Healthcare and medical practices need to leverage digital marketing to target and increase new patients. One of the essential aspects to achieve this feat is implementing local SEO for doctors.
In today’s internet era, online exposure and visibility are vital. Local SEO for doctors and healthcare professionals is needed to grow your practice.
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When done right, local SEO for doctors can improve the business volumes for your practice and significantly increase your patient volume. Today’s post discusses the fundamentals of local SEO for doctors and other healthcare practitioners.
Local SEO for Doctors Is Vital
Almost 90% of internet users search for local businesses on their mobile devices. These searches include medical and healthcare-related services.
These potential new patients won’t be able to find your practice if your local SEO strategies are poor.
How Does Local SEO Work?
If you are a business owner, you have most likely heard of “search engine optimization” or “ SEO” and “local SEO.” As a medical practitioner, does this marketing strategy apply to you?
Local SEO is a combination of tactics and strategies that improve the local search rankings of your business or in this case, your medical practice.
Implementing local SEO for doctors’ and medical practitioners’ websites can help reach your target patients and grow your practice.
Local SEO focuses on online searches with “local intent.” This means that the person searching for something online wants a business or service in the same local geographic area as them.
For instance, a user typing “hair salon Austin, Texas” is most likely looking for hair salon professionals in that area.
If you are a local business owner offering that service with an SEO-friendly business website, you might expect to yield some site traffic from people typing this term in Google.
However, not all local searches will include the area’s name in the search terms. Google has placed some location indicators from users even without including their location.
This means that when someone types “hair salon” or “Thai restaurant” whatever product or service they need, Google will provide businesses and service providers from the same geographical location.
How do you enhance your business’s online presence to meet the needs of local intent searches?
Local SEO for Doctors and Healthcare Practitioners
When prospective patients look for healthcare services in your area, they would typically type the service they are looking for, including their location, e.g., “physical therapist Dallas, Texas,” or “chiropractor near me.”
Experts in local SEO for doctors and medical practitioners use a number of techniques to boost your site’s local search ranking. These strategies ensure that your practice is visible to people in your area looking for your services.
The benefits of local SEO for Doctors and healthcare practitioners include:
- Increased website traffic
- Higher website ranking
- Increased patient volume
If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to utilize local SEO for doctors and healthcare professionals.
By making local SEO an integral component of your digital marketing strategies, you are on your way to growing your practice.
Attracting More Patients with Effective Local SEO for Doctors and Healthcare Specialists
The internet has allowed the growth of digital marketing over the years. Local SEO for doctors, in particular, is a comprehensive yet fruitful task at hand.
Here are the vital things that need to be considered when it comes to local SEO for doctors and healthcare practitioners.
An Optimized Google My Business Profile
You need an optimized Google My Business page to see success and growth through local SEO for doctors and medical practitioners.
This is a platform powered by Google that helps local businesses appear in a number of places on the search engine, including the following:
Google Maps
The mobile and desktop versions of Google Maps aim to help users discover nearby businesses and service providers.
Google Local Pack
These are the main three listings that appear on Google Maps when a user does a localized search.
Google Knowledge Panel
When someone types a phrase relevant to your practice in Google, the knowledge panel appears at the top-right section of Google search results (desktop) and top of the page (mobile).
It contains vital information about your practice, including contact information, hours of operation, address, and other essential details about your practice.
Choose the Right Category for Your Practice
Google Business allows businesses to pick the correct category for their practice. These categories assist users in searching for your business. Thus, it’s critical that you choose the right category for your business.
Local SEO for doctors entails choosing the right category and subcategory for your practice.
Get Patient Reviews
You should inspire your patients to leave reviews about your practice on Google. When you do, you should also respond to these reviews, whether they are positive or negative. Google prefers those businesses that interact and engage with their audience.
Customer reviews are a good indicator of healthy online interaction. This, in turn, help boost the ranking of your website.
Populate Your Medical Website with Geo-Targeted Content
This isn’t about writing local slang or idioms on your website.
Professional digital marketers who specialize in local SEO strategies for doctors and medical practitioners know how to optimize your medical website design and content for your target areas near your clinic location.
Experts can strategically place your location and services throughout the website to meet local SEO needs for doctors and medical professionals.
Be Consistent with NAP
NAP stands Name, Address, and Phone number. Another vital component of local SEO for doctors is NAP uniformity.
This means that all those essential details should be correct and updated across all your online properties. These places include your Google My Business profile, website, social media pages, customer directories, hospital directories, etc.
When these details are consistent across all online places, Google will regard you as a reputable business and will place you higher in its rankings.
Stay Active on Social Media
While social media shouldn’t be prioritized as much as your medical website and Google My Business listing, it still brings a lot of benefits to your overall online rankings.
You can utilize social media interaction and engagement to move prospective patients toward your medical website from your social media pages.
And since Google’s algorithm likes to see increased web traffic, these new clicks and visits to your website mean that you have a solid online presence.
Does Your Practice Need an Effective Local SEO for Doctors?
If you’re unsure how best to utilize effective local SEO for doctors and medical practitioners, make sure to work with a professional digital marketing agency.
A purpose-built local SEO for doctors can grow your patient volume and establish your practice as a credible local institution.