Gone are the days when a local business could place an ad in the local newspaper and draw attention to their business. With the advent of smartphones and other digital forms of media, experts like those at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing have been bringing clients success by implementing SEO for medical websites. Some helpful tools include having visually appealing ads, targeting the proper demographics, and improving web presence. As smartphones and laptops are quickly replacing stationary computers, search engines are being used now more than ever. Therefore, it is imperative to make use of these new technologies to grow your business.
Nowadays, more potential patients are turning to the internet to quickly look up information for self-diagnosis. Unfortunately, websites like WebMD reign supreme to satisfy one’s curiosity about their symptoms. Although trained professionals do provide some input in WebMD content, the majority of listings account for a variety of possibilities which result in many self-diagnosing themselves with diseases that are nowhere near to what their actual ailments may be. Many are realizing this, and there is room for medical websites to capitalize on this discrepancy of reliable information. The first step in capitalizing on this vacuum is to achieve efficient SEO (search engine optimization) for medical websites.
Benefits of SEO for Medical Websites
The internet is dense with information, and as a result, search engine optimization has become a necessity for efficient marketing. The current generation of internet users thrives on instant gratification, so when searching for medical services online, they often will not go past the first few results on a search engine like Google, let alone the first page. In order to secure those first few spots, a website needs to satisfy some requirements that search engines look out for to rank a search result, and optimizing for search engines increases that ranking. Proper SEO for medical websites leads to greater visibility, and as a result, more business.
Being ranked higher in search engines speaks for itself. Studies have indicated that print media and television ads have rendered a lower return on investment than search engine optimization (a part of digital marketing). Patients perceive higher search engine results as credible, reputable, and respectable. This goes to show that SEO for medical websites is vital to attracting potential patients.
Credibility
Much like rankings for institutions and placements for tournaments, listings on a search engine are perceived to be a similar value in terms of credibility. Results that are higher on the first page of a service like Google are automatically trusted to be credible services that a patient can leverage. Large websites become popular as a result of proper search engine optimization. Keywords, in combination with other SEO techniques, help to bolster a website’s rank. And since potential patients trust search engine results, their vote of confidence relies on top-ranked search results, which leads to a website’s endorsement. In terms of SEO for medical websites, it is an endorsement of the institution’s medical practice and garners more trust.
Return On Investment
Focusing on leads that are covered by the institution implementing search engine optimization, SEO for medical websites is an inbound marketing strategy that caters to potential patients’ interests. This means that implementing search engine optimization will guarantee the website will be presented to patients that are triggering the keywords and other information they are requesting. This strategy eradicates the need to spend capital on marketing to convince a target audience to use a service. It is a one-and-done type of deal. As such, SEO for medical websites is a cost-effective solution to attracting a clientele.
Best Practices
Implementing search engine optimization means making a website as friendly to patients and search algorithms as possible. There are various ways to go about doing this, including putting in relevant keywords in the website’s meta tags and content, optimization for multiple devices by making the website responsive to different viewports, and keeping information informative and original to set the website apart from similar websites.
Keywords
The primary, and arguably, most important part of search engine optimization is the keywords. From the get-go, the meta tags of a website include a section for “keywords” within the HTML layouts of each page. These keywords are the first point of contact for web crawlers and users alike, and they act towards setting a purpose or definition for the website. For instance, a website with the keywords “cancer” and “treatment” will show up in search results when patients input the query “cures for cancer” in search engines. In an ideal world of websites with no content besides these meta keywords, a website with those words will rank at the top of every search result combining those terms.
Taking advantage of keywords will improve the chances of getting leads, but choosing the right keywords is a challenge in and of itself. It is recommended to use a specific but small set of keywords to describe the overall website, but the challenge is in figuring out your target audience and adhering the keywords to match their interests. Part of the process is figuring out what potential patients may want to look for on the website. It is best to choose the most relevant keywords patients will use to find the website. Of course, our team at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing can help you with all of this.
Optimization
There are multiple forms of optimization. To optimize content for patients’ viewership, it is important to keep “fluff” out of content. Plugging in keywords or copying content throughout written articles or video tags in order to play search engine ranking systems will deter visitors and potential clients. Ultimately, less traffic will lead to a lower ranking, and less business.
Furthermore, this behavior destroys credibility and reputation, which is extremely difficult to reverse. Creating unique content is the best strategy to retain visitors and draw in more potential business. Search engine rankings will also be bolstered with increased traffic and the unique content that fills the void of content that other websites have not taken advantage of.
Besides content, the performance of the website is also a major factor in search engine ranking. As mentioned before, internet users thrive on instant gratification. If a website takes too long to load and display the information that one desires quickly and efficiently, there is a high chance the user will leave and try another website. Search engine algorithms take this factor into account and assign lower rankings to websites that have poor optimization. A little research into the varying technologies used to power websites of different purposes goes a long way, but in the end, content optimization reigns supreme in SEO for medical websites, and Crystal Clear Digital Marketing specializes in just that.
Optimization also refers to how responsive a website is. Responsiveness of a website primarily refers to how well it can be displayed on different viewports or devices. To put it simply, responsiveness bolsters website ranking in search engines where the most responsive of websites appear at the top of results.
Consult the Professionals
SEO for medical websites may seem like an easy task for some, but for those that are not seasoned in the world of web development and marketing, search engine optimization may seem like a daunting task, only made more dizzying from a complex term used to describe a “friendly” website. Achieving proper SEO requires a solid plan, a sound strategy, and concentrated implementation to set up a website that markets itself. Medical practices should focus on improving their search rankings to build credibility, secure their return on investment, and provide their potential patients with a service they can rely on. SEO for medical websites goes hand-in-hand with paid advertising campaigns and social media management, which leads to a maximum potential for gaining dedicated clients and securing business.
If implementing search engine optimization is an undertaking that is too much to handle, our team of experts at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing is available to help. Our services can provide accurate analytics, implement web design practices that streamline the website, and add content that will bolster the website’s ranking while making it friendly for search engine algorithms and potential patients alike. We provide digital marketing services for aesthetics and wellness practices, doctors, plastic surgeons, medical spas, dentists, etc. Contact us today for more information and to learn more about how you can get your site optimized for the internet.
