Medical search engine optimization (SEO)—also known as health care SEO—is a digital marketing technique that medical professionals use to drive new patients to their practice. By landing your medical practice’s website on the first page of Google’s search results, SEO can help drive organic traffic to your website, raise brand awareness, and convert more potential patients into appointments.
SEO can make all the difference in your lead generation strategy—but it’s much more than adding a few keywords to your website and optimizing your landing pages. Here’s how SEO can help you grow your private practice.
SEO drives potential patients to your medical website.
According to a 2020 study, over 25 percent of people click on the first Google search result. Consequently, as a medical practice, your primary goal should be to end up on the first page of Google search results for health care services in your service area.
When you use SEO and keyword research to incorporate valuable keywords into your web content, title tag, and landing pages, you’ll rise to the top of search engine rankings, prompting more potential patients to click onto your medical website. If you’re not showing up on the first page of Google results, you’re going to have a hard time getting new patients. Instead of clicking onto the second or third page of Google search results, those leads are going straight to your local competitors.
For example, if a potential patient is looking for a new doctor, they might conduct a location-specific Google search like “Beverly Hills internal medicine.” With a powerful SEO strategy, you can land at the top of Google’s search results for relevant keywords, driving a steady stream of organic traffic to your website.
SEO helps you gain trust and credibility.
SEO is a great way to improve your search engine rankings—but it’s also a valuable tool for building trust, credibility, and authority among your target audience. When a potential patient has questions about a health care service, they’re going to use Google to search for answers. When you create useful, informative, SEO-optimized content that answers their questions, you’re positioning your practice as a leader in the health care industry.
If you’re too busy running your medical practice to create high-quality content, it’s still possible to make it to the top of Google. If your budget allows, consider hiring a reputable SEO team with experience in medical SEO to take your search engine rankings to the next level. Digital marketing teams offer a wide range of services—from content creation to local SEO—to fuel your business growth.
SEO helps boost your conversion rate.
SEO encompasses several factors—from website design to page SEO. By improving your website’s user experience, you can increase the time visitors spend on your medical website, encourage repeat business, and reduce your bounce rate. All of these things help improve your site’s SEO rankings, as well as your conversion rate.
Essentially, when potential patients click onto your website, you want to impress them with a professional web design, detailed landing pages that describe your health care services, and informative blog posts. In addition, you’ll want to promote engagement with your website by increasing your page speed, optimizing your website for mobile devices, and making your website easy to navigate. This way, you’ll be able to plug any potential leaks in your website conversion funnel by making it easy for patients to browse your website and reach out to schedule an appointment.
Whether you’re preparing to open your doors or you’ve spent years building your medical practice, SEO can have a dramatic impact on your bottom line. From increasing your business’s trustworthiness to getting your practice noticed by potential customers, SEO efforts can help you achieve your long-term business goals.
