MARKETING
The Case of the
Invisible Doctor
By David S . Brooks
It is remarkable how many doctors are invisible . Every day , hundreds of thousands of patients search for a new doctor online . And only a handful show up in search results .
The rest are , for all intents and purposes , invisible .
The root cause of this invisibility : confusing , contradictory information that baffles the smartest search engines . When confronted with inconsistent information about your practice ’ s Name , Address and Phone ( NAP ), search engines tend to ignore or discount your information in favor of another provider with more consistent NAP .
Unfair ? Hardly . Search engines thrive on delivering useful , accurate information . So , a provider with a consistent , accurate , uniform address and phone information is likely to be more trusted by search engines , and more likely to rise to the top of local search listings .
And less consistent listings sink further down in the search rankings . Invisible .
Confirming a Diagnosis of Invisibility
The first step to a cure is realize you may have a problem . You may already suspect there ’ s an issue when you see inconsistent results for your practice : an old address , an old partner , the wrong phone number .
How could this happen ?
Many local business directories obtain your name from the National Provider Index ( NPI ), maintained by a government agency called NPPES . Yes , this is the same credentialing agency that has your original application for a medical license . If you ’ re wondering how your home address and personal cellphone number got on the Internet , this is the likely culprit .
You can check your NPI listing and review it to confirm for yourself . You might be shocked to see what ’ s there .
37 TODAY ’ S PRACTICE : CHANGING THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE