The process of optimizing your site and content for search engines is known as search engine optimization. The better optimized it is, the more likely it is that your site or page will appear on Google's search engine results pages for whatever topic you are providing information on.
The primary goal of Google (and other search engines) is to provide an accurate answer to the question you're looking for by providing a list of web pages ranked from most relevant to least relevant.
To rank a site or article well on Google, you need content that is relevant to what people are searching for, as well as authority and expertise in the subject area.
Local SEO
When most people look for doctors, they look for someone nearby. Though telemedicine is on the rise and you can work with a therapist via an app, most people prefer to see their doctors in person.
This brings us to a critical aspect of SEO for physicians: local SEO.
What exactly is Local SEO?
90% of consumers use the internet to locate local businesses. And Google controls 92% of the search engine market. So, Google is unquestionably the best place to concentrate your local SEO efforts.
Indeed, Google is emphasizing local search results, as they account for over 85 percent of Google's daily search traffic.
This is why, as a doctor, you must understand local SEO.
How to Do Local SEO:
On-Page SEO Factors: We'll go over this in more detail later, but on-page ranking factors include local keywords, title tags, and proper meta descriptions.
Google My Business: We'll go over this again later, but Google My Business is critical for both local SEO and your practice's reviews. When you search locally, Google displays a map and providers in addition to the standard organic search results. However, the only way to rank there is to have a Google My Business profile and work on optimizing it.
Creating backlinks: If you want your local business to rank, you'll need to build backlinks to your website. Consider a backlink to be a vote: the more you have, the better. More "votes" tell Google that your site is trustworthy and that searchers will find what they're looking for.
Mobile-friendly sites are those that are designed to be viewed (and used) on a smartphone rather than just a computer. The good news is that most website builders optimize your site for mobile automatically. So, unless your site was built from the ground up or has a lot of features or custom code that make it cumbersome, it should already be mobile-friendly!
In 5 Easy Steps, Learn How to Do SEO for Doctors
1. on-page SEO
The content on your pages is one of the on-page SEO ranking factors. This includes both writing great content or providing a great experience for your visitors, as well as telling search engines which keywords you want your page to rank for.
This means including:
Proper keywords: Proper keywords are determined through keyword research, which is the process of identifying terms that your target audience enters into search engines such as Google. Assume you're a dentist and want people looking for root canals to visit your website.
Title tags and page titles: Good page titles are essential for SEO. Each page title on your website should include both the keywords you want to rank high for and your location. Please keep in mind that the title of your website should include your location, such as "Doctor in San Francisco" or "New York City Urgent Care Provider." You should also use secondary keywords in your headers to increase the relevance of your content and make navigation easier for users.
Meta descriptions: Meta descriptions are short text snippets that appear beneath page titles. They aren't always a local SEO factor, but they can have an impact on click through rates, just like your site title. You should be able to change your meta description directly on your host site.
The meta description for Google My Business is the gray text below the blue title.
2. User Experience on a Website
Another important aspect of creating the best website as a doctor is web experience. Your practice's website should be well-designed, clean, and professional. User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) have an effect on SEO.
However, current and potential patients may use your website to contact you, make appointments, and obtain other information.
This is done for aesthetics as well as SEO. The usability, responsiveness, and navigability of your website have an impact on SEO. You could have the best information from the world's most authoritative expert, but if the font is too small or your site loads slowly, it will be difficult to rank well.
As a result, you'll want your physician website to be SEO-friendly. Web UX/UI is primarily involved in the previously mentioned on-page SEO factors, as well as:
Site speed: Site speed is an important aspect of any good web experience. In fact, the number of people who leave your site increases dramatically as your webpage loads slower. If your site takes more than 5 seconds to load, you could lose 40% of your visitors.
User interface: In order to maximize your website's SEO value, your UI (user interface) should be clean and functional. Again, this is because websites that are easy to use and navigate tend to keep users on the page longer than those that are not. Stick to a simple, clean web design with a clear page hierarchy: moving from one page to the next should be simple.
Mobile-friendliness: Have you ever clicked on a website from your phone and half the page is off the screen, the buttons are too small to click, or the navigation bar is missing? Isn't it frustrating? This is why it is critical to have a website design that is mobile-friendly. Google recommends responsive design, which is a grid-like design that adjusts dynamically to all screen sizes, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. You can use Google's free mobile-friendly checking tool to check for free.
3. Backlinks
Backlinks have always been one of the most important SEO ranking factors. A link to your site from another site can have a significant impact on where that page or your site ranks in search results.
These links, also known as backlinks or inbound links, are HTML hyperlinks that take users from one website to another. When someone links to your website, Google interprets this as a vote of confidence in your content and website.
The best links come from sites that are in the same industry as you. When a site like that links to a piece of your content, it tells Google that your content is worthy of being recommended. They're an excellent way for Google to determine whether your website is trustworthy enough to send searchers to.
You can build high-quality backlinks in a variety of ways, including by joining the directories mentioned above. More ways to get more backlinks to your site can be found here.
Building backlinks is an essential component of any good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, so it's critical to devote some time to accumulating high-quality backlinks to your site.
Conclusion
Though SEO can appear complicated, if you follow these steps to optimize your medical service website, the investment you make now will pay off in the long run.