Search engine optimization is not always a straight-forward, easy process, especially for business professionals who are working in a competitive industry like healthcare. When it comes to standing out among competing medical practices in one’s industry or locality, it’s in an office’s best interest to utilize efficient SEO practices. Proper SEO for doctors and doctors’ offices can make a world of difference in brand visibility so it’s important to understand how to improve a practice’s search engine rankings.
When potential patients are searching for a new medical provider, they often visit a practice’s website before ever contacting the office or booking an appointment. Because the practice’s website is going to give individuals their first impression of the office and medical professionals working therein, you’ll want your website to be as inviting and sleek as your office.
Be sure to have your website list information as clearly as possible, and have several tabs that will lead to different pages within the practice. For example, it’s a good idea to have a staff page that introduces the professionals in the office, lists their credentials and notes their specialties. It’s also wise to have a contact page, an established patient booking page, and a blog.
This way, patients can have an all-in-one experience when they visit the practice’s website. They’ll be aware of which insurances are accepted, which paperwork is expected upon the first appointment date, and the blog can provide them with useful information about your office’s field of expertise.
It’s also worth noting that patients should be able to access the office’s contact information on any page of the site, so be sure to have contact information clearly listed in the header or footer of each page.
If the office is already well-established, it will be relatively easy to either find or request patient reviews. Listing positive reviews on the practice’s website can help potential visitors begin to trust the medical professionals working in the office because they can clearly see that many others have already done so.
Either search through Yelp or other independent review sites or ask patients to fill out review pages before or after completing a visit. Most of the time, satisfied patients will be willing to take a few minutes out of their day to write a review, especially when they feel that their opinion is being considered.
It’s a good idea to use reviews from several sources in order to increase authenticity. Use an even mix of first-party (direct) and third-party (pulled from external sources) reviews.
For most offices, it’s ideal to attract locals to their practice. Unless you’re running a highly-specialized office, the visitors you’re most likely to have come into the office will be local. That said, it’s in an office’s best interest to appeal to local visitors.
To do so, optimize your website’s content by frequently using the name of your region, county, or city within your site’s content. For example, if you’re blogging, include the name of your area in either the title or heading of your posts (when appropriate).
Additionally, be sure to have the practice listed in local business directories so that patients who are searching for the services your office provides will easily be able to locate the practice’s contact information.
Blogging is one of the best ways for a business to stay relevant and remain at the top of search engine listings. By regularly publishing useful content, search engines are seeing that your practice’s website is active. Because the pages are active, the site is likely to be valued higher in search engine results.
If you’re frequently creating content that references your field of experience, as well as the area in which your office is practicing, your website is telling search engines that it contains useful information for people in your area.
You’re likely going to have patients and potential patients visiting your website to learn more information about the type of care your office provides, as well as useful advice regarding the illnesses or disorders your office primarily treats. By providing patients with engaging information, you’re not only more likely to keep your current patients, but you’re also likely to attract more patients to your practice when established patients share useful content with their friends and relatives.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of SEO for doctors and their offices is search engine optimization as a whole. This includes utilizing the right keywords and making web content as easy to locate online as possible.
While search engine optimization can be difficult, especially for individuals who are not as internet savvy as some, there are a few ways to get around the challenges of using SEO.
For one, conducting keyword searches relating to the content your office is planning to publish is a great way to ensure that your pages are going to show up in search engine results. Additionally, using keywords in the right way will add another layer of help. Don’t overstuff keywords into your content or use keywords that don’t fit for the sake of getting a higher rank, because it won’t help. Keywords must make sense within the content they’re used, and they should only have about 1-2% density.
Finally, if the practice is struggling to master SEO, there are various SEO plugins and tools that can help make the whole concept of SEO a little easier. With a tool or plugin, practices can follow simple steps to optimize their site’s content and improve search engine rankings without having to be an SEO expert.
Some plugins to research and consider are:
Because SEO for doctors and doctors’ offices can be a big deal when it comes to maintaining the number of visitors that frequent your practice, getting it right can seem like an insurmountable task. By researching SEO techniques, practices can improve their rankings but fortunately, doctors’ offices do not have to struggle alone when it comes to perfecting their SEO ranks.
At Think Big Marketing, our team of SEO professionals can help any business improve their SEO rankings and increase the number of patients coming into their offices. Feel free to reach out at any time for a consultation.
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