Search engine optimization best practices — and keyword optimization, in particular — can be just as important for medical practices and hospitals as it is for a technology firm. To ensure that your practice is making the most of the right keywords, consider the following three strategies.
1. Use Google AdWords
There are plenty of tools available that can help your medical practice or hospital determine the best keywords that will help increase your traffic. One such tool is Google AdWords Keyword Planner. This tool can show you what your practice’s traffic would look like for potential keywords before you begin using them.
2. Don’t generalize, be specific
While you may be able to get the point across face-to-face using generalized words, being behind a computer screen keeps a reader from being able to ask specific questions that can lead to a helpful answer.
For example, let’s say you’re a pediatric surgeon. A potential patient typing in the term “pediatric surgeon” could return thousands of results — and none of them could be you. Or you could be so far down the list that nobody can find you.
However, if you use targeted keywords to ranks for “pediatric surgeon Atlanta Georgia,” you can greatly increase the likelihood of getting on the first page and getting noticed.
You’re likely to still have competition with highly competitive keywords. But if you have a specialty (like neonatal surgery or fetal surgery), use those to help narrow the focus.
3. Know your facts
It’s important to understand your audience well before you start choosing keywords. Start by scanning through these relevant medical SEO statistics:
- 59% of adults use Google to look up information about their health.
- 52% of people use their mobile smartphone to search for health information.
- 53% of people who use the internet to diagnose themselves take the information they learn to their physician. (Interestingly, only 41% of these have their diagnosis confirmed).
- More women look up health information than men.
- Those with higher levels of education are more likely to look up health information online.
- The top five searched medical terms are “herpes,” “diabetes,” “lupus,” “pneumonia,” and “depression.”
- There are so many health-related searches that Google launched Health Cards in 2015 which contain detailed information about various health conditions.
Continue reading: Finding Keywords That Yield Conversions is Central Component to Medical SEO