Do you think it’s important to optimize a website for healthcare practices? It definitely is. 71% of people surveyed stated they look at online reviews before they choose a doctor. However, creating an effective website for a healthcare practice requires more than just adding the right content and patient reviews.
Attractive visuals and user-friendly features are essential components of any successful healthcare website. So is investing in SEO for the healthcare market. Don’t worry if you’re unsure where to start, though.
By implementing these nine tips, you can update your existing web presence or create a brand new site that will help attract more attention from prospective patients and boost engagement with current ones.
The Importance of Medical Practice Website Design
Website design is an important aspect of working in the medical industry. Consumers expect websites to be modern, visually appealing, and mobile-compatible. This is especially important in healthcare because patients need access to accurate information quickly and without frustration.
However, it’s not just about urgency. Professionally-designed websites are a great way for healthcare businesses to convey the following:
- Trust
- Expertise
- Quality of service
After all, these qualities and values you want to demonstrate when caring for patients in your clinic, right? You can boost the virtual patient experience by having a medical website that is user-friendly. Ensure it has an intuitive layout that prioritizes key information such as contact details and opening hours.
SEO in the Healthcare Industry
Improving your website for healthcare services isn’t just about design. While the design is incredibly important, patients won’t find your great-looking website if it’s not SEO-optimized and indexed properly for search engines. This is why SEO is equally as important as web design.
Medical SEO is a form of marketing that helps medical practices and businesses reach potential customers and patients. It uses keywords to optimize medical websites and content to rank higher in Google search results.
Through medical SEO, medical professionals can achieve the following:
- Create a strong web presence
- Gain trust from potential customers
- Increase website traffic
Businesses like yours can better connect with their target audience by targeting niche medical keywords. This allows you to get ahead in an already competitive industry.
How to Improve Your Website for Healthcare SEO
Ready to implement today’s top SEO tips to improve your website and attract more clients in the healthcare market? While SEO is an ever-changing marketing field, here are nine tips you can implement today that’ll have a big impact.
1. Target Local Keywords
Targeting local keywords is an effective way to help boost your SEO in the medical market. By focusing on geo-targeted terms specific to your target market, you can generate more verified leads from potential customers searching for medical services nearby. A great example of this might be “carpal tunnel treatments in Houston” or “cosmetic dentist Boulder, Colorado.”
2. Optimize for Mobile
Over 60% of traffic comes from mobile devices these days. If your medical website isn’t mobile-friendly, people aren’t going to want to stay long. This negatively impacts your SEO efforts. Google rewards mobile-friendly sites with higher page ranks, improving visibility and better placement on SERPs. Moreover, mobile-friendly websites tend to have lightning-fast loading speeds.
3. Consider Your Images
Speaking of lightning-fast loading speeds, you’ll want to look at your images. Large images can weigh a site down and lead to slow loading times. Google and other search engines hate this and will penalize you for it. Moreover, users don’t like visiting a site where images won’t load or affect the page’s layout.
4. Create Quality Content
Quality content is the foundation of successful medical SEO efforts. It boosts trust with potential patients, establishes credibility, and helps create an online presence that reflects positively upon your clinic or practice. Quality content also increases the chances of connecting with prospective patients by helping to create organic traffic from search engines.
5. Request Reviews
Reviews help build trust and authority. Search engines love that. Reviews on your website indicate to search engines like Google that you’re a real medical business and that consumers trust and enjoy your services. Take the time to request reviews from past and current patients. If they’re hesitant, you can offer a discount on their next service in exchange.
6. Establish Authority
More than ever, search engine algorithms prioritize real content backed by research. This is especially true in the medical industry. So, establish yourself as an authority in your field by publishing up-to-date research and other articles. Talk about your expertise and why patients (and search engines) should trust you.
7. Fix Broken Pages
Search engines like Google don’t want to show irrelevant information and content not readily available on a website. If users encounter broken or blank pages, these will negatively affect how your website is seen in the search results. Therefore, fixing any broken or blank pages as soon as possible is important.
8. Link Pages
Interlinking is when webpages on your website are linked together. It creates an interconnectivity between pages and helps to create a user-friendly experience when someone visits your site. Linking pages together strengthens the relationship between them, which can help keep visitors on your medical website longer and boost overall SEO performance.
9. Track Results
Finally, track your results! This is the best way to ensure your SEO efforts are paying off. Using platforms like Google Search Console, you can gain valuable insight into what’s working and what’s not and how you can improve your SEO strategy.
You can also use a site like Ahrefs to track your keyword rankings and positions over time. This will help you optimize your SEO strategy and gain insight into what your competitors are doing that you’re not.
Healthcare Industry SEO Services
Are you having trouble optimizing your website for healthcare services and clients? SEO Power Boosters from Bipper Media can give your website the edge to become visible on Google searches. By targeting specific products, locations, or Google Profile Listing, you can build up the authority of your top-tier pages and optimize SEO rankings.
Click here to explore the benefits of an SEO Power Booster today!
