Trust Signals for Medical Practice Websites: Verifiable Licenses, Board Certification and Physician Review

The trust signals that matter most on a medical practice website are verifiable licenses and accurately worded board certification. Named clinical reviewers and a visible review date come next. Patients can check most of these in minutes. This guide is part of our Trust Signals and E-E-A-T Guide.

Medical content is YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) because it can affect a person's health. Google says E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust) isn't a specific ranking factor, yet its systems give more weight to strong E-E-A-T on health topics. It also asks whether content has a byline and whether that byline leads to more information about the author.

Our existing guide covers E-E-A-T for healthcare websites in general. This one focuses on proof: what can be verified, where to link it, and how claims should be worded.

The credentials that matter in medical practices

Different records answer different questions. Show patients the record that matches the claim.

ABMS says its 24 member boards certify in 38 specialties and 90 subspecialties. That list helps you name the certifying board correctly.

Be careful with the NPI. The registry says issuing an NPI "does not ensure or validate that the Health Care Provider is Licensed or Credentialed." You can list it for referring offices and payers. Do not present it as a qualification.

What the rules say about showing them

We did not find a general federal rule requiring a practice to print license numbers on its website. Some states have their own rules on advertising and titles, so check with your board.

California shows how specific these rules can be. Business and Professions Code section 651 covers public communications by healing arts licensees, and it names the internet. For example:

• "Board certified" (physicians). A physician may claim certification only from certain boards. These are ABMS member boards, boards with equivalent requirements approved before 1 January 2019, and boards with an ACGME-approved postgraduate training program in that specialty.
• Full board name. Where a physician uses "board certified," the full name of the certifying board must appear with comparable prominence. "Board Certified in Dermatology" alone falls short in California; name the board.
• Superiority claims. A claim of professional superiority needs to be relevant to the service and substantiated with objective scientific evidence.
• Scientific claims. These must be supported by reliable, peer-reviewed, published studies.
• Testimonials. A statement, endorsement or testimonial is covered if it misleads by leaving out material facts.
• Before and after images. The section requires naming the procedures performed, comparable presentation and a statement that the same results may not occur for all patients.

That is one state's law. Rules vary by state, so confirm yours with your licensing board or counsel.

Reviews have a federal layer too. The FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, in effect since 21 October 2024, covers fake reviews, buying positive or negative reviews, insider reviews, and review suppression. Our reviews and testimonials guide explains how to apply it.

Bylines and reviewers for medical practice content

Patient education is often drafted by someone other than a physician. That is fine, provided the page says who did what.

Who should write. A clinician, or a health writer working from a clinician's input. In our audit of 149 sites, 105 of 130 sites with articles had sampled articles credited to the company or to no one.

Who should review. Choose a clinician whose training fits the topic. A cardiologist reviews a cardiology article, not a dermatology one. A nurse practitioner can be a suitable reviewer within their field. The line must then say "nurse practitioner," not "doctor" or "physician." In the audit, 40 of 50 health, legal and financial sites with articles showed no "Reviewed by" on any sampled article.

What the line should say.

"Medically reviewed by [full name, MD or DO], [specialty]. Last reviewed [date]."

Link the name to a profile with the license lookup and certifying board. Never add a "Reviewed by" line unless the named person actually reviewed that page. Keep a record of who reviewed which version and when.

How often. Set a cadence by risk, such as yearly for most condition pages. Review sooner when a guideline, drug label or practice service changes. Only change the date when someone truly rechecks the page.

Policy page. In the audit, 55 of 57 health, legal and financial sites had no editorial or review policy page. Explain your process publicly with our editorial policy template. For how privacy rules affect health content, see HIPAA, health content and E-E-A-T.

Where each signal goes on your site

Schema.org defines reviewedBy as the people or organizations that checked a page for accuracy or completeness, and hasCredential as a credential awarded to a person or organization. Schema must match visible text, and it does not guarantee a rich result. Our license and credential schema guide has examples.

Put the proof in plain HTML text. Credentials shown only inside an image are harder for crawlers and screen readers to use. List the same details for every person on your provider roster.

Common mistakes

• Writing "board certified" without naming the board.
• Using a certificate from a course or society as if it were board certification.
• Calling all clinicians "our doctors" when the team includes nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
• Presenting an NPI as proof of a license.
• Adding a physician's name to articles they never read.
• Leaving a departed clinician on the site or on old review lines.

Next step

Open each provider profile and check every claim against the lookup pages above. Fix wording, add links, then add reviewer lines where review really happened. See our medical practice website services, or get a free 20–30 page website audit within 24 hours.

Frequently asked questions