When you think of SEO, short for search engine optimization, you might not think of the healthcare industry. However, utilizing effective SEO tactics and strategies is vital for just about any industry– healthcare included. 

The goal of SEO is to increase the quantity and quality of traffic to your website in organic search results. The higher you rank on search engines and the more traffic to your website, the more customers and potential sales. 

Healthcare SEO works as a marketing tool to help potential patients discover your services online. With an effective strategy, you’ll be able to connect with patients to provide the answers they need or welcome them to your practice. 

So what techniques do you need to know to implement successful healthcare SEO? And why exactly is it so important for this industry? We’re here to break it down. 

Healthcare SEO Techniques

1. On-Page SEO Techniques

Source: Mangools 

On-Page SEO refers to the content on your site that you can control. This can be: 

• Posting thoughtful, informative, and relevant content
• Adding links to content
• Optimizing your headlines, images, and HTML tags
• Monitoring site speed and mobile responsiveness

The goal of on-page SEO is to “speak the search engine’s language” and, in turn, be ranked higher on SERPs. The higher you rank, the more people will see your content and click to your page. 

2. Off-Page SEO Techniques

Source: InMarket Sales 

Off-page SEO refers to all of the activity off of your website that will determine where you rank on SERPs. Off-page SEO is key to building authority, gaining credibility, and helping your business shine through as the best option. Examples of off-page SEO include: 

• Backlinks
• Social shares 
• Press releases
• Testimonials and reviews 
• Influencer outreach 

Backlinks are perhaps the best and most effective way to build up your brand quickly. These backlinks will be ranked highly by Google as another site is willing to send users to your site, showcasing your business as trustworthy and authoritative. 

However, not all backlinks are created equal. These backlinks should come from authoritative, credible websites or directories within your field. In this healthcare field example, think about how strong a referral from the Mayo Clinic will look in comparison to just one from your friend or relative. 

If your practice begins to build backlinks for having high-quality work, good customer service, and interesting, factual information, Google will begin to rank you higher and get your page seen. 

In healthcare SEO, it is also vital to understand E-A-T. 

E-A-T was created by Google and stands for:

• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

These three words are used to gauge if your company should be considered a leader in your industry. Google measures this based on: 

• The expertise of the creator of the content
• The authoritativeness of the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website
• The trustworthiness of the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website

So how do you make sure you can maintain good E-A-T on your site? Here are practices you should keep in mind: 

• Create high-quality, informative About us and Contact us pages
• Make sure to include author information for all your content, including their expertise or accreditation
• Include a privacy policy, terms and conditions, etc.
• Add an identifiable address and phone number to your site so that potential patients can reach you easily 

3. Local SEO Off-Page Techniques

Source: Score.org

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your site to generate traffic from location-based searching. 

To start optimizing your local SEO, start by creating a Google Business account. Utilizing Google Business will enable your site to appear to patients looking for local healthcare practices. 

It is important that you then create a detailed business profile. This will include listing : 

• Photos
• Your website 
• Opening and closing hours
• Updated address
• Updated phone number 
• Relevant social media accounts

Local SEO also extends to gaining positive online reviews and responding to reviews. With a highly-detailed and highly-rated business, Google will begin to show your practice in local searches and maps. 

Why is Healthcare SEO so important?

Now that you know the SEO techniques you’ll need to utilize, you’re probably wondering why exactly it’s so important to utilize them in this industry. 

According to data from a National Health Interview Survey, 61% of U.S. adults have looked for health or medical information on the internet at some point. With so many people searching, there are significant opportunities for healthcare websites and practices to reach their target audiences. Those not utilizing good SEO techniques are therefore missing out on reaching these people– the very ones who need them most. 

An effective healthcare SEO strategy will not only help you reach and educate more people, it will also help you grow your business. If you are posting well-informed, thoughtful content on a regular basis, people will be coming to your website to seek answers and get help. 

If you are posting this content and utilizing good local SEO practices, people in your area will also begin reaching out to set up appointments and become patients. With good SEO you can reach people globally and just a few miles from your office. 

Examples of Successful Healthcare SEO Strategies

At Galactic Fed, we have worked with a variety of healthcare companies to improve their SEO. One successful example of this was with Patriot Medical Devices. Patriot Medical Devices launched during the COVID-19 public health emergency in response to the increased need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). 

They worked to provide top-quality, American-made PPE and other medical devices to support workers and healthcare providers and to help rebuild America’s medical supply chain.

Because their goal was so essential and time-sensitive, Patriot Medical Devices needed to make sure they were utilizing effective SEO strategies and getting their business seen. 

The team at Galactic Fed began by launching in-depth keyword search to help identify and take advantage of SEO opportunities. The keyword research helped dictate the major pain points of their target audience and thereby helped them address their queries by aligning them with Patriot Medical Devices. 

In addition to this, the Galactic Fed team was able to detect site errors needing technical ­fixes and provided clear context and recommendations to help optimize the problematic pages.

To help improve the ranking and visibility of Patriot Medical Devices, the Galactic Fed team put together an outreach campaign targeting relevant quality blogs focusing on US-based domains and earned numerous citations leading to an increase in site authority and enriched backlink profile.

In only four months, the team at Galactic Fed saw great success in these initiatives. Patriot Medical Devices was able to: 

• Increase referring domains by 1625%
• Increase organic traffic by 1200%
• Increase the total number of keywords ranked by 383%
• Increase domain rating by 10 

Overall, it’s easy to see that utilizing strong SEO practices is necessary for any field– healthcare included. By implementing effective SEO techniques, you’ll put your best foot forward showcase yourself as an authoritative, expert source. 

As with all SEO strategies, it’s important to keep in mind that magic doesn’t happen overnight. It is important to keep optimizing your website, maintain updated business hours and phone numbers, answer customer questions and reviews, and continue to write relevant and informative content. 

If you want to dive deeper into the world of healthcare SEO, we recommend checking out this video. 

And if you simply want to keep your focus on your practice and profession, we get that, too. Our experts are here to help you excel in all things SEO and guide your business to skyrocketing success. 

For more information, schedule a free consultation today!