Now more than ever, SEO for doctors is extremely doable, even if you are a small or brand new practice, because of the seismic shift toward local SEO.
In years past, you needed to have clout, backlinks & great website traffic to have a fighting chance to outrank your colleagues and their established medical practice.
Now, armed with the proper knowledge, time & consistency, you can not only quickly show up in the Google local “3 pack” but you can be right up at the top.
What would it mean to your practice as a physician to dominate local medical search results for your practice type?
Increase in new patients?
More high revenue procedures?
More consultations or appointments?
Overall practice growth?
It is now within your grasp all you need to do is jump into the local medical search engine optimization a.k.a. SEO for doctors game and know what you are doing.
Knowledge is power when it comes to ranking doctors in search results and with this guide, you will be well on your way to new calls, website visits & direction requests.
Follow these SEO for doctors tips & bask in the increased search results. All you need to do now is track the results am I right?
10 Tips for SEO for Medical Practices
1. It Starts with Your Medical Website Design
It sounds like a no brainer, but before we can look at the other points to solid local SEO for physicians, it starts right here.
Correcting and updating your medical website design and the information contained therein.
Make sure you have a dedicated contact page that contains your NAP (name, address, phone) contact details that will be uniformly used on all other listings & reviews sites moving forward.
Uniformity is vital in the whole scenario so start on the right foot here. Put the contact details in the universal footer of the site & nestle it again on the contact page of your website because this is one of the first places Google will reference for these details.
2. Online Reviews Play a Big Role in SEO for Doctors
This is a carryover from the first point but it is so critical it deserves its place on the list.
When addressing SEO for medical practices & ranking first on Google make sure you have a reviews/testimonials page on your website.
Make it a right blend of what we call “first party” reviews, which are those that people have given straight to the practice and third-party reviews, which are pulled off sites like Facebook, Google & Yelp.
Reviews are a strong indicator of page rank in Google’s eyes so make sure you have some on your website. We will be addressing off-site reviews again in a few minutes.
3. Claim the Provider Google My Business Listings
To rank first on Google as a physician, you need to make sure you are listed on Google My Business.
To do so, you need to claim, verify & update your listing or create a listing if Google has not already done so for each provider.
You may be surprised to see you are already listed in Google Maps even though you have never done so yourself.
This is why it is critical to be proactive with SEO for medical practices because Google is doing it for you whether you ignore it or not.
You do not want people to receive incorrect information, so take it into your own hands.
Providers tend to move several times from residency to fellowship to practicing, which can cause a lot of errors in your Google My Business profile.
Once you have claimed the listing make sure to take the time to complete the verification process as this will get your updates live on Google and unlock critical analytics.
After the verification process, complete the profile in its entirety using the same information for NAP that you used in tip #1 on your medical website matching provider page.
4. Create a Practice Facebook Business Page
If you do not have a Facebook business page for your practice, you are WAY behind the curve for numerous reasons, but you may not have considered one of those reasons being medical search engine optimization.
Correct. Facebook is critical for first-page search results.
Why? Because 9/10 times, if you do a quick search of a competitor’s dermatology practice (for example), their Facebook page will be one of the highest-ranking listings on the first page.
The same goes for every other specialty or primary care practice out there.
Facebook has ultimate clout in search ranking, and you are losing landscape and visibility by not having a practice Facebook page so do it now.
5. Claim Third Party Reviews & Listings Profiles
Claiming your physician Google My Business and creating your practice Facebook are a giant step in the right direction for successful SEO for doctors and making it on the first page of Google for your practice.
However, it does not end there. There are 50+ additional listings & reviews directories that should be claimed, verified and completed using the same NAP information that you have used above.
To stress even further, UNIFORMITY is critical in all things medical SEO related.
6. Get Started With Video Content
Video is a powerful way to create increase engagement and develop a know, like, and trust relationship with your potential patients.
The most successful content medical marketing programs (which we will discuss in more detail later) have the providers directly engaged in the content development process.
Patients have taken the research process into their own hands and want to hear directly from providers they will potentially be seeing.
Adding videos into your blog posts also increase on-page time, which is a critical ranking factor.
When posting your new videos onto Youtube, make sure to follow the tips in the video below to optimize the video for maximum reach.
Remember, Google owns Youtube, and SEO matters a lot as it is the second largest search engine.
Are you struggling to come up with initial video content ideas?
Start by jotting down common FAQs and questions you get asked by patients throughout the week.
I bet if you pay attention, you can quickly come up with 4-6 months’ work of video content in 1 hour or less.
The best thing?
You know, for sure, patients are seeking the answers to these questions.
7. Do Extensive Keyword Research for Local SEO for Medical Websites
Keywords are the backbone of great local SEO for medical websites.
Many people fail right out of the gate by never utilizing the resources available to them on the web for FREE to do keyword research.
Ubersuggest has come a long way since Neil Patel purchased and retooled it.
All you need to do it pop in your focus keyword and the tool gives you insights into search volume, backlinks, top pages and much more.
8. Generate New Patient Reviews on Google
Now that you have followed the instructions above and added a reviews section to your website and claimed 100+ third-party directory and review site listings it is time to put a significant emphasis on collecting new patient reviews from your satisfied patients.
Reviews are one of the most important ranking signals for Google and often in the Google “3 Pack” the ones near the top have several solid 5-star patient reviews.
This is one of the main areas you need to focus on if you want to grow your local SEO as a doctor.
9. Active Content Marketing Strategy is a key part of seo for healthcare industry
Content is still king when it comes to search engine optimization.
Most providers think of blog posts when it comes to healthcare content marketing.
While this is one of the most common types of content marketing there are 50+ types of content marketing including medical podcasts, videos, graphics, and much more.
A blend of several mediums works the best as different patients prefer to consume their content by various means.
However, it is important for you as a doctor to find a mode of content that you believe you are likely to produce the most of and focus you time and energy on that avenue.
Investing in a well thought out, strategic content marketing strategy that is backed by keyword and competitor analysis may be the most crucial long-term ranking factor.
10. SEO for Medical Websites: Backlinks are Critical
Backlinking is another critical on-going portion of a robust local doctor SEO strategy to get a medical practice ranking first on Google.
What is a backlink exactly?
Moz defines a backlink as a backlink, also called an “inbound link” or “incoming link,” is created when one website links to another. The link between the two sites is the backlink — so named because it points back to the linked-to page.
Ever quality backlink serves as an additional validation point (similar to a review) that another credible website is giving your practice the “thumbs up” so to speak.
The two key terms here are quality and credible when it comes to receiving backlinks.
The better known the site or relevant to your particular business, the better local SEO juice you will receive.
At Power Funnels, our highly experineced SEO team will introduce you with their professional healthcare seo services.
Our best SEO practices will lead to excellent measurable results.
Contact us today for more details or book a free SEO strategy session.
