When patients are searching for healthcare providers, they typically prefer their providers to be within a close driving distance, located near their home or office. This is why local SEO is vital to attract patients within your vicinity. Having a strong online presence creates a competitive advantage by tailoring your practice specifically to your patients’ unique needs, ensuring that your audience receives the right message at the right time. Utilizing local SEO strategies can help you create patient trust, foster credibility, and develop strong patient relationships.
The foremost strategy used to improve local online visibility is optimizing your practice’s Google Business Profile (GBP). A Google Business Profile helps your practice rank higher for relevant, location-specific searches such as “doctor near me” or “healthcare providers in the area”. It is not enough to just list your practice on your Google Business Profile. To create an optimized, up-to-date, descriptive listing that guides patients to learn about your practice, start off by including basic essential information about your practice. This includes the name of your practice, address, phone number, and website information. However, if your practice’s phone number is listed on your profile, be sure to have someone available to pick up the phone calls. Not responding to these calls can lead to poor customer experiences, harming your practice’s reputation. Next, write a brief description listing the services you offer and upload relevant images such as a logo or photos of your practice.
Patient feedback is also important for your practice’s reputation and credibility. A large majority of patients use online reviews as a tool to evaluate the quality of healthcare providers. Google values reviews in its search engine algorithms because of its ability to advocate for a practice’s authority. Accordingly, you should implement a system for online review management. Always encourage patients to leave reviews, respond to both positive and negative reviews, and use positive patient testimonials in your marketing campaigns to attract new patients.
A well-optimized website can also improve your practice’s online visibility, driving patients to your practice. Ensure that your website is both user-friendly and informative by focusing on user functionality, incorporating local keywords into your content pages, and creating pages for different practice areas and locations. Creating a keyword-relevant landing page communicates to the user how your practice can solve their problem and keeps readers engaged.
Local SEO strategies are as prominent as ever in the new digital age. Leveraging local SEO can help you gain competitive advantage, build your practice’s reputation, and ultimately attract new patients. Work with the team at MedShark Digital to ensure you are employing the most effective digital marketing strategies to grow your business.