Medical SEO: Top 3 Reasons You Want It for Your Practice
Get the Benefits of SEO in Your Practice
All the buzz.
What’s not to talk about when you have the potential to maximize your inbound marketing strategy, increase your web traffic and gain more patient leads?
Your colleagues are talking about it and it seems to be working but you’re questioning if you really need it, and if it will truly bring you more patient leads, better yet, make you more money?
Google, the most frequently used search engine[1] thinks so.
It ranks websites higher when they put the best interest of the viewer first. This matters to Google because people of all age groups turn to the internet to find any type of information and they too want to provide high quality service to their viewers .
80% of internet users say they search for healthcare information online [2] and 90% of people say they used the internet to find a local business.[3]
That being said, your online presence is the new front door to your practice.
When your website is recognized by Google for delivering high-quality content, it puts you right where you want your practice to be… in front of your next patient on the search pages. Front and center, not buried on page 10.
3 Reasons You Need SEO in Your Medical Practice
Increase search visibility and patient leads
Stay a step ahead of the competition
Increase practice income
You have spent a lot of time focusing on building your practice inside the walls because you know the impact it can have on your success. To continue to grow and compete in a crowded market, you have to shift with the times and build your practice outside the walls. Making improvements to your website’s SEO can help you do this.
1. Increase Search Visibility and Patient Leads
Since we already know people head straight to the internet when looking for information, take a minute to think about what your potential patients are searching for.
They have questions and concerns regarding dermatological conditions like surgeries, laser treatments, skin care products and more.
If you can show the Google bots (the virtual robots scouring your site for the tastiest info) that your website and medical practice are relevant and credible resources for the topics your derm patients want to know more about, you will begin to rank higher in the search engine review pages [SERPs] which makes your site more visible with keyword searches.
When you get the SEO recipe right, your business will pop up organically and closer to the top without having a paid ad to get you there. In fact, 75% of users don’t even scroll past the first page. [4] Translation —a website existence on page 6 is not enough to get you noticed.
Maybe you wonder how beneficial popping up early in the SERPs really is.
If you have the desire to:
show up when a patient enters a local search
be considered a valuable resource and authority on conditions and treatments — in more than just the confines of your office walls
sell more treatments or products without becoming more “salesy” in the office
then increasing your search visibility —SERP rank, is the competitive solution.
Additionally and not to be taken lightly, when you implement SEO you begin tailoring your website content to target patient types that you are looking to get more of. Can you think of specific patient types you’d like to increase? More cash pay perhaps? More MOHs? More male cosmetic patients?
So, when you improve your content to attract and meet the specific needs of patient types, Google rewards you by putting you at their fingertips.
2. A Step Ahead of the Competition
The competition is heating up. Don’t you feel like you’re running with the bulls?
Dermatology is an interesting specialty, in that, you the Derm are the expert, but not the only one who can perform treatments — general and cosmetic.
There are at least four other medical specialties that provide dermatological services — treatments like laser, acne, cosmetic and some other basic general dermatology.
SEO is your competitive edge. It increases overall web traffic and visibility in local searches.
When you hang out where your patient hangs out your chances at earning the business increase.
If you provide value and outshine your competition you have a greater chance of earning and keeping the business.
Even if you are in a saturated market, there is enough business for everyone you just have to be proactive.
Integrating medical SEO to improve your online presence helps get you the patients you want more of and works towards increasing your bottom line.
3. Increase Practice Income
Increase Web Traffic + More of the Right Patient - Costs= More Practice Income.
SEO is an organic, momentum building, long term marketing strategy. Ideally, over time it could replace a good portion of your outbound marketing costs.
Paid ads are often fast-acting but they take a constant cash flow to keep them going. When the money is gone so is the business, unless you have a diversified marketing strategy. Other types of outbound marketing are typically costly and aren't laser-focused on the exact patient you are looking for. With general marketing like billboards, it is difficult to measure the impact of your marketing.
And with regards to your bottom line, studies show that inbound leads cost 60% less than outbound leads. [5] Using SEO to gain more inbound leads just makes sense.
Inbound marketing with SEO has the ability to fine-tune the target, aim and fire. This strategy has substantial compounding ROI as you
increase your local and web searchability
boost social authority
elevate your reputation
become a sought after physician with a strong community following.
SEO is just the beginning. It helps you understand your target audience and results in more leads and conversions.
A diversified strategy with a focus on SEO increases web traffic and builds your online presence while giving you the flexibility to target specific patient types and consumers to create new leads.
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