Are Negative RateMDs Reviews Hurting Your Online Reputation?

Have you “Googled” your name recently only to be shocked to find negative (and likely false or fake) reviews on RateMDS that are damaging your reputation? Are you concerned that the negative reviews will have a detrimental impact on your professional career, reputation in the community, or ability to attract new patients to your practice? If so, we are here to help. This article outlines various strategies and tactics we have implemented for our clients over the past 7+ years to successfully remove negative, false, and fake reviews from RateMDs for our clients.

*If you would like professional help in removing negative RateMDs reviews as quickly as possible, please fill out our contact form or call us today at 855-239-5322 for a free consultation. All of our review removal services are guaranteed, and you only have to pay for results AFTER they have been achieved. It’s important to note that you typically only have one shot at getting a negative review removed – we are here to help!

What is RateMDs?

Founded in 2004, RateMDs has become one of the most popular doctor rating and review platforms in the world, boasting a staggering 2.5 million reviews and counting.

With monthly visitors in the millions, RateMDs is one of the “go-to” trusted sources of information for patients seeking the best medical care. The site contains reviews for a large number of physicians and medical practices in a diverse range of disciplines. Readers can judge the skill, helpfulness, and overall benefit of a healthcare provider by reading reviews for that provider.

While RateMDs is well-intentioned, its user-generated review platform has resulted in a significant number of negative, false, and fake reviews being published – oftentimes causing substantial harm to a doctor’s reputation. Since there is no fee associated with creating a user profile, anybody with an Internet connection can post a review anonymously and nearly instantaneously. Furthermore, when a new review is published on RateMDs, it is not verified, leaving open the possibility for fake or fraudulent reviews from disgruntled patients, competitors, or ex-employees. Due to the lack of safeguards to protect against negative and false reviews on RateMDs, a doctors’ reputation could be wrongfully tarnished by strangers or individuals venting their personal frustrations that do not relate to a doctor’s patient care ability.

How Does RateMDs Rate Medical Professionals?

The RateMDs reviews platform is based on a 5-star rating system, with 1 star being the poorest and 5 stars being the best. When leaving a review on a RateMDs profile, users can rate medical professionals in the following categories:

• Staff
• Punctuality
• Helpfulness
• Knowledge

The overall rating of a physician is the average of the category ratings listed above. In addition to the categorical snippets, users are required to leave a written comment justifying their ratings, which can often be unfair and damaging.

It’s important to note that once a user posts a rating, it’s available to the public immediately. In today’s digital age, recent studies have shown that around 90% of patients now trusting online reviews to help them make a decision on which doctor they want to see.

Why Does RateMDs Rank High in Search Results?

It takes years for a medical professional to build their career and reputation, yet only one negative RateMDs review to ruin it.

When negative reviews are published to a profile in an online platform such as RateMDs, there is a high likelihood that it will rank on the first page of search results for the medical provider’s personal name or company. If you’re a healthcare professional who’s been a victim of a negative, fake, and/or inaccurate patient review, you may be wondering why RateMDs ranks high in search results. This occurs for several reasons, including:

• Clicks: The #1 search ranking factor in 2020 is the number of clicks a specific link gets over time. Generally speaking, the more clicks a link gets, the higher it will rank in search results. When people search for your name or business, they are much more likely to click on public profiles from well-known websites such as RateMDs, therefore causing it to rank higher in search results.
• Domain Authority: Every site on the Internet has a certain level of “trust” or “domain authority” on Google. The higher a site’s domain authority, the higher the site ranks in search results. Health-related websites such as RateMDs are highly trusted by Google, which is one of the reasons why negative reviews can quickly surface at the top of Google search results.
• “Virality”/Links: It is not uncommon for a doctor’s online medical profile riddled with negative reviews to go “viral” due to a disgruntled patient publishing the profile on social sharing sites or blogs. When other sites link to the profile, it signals to Google that the article must be of value to users and should rank highly in search results.

How to Remove Negative RateMDs Reviews

A recent study reported that 90% of healthcare professionals are concerned about the risks of negative feedback online, and for good reason. RateMDs generate ratings based on only patient opinion rather than concrete data analyzing how well a doctor can provide treatment or care within their particular field.

According to the study:

• 40% of medical providers worried that negative reviews would provide the wrong impression.
• 30% feared the reviews would be inaccurate or unfair.
• 14% expressed concern about acquiring new patients.
• 62% had received at least one negative review already.

Whether you fall into the percentile who expressed anxiety over physician rating websites or have yet to receive a negative review, it’s possible to take action and protect your online reputation.

Flag the RateMDs Review for Removal

Physician review websites mitigate review discrepancies according to their own policies, and RateMDs will not remove a flagged review simply because a doctor claims the review is unfair.

First and foremost, determine if the negative review contains the following:

• Demonstrably inaccurate or out of date information.
• Libelous information.
• Accusations of unlawful activity, profanities or vulgarity, privacy violations, spam, or details that are not relevant or related to a patient’s visit.
  Issues regarding another physician.
• Threats or intimidation.
• Confidential information such as your residential address.

If a user violates any of these conditions in his review, it is eligible for removal. Since RateMDs “generally does not remove ratings,” it’s vital that you thoroughly evaluate your situation first, especially since you’ll likely have a single opportunity to delete the review. Furthermore, users are limited to one review per doctor.

If, after careful consideration, you feel justified moving forward, here’s how to flag a RateMDs review:

• Navigate to the RateMDs profile.
• Scroll down to locate the negative review.
• Click the “flag” icon next to the rating.
• You will be prompted to select a reason for flagging: Profanity, Private Information, Spam, Wrong Provider.
• Under “Additional Information,” tell RateMDs why it should be removed, and be sure to include specific policy violations notated in the above list.

Litigation

Lawsuits are generally a last resort. While it’s more challenging to bring suit against RateMDs, it is possible to bring a claim against a person for slander, libel, or defamation. On RateMDs “Frequently Asked Questions” page, they stress that it’s possible to identify an anonymous user through a DOE subpoena.

In severe situations, our legal partners have helped our clients file lawsuits with settlement options contingent on the complete removal of defamatory or otherwise illegal content. Occasionally unethical competitors, disgruntled employees, or individuals with personal vendettas will take to the Internet and attempt to undermine a physician with false and defamatory allegations. In these cases, it may make sense to try removal by submitting a court order. Once a judgment is obtained, it is possible to remove negative RateMDs reviews from the Internet and search engines.

Since legal action can be stressful, costly, and timely, consider exploring other strategies listed below.

How to Claim Your RateMDs Profile

Since RateMDs allow patients to create profiles for their medical provider, doctors, or medical practices may already be exposed to false or negative reviews without even realizing it.

To rectify this situation, physicians must claim their profiles to protect their online reputation proactively.

To claim a RateMDs profile or set up a profile if patients have not done so, follow these easy steps:

• Navigate to the RateMDs homepage and “Signup.” You’ll need to provide an email and a password.
• After you activate your account, click “Claim Doctor Profile” to search and find your profile page.
• Next, the website will ask for verification. To do so, either upload a copy of your driver’s license or a billing statement in your name.
• Select the free option, “Get Free Plan.” Paid opportunities are available, which are at the physician’s discretion. However, a free option will allow you to update profile information and respond to reviews.

Search Engine Suppression

While it can be time-consuming, creating a myriad of positive, authoritative content online is an effective strategy to remove negative RateMDs reviews from search engine results, making them far less likely to be seen when potential patients go looking for you.

Consider taking control of search results by working with a personal branding service to suppress negative content while simultaneously protecting and enhancing your online reputation.

Summary

While various strategies exist to remove negative RateMDs reviews, we understand that navigating the process can add stress to an already stressful situation.

Remember to do your research and build your case before formally submitting a complaint to RateMDs to ensure you have a chance for success.

Consider working with professionals who specialize in review management and removal to reduce the risk and increase the odds of permanently deleting a negative RateMDs review.

How Reputation Resolutions can help you

If you’re looking to remove negative RateMDs reviews, our team at Reputation Resolutions can help. Our process’s first step is to analyze your specific circumstances and evaluate the negative reviews on your RateMDs profile. Once the analysis has been completed, we will provide you with an honest assessment of the most optimal strategy to remove the negative reviews as quickly as possible.

Reputation Resolutions is one of the few online reputation management firms in the industry, offering a pay for performance solution to remove negative RateMDs reviews. What does this mean? If you work with our company, you will only be charged for our service if we are successful in permanently removing the negative RateMDs review(s) from your profile – you only pay for results.

Why you should work with Reputation Resolutions

Reputation Resolutions is proud to be rated as one of the top reputation online management firms in the U.S. by four independent agencies and is one of the few reputation management firms with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Furthermore, Reputation Resolutions has been selected to join the exclusive Google Partner Program and was also chosen by Business.com as the #1 online reputation management firm for removing negative content and online attacks. To see reviews from past clients who have used our services, click here.

Benefits of working with the Reputation Resolutions Team:

• Work with a trusted and award-winning online reputation management company.
• This is strictly a pay for performance service – if the RateMDs review is not removed, you DON’T pay.
• Payment is only required AFTER successful review removal.
• We expedite all of our removal services to ensure the negative review(s) is/are removed as quickly as possible.

Get Professional Help to Remove Negative RateMDs Reviews Today!

If you are interested in learning more about how Reputation Resolutions has used the above strategies to remove negative RateMDs reviews and would like to discuss your situation with an online reputation management specialist, fill out the form below or call us today at (855)239-5322 for a FREE consultation.