When an orthopedic surgeon leaves a group, the website can keep offering appointments with someone who no longer practices there. A biography may remain in search while the scheduling menu, specialty pages and directory links tell different stories. The immediate job is to make public information accurate and give visitors a clear next step.
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
This guide is for practice owners and administrators commissioning that digital cleanup. Agree the departure wording, timing and contact instructions with your authorized practice reviewers first. Then give the web team a bounded implementation brief.
Start with the destinations visitors can still reach
Search the surgeon’s name with the practice name and each former office. Save the visible result URLs and screenshots. Add your own biography, team directory, specialty pages, office pages, appointment selector, downloadable PDFs and paid landing pages to the inventory. Search results may lag behind website changes, so record what appears rather than assuming every result reflects the current site.
Use a simple change record for each item: public URL, current statement, approved replacement, responsible editor and verification date. That is the working deliverable. A list saying “remove the doctor” leaves too many decisions unresolved.
Choose what the old biography should tell people
Decide whether the existing address should carry approved transition information, point to a genuinely relevant replacement, or be removed. Do not silently replace one surgeon’s biography with another person’s name and credentials. Someone searching for a particular clinician needs to understand what changed.
Illustrative copy, only after practice approval:
Dr. [Name] no longer sees patients at [Practice] from [approved date]. For questions about appointments at this practice, use [approved administrative contact]. For records requests, follow [approved records-request instructions].
Include only confirmed instructions. A web editor should not invent the surgeon’s destination, imply an ongoing affiliation, or publish personal contact details. Keep appointment and records routes distinct when the practice uses different channels.
If a redirect is appropriate, document its source, destination and reason. Google distinguishes permanent and temporary redirects; the choice should reflect the actual change. Use the Google redirect guidance with your developer rather than sending every old biography to the homepage.
Check the whole appointment path
Here is a small illustrative acceptance record a practice can give its web provider:
- Old biography: approved notice is visible on mobile; its administrative link reaches the intended contact page.
- Team and specialty pages: no current-team card or appointment button presents the departed surgeon as available.
- Scheduling selector: the practice’s booking administrator confirms which options remain valid; the web team verifies the published link.
- Downloads and campaigns: old PDFs and active campaign destinations have a recorded owner and an approved correction.
Inspect page titles, image captions and structured data as well as visible paragraphs. For wider redesign work, use the orthopedic website scope and acceptance guide.
Separate the practice profile from the practitioner profile
A group’s Google Business Profile and an individual surgeon’s profile are different assets. Google’s practitioner guidance describes eligibility, naming and the distinction from an organization’s listing. Review the current Business Profile guidelines before proposing changes. Record who is authorized to manage each profile; do not repurpose a practitioner listing as the group listing or promise that reviews can be transferred.
Buy a defined cleanup, then verify it
Ask a provider to quote the inventory, approved edits, URL decisions and acceptance checks separately from ongoing marketing. Require before-and-after records, a named approver and a restoration copy of changed website content. Third-party directory requests should show their status, including those still pending.
Sprout Sage Solutions offers orthopedic marketing support. To start with your public website, request a free orthopedic website review: three public-page observations with page URLs and practical next checks. A full departure inventory, account changes and implementation would need a separate agreed scope.
