A few years ago, a doctor or a medical practice with a website was something far from being common. Still, things changed a lot in the meantime and now, if you want more patients, they…well, need to find you online.
But this isn’t actually easy.
Most doctors believe that just having a website should be enough and patients will come to them. It won’t happen like that.
The truth is that a website is just the very first step in building an online presence as they will need to rely on medical SEO in order to make it easier for people to find them.
This entire “medical practice SEO” is something relatively new but a lot of doctors are using it for their businesses, with excellent results.
Simply put, SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s how a practice – or any other type of business – shows up in search engine results. The better you’re doing it, the higher you will appear in Google when somebody is searching for your specific keywords.
Let’s get a bit more into details, shall we?
At first, medical SEO may look and sound like a marketing concept, but it’s actually a bit more complex than this.
Google’s algorithm, the ‘magic formula’ that decides how a website ranks, looks at three main factors: quality, trust, and authority.
Quality
Remember how a few years ago a lot of websites were simply filling their pages with keywords, in order to make sure they rank higher? Well, that doesn’t make any sense right now, as Google penalizes this move – called “keyword stuffing” – while prioritizing quality content.
By quality content, we mean something that people want to share, as it provides valuable information, but it’s also prioritized for search engines. Keep this in mind.
Authority
One of the main purposes of a medical SEO strategy is to grow your business’ authority. Why? Well, Google ranks higher those websites which are considered authoritative – meaning that they are liked by visitors and have a constantly engaged audience.
Focus on creating your own fanbase, consisting of people who love what they find on your website and want to share it with others. The big G will love this and give you a serious ranking boost.
Trust
You know what they say: hard to win, easy to lose. And the problem is that you must win your visitors’ trust first, following this principle.
As a dentist, a potential client wants to find a website that’s credible enough, not to mention that he will surely check out the reviews, before calling and making an appointment. By the way, did you know that over 70% of patients first check online reviews before calling a practice?
Therefore, our recommendation is to let your clients know that your business has an online presence and, why not, inform them about the possibility of leaving a review of your practice. Good reviews are great for building trust, not to mention that Google will rank your site higher if people share…kind words about their experience.
As mentioned above, this entire medical SEO concept can seem complex and probably a bit tricky, but there’s no need to panic. You can always let a professional help you!
The team at Affordable SEO Florida can provide high-quality optimization services, based on final objectives, as well as negative SEO remediation and Google Adwords services, perfect for making your medical practice stand out, attract traffic, and finally, collect new leads which can turn into long-term clients.