Improving your website to appear in search results for pertinent keyword searches is known as SEO or search engine optimization. In terms of healthcare SEO, if someone searches for a podiatrist in the Boston area and has five offices, you’d prefer your practice to appear top in the search results if you run a podiatry-focused business there.
In contrast to outbound leads (such as those from direct mail or print advertising), SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, meaning they convert to customers and, in this example, patients. Do you still need to figure out the benefits of healthcare SEO for your practice? More than 56% of Americans now own a smartphone, demonstrating how important it is to appear prominently in search results for pertinent queries that potential patients could type into their mobile devices.
Here are seven practical search engine optimization strategies and pointers to assist your business in ranking higher than rivals in the healthcare sector:
Choose the Right Keywords
Please list search terms you believe are pertinent to your medical center and its offerings. Work with your staff to ensure this list is thorough and addresses all the problems your potential patients may be facing and the medical treatments your clinic offers. This list of search terms should be tested by entering each term in Google’s Keyword Planner to discover which ones have a good quantity of local monthly search traffic but little competition from other websites or ads.
Look for keyword phrases with 200 to 10,000 local searches per month while assessing these keywords. Once you’ve thoroughly sorted your list, start naturally inserting these keywords into the text of your website’s many relevant web pages and high-quality blog posts. Before making an appointment, 77% of patients used Google to research. As a result, it’s crucial to organically include the appropriate keywords throughout your website to inform search engines of its purpose and attract more clients to your practice.
Define Your Meta Data: Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
The keywords targeted for your Healthcare SEO strategy should be present throughout the original content on your website and in the metadata of each of those pages. The metadata consists of the HTML meta tags between the open and closing head tags in a document’s HTML code. Metadata helps search engines know what the page is about using the title tag, the meta description, and headers.
The title tag serves as the page’s title in the browser’s top bar and in the blue text that appears in search engine results, as seen above. When naming the page, organically include your keywords while editing them to no more than 65 characters. A meta description, which summarises the content of a page, should not exceed 150 characters, as indicated in the black text above. Last but not least, employing header tags to add headers across a piece of content can assist in further informing the search engines about the contents of the page. The h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6 tags are used to add these.
Create Original Content
To differentiate your healthcare organization from the competitors online, especially in the search engines, provide distinctive content for your website. You’ll be able to showcase your worth and expertise over time by educating your audience through great content marketing and improving your search engine rankings. Publish information like case studies, blog entries, interviews, films, pictures, patient testimonies, infographics, and discussions about the healthcare sector to help you get more value.
Consider the frequently asked questions by patients in your industry as a great approach to generating high-quality content for your business. If you were a podiatrist, for instance, potential clients might look up “myths about bunion surgery” or “ways to protect their feet in the winter” online. When potential patients seek information about your area of expertise, provide content that addresses these issues for your audience to generate traffic to your website. Additionally, it increases your organization’s authority and reputation as a subject-matter authority. Create an original blog on your website using WordPress to start writing and producing content that increases traffic, informs visitors, and gives your business credibility.
Include a Site Map On Your Website
A sometimes ignored method for effectively indexing your website with search engines is to create a straightforward site map. A site map gives search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing a visual representation of your website’s structure. Additionally, it may facilitate users’ access to your website. Although it is possible, making your site map can be time-consuming, especially if your website is large in any manner. If you want to create a site map for your online domain, consider using one of these third-party solutions. Select one that is available online and doesn’t require downloading. Here are some more detailed instructions on submitting site maps to Google and when not.
Own Different Search Verticals
Many healthcare professionals need to take advantage of the chance to dominate other search-related verticals, such as videos, pictures, slideshows, local search, mobile search, and others, that are not websites. You may use these distinctive SEO verticals as a healthcare company to drive highly focused visitors to your online assets. For instance, improving the SlideShare presentations, as seen above, can generate steady traffic from pertinent keyphrases. To create the title tag, meta description, and other details for your SlideShare material, fill out the various forms that make up the upload process.
Local Search Marketing
According to Yext, mobile devices are used for 50% of all local searches. Please provide your clients with a local, mobile-friendly experience now; otherwise, it’s time to transfer businesses. Since people must physically visit their healthcare provider’s location to utilize their services and knowledge, local search is one of healthcare firms’ most crucial search verticals. It is vital to appear at the top of the results when someone searches for your business or area. Additionally, you must appear when someone searches for your particular service category but is still determining which medical professional to choose.
Ensure the information for your company’s name, address, and phone number is currently on your website’s footer, Foursquare page, and Google+ Local Page. Listing these crucial contact details helps keep Google from associating the wrong location with your business. When it makes sense, include the city and state in your website’s title tags to improve user experience. Please keep an eye on the reviews posted to your page to ensure they aren’t hurting your results because the Google+ Local Page is crucial for Google’s ranking algorithm. Your rating over time changes depending on the volume and tone of evaluations. Keep abreast of new suggestions and keep an eye on their effects.
Use Social Media to Drive Rankings
Social media makes it easier for people and businesses to have two-way dialogues. One of its many purposes is to utilize social media to attract visitors from a wider audience than you would typically reach. When establishing the quality of a web page in terms of SEO, Google and other search engines take hundreds of parameters into account. One of the things taken into account is social media.
When a page on your website is shared in a significant amount on social media, search engines consider this as a hint that the page is a reliable source of knowledge about your area of expertise. Except for on platforms like Facebook or Twitter, social media functions as a link-building regarding SEO. This underlines the necessity for consistent, high-quality material even more.
When you first create your social media accounts, please offer the search engines as much information as possible to help them rank your social profiles. This includes as much information as possible in the name, the bio, the description, and every other element of each account.
Regarding the material your company provides on social media, prioritize quality over quantity. When working with a tight schedule, a small staff, and a tight budget, emphasize one-on-one conversations with your community and participation in online forums relevant to your field of expertise.