Gaining Visibility
Medical SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
When Patients Are Searching, We Help Them Find Your Practice
Attracting Potential Patients To Your Website Is Crucial to The Success Of Your Practice.
However, gaining that visibility is harder than ever. Google’s algorithm has become increasingly complicated, the variety of search results has created even more ranking factors, and the level of competition in local markets has never been greater.
Advice Media has been executing successful SEO campaigns for 20 years, continually adapting to these changes. We have proven solutions to fit every market and practice specialty and a veteran team ready to recommend strategies that will help your practice become more successful online and offline.
75% of internet users never scroll past the first page of search engines.
Benefits of a Medical Search Engine Optimization Campaign
- Attract more patients
- Generate more calls & emails
- Enhance brand awareness
- Increase website traffic
- Protect your online reputation
- Create a competitive advantage
- Build patient confidence
- Improve online visibility
- Generate income
How are your SEO efforts currently performing?
What would doubling your leads do for your practice?
Average Advice Media SEO client results
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Leads Increase in 24 Months
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Leads Increase in 24 Months
What Is Healthcare SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization — the process of modifying your website and overall web presence to improve your practice’s visibility in relevant search results. Many factors influence your site’s visibility on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo!
But a successful SEO campaign will result in more visitors to the site and more leads from prospective patients in your target market.
Watch our webinar
Demystifying Google Search for Healthcare
What Patients See When Searching For a Local Doctor
Google Search Results pages continue to change and become more dynamic with map packs, Google rich snippets, and many other new elements. Each element has its own unique ranking factors, amplifying the complexity and difficulty in achieving high visibility, especially for competitive markets and specialties.
There Are Three Main Sections To A Google Search Results Page:
- PAID SEARCH ADS
- GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTINGS
- ORGANIC SEARCH RESULTS
It’s important to be found wherever potential patients are searching. That’s why a comprehensive SEO campaign will include strategies that impact Google My Business and organic search results, as well as your overall web presence on directories and review sites. To have a successful healthcare internet marketing campaign your site must be easily understood by Google and other search engines. An additional campaign leveraging paid search results can also be implemented to maximize exposure for your medical practice and deliver a higher ROI with a successful SEO campaign.
We depend on our site very, very heavily. All of our patients are self-referred… I would describe Advice Media as IMPRESSIVE.
JOHN D. LIPANI, MD, PhD, FAANS, FACS
Princeton Neurological Surgery
Medical SEO Ranking Factors
Here’s how to maximize visibility for your medical practice.
Every search engine has one goal: provide users with the most relevant result as quickly as possible. Google looks at signals to determine if your website is relevant, trustworthy, and deserving of being ranked higher in search results. Here are some of the most important factors that contribute to the success of your medical practice online.
Content Optimization
Is Your Site an Educational Resource to Prospective Patients?
When Google analyzes the content of your site, it looks at much more than keywords. Frequently asked questions, the benefits of the procedure, expected results, recovery time, testimonials, photos, and videos are all types of content Google rewards you for because potential patients find the information helpful. In addition to robust multimedia content, search engines prefer pages that are organized and coded in a manner that makes it easy for them to understand what is on each page.There are many other components to content optimization, such as keyword research, proper HTML coding, URL structure, image file names, and outbound/inbound linking.
Not only is content optimization essential in helping your site become more relevant, it also improves user experience, which is one of the more recent signals Google monitors.
Once Google decides your page has relevant content for a user’s search query, it then seeks to measure the degree of relevance/value by looking at how long a user stays on your site and engages with your content. This is why a well-organized page with detailed and diverse multimedia content (text, videos, photos, etc.) is key to visibility, while also being crucial in converting visitors into leads.
A week doesn’t go by without a patient saying, “You have the best practice website I have ever seen…”
JENNIFER L. WALDEN, MD, FACS
Founder of Walden Cosmetic Surgery Center, PLLC
High quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google rank your website for search.
Are You Blogging About Healthcare Topics on a Regular Basis?
Google and other search engines are looking to make sure your site is active and consistently being updated; this is a strong signal of a healthy site. That’s why blogs are so important. Blogs signal to Google you have fresh, relevant content. Consistent blogging also increases the footprint of your site, giving you a chance to gain visibility in a diverse variety of relevant searches.
Link Building
Do Other Sites Link To Your Site And Convey to Google That You Are an Authority?
Great content provides a great user experience and helps establish your site as an authority in your field, but in a competitive industry such as healthcare, great content is not enough to have a successful SEO campaign. Content helps search engines understand how relevant your content is, but link building is necessary for establishing how trustworthy your site is.
From the inception of Google, links have been the backbone for determining a website’s ranking. When other sites link to you that shows search engines your site is credible and trustworthy. If many sites link to you, and those sites are of a high quality, then your site is seen as an authority.
Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to your website. These links can come from any site, but the most powerful links come from sites that are both relevant and authoritative. As Google’s algorithm has evolved, it has become more sophisticated in identifying the quality of links to a site and whether these links were obtained in a way that appears natural and justified.
What makes a great inbound link?
Domain authority
How authoritative is the site that links to you?
Coding of the link
Does the HTML code of the link tell Google that the site trusts you?
Subject relevance
How relevant is the site to your market / specialty?
Spam score
How trustworthy is the site that links to you?
Anchor text
In what way is your site mentioned, and where on the website does the link appear?
There are other factors for how search engines value links, but a good rule of thumb is if a user would benefit from the link, and the site that links to you is well liked, then it’s a high-value link.
73% of people lose trust in brands due to inaccurate local business listings.
Local Directory Listings
Your business name, address, and phone number (also known as the NAP or “citations” across the Internet) is one of the most important signals Google uses in providing local search results and determining if a business is authentic. Any inconsistencies in the NAP are not only confusing for Google, but are also frustrating for patients trying to find you, negatively impacting your rankings, reputation, and revenue.
Whether your business is listed on maps, apps, search engines, directories, or social networks, you need to ensure your practice’s information is accurate and consistent everywhere.
I have moved up in Google and if it weren’t for Advice Media and their expertise, I’d probably be on the tenth page.
DR. SCOTT EDER
The Center for Women’s Health & Wellness
Reviews of your health practice
Consumers are increasingly turning to online reviews before making purchase decisions. In fact, a recent study shows that 92% of consumers now read online reviews. Consider the following:
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say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
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of customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews.
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of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review.
0%
of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
While reviews are helpful for potential patients, the quantity and frequency of reviews of your practice can also affect your visibility in search results. Having a profile with a consistent stream of online reviews shows Google that your business is popular and relevant. This popularity gives your business additional credibility and authority in the eyes of Google, and this is rewarded by making your practice more visible in search results.
Having a profile with many online reviews that are posted consistently shows Google that your business is popular and frequented often.