedback.
8. Brand Protection: We proactively work with legal counsel to monitor and address any potential trademark or copyright infringement.

RMG will help you maintain a positive online reputation and ensure that you are represented in the best possible light to the public.

HEALTHCARE ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES | DOCTOR NEGATIVE REVIEW REMOVAL SERVICES

Healthcare Publicist & Owner of an Award-Winning Medical Public Relations Agency for Doctors located in New York 

Frustrated with your online search engine results? We help defend your reputation.

If you need assistance with crafting these responses (as most people do), enlist the help of a firm like Ruby Media Group to wordsmith this for you.

Does your practice suffer with terrible page one search results on Google from negative PR results?

We can help improve your practice in search.

RMG offers the following online reputation management services:

• Media Relations
• Strategic PR Counsel
• Crisis Management & Online Reputation Management (ORM)
• Media Training
• Thought Leadership Development
• Brand Positioning

RMG helps clients deal with negative online reviews and negative publicity.

We have extensive experience removing damaging online reviews and negative PR as quickly as possible.

Our goal is to not draw further attention to the situation which could make it worse or increase further social media defamation.

Remove Bad Reviews | PR Firm

Reputation Management Specialist in Manhattan, New York

Are you looking to bury a negative article or create positive branding for your business?

We are an award-winning online reputation management company with a decade of experience helping executives create, maintain, and restore positive digital footprints. Whether you’re a CEO, entrepreneur, or seasoned professional looking to build a positive brand image online or suppress something negative from your past, we have the PR expertise and the know-how to help you create a successful online presence. RMG has helped hundreds of clients gain an average of 600% increased positive PR media exposure.

Top Reputation Management Companies in New York City

In business, your reputation is everything.

Ruby Media Group is an award-winning New York City online reputation management company. Hire the best online reputation management company in NYC. As a highly experienced public relations and online reputation management firm, we know how to fix the worst online reviews with a propriety mix of SEO, content marketing, digital PR, and crisis management consulting. Ensure your brand has a positive online reputation before it’s too late. Safeguard and enhance your brand’s reputation and image with our top-notch Online Reputation Management services in Westchester County, New York. 

Online Reputation Management PR firm

Your first line of defense against digital smear campaigns and reputation attacks on social media

Ruby Media Group utilizes the latest machine learning online reputation monitoring technology and brand sentiment tools to monitor for issues and changes in sentiment before your brand gets canceled. Our ongoing corporate digital PR service monitors your brand for negative reviews, and drafts responses with you as a partner firm. With automated machine learning brand monitoring, Ruby Media Group will protect your online reputation and saved your brand before digital damage occurs. Call today to build your brand, protect your online reputation, and reclaim your digital footprint.

Improve Your Business Reputation. Address Negative Reviews. Fix Issues with Negative Search Results & Content Fast. Get a Free Reputation Consultation. Delete Negative Online Content. Secure positive Press in News Articles, Blogs, and National Media.

To learn more about your options for dealing with fake or negative reviews, contact us today.

PERSONAL BRANDING | PR FOR DOCTORS 

Thousands of brands trust Ruby Media Group to manage their digital presence.

Negative reviews pose an ongoing threat to your business. A risk of negative reviews and bad publicity could damage the hard-earned reputation of your medical practice.  PR is critical to gaining more exposure. It is also critical to combatting negative media coverage to lower search results that are not favorable to your medical practice. When people Google you, there should be more organic search results where you are quoted as an expert from third-party sources in the media. Additionally, this will help your SEO as well because gaining backlinks from highly ranked sites will boost your visibility and also help to lower any negative search engine reviews that are appearing. The more backlinks pointing to your site from trusted media sources, the more Google gives your site preferential treatment from a ranking perspective. 

When you work with RMG, you aren’t simply getting press placements. You are also getting a branding strategist who understands how to build the brand of a plastic surgeon and catapult publicity into earned media coverage. Our award-winning healthcare public relations firm works with top-tier physicians and surgeons across the country to refine and grow their personal brand – the kind of higher profile that can help your practice thrive through national media exposure and press coverage. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR | KRIS RUBY

Kris Ruby is a nationally recognized authority on online reputation management, crisis management, and corporate social responsibility, and has counseled some of the world’s most prominent executives and companies. Ruby is an author and speaker on a variety of public relations, management, entrepreneurship, and marketing topics. Kris Ruby helps medical experts build their personal brand and private practice in digital platforms.

No Generative AI Training Use 

Ruby Media Group Inc. reserves the rights to this work and any other entity, corporation, or model has no rights to reproduce and/or otherwise use the Work (including text and images on this website) in any manner for purposes of training artificial intelligence technologies to generate text, including without limitation, technologies that are capable of generating works in the same style or genre as the Work. You do not have the right to sublicense others to reproduce and/or otherwise use the Work in any manner for purposes of training artificial intelligence technologies to generate derivative text for a model without the permission of Ruby Media Group. If a corporation scrapes or uses this content for a derivative model, RMG will take full legal action against the entity for copyright violation and unlicensed usage.

Date last updated: April 2024

Ruby Media Group

Ruby Media Group is an award-winning NY Public Relations Firm and NYC Social Media Marketing Agency.  The New York PR Firm specializes in healthcare marketing, healthcare PR and medical practice marketing.  Ruby Media Group helps companies increase their exposure through leveraging social media and digital PR. RMG conducts a thorough deep dive into an organizations brand identity, and then creates a digital footprint and comprehensive strategy to execute against.