How should a clinic manage its online reputation in India?

Most clinics only look at their reputation when a bad review shows up. A better routine checks a handful of places on a schedule, so nothing sits there unanswered for weeks, and follows rules that are stricter than most doctors realise.

Where do patients actually see your clinic's reputation?

A patient forms an opinion of your clinic before they ever call, usually from four places, and rarely from your own website.

If your clinic's Google listing itself needs work first, before its reviews do, our guide to Google Business Profile for doctors covers setup and upkeep.

What can a clinic do to ask for reviews?

You can ask a patient who actually visited your clinic to leave a genuine review, as long as you ask everyone the same way. Google's policy allows a business to "solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives to do so or attempting to influence the rating or the contents of the review," according to Google's user-contributed content policy (opens in a new tab).

That leaves a narrow, workable path:

• Ask every patient who visited, not a filtered list of the ones you think were happy.
• Ask the same way each time, for example a fixed line at checkout or one message after the visit.
• Never offer anything in return, not a discount, a gift or a fee waiver.
• Never write out what the review should say, or ask for a specific rating.

What should a clinic never do with reviews?

Three separate rule sets bite here: Google's own policy, the medical ethics code, and the advertising code. Each covers a different action.

What should a monthly reputation routine look like?

A clinic doesn't need daily monitoring. Once a month, on a fixed date, is enough to catch problems early without it turning into a chore.

How do you handle a public complaint calmly?

A bad review lands hardest in the first hour. The clinics that come out of it looking better are the ones that pause before replying.

1. 1Step 1

   Step 1: Read it fully first

   Step 1

   Don't reply from your phone in the moment. Read the whole thing, then decide.
2. 2Step 2

   Step 2: Check if it's real

   Step 2

   Does the date, treatment or visit match anyone in your records? If nothing matches, it may be fake.
3. 3Step 3

   Step 3: If it's a real visit, reply calmly

   Step 3

   Thank them, don't confirm the treatment or visit publicly, and offer a number to call.
4. 4Step 4

   Step 4: If it looks fake, report it

   Step 4

   Use the platform's own reporting flow. Don't ask the person to remove it or offer anything in return.
5. 5Step 5

   Step 5: If real harm continues, get advice

   Step 5

   When reporting doesn't work and the claim is false and damaging, talk to a lawyer.

For the actual reply, a short, calm line does more for you than a long, defensive one. Our examples of replies to Google reviews cover wording for good, neutral and difficult reviews. If the review looks manufactured rather than written by a real patient, our guide to fake Google reviews walks through Google's own reporting and appeal steps.

When should you get legal advice instead?

Reporting to the platform is the right first move almost every time. A lawyer becomes worth calling in a smaller set of cases:

• The platform reviewed your report and kept the content up, and it makes a false factual claim, not just a low rating.
• The claim is causing measurable harm, for example patients cancelling and mentioning the post.
• The review comes with threats, harassment, or an attempt to extort money to remove it.
• You are being pressured to pay someone to make a review disappear.

Defamation in India is both a civil and a criminal matter. What used to be Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code is now Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, in force since 1 July 2024, according to K&S Partners' explainer on the change (opens in a new tab). Whether a specific review meets that bar, and whether it's worth the time and cost of pursuing, is a question for a lawyer, not a general guide. This page is not legal advice.