SEO is an essential practice in any kind of business. Not only does it attract more viewers but brings more real clients. Healthcare is an extremely competitive industry, all the more medical experts should focus on their visibility online to convert visitors into patients. The more people access your page and find its content attractive, the better your chances of gaining loyal clients, popularity, and reputation.
But how do you apply theory to practice? Well, the good news is our tips can be implemented by either an SEO expert or an optimization layman. See for yourself.
Why Do I Need SEO Anyway?
A good rank in Google is crucial if you want to physically exist in your customers’ minds. The higher the better. How many results do you usually check when searching for a phrase? We bet it’s no more than 10-20. How many medical clinics are there? It’s impossible to check as not all of them have a website but you can just imagine how hard it is to appear in the first ten results.
Of course, you can run several campaigns on Facebook or even Google Adwords but you know what? It will be pointless if your rank is low. See, focusing on SEO will be more beneficial in the long-term. Once you appear high enough in the search engine, you will get free organic traffic. You will have to spend money on getting there initially but it has a lot more potential than paid campaigns.
Also, remember that SEO doesn’t happen overnight and it will take time to see the first results but if done properly, you will enjoy its benefits for much longer than after a successful campaign that will give you a temporary traffic shot.
Best SEO Practices for Healthcare
Trends are changing at lightspeed especially in an IT industry. This constant change can be tough for SEO specialists as they have to be up to date with the most recent practices. But we’ve gathered the most important tips that will help you rank higher in a search engine by attracting more visitors.
Keywords
Keyword research is fundamental. Spend some time to find the ones that will attract traffic to your website. You can easily check it with Google Search Control. It’s perfect for both experts and beginners. Once you’ve created a list of short and long-tail keywords, you can start placing them in various areas on your website such as in content, titles, anchors, URLs, alt tags, and meta descriptions.
Content
Everything on your website should be clear, attractive, easy to find and, of course, informative. How to get there? You create content for real people, then for search engines. Healthcare industry is actually quite easy when it comes to choosing the right topics. For example, plastic surgery specialists will want to create content about various procedures, benefits, recovery, etc. Attract potential patients by posting articles with useful tips, case studies, your products, services, and news from your clinic.
Local SEO
Doctors want to attract patients to visit their clinic, therefore, local SEO is crucial. Registering your website in a local business directory is definitely something you want to do. The majority of experts share that healthcare SEO is a practice no doctor should be putting aside because 89% of consumers search for local businesses at least once a week. You can also write guest posts and insert anchors directing to particular parts of your website. A good practice is also writing testimonials and sharing information on medical forums.
Mobile Adjustments
Today the majority of Internet users use their phones to search for information. It is very important for SEO, that your website is optimized and responsive. The content should fit small screens and display it properly. Also, the loading time cannot be long, otherwise, the visitors will get annoyed and leave it which directly increases your bounce rate. If you have a little more budget to spend on marketing, you should develop an app for your patients and allow them to make appointments online.
Social Media
Healthcare SEO can also be boosted by your social media presence. If you run a blog on your website, make sure to upload appropriate links on social media platforms so that more people can access your content. Utilizing such networks is a smart move especially if the quality of your content is high. It can easily go viral and be shared across various social media platforms, and this means bigger traffic and more people getting familiar with your clinic.
Final Words
SEO is something that cannot be overlooked by any medical practitioner. It has a lot of potential and can convert visitors into your patients providing you’ve done it right. However, it’s a little time-consuming and in order to see the first results, you will need to be patient. Monitor your website’s performance every time you implement something new and be ready for a real game changer!
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