It's always an interesting experience to me as a doctor who also does SEO when I filter through websites pining for the #1 spot. There are always a few big players in the ranks owning keywords like "Plastic Surgery" or "Rhinoplasty Before and After" and the rest kind of fall by the wayside, never to be seen and relying on referrals or on-call patient cases. What if I Don't Know Healthcare SEO?That's a question I get quite often from physicians on both ends of the spectrum; one succeeding in a thriving practice and the other - barely making it. I'd like to say that the winning and deciding factor is indeed, healthcare SEO. But that simply isn't the case. Sometimes physicians don't believe in marketing their practice, some don't even consider this as a pillar in building a successful practice because hey, we made it, right? We passed the exams, fought through residency - and we're in the all clear to the bank. Right? Wrong. Here's what they really don't teach you medical school - the business side of things and specifically, Medical Marketing. In order to truly harness healthcare marketing and increase patient volume to your practice, an entire strategy needs to be devised from the eyes of the patient. You must place yourself in their shoes as if you were sitting down at the computer ready to type into Google's search bar "Family Doctor New Jersey". What this does is it enables you to come up with a few dozen keywords to rank your practice's website with and you'd be surprised that some of these phrases aren't the big "money" keywords. For example, if I were to sit down as a potential patient looking for a GP near me I would type in: 1. Best General Practitioner in my area 2. I need a doctor for my runny nose in Philadelphia 3. Best Medical Practice New Jersey 4. Trusted Pediatrician in Bergen County If you throw those keywords into a keyword-statistics tool, you'll notice that they don't have overwhelming search volume or competition but what they do have is what's called "buyer intent". This means that these keywords are what a potential patient would type in as they are looking for a doctor's office to visit either immediately or in the near future. The 4 Phases of Healthcare SEONow that we've successfully placed ourselves into the shoes of a potential patient, we will go into 4 strategies that are absolute powerhouses when it comes to medical marketing, healthcare seo, and overall providing the answer to the question "how can I bring more patient's to my practice". Google Keyword ResearchFirst up at bat is the initial phase of every SEO campaign strategy there is, Keyword Research. Now we already touched upon this a bit in the introduction but here are some resources as to where you can start plugging in keyword phrases you feel might be beneficial to you: 1. Google Adwords Keyword Planner 2. Ubersuggest 3. SEMrush 4. Your Brain The keyword tools above are the best starting places to not only locate keywords that you might want to rank your practice for, but they throw out suggestions you might have missed and let you know what your direct competitors in your area are ranking for. A solid healthcare SEO strategy is nothing, without in-depth keyword research. Google My Business OptimizationGoogle My Business Optimization was overlooked in the past but it's starting to really hit mainstream SEO as the holy grail of rankings. If you're not sure what the Google My Business or GMB (maps) looks like, it's something like this box: Having an SEO on staff who is able to rank your practice into the GMB offers itself a sever advantage over those who aren't listed. One important note to make here: You need to rank into the top 3 positions, otherwise your practice won't populate automatically. Here are the advantages of ranking in the GMB: 1. You receive an estimated total of 90% of the total search traffic for a given keyword or phrase 2. Your practice phone number is plastered on the front page - hard to miss 3. Potential patients can see real-time reviews of your practice (SEO's can help with this too). YouTube SEO For DoctorsVideo marketing is on a sweet upswing and it will continue to grow because as human beings, we consume content in 3 ways; audio, visual, or a combination of both. We retain information almost 85x more when it's presented to us in a video format, than when we are reading let's say - a blog post (what's the title of this blog?). YouTube SEO for healthcare can be an entire chapter of it's own but suffice it to say that if you aren't on YouTube either reaching out to the community, educating the masses, or promoting your practice - you're seriously missing out on 1.3 billion pairs of eyes (that's how many users are on the tube today). Social Media Marketing in HealthcareIt shouldn't come as a surprise that finishing up our discussion of Healthcare SEO - you as a doctor, physician, and practice owner need to be on social media.
The demographics that populate each platform has shifted dramatically, the market message is a beast of it's own and if you don't have someone on staff to build, manage, and scale your social media presence - you're leaving money on the table. Drop by Atlas SEO for all of your Medical Marketing NJ Needs and we will guide you through all 4 phases and help you dominate the Healthcare SEO world.
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AuthorDr. Matt found ATLAS SEO, a Medical Marketing Agency For Physicians. ArchivesCategories |