How to Get Zocdoc off Your Google Business Profile
A few weeks ago I was reviewing the knowledge panel (KP) of a dentist in NYC and discovered that a highly visible portion of the KP was now occupied by Zocdoc appointment links. Below is what I tweeted.
I'm really not liking this at all. Zocdoc appointment options being pulled into the business knowledge panel. This dental clinic doesn't want this and has to give a kickback to Zocdoc each time a user books an appointment through it. Have you seen this before @rustybrick ? pic.twitter.com/joQM8oQTIt
— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) October 19, 2022
Here is what the Zocdoc appointment links look like.
How Did Zocdoc Show-up in the KP?
If you see Zocdoc appointment links in your KP they are there because of a setting that is turned on by default in the Zocdoc management dashboard. As far as I can gather, if you have ever engaged with paid Zocdoc services, this feature will be turned on automatically as part of their partner syndication feeds.
How to Get Zocdoc off Your Google Business Profile
When we first noticed the Zocdoc links in the KP, we contacted GBP support and were told to contact Zocdoc directly. Danny Sullivan clarified in a Tweet that we could circle back to GBP support if it turned out that Zocdoc wasn’t authorized.
This seems to be the help page specifically about that: https://t.co/tWPqlrAi4e
It seems to explain the steps to remove these, primarily going to the provider if authorized and telling them not to show. If they're not authorized, then contact support to remove. So try that? pic.twitter.com/7egKiQg33C
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 19, 2022
After GBP support told us to contact Zocdoc directly, the dentist sent an email to Zocdoc requesting the feature to be turned off and this was the reply.
Zocdoc turned off the feature and provided instructions on how to turn it back on and off in the future.
The switch to turn off the feature is challenging to find. After following the first two steps, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find the “Partner syndication feeds” toggle.
Once the partner syndication feed was turned off the appointment links were removed from the KP in about 48 hours.
Have you run into a similar situation with Zocdoc or other appointment providers? Tell us about it below.
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We had an incidence of Zocdoc posting another company in our GMB profile. There was no way for us to turn it off without calling them and having it removed. It was basically hijacked! Our patients were very confused and we may have lost valuable business between the time it was turned on and when we were alerted to the issue. I think this is a terrible business practice.
Valuable info. Thank you, we have been wondering if this was an issue and it may just be so it’s now turned off.
Hi Jennifer, Awesome!
Thank you so much for this. it was a time saver.
You’re welcome!