An important part of your online credibility is increasing online visibility – what’s your SEO game plan?
The internet has changed the way we shop, communicate and do business. There seems to be a website or app built to cater to our every whim, eliminating the need to run out to our local store or pharmacy. Everything is practically within our reach. From UberEats’ General Tso’s Chicken to mail-order Covid-19 testing, just Google it (Bing it, Yahoo it or Reddit it…) and watch it magically appear on your doorstep . But you have to find it, and in order for it to be found, your content needs search engine optimization (SEO) and an SEO game plan.
All healthcare practices can benefit from SEO
When it comes to healthcare, we find doctors, services and healthcare practices the same way. We search online, read community reviews, check Yelp reviews, and browse directories.
That’s why running a medical practice requires an online presence and marketing efforts to connect with potential new patients. After all, the best health care provider in the world is no use if no one knows where to find them.
Word of mouth about your business practice has moved from the company water cooler to searchable online community groups, chat rooms, and online directories complete with hashtags, links, endorsements, and landing pages. And it’s never been more important to create an online strategy to reach the people who need your services the most. So where do you start?
An SEO game plan strategy for your practice, regardless of size
SEO means tilting Google’s search engine results in your favor when someone searches for a product or service that you provide.
When someone searches for a chiropractor, you ultimately want your chiropractor business to appear as one of the top 4 results. That way, your practice, rather than someone else’s, is more likely to get a phone call or a click to your website for more information.
While this sounds simple, remember that your business is competing for placement with millions of other businesses and chiropractors just like yours. So how does Google decide which companies will appear at the top?
Paid search vs. organic search
There are two ways Google search engine ranks businesses for search result queries: paid search and organic search, the difference is a bit obvious.
Paid Search results are those listings that require a fee for the search engine to display your link for a given keyword. A widely used form of payment listing is Pay Per Click (PPC) where you pay every time someone clicks on your ad link. The price increases according to the competitiveness of the keyword.Organic search results are pulled by search engine web crawlers that rank your website by relevance. It is calculated based on the match of keywords on your website pages and the number of links to your website from external sources. Ranking at the top of organic search is the most optimal, because not only is it free, but people are more likely to click on organic search results than paid search results.
start small
No business is too big or too small to benefit from an SEO strategy. However, the most important question is, “Where do you want to take your business?” as this will determine your SEO game plan and goals.
If the idea is to expand patient numbers and increase revenue, then a top search result on Google is crucial. If your practice is solely based on referrals and your current income stream is keeping up with your expectations, you may not need a more complex SEO strategy.
SEO strategies range in size from simple blogs and keywords to hiring an outside marketing firm or SEO expert to provide an arsenal of data-driven marketing tactics. Regardless of size, all healthcare practices should incorporate the following organic SEO practices to optimize search rankings:
Get Google reviews from satisfied customers. The first thing potential patients do to learn about your business is to check out the sites. Find out where your patients are looking to find you and make sure your business is listed there.Add fresh content to your blog. Google reads new blog post pages as an update to your website, giving your site preference in search. Adding links to your blog posts to other pages and posts on your website also improves your website’s search ranking.Write about the services your practice offers on your blog. Use real language in your blog posts that would likely be entered into a Google search browser to find information. This helps get your blog post as a result of a search match query leading directly to your website.Post new images to Google My Business. Keep directories updated with properly titled images and relevant information, including times and location. List all services, products and offers.Be relevant in your community. The world has never been more connected than it is now through the Internet. Everything you do in the real world, from volunteering to supporting schools to sponsoring local events, is shared online and feeds back into your business. Look for external links from your community to your website.Write articles in local newspapers and magazines. Stay front and center by offering your wisdom as an industry expert. Not only does it keep your name and business practice top of mind, it provides a digital link opportunity from the media to your website, which improves your website’s search ranking.
Grow your practice through advanced SEO strategies
Your SEO budget will be determined by the elevation of your business goals. You can start small by buying Google Ads and setting aside a monthly budget, or go big by hiring a marketing company or SEO partner.
Buy relevant keywords with Google Ads. Head over to Google Keyword Planner to discover which keywords are best for your practice. Just enter names of services or products related to your business. The results will give you a long list of keywords, how often they are searched for, along with the price and level of competition for the keyword. Look for words or phrases that you can ultimately own that aren’t highly competitive or break the bank. Find the balance of relevant words with little competition. You can refine your keyword search on the right to help you narrow down your results. Once you’ve narrowed down your search, test them with a Google Ads plan designed to drive traffic to your website. You can also use these keywords on your website to help it get found in search.Conduct an SEO website audit. Hire an SEO expert to go through your company’s website and optimize it for search engines. Expect your website content to be optimized with proper title tags, meta descriptions, keywords, links, backlinks, loading speed and image titles. Once optimized, your website will run quickly and efficiently, ready to appear in search.Hire an SEO company for a more complex and ongoing SEO effort. If you want to increase your income, you need to expand your reach to drive more business to your practice. This requires a more advanced SEO strategy that is implemented for you, constantly tweaked and refined for optimal results. It’s not about the size of your practice or whether your firm can support the effort, it’s about your firm’s business goals. This is especially useful for multi-location practices that offer a high return on investment.
Start building your website search ranking now
Establishing your credibility online is the digital equivalent of building your professional reputation in real life. It’s important to embrace technology as part of your business growth model with an SEO game plan, as traditional, old-school methods of getting business opportunities are lost.
Today, patients are gaining trust in service providers who have the online visibility, reputable reviews and easily accessible information they need. Once you optimize your website and start driving traffic directly to relevant content on your site, you’ll be amazed at the number of visits and leads that come to your website and, in turn, through the door of your office
RUSSELL GREENSEID, DC, is a chiropractor, principal shareholder and chief of staff at Metro Healthcare Partners in Brooklyn, NY. He is a trusted advocate and respected voice in the chiropractic field with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, NY. resides in Short Hills, NJ with his wife and two children. visit metrohealthnyc.com to learn more about Greenseid and its multidisciplinary team of professionals.
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