As a doctor, consider yourself a small business. Every small business strives to market themselves within their area successfully. In the age of online advertising, there are various strategies you can implement into your marketing plan to ensure you are effectively reaching your audience. One of those strategies is local SEO. 4 out of 5 consumers use search to find local information, and 46% of all Google searches are individuals seeking local information. When patients search for a doctor, they are most likely in need of medical treatment and aren’t looking to travel far for it. This gives doctors all the more reason to optimize their website locally. If you are ready to market your practice to patients within your community, read more to find out how you can use local SEO.
So You’re Asking Yourself, What Exactly Is Local SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO), is a strategy used to increase the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search results. Local SEO does just that but focuses on targeted audiences within your local area or in this case, patients. A successful local SEO strategy makes it easy for patients searching locally to find your practice through a simple Google search.
How To Get Started
There are various components to begin your thriving local SEO strategy. They include setting up a Google My Business account, optimizing your current website, adding NAP citations, and utilizing local link building.
Google My Business
Google My Business has become the go-to tool for local SEO. Google My Business is a program created by Google that allows users to set up a business profile. As a doctor, you can add information to your profile, such as your phone number, location, hours of operation, and photos of your practice. When users search locally for your practice, your business profile will appear on the right side of their Google search. This allows them to access your information efficiently. This is one of the best ways to optimize your local search because it enables users to find all of your information when searching for a doctor in your area.
Optimizing Your Website
The key to any successful SEO strategy is ensuring your current website is optimized. This means checking site load times and making sure your website is mobile-friendly for your users. Check out our blog on Why Are Patients Leaving Your Website for more information on your website’s general optimization. When creating content for your site, focus on topics that can relate to the geographical areas you are trying to target. This is one of the best ways for your practice to appear in local users’ search results.
NAP Citations
No this doesn’t mean an afternoon snooze. NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. This is an essential component of geo-targeted searches. You want to be sure the name, address, and phone number for you or your practice is correct across all sites it’s listed on. It is best to add your NAP citation to the header or footer of your website as a crawlable HTML text. Taking your NAP citation and adding it to site directories such as Yelp or blog posts will help improve your local SEO.
Local Link Building
Link building is a great way to boost your local SEO. The best way to gain inbound links is through your local network. As a doctor, your network may include health blogs or other practices in the area. Making connections with local businesses in your area and having them link back to your site will help increase your traffic and your local SEO.
Search and Be Found
Now that you have all the tools for a successful local SEO strategy users in your area have the potential to become your patients, just by a simple Google search. It’s essential to keep up to date with your future local SEO strategy. Keep up to date with your Google My Business profile. Continue optimizing your website by creating new content that relates to your practice and local community, and never stop building your network to help with link building.
Robb Digital is here to answer all of your questions and help you with your web traffic! Improve your local listing with a successful medical SEO campaign. Contact us today
