I’m a Doctor, Do I Need an SEO Strategy?

The world has gone digital, and when looking for services, Google has become the be-all and end-all for information and guidance. That is why, from large corporations to SMEs and individual service providers, an SEO strategy is essential for your medical services to be found online.

With this in mind, White Coat Web is offering a one-of-a-kind handbook on SEO for doctors looking to boost their business through digital media. Our specialists, led by Graham Dunlap, have a proven track record of successful campaigns (check out our work with Northeastern Plastic Surgery, Women’s Health Institute, and Space City Pain Specialists), and in this article, they are sharing their know-how to help you thrive in the digital world.

Your SEO for Doctors Handbook

At White Coat Web, we have put together a guide for you to learn the ins and outs of SEO and what it can do for you as you grow your practice.

This handbook offers insight into:

1. What SEO for doctors means
2. The power of keywords
3. Google ranking factors and leveraging SEO for doctors
4. Developing a digital marketing strategy for doctors
5. Beyond translation: Bilingual SEO for doctors

What Is SEO and How Important Is SEO for Doctors?

Let’s start with the basics. SEO means Search Engine Optimization, and it refers to the process of driving more traffic to your website via a search engine (in this handbook, we will focus on Google). The wonder of SEO is that it focuses on organic and unpaid traffic, which means people being driven to your page already have the intention to find your services, so all you need to do is nudge them in the right direction.

How does this affect your medical practice? Implementing the right SEO strategy can help people find you instantly—and, most importantly, trust you instantly (you will learn about how this works further on).

👉 Read more: 6 Ways to Optimize Your Medical Practice Growth

The Power of Keywords

Ever wondered how search rankings work and how those that are featured on top of the organic results get there? That is the power of keywords. They are words and phrases that customers type into search engines to retrieve information. Optimizing content means that we are tailoring the content of our websites around those terms that indicate an intention from users.

Let’s take a look at an example of bilingual SEO positioning:

A child with Spanish-speaking parents in The Heights, Houston, has the stomach flu and is crying out in pain. The mother doesn’t quite know where to start, so she opens her laptop and types “vómitos niños en The Heights” (“kid vomit in the heights”). While saying these words out loud to a normal person would sound unnatural, Google understands that this person is looking for a doctor to help with her kid (as mentioned above, a keyword can contain more than one word) and will produce results based on what it has read from the doctors that have created content around the topic.

In the GIF above, you can see that the results that Google provides include the following structure:

1. Sponsored ads (these are paid advertising and thus are not organic).
2. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
3. SEO-driven organic results.

The first SEO-driven organic result points to Homero Garza’s website, one of White Coat Web’s success stories! This is because Google has read, analyzed, and understood that the woman might be looking for a pediatrician to help her and pointed her in the direction of one who can do just that, based on the contents of their website.

Huh? Google understands? Can Google read? Indeed, search engines have automated bots that read your content and scan it for relevant information. They understand what your website is about, and their systems rank websites based on how relevant the information is.

Now, how does it come to that decision? It all leads back to keywords. You are going to discover what makes users tick and apply it when building your site. Those same keywords are the ones you are going to include in your website so that Google can play matchmaker between you and your patients.

Therefore, if we circle back to our example, the more you search for “vomit in kids in The Heights,” the more Google’s non-sponsored results will take you to websites of doctors that have written about this topic.

This leads us to the next step in the process, understanding what factors aid your ranking.

👉 Read more: Retention, Retention, Retention! How to Retain More Patients

Google Ranking Factors and Leveraging SEO for Doctors

Google’s automatic ranking systems are designed to sort through the myriad of information in its search index (we’ll circle back to this word!) to produce results that are the most relevant and useful for users. Search algorithms find signals that tell them how relevant your content is. This is where optimization comes in and why SEO for doctors matters.

Here’s an overview of Google’s 5 ranking factors:

Meaning

In order to rank your content so that your customers find you quickly, Google needs to establish the intent behind the queries. To do this, they have a system that understands the connection between the words typed into their search bar and those on your website.

Relevance

After that, Google assesses whether your content is aligned with the information users are looking for. This happens when your content contains the same keywords as the search query. When they appear in the headings or body of the text on your website, the information becomes more relevant. Also, the algorithms evaluate if the page has other relevant content, such as pictures, videos, or lists of the keyword.

Quality

The prioritizing system detects content that shows expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. A good way to ensure you are providing quality content is to provide users with links to official websites, add reviews to your site, and list your site on reputable directories where your contact information is displayed. To leverage SEO for doctors, these could be Avvo or your Google Business profile, among others. As you build content over time, others will link back to it, and your reputation will grow in the eyes of Google. You should be mindful that this takes a bit of time, so patience is key.

Usability

This refers to the experience users have when on your site. Is your website mobile-friendly? Does it load quickly? Is it safe to browse? Is the layout harmonic? Is your interface user-friendly? These questions can work as a checklist before going live.

Context

Search engines like Google use your location to match it to users’ search queries to deliver results that are aligned with their search history and settings, so it is very important that this information is included in your content.

👉 Read more: SEO for Doctors: Help Patients Find You Online

Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy for Medical Practices

Basics: checked ✅. Now let’s see how to implement these concepts and build your strategy to reach your audience by leveraging what we have learned about the benefits of SEO for doctors.

Walk in Your Patients’ Shoes

As a doctor, you inherently know what your patients are looking for, but may have never had to actually think about it—now is the time to actively retrieve this information. Remember keywords and meaning? Exactly! Guided by your knowledge of the industry and your clients, you will research frequent searches by your target audience and use the results to structure the content of your website.

In the process, you will identify intent—what the user wants out of their query—, which can be divided into three categories:

1. Transactional Queries. These imply that the user is looking to buy products. For example, “Best non-invasive procedures” indicates someone is looking to invest in a recommended procedure.
2. Information Queries. In the same vein, if a user types “non-invasive procedures,” they just might be looking for information on the topic.
3. Branded Queries. These include the brand name as part of the keyword and usually don’t need much optimization.

In implementing SEO as a doctor, some of the questions you might ask yourself to follow intent are the following:

• What keywords might users search for your services?
• What keywords might users search to learn about a medical matter?
• What keywords might users search to contact a doctor?

🥼 Pro tip: Once you have started building content, keyword placement is essential. It should feature in the title, the headings, the body, the anchor text of links included, and the image alt. Text.

Writing and Publishing Your Content

💡It should go without saying, but besides following the guidelines mentioned, your content must be of amazing quality. So let’s create phenomenal medical content that conveys your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness:

• Expertise. Include your medical insights to show Google that you are on the same wavelength as your prospective patients.
• Authority. You will convey authority in your field by showing how others trust you as they link back to your content. Keep in mind that this does not happen overnight, so patience is key.
• Trustworthiness. Patients will trust you because you will have a secure domain and offer a good user experience. Remember to take into account the mobile-friendliness of your design!

When creating your content, keep these aspects in mind:

1. To support the information you are sharing, it is a good idea to link it to authoritative sites.
2. Use the selected keywords in the title, the meta description, and headings throughout the article.
3. Use call-to-action buttons and text to direct your audience to you.
4. To enhance user experience, include pictures and remember to create alternative text so that Google can identify them. The technical aspect of how to do this will vary from one website builder to another.

Finally, always remember to index the pages you want to be ranked so that search engines can have them on their radars.

Beyond Translation: Bilingual SEO for Doctors

You cater to a bilingual community and need to reach your Spanish-speaking audience. Now, you might think that you need to translate your content—and you would be wrong. A language is the reflection of an idiosyncrasy and a way of communicating beyond what the dictionary says the translation of a word is.

👉 Enter: transcreation and localization.

Your content needs to be adapted to your target audience’s needs, which means:

• Transcreating parts of your text to make it more persuasive, interesting, and appealing to your Spanish-speaking audience. This means combining translation and creative copywriting to better suit the needs of the target audience.
• Transcreating calls to action.
• Conducting keyword research in Spanish (rather than translating the keyword)
• Choosing images that better reflect the Spanish-speaking community
• Replacing links with ones referring to sites in Spanish

👉 Read more: 3 Reasons Why Bilingual Marketing for Doctors Is the Way to Go

SEO for Doctors at White Coat Web

Marketing and SEO for doctors is an area of expertise for White Coat Web. We work alongside our clients to showcase their strengths and uniqueness and position them in the market. We understand that the right marketing strategy behind the most successful physicians propels their business.

We specialize in finding keywords that unlock your business’s success and structure amazing content. SEO is the backbone of what we do, so we design tailor-made SEO strategies for your practice. These strategies are accompanied by backend support, our IT experts are at your disposal. What’s more, our team of world-class, bilingual writers helps you produce content that reflects and promotes your mission.

With our extensive background in medical marketing, we are your go-to partner and look forward to helping you grow your practice.