The power of search engines is impossible to ignore. In just a few seconds, you can find the answer to any question you may have, from how penguins find their mate to what movie you should watch next. If someone has a sudden pain in their lower back or they want to look up the symptoms of food poisoning after eating at a questionable food truck, they typically immediately turn to Google.
As a healthcare provider, you can use the dependency on search engines as an opportunity for gaining new patients. That’s what healthcare search engine optimization (SEO) is all about. It’s the process of getting your website’s content to rank high on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). It can play a key role in getting more patients through your doors.
If you’re not sure about how to handle SEO as a healthcare provider, that’s OK — there are people who can help.
A healthcare SEO consultant understands how to implement SEO in the medical field to boost your rankings on SERPs and get the metrics needed for your practice to grow.
We’re here to give you the rundown on healthcare SEO consultants (such as the BURG+CO. team) and why you should consider outsourcing the marketing strategy to an expert.
What a healthcare SEO consultant does
Let’s kick it off with the basics. The role of a medical and healthcare SEO consultant is to help you implement strategies that appeal to both the search engine algorithms and potential patients to increase your site’s rankings for increased visibility, traffic and conversions.
Though the capabilities may vary depending on who you work with, there are a variety of responsibilities of a healthcare SEO consultant, including:
- Website audit and optimization — Diving into the technical aspects of your site that could be hindering user experience (e.g., slow page load speed or broken links)
- Keyword research — Doing thorough research on relevant keywords that focus on patient intent that can be included throughout your site and content
- Local SEO strategies — Implementing approaches that will rank your site high on SERPs and in maps for your surrounding communities
- Compliance with healthcare-specific regulations and guidelines (e.g., HIPAA, E-E-A-T) — Ensuring that every digital marketing effort keeps patient information safe and secure
- Tracking and reporting SEO results — Making data-backed decisions based on previous successes and setbacks
Basically, they cover anything and everything that may be affecting your rankings on search engines. Many of those factors are probably flying under your radar, unknowingly keeping you from the top of SERPs.
Benefits of hiring a healthcare SEO consultant
A healthcare SEO consultant can help to grow your practice from many angles through effective strategizing. Here are the major advantages of outsourcing your healthcare SEO to a consultant or agency:
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Better online visibility
A consultant can help your brand be seen by people who are searching for relevant keywords, meaning that they’re connecting your name to the issues they’re experiencing.
Online visibility in healthcare SEO comes from ranking high on SERPs. When your site is the first thing a potential patient sees on a page, they are more likely to interact with the result, thereby increasing your organic traffic and conversions.
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Increased patient acquisition
Healthcare SEO is about more than just getting clicks on your site from anyone and everyone. You want to prioritize clicks from people who are likely to actually book an appointment with you, increasing your quality lead conversion rate.
A healthcare SEO consultant can help to boost your patient acquisition by making sure that your efforts are targeted toward people who are actively looking for help at the time they’re searching.
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Enhanced reputation and trust
Credibility is a hallmark of successful SEO, especially when it comes to topics as important as healthcare. A consultant can help to improve your online reputation while also establishing a foundation of trust between you and potential patients.
SEO strategies can improve your reputation because ranking high on SERPs means that you’re seen as a credible source of information in the eyes of the algorithm.
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Time and cost efficiency
Let’s get to the bottom line: Hiring a healthcare SEO consultant is good for your budget in the long run. Outsourcing the many SEO tasks needed for an effective marketing strategy can save you both money and time in several ways, such as:
- Eliminating the need for hiring or training new employees for SEO
- Gaining access to resources and tools to get the best results possible
- Having scalability of the efforts to grow with your practice
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Data-backed strategy
Even though it can be helpful to think outside the box when it comes to digital marketing, nothing should be done without a bit of research to back up the decision. A healthcare SEO consultant will track and analyze the results of your efforts to determine what’s working and what needs to be tweaked in the future.
SEO is a strategy that needs to be regularly managed and updated to ensure that it’s aligning with changing audience behaviors and search engine algorithms.
Why healthcare SEO is different from other industries
When you’re outsourcing a service for your business, you don’t want to choose someone who is a jack of all trades but master of none. You want to make sure they understand the ins and outs of your specific industry. SEO has become a pillar of every digital marketing strategy these days, but healthcare SEO is almost in a league of its own. It can come with a few of its own unique challenges that stray from SEO in other industries, including:
- Trust and authority — People want to be able to look at your online presence and know that their health and wellness are in good hands before even booking an appointment.
- Regulatory compliance — Misinformation or misleading content can be dangerous in the healthcare industry, making it essential that all SEO is compliant with laws and guidelines, such as HIPAA.
- Local competition — Healthcare is such an essential aspect of every community that there’s likely a bit of competition with other providers, making local SEO a vital approach for standing out among the crowd.
- Google’s medical content standards — Google views healthcare information as incredibly impactful content, and classifies it as “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics that are held to high standards.
Want to attract new patients to your website? BURG+CO. has healthcare SEO consultants who can help
When you’re a healthcare provider, there’s already so many plates that you have to balance on a daily basis. It’s OK if marketing strategies are one of the plates that you can’t seem to add into rotation. Healthcare SEO can be a bit daunting if you don’t know the ins and outs of it. That’s why you should turn to an expert who can provide insight on the process and collaborate on a comprehensive strategy to get you the online growth you’re looking for.
At BURG+CO., our SEO consultants specialize in healthcare marketing so that we can help you acquire and retain the patients needed to grow your practice. From creating keyword-centric content to completing technical audits, we can help you climb the ranks of SERPs.
Our team has years of experience in helping healthcare brands improve their digital presence to attract new patients and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more potential patients to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help.
Want expert support with your digital marketing? Connect with BURG+CO. today to explore how we can help your healthcare brand grow.