Dr. X graduated from Y University in 1999 …
Has your brain switched off yet? Ours, too.
Doctor bios are some of the most important pieces of content for patient acquisition. From our 2024 study (more on that soon), 92% of patients read physician bios before scheduling their first appointment. Bios matter — a lot.
Yet, some bios read like they’re starring in “How to Lose a Reader in 10 Words.” They might cover the doctor’s educational background, credentials, and research — and even spice it up with a fun fact or hobby — but often fail to highlight the elements that truly matter to prospective patients.
What are those elements, you ask?
What goes into a great physician profile?
At Aha Media Group, we’re committed to producing patient-centric content. One way we deliver on our promise is by asking patients directly, “What do you want to see in healthcare content?”
In the summer of 2024, we asked this question about physician bios. 534 people shared their feedback about the most important factors they consider when choosing a physician.
We’ve used our research findings to inform this guide to writing doctor bios. Stick around for insights you can apply ASAP.
Learn everything we know about patient preferences for physician bios in 2024. Read our complete study:
How Patients Choose a Doctor: What Healthcare Marketers Need to Know About Physician Bios
5 tips for writing doctor bios that convert
Learn how to deliver what patients are looking for in a physician bio.
1. Spotlight the doctor’s practical experience
Education, age, gender, hospital affiliation … Patients weigh several factors when choosing their physician. But 55% of people consider experience to be one of the most important factors.
What does this mean for healthcare content writers? Don’t harp on education and credentials at the beginning of the bio. Instead, lead with the doctor’s:
- Areas of expertise
- Specialties
- Years in practice
- Notable achievements, awards, or recognitions
A physician’s educational background still matters. Patients just consider it a given. (If the physician wasn’t qualified to practice medicine, then patients wouldn’t be reading their bio on a hospital’s website in the first place.)
2. Write with patients in mind
When you write a doctor bio for your hospital website, remember who it’s for. Your target audience isn’t the doctor’s peers, other hospitals, or the physician themselves … it’s prospective patients.
Medical jargon, out-of-context stats, and technical details about procedures won’t resonate with patients. They run the risk of boring your audience, or worse — scaring them away.
Write in plain language to make the bio accessible for all readers:
- Avoid using jargon: Patients might not know it! There’s almost always another word you can use or another way to explain a concept.
- Contextualize stats: Is a 73% success rate considered good for this procedure? What’s the average? Make the math make sense for patients.
- Be reader-centric: Focus on what patients want to know. (Not sure what that is? That’s what our study is for.)
- Keep it concise: A lengthy bio is a liability — not an advantage. Deliver the info patients need in short paragraphs with bullet points.
- Use the active voice: This makes your writing easier for readers to process. Think “Dr. X did Y,” not “Y was done by Dr. X.”
Above all, lead with empathy. Imagine the tests, diagnoses, and sleepless nights that might have led up to this point for patients. Take the right tone when writing a physician’s bio to instill confidence, comfort, and hope.
3. Add trust-building details
Speaking of instilling confidence, how do you write a doctor bio that says, “You can trust me with your care”? Do you humanize the physician by sharing about their hobbies? Do you add a touch of humor? Do you write about their family or hometown?
Those details can’t hurt, but they aren’t top factors for patients. Our research showed that people care most about a doctor’s:
- Care philosophy
- Reason for practicing medicine (their “why”)
- Morals and values
It’s cool that your physician has a Bernedoodle named Teddy and roots for the Crimson Tide. It’s much cooler that they dedicated their life’s work to medicine after beating a rare blood disorder in their childhood. Tell that story instead.
(Want some inspo? Check out 6 stellar physician bio examples that focus on all the right elements of a provider profile.)
4. Ask physicians the right questions
There’s a catch when it comes to writing about these elements: They often sound the same, from physician to physician.
Canned questions like “Why did you become a doctor?” or “What’s your care philosophy?” will get formal-sounding, rehearsed answers:
- “I’m passionate about helping people.”
- “Medicine runs in my family.”
- “Trust is an important part of the patient-provider relationship.”
To help physicians get to the unique philosophies and special stories beneath the surface:
- Ask them open-ended questions: “What’s something you wish every patient knew?”
- Frame your question as a story prompt: “Tell me about the moment you chose to become a doctor.”
5. Optimize the doctor bio for search engines
Remember, 92% of patients seek out provider bios before scheduling a first appointment. Help them out — optimize your bios to show up in search engines.
This doesn’t only mean targeting keywords like “cardiologist in Scottsdale AZ” in your headings and metadata. It’s also important to target the physician’s name as a keyword. When a patient is referred to one of your providers, that’s the first thing they’ll search.
Patients want to find their next physician on your website. To rank along with database websites like Healthgrades and Zocdoc, use the physician’s name in key spots:
- The on-page H1
- Meta tags (SEO title and description)
- Image alt text
- Within the page URL
- Throughout the body text
See how HonorHealth uses a physician’s name wisely to rank above larger websites with higher domain authority.
Learn more about choosing the right keywords for SEO.
Apply these insights to your doctor bios with confidence, healthcare content writer: You’re serving patients the info they want from your hospital website.
Want to hand the bio writing baton to a trusted team? We don’t love running, but we’d do it for you any day.
