Why MedShark Digital?

Doctors and practices once struggled deciding “how much content should I put on my website.”  Today, the question is less about how much, and more about what type of content.  Of course, content needs to be SEO-optimized, but even more important, it needs to be substantive, accurate, and appeal to target users.  And since Google specifically holds medical websites to a higher standard (see Google’s Medic Update), Google even recommends having experienced writers with expertise in your field develop your content.

Query-based SEO Content

Effective content addresses popular topics, questions and provides accurate answers about services your practice offers.  This is largely due to the increase of question-based search queries and smartphone voice searches that has expanded search strategies beyond “short-tail” keyword phrases, like “Los Angeles breast surgeon,” to “longer-tail” searches, like “Who’s the best breast surgeon in Los Angeles.”  Your content strategy really needs to address both.

Length and Keywords

Although website needs to include important keywords and phrases for SEO purposes, it shouldn’t be spam and diminish the content’s readability.  As mentioned before, Google has the sophistication to determine the quality of your webpage’s content and may downgrade your content for “keyword stuffing”.  As for length, it should be long enough to effectively address the topic, but not be long-winded, or written simply to add more words to the page. Some topics can be sufficiently covered in 300-500 words, where other topics may need “long-form” content that can be 1,500 to 2,000+ words.

Organization: Use Optimized Headings

In many cases, particularly longer content pages, you can enhance the readability and SEO of your content by visually breaking it out into more digestible portions with the use of headings and subheadings.  By taking the time to organize and plan you content, it can make a huge impact on driving more visitors to your website, engaging them to elevate your credibility, and motivating them to schedule a consultation.

Although Google indicates it uses over 200 different ranking factors, some, like authoritative backlinks, have more weight than other. This is particularly true for medical-related websites after Google’s Medic Update in late 2018, where it put more accountability on websites that affect users money and life (Your Money; Your Life) According to the most recognized SEO experts, backlinks from other websites increases your authority in the eyes of Google and continues to have a big impact on your organic search engine rankings.

But just having a lot of backlinks alone may not always be beneficial. For years, black hat SEO agencies used tactics to artificially generate irrelevant, low quality links to boost SEO results. Google refers to these as Link Schemes. Google eventually cracked down on those practices and websites, and placed more emphasis on backlinks that come from more relevant and trusted websites, particularly as they relate to the target search query.

Earning and acquiring quality backlinks through white-hat techniques is more labor intensive, and what separates MedShark Digital from other medical marketing agencies. In many cases, it is what separates mediocre SEO results from those that are dominant.