Two different things can appear on a results page: ordinary results, which are ordered by the published ranking parameters, and sponsored placements, which a clinic has paid for and which are labelled as such. They are kept separate by rule, and the separation is the point of the whole system.
The full parameters are published in the Marketplace Ranking & Sponsored Placement Rules. That document is the canonical statement of them. This article summarises the patient-facing principles and links to the Rules rather than restating them, because only one version of the parameter description is allowed to exist.
What payment cannot buy
The core rule in the Rules is a separation rule: payment does not buy undisclosed organic rank, and it does not buy a medical endorsement of any kind. Where paid visibility affects placement at all, it may do so only through clearly identified sponsored or promoted inventory that is disclosed before use.
Specifically, no clinic can use payment to:
- buy a better position in the ordinary, unpaid results. Subscription tier, fees, use of GetClinic payment technology and the value of a patient's treatment are not by themselves organic ranking factors, and where payment does affect visibility it has to be shown as sponsored and disclosed
- have a safety or compliance restriction lifted
- purchase a verification status
- suppress genuine negative reviews about it
- bypass its legal, licensing, refund, privacy, advertising or patient-protection obligations
Those are stated as prohibitions in the Rules, not as aspirations. If you see something that looks like one of them, it is reportable. See how reviews work for the review side of it.
Sponsored placements are labelled
Where a placement is paid for, it is identified as sponsored. You should be able to tell from the page which results are which without having to work it out.
A sponsored placement is an advertisement for a clinic that is on the marketplace. It is not a statement that the clinic is better, safer or more suitable than an unpaid result sitting below it, and it does not change what GetClinic's verification process does or does not establish about that clinic. That is a separate question, answered in what "verified" means on a clinic profile.
Ranking is not medical advice
The Rules say this directly, and it is worth reading twice. A position in a list is a navigation outcome. It is not a clinical opinion, it is not a recommendation, and it does not mean the clinic at the top can treat you.
Your private medical interactions are not advertising material
GetClinic does not build advertising audiences from your private medical interactions or your private messages on the platform. What you ask a clinic, and what you upload for a clinic to review, is not turned into targeting material.
The broader picture of what happens to your health information, and what GetClinic commits not to do with it, is in how your health information is shared with clinics and cookies, analytics and your tracking choices.
Where to read the rules yourself
The Marketplace Ranking & Sponsored Placement Rules are written to be read by patients, not just by lawyers, and the annex sets out the main ranking parameters in plain terms. If you want to know why a particular clinic appears where it does, that document is the answer, and it is the only version of the answer GetClinic stands behind.
For how a set of results turns into the clinics you actually engage with, see how clinics are shortlisted for you.
GetClinic is a technology marketplace. The clinic you choose provides your healthcare and is responsible for it. This is general information about how GetClinic works, not medical advice. Only the clinic's qualified healthcare professionals can decide what treatment is right for you.