For many kinds of businesses, search engine optimization (SEO) is all about driving as much traffic to your website as possible. However, in the healthcare field, the strategy is far more complex. About 65% of all Google searches for health professionals do not result in a click because Google provides vital information – including your address and phone number – in the search results.

Local SEO narrows search engine optimization down in a way that puts your business information in front of the people who need it. It also ensures that the information appearing on Google’s search results pages is highly visible, informative, and genuinely helpful. GYBO Marketing is experienced in local SEO for medical professionals, and we can help your practice shine with our complete and custom-designed healthcare digital marketing services.

What Is Local SEO for Doctors and Medical Facilities?

Local SEO is designed to increase your practice or facility’s visibility in local search results on search engines like Google. It is reserved for businesses that have a physical location or that serve a specific geographical area. Any type of local business — from bakeries and diners to service industries such as home maintenance and auto repair, and dental, medical and health care professionals at care clinics and doctors can all benefit from local SEO. In fact, it should be part of any long-term marketing strategy.

When a prospective new patient uses Google to search for a healthcare provider, a symptom, or a condition, they are likely to see a map at the top of the search results page with three local listings just below it. This is known as a “map pack” in the marketing world. Local SEO for doctors is designed to help your office or practice land in one of those three spots.

How to Reach the Top Three

Google relies on dozens of different processes and algorithms to determine which doctors or medical professionals to list in the map pack. Google is a business, and its success depends on providing searchers with relevant information. The better Google can do this, the more popular it becomes. Its algorithms and processes are designed to ensure that someone searching for health-related terms can find the services, resources and data they want or need as quickly as possible.

Organic local SEO for medical professionals relies on factors like relevance, prominence, authority, reviews, and content — just like traditional SEO. However, local SEO uses a proximity factor with companies that have physical locations, which allows Google to show users’ results in their general area.

5 Best Local SEO Tips for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals

Understanding how local SEO for doctors works and why it is important is only the first step in bringing in new patients. GYBO Marketing focuses on numerous aspects of local SEO, but the five listed below are the most important.

1. GBP Optimization

Google Business Profile, or GBP, is a phenomenal tool that will help you reach your local SEO goals. You will need to set up or claim a profile. It includes information about your business such as hours, location, phone number, and services provided. GYBO Marketing focuses heavily on the descriptions for these services, which should use rich keywords people are searching for that are relevant to your practice and to your potential patients.

GBP Optimization may also include adding other types of information, such as whether you offer parking validation and whether your office has a separate waiting room for sick patients. Photos and reviews are crucial to your overall GPB, and listings that include high-definition photos of the interior and exterior of your practice or facility will capture more attention than listings without photos.

Once your GBP has been optimized, part of your ongoing marketing strategy involves keeping it optimized. This involves responding to any incoming reviews you receive, updating your hours as needed, changing your offered services, adding new ones, and more.

2. Local Directories

Local directories benefit doctors and medical professionals in several ways. They can improve your local search rankings and boost your website traffic, but they can also offer valuable backlinks and more visibility in map-based searches. Numerous popular websites offer local directories, including WebMD and Healthgrades, but you may also be able to list your business with local hospitals, city and county websites, and more.

Each one of these directories has its own unique set of requirements, so it can take some time to do it on your own. GYBO Marketing is experienced in creating exceptional listings for a wide range of national and local directories. Don’t forget about other search engines and major websites, including Yellow Pages, About Us, Yahoo! Local, Bing Places, and even Yelp.

3. Backlinks

A backlink is any link on any website that points back to your own business or website. It links two webpages together and allows a reader or searcher to immediately follow the link to your website, even from the search results. Backlinks are crucial for local SEO for medical professionals as they satisfy Google’s algorithms and show that your website is popular and authoritative.

One of the best ways to get started with backlinks involves creating an FAQ section for your website. When medical questions arise, people tend to turn to Google. If your FAQs include the most common (and most relevant) questions along with authoritative answers filled with rich keywords, other websites will consider your website as a resource, making the backlinks an effective way of increasing traffic to your site.

You may also opt to form partnerships with vendors by offering testimonials and positive reviews about their services in exchange for a link to your website. Reach out to educational sites (especially the university you attended) to find out if they can feature your practice in their Alumni section of the school news or even in a blog post. You might even choose to author articles yourself, then point back to relevant pages on your website.

4. Reviews

Reviews help with local SEO for doctors in three primary ways. First, they offer real patient experiences for other prospective patients to read, and word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of local marketing. Second, and more surprisingly, they generate long-tail keyword traffic — especially when you take the time to respond. The more reviews, the more content that is available for Google to crawl. Finally, regular customer reviews signal the Google algorithm that your business is trustworthy, experienced, and authoritative.

It’s important to ask patients to leave reviews about their experiences, but it’s even more important to take the time to respond to them — ideally within 48 hours or less. Thoughtful responses that include keywords and genuinely helpful information will help your GBP listing and your website.

5. Content

Even in terms of local SEO, content is still king. The content you use on your website, the information in your GBP, and even the articles or blogs you post for backlinks are all vital to the overall success of your marketing campaign. Google prefers dynamic content; in other words, the search engine likes to see new web pages and recent blog posts, and it likes to see them regularly..

Two to four original blog posts every month is ideal. Many medical professionals rely on agencies like GYBO Marketing for their content needs. Blogs are one of the best ways to ensure your website has a phenomenal source of dynamic content that drives local SEO. These posts should be a mix of hot topics and evergreen content, or content that remains relevant through time.

Local SEO for doctors and medical professionals is an investment, and it can take time for your hard work to pay off.

GYBO Marketing has a proven record of accomplishment for helping practices and other healthcare facilities grow more visible in their local areas. To learn more about the services we provide, or to find out how we can help you be seen in your local area, contact us today.