This post reveals expert tips on using local SEO for medical practices to grow your business and turn it into your community’s go-to healthcare provider.
Competition among medical providers is constantly intensifying. With that in mind, is your current SEO for hospitals approach enough to keep your business on patients’ minds? As everyone turns to the Internet for reliable healthcare, you need to do more than just insert keywords on your website. To keep your medical clinic afloat in search results, you’ll need a comprehensive local SEO plan.
Local SEO is paramount as it influences your clinic’s searchability when patients search for medical services near them. Aside from better accessibility, an SEO-driven website usually shares information-rich content. By sharing valuable health insights, your medical practice can build a positive reputation in the community you serve.
Continue reading for expert tips that will help ensure successful local SEO for medical practices. By taking the right steps, you can become the preferred medical institution in your area!
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Localized Keyword Strategies: The Key to Better SEO for Medical Practices
Healthcare clinics are primarily location-based businesses. Local SEO narrows the gap between your medical providers and patients by facilitating seamless access to your medical services. One of the most effective ways to help your practice stand out is by integrating localized keywords into your medical local SEO plan.
Start by conducting in-depth research on possible keywords. Focus on phrases patients use when searching for the best healthcare clinics in their area. That typically involves including keywords with geographical qualifiers. Think of the city, neighborhood, or landmarks around your medical center; add those to your keyword phrase. These phrases are often called long-tail keywords. These keywords are less competitive when targeting highly specific searches, and they’re usually considered a cornerstone of the best local SEO practices.
Once you’ve identified the best keywords to use, it’s time to incorporate them into your website content. For example, suppose your community has experienced an unfortunate rise in flu cases during the peak season. Your office can release a blog that shares professional tips on how to keep safe from the virus.
Based on our digital marketing agency’s 20+ years of experience in doing local SEO for medical clinics, we know that producing relevant health blogs offers a two-for-one advantage. How? First, it’s a guaranteed way to gain your community’s trust. Second, it improves your search rankings through the localized keywords found in your content.
Local SEO Trends Shaping Healthcare Advertising
Since most patients prefer the convenience of going to nearby clinics, your approach to SEO for medical practices must use the latest trends.
For instance, consider people’s growing reliance on smartphones. Now, more than ever, local SEO for clinics should include mobile-friendly optimization. Your medical business can achieve this by ensuring your website performs well on various screen sizes (smartphones or tablets).
Your website should also provide easy navigation for visitors. With that, patients can more easily find valuable information like doctors’ contact details and descriptions of your medical services.
You should also maximize specific features to improve user experience. A great example is integrating mobile payment options (Apple Pay or Google Wallet). In addition, we recommend that you enable accelerated mobile pages (AMP) for faster loading times.
Google’s mobile-first indexing means that their algorithm predominantly relies on a site’s mobile version for rankings.
Another rising trend is the use of voice-activated technologies like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. Remember, most voice-based searches are conversational and inquiring. Hence, your local SEO strategies should adjust by incorporating natural language keywords.
Those refer to phrases that your potential patients are more likely to use when speaking on devices. Think of it this way: instead of typing “best hospitals in [your city],” a person using voice search might dictate, “What are the best hospitals near me?” See the difference?
By adapting to these trends in SEO for healthcare offices, your medical institution can better address patient needs, especially the tech-savvy ones.
Why Reputation Management is The Lifeblood of Healthcare Marketing
Up until this point, we’ve only covered local SEO techniques that fall on on-page SEO. This time, we’re exploring tactics to boost organic growth using elements beyond your website. Collectively, this practice is called off-page SEO. And one of the brilliant ways to approach this is by managing your practice’s online reviews.
Reputation management is crucial in shaping how prospective patients perceive your practice. Reviews provide personal insights into patient experiences. Search engines like Google value them as indicators of your business’s credibility.
For better SEO results, you need to consider the quantity, quality, and recency of patient reviews on your Google Business Profile (GBP). Those are the components that Google considers for rankings.
To generate positive reviews, always invest in providing exceptional patient care. Here’s our suggestion: Once your staff has noticed that your patients are satisfied with your services, they should politely ask for feedback. You can provide an easy-to-follow instruction (printed on, say, a poster or a small piece of paper) on how to leave a review on your GBP. Sending follow-up emails can also help.
On the other hand, if your business ever receives negative feedback, your staff should always handle the review with empathy. Respond to the review by acknowledging the patient’s concern first, then outline your institution’s actions to resolve their issue. When ignored, bad reviews can harm your clinic’s local SEO results and deter potential patients.
How Linking Locally Helps in SEO for Medical Practices
Another fundamental aspect of off-page SEO for healthcare clinics is link building. With this technique, your health center can create a network to support your marketing efforts.
Gathering backlinks from local websites and directories is a tried and tested way to enhance your local SEO results. Think of these links as endorsements from the community’s trusted sources. They signal to search engines that your office is reputable and authoritative. Once local news outlets, health blog sites, and business directories add links to your website, expect your clinic’s SEO performance to improve.
A backlink’s position matters. Links placed in the main content area have more local SEO value than those in footers.
Countless opportunities are available to connect with local businesses. For example, we recommend that you join medical events organized by non-profit organizations. Those can lead to promotions and even news coverage. You may also create joint health initiatives with pharmacies, fitness gyms, and wellness centers.
Nurturing these relationships should not stop at enhancing your online presence through local SEO. It helps build a supportive network that cultivates your local economy.
Takeaways on More Effective Local SEO for Medical Practices
The online arena is in a state of constant flux. So, if you want to maintain the effectiveness of your local SEO practices, be ready to invest your time, money, efforts, and workforce.
If this sounds too overwhelming to handle, partnering with a respectable local SEO company should ease your worries. Among your options, Zero Company is a standout choice. Our Orange County SEO company has over two decades of relevant experience in digital marketing and has supported 2,500 companies (including hospitals) in their online marketing campaigns. Your clinic can join our growing number of satisfied clients.
Book a free consultation with our experts in local SEO for medical practices today!
