With millions of searches per year relating to cosmetic surgery, it is crucial that your target audience finds you. But with nearly 8,000 board-certified plastic surgeons and countless other non-plastic surgeon providers across the US, competition is high, making it difficult for potential patients to see your practice listing first.
However, you can use more advanced strategies and techniques in SEO to benefit your practice’s organic visibility, attract higher-quality leads, and turn them into new patients.
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” SEO marketing is the process of getting your website to appear organically in a wide variety of targeted search results. When people search topics, procedures, or try to find a provider, SEO helps make your website visible to your important target audience: consumers that demonstrate an interest in the services you provide.
Keep in mind, regardless of a consumer’s demographic profile (age, gender, lifestyle, interest, income, location, etc.), they are not a legitimate prospect if they do not have an interest or desire in what you offer. SEO helps you reach interested consumers at the time they are demonstrating their interest. For years, Google referred to this timing as “Zero Moment of Truth,”
The demand for plastic surgery is high, and you are missing out on potential customers if you do not secure high search results for trusted organic search listings. Google Search Trends is a tool that shows you how much a keyword or phrase has been searched. So, what does it tell us about plastic surgery?
Phrases such as “plastic surgeon near me” have steadily risen year after year. This means that every year you choose not to utilize SEO tactics, more and more potential customers will see your competition who use SEO first. The need to implement SEO strategies has only become more important.
For many years, if you were not one of the handful of practices that anchored your listing early in the SEO game, moving up to 1st page Google results seemed impossible.
However, changes in Google’s ranking factors today put less and less weight on the age of your website and put more and more weight on the authority and quality of your content, as well as the engagement of your users.
Even in highly competitive metropolitan markets, younger, less established plastic surgeons have websites that are now able to secure more 1st page search results.
In addition, cosmetic consumers today conduct a much wider variety of search strategies to research your services and choose a provider. No longer is SEO limited to a small handful of “vanity search phrases” (ex. “plastic surgery + city).
In addition to changes in its organic rank factors, Google and consumers have an increasing interest in location-focused local map listings. Not only are 3-pack listings positioned high on the page, but the additional information and eye-catching visuals can also capture as much as 60% of all clicks that happen on a given search result.
Keep in mind that these listings, although associated with your website, are driven primarily by your Google Business profile and actual location relative to where a user is conducting a search.
According to SocialMediaToday:
Bottom line, you have growing opportunities to get local consumers who are interested in plastic surgery services and researching providers to find your practice.
If you are unsure how to effectively utilize SEO, reach out to our team for seasoned advice. At MedShark Digital, we use the most modern and efficient SEO tactics to maximize organic and paid traffic. Give us a call today to learn more about the benefits of SEO for your plastic surgery practice.