This page is for orthopedic practice owners, administrators and marketing leads. It covers the marketing job of a surgeon’s page, and it says nothing about clinical quality.
Considering ongoing marketing support? I run orthopedic marketing agency services for practices like yours. I can discuss your priorities and possible scope. Fees, responsibilities, account access and handover terms are defined in a written proposal. Request a marketing review
A surgeon bio written as a CV with a headshot is a common format. Medical school, residency, fellowship, memberships, publications. All of it may be impressive, and none of it tells a patient whether this surgeon handles their problem, takes their insurance or works at the nearest office. The reader leaves the page admiring the surgeon and still unsure what to do next.
When I ran the same checks on 21 orthopedic practice homepages on November 1, 2026, for my website study, that was my summary of the homepages: the surgeons are easy to admire and the next step is often hard to find. Fifteen showed no sign of online scheduling and nine had neither a form nor a scheduling tool on the page. I should be clear that I checked homepages only, on a small hand-picked sample. I did not grade bio pages, so I have no count for them. The checklist below is my own view from the marketing side.
Who actually reads a surgeon bio
Plenty of orthopedic patients arrive with a name already in hand. That changes what the page needs to do.
A survey of 329 orthopedic patients in Las Vegas, published in 2022, found that 45% were sent by a primary care physician, 14.3% by their insurance company and 12.8% by a friend. Only 8.5% found their surgeon through an internet search or website. Yet 39.5% searched online before the first visit, and of those, 48.5% visited the surgeon’s website. It was a convenience sample using surveys from 2017, so treat these as a rough signal. They fit what I would expect, though: for many patients, the bio page is where they check the name someone gave them.
So I write a bio for three readers. There is the referred patient confirming a name, the patient comparing two or three surgeons and the referring physician’s office checking whom they are sending people to. My guide to physician referral marketing covers that third group in depth.
What patients say they weigh
The most direct evidence I found is small. A survey of 50 new joint replacement patients, published in 2025, at one academic center asked them to rate factors from 1 to 5.
| Factor | Mean importance (out of 5) | What it means for the bio page |
|---|---|---|
| Institution reputation | 4.1 | Show where the surgeon operates and practices |
| Years in practice | 3.8 | State it plainly near the top |
| Insurance network | 3.7 | Link to accepted plans from the bio |
| Primary care recommendation | 3.7 | Make the page easy for a referring office to share |
| Good online reviews | 3.0 | Show them near the booking path, with permission |
| Training institution | 2.9 | Keep it, lower on the page |
| Easily found on the internet | 2.6 | Get the basics right, including the Google listing |
| Social media presence | 2.1 | Optional |
These are 50 patients at one center, 90% of whom were referred, so your market may differ. I would use this to order the page and not as a law of patient behavior. I do find it useful that training scored below practical details, because a CV-style bio leads with training.
CV bio or decision page
| Element | CV-style bio | Bio that helps a patient choose |
|---|---|---|
| Opening line | “Dr. [Name] received his medical degree from…” | What the surgeon focuses on, in the words patients use, and where they see patients |
| Procedures | A long list, or none | Linked list of the procedures this surgeon performs |
| Location | Footer or a separate page | Offices and days, near the top |
| Insurance | Not mentioned | Link to accepted plans |
| Training | First and longest section | Present and complete, further down |
| Reviews | None, or a separate page | A few recent ones, with permission |
| Next step | Main phone number | Call or request button for this surgeon |
The sections I would put on every bio
1. Name, credentials, photo and focus. Lead with a recent photo and one sentence on what this surgeon focuses on, using patient language. “Knee and hip replacement” reads faster than a subspecialty title alone.
2. Where and how to book. List each office, the days the surgeon is there and a booking option. Use the same options as the rest of the site, and if you are still deciding what to offer, start with my guide to online scheduling and callback requests.
3. Procedures, linked. More on this below, since it is the part most bios skip.
4. Experience in plain terms. Years in practice and the facilities where the surgeon operates. Include a procedure volume only if the surgeon can back it up and is comfortable publishing it.
5. Training and credentials. Medical school, residency, fellowship, board certification and memberships. Have the surgeon verify every line. Google says to avoid fabricated authors or credentials, and a small inflation here is the kind of error a patient or a referring office can check.
6. A short personal note or video. A paragraph in the surgeon’s own words on how they approach a first visit. It may be the only part of the page that sounds like a person. Keep it free of promised outcomes.
7. Reviews. Show a few recent ones close to the booking option. My guide to orthopedic patient reviews covers authorization and how to reply safely.
8. For referring offices. A direct line or fax, how to send a referral and what the office needs to include. One line can save a coordinator a phone call.
Link bios and procedure pages in both directions
This is the structural fix I would make first. Each bio should link to the procedure pages for what that surgeon performs. Each procedure page should name its surgeons and link back.
The links help in three ways. A patient reading about a knee replacement can see who does them at your practice, then book with that person. A patient checking a referred surgeon can confirm that surgeon handles their problem. And your site then connects each surgeon to a procedure and a location, which should give search engines a clearer picture of who does what.
My rules for those links:
- Link with the procedure’s name, never “click here” or “learn more”.
- List only what the surgeon actively performs and wants more of. Ask them. A surgeon may perform something and prefer not to grow it.
- If a procedure is done by three surgeons, name all three on the procedure page.
- When a surgeon leaves, update the links on the same day as the bio, along with the Google listing.
Keep the bio and the Google listing in step
A patient may see your surgeon’s Google Business Profile before the bio. Google’s guidelines say a practitioner’s profile at a shared office should carry only their name in the title, and that a practitioner should not hold separate profiles for each specialization, so the bio page is where those specialties get explained. Link the listing to the bio page or the location page, and keep name, office, hours and phone the same in both places.
The order I would fix things in
If your group has 12 surgeons, do not rewrite 12 bios at once. Start with the surgeon whose calendar has the most room and whose procedures you most want to grow. Write that page with them in a 30-minute conversation, then use it as the template.
Measure requests and calls that begin on that bio for 90 days, against the previous 90. If the number has not moved and the page gets steady traffic, check what happens when someone calls before you touch the next bio. If you would rather talk this through, my free consultation page is open, and the walkthrough below needs no call.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a surgeon bio be? Long enough to answer what the surgeon treats, where they see patients, why a patient can trust them and how to book. Put those answers first and let the full CV sit below them.
Should the bio be written in first or third person? Use third person for credentials and first person for the surgeon’s own short note. Have the surgeon read every line before it goes live.
Do we need a video? No. A clear photo and a short note in the surgeon’s own words do most of that job. A video helps if the surgeon is comfortable on camera, and a stiff one adds little.
What should we leave out? Promised outcomes, comparisons with other surgeons and any figure the surgeon cannot back up. Your state’s medical advertising rules may also apply, so ask your counsel.
Want your surgeon pages checked?
I will record a free walkthrough of your website, your Google listings and your top three local competitors, including how your surgeons show up when a patient looks them up. You do not need a call to get it.
