Posted On
October 12, 2017

Figuring Out Your UCompareHealthCare Profile

Figuring Out Your UCompareHealthCare Profile 1

Out of all the medical-specific review websites, UCompareHealthCare (UCHC), is a tough one to figure out. From what we can tell, it’s main purpose is to act as a funnel for a local SEO agency. Like many other of the medical practice review sites covered here, it builds orthopedist’s profiles using publically and commercially available information.

When you click on the link to claim your profile, the fine print tells you claiming your profile adds you to the agency’s network. Claiming your profile is free, but you will be upsold further services, including options to market with the UCHC site. Now, this isn’t an unusual practice. Other medical review sites have premium options that provide options for on-site ads.

But a few things stand out about UCHC, especially in regards to spending on a premium profile, which seem to argue against the value of spending profile dollars here.

They Do Odd Things with Photos

One of the first things we noticed were the lack of photos found on the search results page. On most websites, users are given a bland avatar if they haven’t uploaded any photos or their feature image will be showcased. UCHC is different in that it simply doesn’t display any photos. You can upload a photo to have one appear on your full profile page. Or UCHC possibly does that for you. The lack of clarity on this process is particularly strange in a world where websites typically make it easy for the profile owners and researching parties to navigate the site.

After running multiple searches on different specialties, and in different locations, I couldn’t find a single claimed profile. This was particularly odd as some of the profiles did have photos. Although, it was rare to find a profile photo that was a headshot. In one case, it was:

Figuring Out Your UCompareHealthCare Profile 2

As you can see, this photo isn’t exactly appealing – it doesn’t look like much at all. We’re left wondering if UCHC is scrapping photos off of the internet and uploading them itself? For legal reasons, we’re not going to show you any of the images that look like they’ve been cropped from a larger photo, but they’re there.

With no, or exceedingly few, doctors claiming their profile, it’s unclear what paying for ads or better placement will do for you here. Especially since UCHC puts up a list of your competitors on the biggest part of your profile page anyway.

You read that right.

Most of Your Profile Page is Taken Up with Other Doctors’ Information

The typical search process on all these medical review sites mirrors any other online search tool. You enter your search criteria and get a list of results with snippets of information. These snippets are intended to induce to click through to the full content. This aspect is no different on UCHC.

The UCHC search results page is actual a visually pleasing layout of information cards, which puts two to three doctors in first place on the results page. It also goes the extra step by adding context to the doctor’s star rating.

Figuring Out Your UCompareHealthCare Profile 3

Their results page falls in line with other similar sites, with a bit of value add extra. However, clicking through to a full profile doesn’t immediately show much more information. A visitor will see the doctor’s name, years experience, and links to read more information. The box below the links shows the doctor’s star rating and provides links to read, share, or write a review.

However, immediately below this box and taking up most of the page, UCHC presents a list of competitors:

Figuring Out Your UCompareHealthCare Profile 4

There are two more boxes, below the big list of competitors. The first shows a map and directions to the doctor’s practice location. The second provides the more medical-specific information you’d expect: educational background, hospital affiliations, and specialties.

Compared to Other Medical Review Sites – Their Traffic Isn’t Great

When comparing UCHC’s traffic stats against most of the other medical practice review sites written about on this blog, it had the lowest traffic by far. Looking at the past six months of traffic data, UCHC averaged around half what the next lowest review site was getting. That’s averaging 900,000 monthly visitors compared to RateMD’s two million.

UCHC positions itself as offering “highly comprehensive comparisons of healthcare providers.” Unfortunately, there’s not much about it that’s comprehensive. They don’t provide any information that’s not available on other medical review sites. They don’t seem to offer a narrative field where you can write your own statement about your practice or background. And showcasing your competitors on your profile page so blatantly isn’t a great practice.

In any case, it may be useful to see if you and your practice have a profile on UCHC to check for accuracy. If it’s accurate, leave it alone. If it’s not, claim it, fix it, and then ignore their upsells to buy ad space on the site.

 

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Nathan Miloszewski
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