Medical SEO:  Start applying it to your practice

The internet continues to increase in competition, and a competitive space in search engines is the medical industry. In a sense, a number of us will find ourselves googling symptoms before heading to a physician or a specialist. 

What does this do? Only stress ourselves and physicians out because there is a lack of education on one end of the spectrum. It is estimated that 65 percent of Americans try to diagnose themselves from Google. 

In the medical industry, 55 percent of consumers click on the top three results  in search engines, and if your medical practice, facility or hospital isn’t on the list, then you’re losing patients. 

With all the search queries, make sure that your website is one of the top search results in the area.

Why is medical seo important? 

SEO for medical practices 

To attract more patients, and the right patients, a medical practice, hospital or facility needs to make sure that their website is ranking in search engines. Without the proper SEO strategies in place, the likelihood of the website ranking for anything but branded keywords is very low. 

On top of this, it isn’t only necessary to have on-page and off-page SEO strategies in place, but the design of the website should be taken into consideration as well. Your medical practice and website alike need to be as up-to-date as possible in this industry. 

 A credible, reliable source of information in your industry needs to be publishing the content. Not only is this a competitive industry, but Google hits this industry harder than others to filter out discredited information and unreliable sources. 

How to start applying medical SEO 

1. Start with your medical website design

SEO and website design work hand-in-hand, it isn’t enough to have a website that has killer SEO. It has to be modern, responsive, user-friendly, secure (especially in the medical field), and other elements that work with your Google ranking. 

If your website doesn’t automatically size for mobile phones, you are already about six years behind Google Development requirements. As desktop searches continue to decline, and mobile increases, it is important to make sure that your website is functional on all devices that searchers use, and all search engines, not just Google. 

The basics behind this is that with a mobile site, Google is not going to favor you over other medical practices, and as updates continue to happen, you could notice a drop in any current ranking. 

Make sure to have a dedicated page for each different element that is offered at your facility or medical practice. It would be best to have headers, and under those main pages, have you subtopics in place. 

This helps with Google’s “three clicks” rule and makes it easier for searchers. Not only this, but location information and phone numbers to call when searchers are needing assistance! 

Don’t ruin any SEO equity you’ve built with an old website. 

2. Ask for online reviews (Google My Business) 

Online reviews are a small part of helping your medical seo and ranking in Google. This shows Google, whether good or bad, that you are a credible business and are a real business. Consumers want to hear what other consumers are saying, sure you could be the best “Physician in the Omaha area” but are you really? 

Online reviews create trust with consumers, and consumers read about 10 reviews on average before making their decision. It provides full transparency, and something even better to help with transparency is to respond to these reviews. 

3. Implement a local SEO strategy

Local SEO continues to rise in popularity, and with a local medical practice, local medical SEO is critical in the longevity of any medical practice’s digital presence. With local SEO, there are three notions to always keep in mind, proximity, relevance and prominence. 

Local search results are based on the location of the searcher, the relevance of their search query and how prominent your website is with Google and searchers. 

If we search, “heart physicians in Omaha” these are the results that populate based on location.

If you see yourself, congratulations, you are showing in local search results, if you don’t no worries. You could be farther down the SERP. If you are in a different location, there could be different results that show. 

Let’s try a larger and broader local search as well. If we search “heart physicians near me” we get some different results. This is based on the difference in keywords and those who are ranking for said keywords. There are some same ones, but also new results. This gives an insight into local search results. 

SEO for medical practices can also be improved upon locally and nationally with the creation and publishing of content marketing strategies such as patient stories, monthly forecasting and news, blogging content and more. 

4. Publish quality, credible medical information

Quality content has always been a significant part in ranking in search engines, especially Google, and with that comes establishing your website as a leader in the specialized field or general medical industry. Our experts suggest to start small and work larger, it is easier to gain smaller wins over time, and those smaller wins establish yourself as an expert and trustworthy.

Not sure where to even start with content? First and foremost, write some evergreen content. This is content that never fades out of your industry, and can consistently be updated year after year. Also, in the backlinking strategy, this can help to build internal backlinks as well. 

From there, check out this PDF from SEMRush on how to effectively research and start the content marketing strategy.  

5. Keyword research is everything

The final notion to bandage this all together is that keyword research is one of the most important elements. There should be a mixture of blogging, on-page and off-page, along with strong keywords based on local, national or both. Whatever the overall strategy is, it is important to make sure that those keywords are the driving force behind it all, and that they are relevant. 

If you are one of the “heart physicians in Omaha” but are ranking for “Cardiovascular technicians” the strategy is a bit off. 

While showing up in search engines will not happen overnight or during one appointment, SEO for medical practices overtime can provide more patients, more qualified traffic and other opportunities to continue to grow a digital presence. To take full advantage of the best Omaha SEO experts, contact us today!