How clinics can get more Google reviews

TapStar guide · updated 2026-09-01

Patients choosing a clinic read reviews more carefully than almost any other kind of buyer. They're anxious, the decision feels consequential, and they weight recent reviews heavily because a practice can change hands.

Yet clinics are among the worst collectors. A practice that has treated thousands of people well will often have a dozen reviews, because nobody wants to push a phone at a patient who has just had a procedure.

Let the desk do the asking

The solution to awkwardness is to stop asking people directly. A card sitting at the reception desk asks nobody in particular. Patients who want to help pick it up; patients who don't, don't, and nobody has had an uncomfortable conversation.

This is why a permanent fixture works better in a clinic than any staff script. The environment does the asking.

Where to keep it

• Reception, at the billing counter. Patients settle up and collect receipts here.
• The pharmacy or dispensary window. Patients wait, usually with a phone in hand.
• The follow-up booking desk. Anyone booking another appointment is, by definition, satisfied.
• The waiting area. Attendants have time and often review on the patient's behalf.

The wording that works

"If we looked after you well today, you can leave a review by tapping your phone here."

Note what it doesn't do: it doesn't ask for stars, it doesn't imply obligation, and it doesn't require the patient to say anything back.

Privacy, carefully

Two separate things matter here.

First, the card itself. It holds a link and nothing else — it reads nothing from the patient's phone and stores no data. There's nothing to disclose or protect.

Second, your replies. Never confirm or discuss anyone's treatment in a public reply, even when a patient has described it themselves. Thank them, keep it general, and take any specifics to a private channel. A reply that discusses a patient's condition is a problem regardless of who raised it first.

What patients write

Patients name conditions and procedures: "root canal", "back pain", "child specialist", "came in late at night". Those words connect your listing to what people search for, which is why a clinic with sixty reviews appears for far more searches than one with six.

The rules

The same policies apply as everywhere else, and they matter more in healthcare because listings are scrutinised more closely. Never offer anything in exchange, never filter by satisfaction, never write reviews for your own practice, and don't ask for a specific rating.