Ranking Your Practice With Medical SEO

If people have trouble finding your medical practice, your domain authority is likely low. Unfortunately, that means Google isn't quite familiar with your business, website, and content. However, there's no need to worry as it's a simple fix-your business needs to work on its SEO (search engine optimization).

There is a lot of confusion about SEO and why it's crucial. This article will aim to clarify some of that confusion and provide a basic overview of medical SEO, why it's vital for all businesses with a digital presence and some basic strategies for improving your website's ranking. We'll cover some of the most frequently asked questions at the end of the article.

Watch this video to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to Medical SEO!

What Is Medical SEO?

SEO for medical practices is optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) to earn more web traffic and leads in the form of potential patients. It's important to note that SEO is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that should be part of your overall digital marketing strategy. In addition, the timeline for SEO depends on a variety of factors that we'll discuss later.

Why Is Medical SEO Important?

Most people use search engines like Google to find information about health and medical topics. That means you need to improve your SEO to get in front of potential patients. Here are the key benefits of medical SEO:

Increase in organic traffic: Organic traffic is the avenue for your website to flourish. It's measurable and indicates how well your SEO campaign is doing. In addition, it's responsible for improving metrics like ROI (return on investment) and conversion rates.

Higher credibility: Websites that appear on the first page of SERPs are considered more credible and trustworthy. They've taken the time to improve their SEO, which tells Google that their site is worthy of being at the top.

Additionally, they appear more credible to the reader. As a result, nearly three-quarters of all traffic clicks on the top results.

Improved ROI: With medical SEO, you can increase your website's traffic without paying for ads. In other words, it's a form of inbound marketing that allows you to reach your target audience through organic search results. And as we mentioned before, increased organic traffic leads to improved ROI.

Long-term success for your practice: The goal of SEO is to improve your website's ranking in SERPs so you can get more organic traffic. However, it's also about providing valuable content that helps you build trust with your audience and turn them into patients.

By producing informative blog posts, helpful guides, and other types of content that address the needs of your target audience, you're laying the foundation for a long-term relationship. Once you reach the top of SERPs, losing that position is more challenging. That means it's harder for your competitors to do the same.

What Are Some Best Practices for Medical SEO?

There are a variety of factors that influence medical SEO. However, here are some of the most important ones:

Keyword research: Keywords are one of the essential parts of SEO. They lay the foundation for how you plan out your content. But, first, you need to choose the right keywords to target the right audience.

To start, make a list of all the services you offer at your medical practice. Once you have that list, do some research to find out what potential patients are searching for online. You can use tools like Google Keywords Planner and Ubersuggest to help your research.

Once you have a list of relevant keywords, insert them into your website's content (e.g., titles, meta descriptions, etc.). But beware of keyword stuffing, which is when you try to cram too many keywords into your content to rank higher in SERPs. This tactic won't work, and it will also result in lower-quality content that turns viewers away from your site, increasing your bounce rate.

Content is king: Creating high-quality content is essential for ranking higher in SERPs. That's because Google's designed its algorithm to favor websites that provide valuable information to viewers. So when you produce informative blog posts, helpful guides, and other types of content that address the needs of your target audience, you're not only improving your SEO but also building trust with potential patients.

Content also coincides with keywords. Your keyword research is how you plan your content while writing the content is based on providing value to readers.

Mobile-friendliness:With more people using their smartphones to search the web, it's essential to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Therefore, it should be easy to navigate on a mobile device and load quickly. You're likely to lose potential patients to competitors if it's not. In addition, sites that aren't mobile-optimized don't load on phones.

To see if your website is mobile-friendly, you can use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. Just enter your URL, and Google will tell you if your site passes or fails.

If it doesn't pass, there are a few things you can do to improve its mobile-friendliness, such as:

• Use smaller images
• Use less text
• Remove unnecessary plugins
• Simplify your menus
• Use AMP pages

Google favors websites that use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). These are pages that load quickly on mobile devices. If you're not using AMP pages, you're likely to be at a disadvantage when competing against other medical practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

     1. How Long Does SEO Take?

There's no single answer to this question as it depends on many factors, like your competitors and current website. However, it's important to note that SEO is a long-term strategy. It can take months or even years to see results.

     2. How Much Does Medical SEO Cost?

Again, there's no one answer to this question. The cost of medical SEO will depend on several factors, such as the size of your practice, the competition in your industry, and the services you need. It could range from $500-$10,000 per month.

     3. What’s the Difference Between Google Ads and SEO?

Google ads are a form of pay-per-click advertising (PPC). That means you pay Google every time someone clicks on your ad. SEO, on the other hand, is a long-term strategy that helps you organically rank higher in SERPs. So while it takes longer to see results, it's more sustainable in the long run.

Takeaways

Now that you understand the basics of medical SEO, it's time to start putting these strategies into practice. Remember that SEO is a long-term strategy, so don't expect to see results overnight.

However, you can improve your website's ranking and bring in more potential patients with patience and perseverance. If you need help getting started, contact us today for a free consultation. We'd be happy to help!