For medical institutions, online promotion is a harsh necessity. After all, more and more patients are looking for a clinic, reviews of a doctor, and health advice via the Internet. Is your website visible in the online space? Is it advantageous compared to competitors? Can your potential patients find out about you? The answer to this question is in high-quality SEO promotion. We will reveal the secrets of SEO for medical practices so that you can bring your website to the top!
Top Mistakes in SEO Strategy for Doctors
Did you know that 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results? So if your site is not found on the first page, the chances of being noticed are minimal. Competition in the medical field is high. And you should make every effort to stand out from the competition! Having a site, even a high-quality and attractive one, does not guarantee success. Many medical organizations make mistakes that reduce their visibility in search engines. Let’s look at the main ones.
Unupdated Content
Search engines prefer sites with fresh and valuable content. Such materials invariably attract users. For example, in the summer, you can post information on your blog about how to protect your health in extreme heat. Timely materials about seasonal allergies are also helpful. In addition, the statistics you provide on your site should be up-to-date. Constantly update information, publish new articles, and stay up-to-date with events in the medical field. If you have the same articles on your blog, your site will simply not be interesting to users. If you do not update information about the clinic, articles, and blog, the site begins to lose positions.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Develop a content strategy with regular publications.
- Add news, expert articles, and current data.
- Update outdated pages.
Ignoring Local SEO
It is no secret that patients often look for services near their residences. If you do not optimize your site for local searches, your clinic may simply not appear in the search results.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Create and fill out a Google Business Profile.
- Add your clinic to local directories.
- Correctly target advertising (geozones).
Overuse of Keywords
Sometimes, marketers promoting a clinic website want to do their best but oversaturate the text with keywords and phrases, which can only harm the SEO strategy.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Use keywords naturally. The selected keywords should be embedded in the text so that it is easy to read and looks harmonious, not like a set of artificially inserted words.
- Work with long-tail keywords: Instead of optimizing the site for very general and competitive queries (short keys, for example: “doctor,” “clinic,” “treatment”), it is worth using longer and more specific search phrases that more accurately reflect the user’s intent.
- Conduct research on keywords and analyze their density—density is the share of a key phrase in the total text volume, expressed as a percentage. For example, if an article per 1000 words contains a key 10 times, the density = 1%. If the density is too low, search engines may not understand that the article is relevant to the query. If it is too high, this is overspam, which worsens positions. Usually, the best option is 1-3% for the primary key, plus using synonyms and related phrases.
Ignoring Website Loading Speed
Patients rarely wait more than 3 seconds for a page to load. However, the average load time for many websites today is about 8.66 seconds. This is how clinics lose potential patients! A person will not wait; he will simply visit another site.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Optimize images and videos.
- Use file compression.
- Improve server response time.
- Minimize the number of redirects.
- Enable caching in the browser.
- Remove scripts that block loading.
A fast site is user-friendly and an important factor in successful SEO for medical websites.
Unfair Backlink Acquisition
You want to get as many links as possible to bring your medical site to the top. But more does not mean better. High-quality and relevant backlinks increase the site’s authority, but attempts to create artificial link networks or buy them can lead to Google sanctions.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Publish useful and expert content, and your site will be linked to naturally.
- Work with the right keywords.
- Use PR and collaborations with medical portals.
Lack of a Mobile Version of the Site
It is no secret that today, most patients search for medical services from smartphones. It is convenient and simple. Therefore, mobile adaptation of the site is a must. Check if your site looks good for a visitor who came to see it from a phone. Does the blog look good? Do the images load correctly? How fast is the loading? Is the usability of the site good? If your resource does not have an adaptive design, you risk losing a significant portion of potential patients.
In addition, Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means priority evaluation of the mobile version of the site in search results.
How to Fix the Situation?
- Ensure fast page loading.
- Think over convenient navigation.
- Create well-readable text.
- Ensure the content is displayed correctly on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Optimization is best done with the support of SEO specialists who consider search engines’ requirements and user convenience.
Lack of Updating the SEO Strategy
Google algorithms are constantly changing, and you must keep up with the times! A strategy that worked a year ago may lose its effectiveness. Regularly analyze the site’s traffic, search positions, and conversion metrics. If the results are falling, reconsider the approach to content and optimization. A creative approach and thorough knowledge of trends and promotion rules will help you maintain your position and attract as many clients as possible!
How to Fix the Situation?
- Update your medical SEO marketing strategy promptly.
- Publish relevant, high-quality material.
This way, you can maintain leading positions in search results.
Ignoring Patient Reviews and Reputation Management
People are more likely to choose a clinic that is well-reviewed by others: friends, colleagues, acquaintances, or just residents of their area. Reviews are one of the key factors when choosing a medical clinic. Positive feedback on Google and specialized platforms increases patient trust. Those who ignore this important factor are unlikely to increase the flow of their clients!
How to Fix the Situation?
- Encourage satisfied patients to leave reviews.
- Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative.
- Monitor your online reputation.
Build a strategy for receiving positive reviews and working with negativity.
Not Using Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Schema markup is a special code that helps search engines understand the site’s content better. It allows you to display extended snippets, such as clinic opening hours, reviews, and an appointment button, directly in the search results.
Many medical sites miss this tool, losing the chance to stand out.
How to Fix the Situation?
Do not neglect the use of advanced technologies, including schema markup.
Keep your finger on the pulse of promotion trends, and your clinic will succeed!
Lack of Analytics and Working with Data
Without data analysis, it is difficult to understand what works. You will act without a competent strategy, which will not lead to a good result. So take care of the competent planning of your marketing strategy.
How to Fix the Situation?
Tools like Google Analytics will help track:
- website traffic;
- user behavior;
- conversion;
- positions for key queries.
Regular analysis allows you to adjust your strategy and increase promotion effectiveness.
Final Thoughts…
Now you know about the main mistakes in SEO promotion. There are other mistakes, and all of them lead to potential patients simply not finding the clinic and being unable to use its services. Cooperation with a reputable SEO agency for healthcare will help to avoid these mistakes. Contact us, and we will provide your clinic with high search positions and a stable flow of patients.