If you are a doctor, patients will find a way to reach you. If you are a popular doctor with a prominent online presence, patients from all across the globe will find plenty of ways to reach you.

Do you know that any potential or existing patient of yours, who is searching for a medical service or a clinic online, is most likely to turn to Google 93% of the time? Also, around 77% of patients looking for any medical assistance would conduct an online research before getting any kind of appointment.

Utilizing SEO To Promote Your Practice

How Can Doctors & Physicians Benefit?

Among adults from the age of 18 to 24, around 90% say that they are more likely to trust medical information and assistance published on a website that is ranked among the first 5 results of the leading search engine results pages. According to an independent study, close to 79% of users from the age of 18 to 24 readily look for healthcare related information and assistance on social media as well.

How Is Social Media A Part Of Your SEO Strategy?

Doctors and physicians tend to neglect a great SEO tool at their disposal which is social media. Platforms such as FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn can effectively boost your website ranking if you know how to use both short tail and long tail keywords wisely. Doctors and physicians who are active on social media should understand that these platforms can act as effective marketing tools to divert quality web traffic to their websites. For example, FaceBook has a completely different demographic that it focuses on. The audience that is going to use this platform will be slightly different from the audience that uses Twitter and Instagram.

The content that is going to be displayed on your FaceBook page will be a little different from what you post on Instagram. Patients looking for case studies and relevant testimonials that pertain to the illness/ailment they are suffering from will be more inclined towards detailed FaceBook posts. Whereas patients looking for instant consultation might just DM you on Instagram or just follow a thread posted by you on Twitter. By optimizing your social media profiles with the most relevant keywords, you can connect with your audience very easily.

Your Competitors Are Already Online

SEO is not just beneficial to you but also your competition. Healthcare is fast becoming a more competitive sector than any other. Doctors and physicians have increasingly been putting time and money into their digital presence. Therefore, the biggest focus of your SEO strategy should be to appear at the top of the search result pages where your competition is currently ruling the rankings. Physicians, surgeons and medical professionals who are able to promote their practices better have a better rank. Improving your search engine rankings is not just about finding potential patients but also about informing them of achievable medical outcomes and all the while keeping true to the search queries that they are using to look up for your website. Being in the medical field necessitates that each word that you use in your written content holds value to your users. This is the only way to beat your competition to the top ranks.

Online Reputation Management For Doctors & Medical Professionals

If you thought that SEO is not important for medical professionals, you need to think it through once again. If you want your medical practice to be listed online, you cannot ignore your online reputation. If you have been in the medical field for a long time, there will always be someone out there who will actively submit information about your business on the internet. By being more active in the SEO scenario you can easily monitor your online reputation and perception among your users. It will become easier for you to push back against any misleading or false reviews, testimonials and misrepresentation that can harm your practice and reputation. With the right SEO and digital marketing techniques, your patients will be able to get the most relevant and useful reviews about your practice from the most reliable source.

Now Comes Optimizing Your Digital Presence

What SEO Really Accomplishes For You In The Present Time And Age

Optimizing your medical website for the leading search engines is going to be a multifaceted task. Several elements that you should be focusing on in order to get to the desired position among the search engine results pages are listed below:

• Most Compelling Write-Ups

Regardless of which popular writer or blogger that you have hired, make sure that the individual has enough knowledge about the medical field and subfield and/or specialization that you are catering to. Each blog and article that is written by them should be compelling, current and completely research-based. Each one of those write-ups should always be double screened and thoroughly checked by you.  The final step will be publishing that blog/article with relevant images and reference statistics.

• Coming To Attractive Images

Do not forget to couple those write-ups and informative blogs with relevant images. You can either source those images from royalty free websites or maybe you can get personalized images designed by your own graphic designer. Remember to keep those images interspersed with written content to keep your users engaged. Optimizing images with relevant alt tags and descriptions will help Google to index your content better.

• Cashing On Video Testimonials

One of the most compelling and engaging aspects of your SEO strategy is the spoken word from your existing and previous patients. If you can upload a video testimonial explaining their experience while getting treatment from you, well, nothing is going to beat that! The description of those videos can be keyword-enriched and the very same video can also go to your LinkedIn profile and YouTube channel.

• Covering The Broad Spectrum Of Keywords

Remember, the biggest key here is to target not only short but broad keywords as well. Some users might not be aware of the typical medical jargon that doctors and physicians use like their daily lingo. Therefore, it is important to conduct a thorough research on both closely related and far related keywords that describe your medical field and domain. Also, it is extremely critical to include in your SEO strategy the many vague words and phrases that the common man uses on a regular basis to search for his diseases /ailments and your medical services online.

Conclusion

Doctors and physicians have woken up to the many advantages of search engine optimization. They can choose from a plethora of automated tools that will help them rank their website higher. Enhance your landing page conversions, educate your visitors, speed up your sales funnel and establish immediate and effective communication with patients absolutely anywhere. Hire digital marketing experts from Ailerons IT. We will let you become the doctor your patients actually need.