The Google algorithm that determines where your website is listed in search results is a secret and is forever changing. But from what is known about it, we bring you three top tips for boosting your clinic website’s positioning in the coming year.
We can safely assume that most patients considering an aesthetic treatment or procedure will consult Dr Google to first find out more information and who performs it before seeking an actual consultation.
Although all clinics with a savvy digital marketing strategy will include a budget for paid advertising to attract these potential patients, we shouldn’t forget the power of a ‘page one’ search result, especially when these patients are in the ‘research stage’ of their journey.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) continues to be one of the most powerful tools of modern-day marketing. It refers to boosting the positioning of your website in the results of said search engines – for example, Google or Bing – using certain fundamentals and tweaks in website design and content. The aim? For your website to rank at the top of these listings when people search using relevant keywords.
The rules for SEO are dictated by search engine algorithms – the biggest ones being Google’s – which are constantly changing. So here are our current top three SEO tips:
1. Publish Relevant, Authoritative Content
Quality, authoritative content is the number-one driver for website search engine ranking. There is no substitute for great content and this is especially true when doing SEO marketing. Unique content created specifically for your patients will improve your site’s authority and relevance, which increases its visibility in search engine results, leading to more site traffic. Ensuring your content writer has fine-tuned their web writing skills and presents your website as an authority on the topic it’s presenting is one of the keys to this step.
When planning website content, identify and target specific keywords/keyword phrases for each authoritative content page. Think about how your potential patient might search for that specific page and use tools like Google’s keyword planner to assist you to select them.
Keyword strategies
Target niche patients
As with paid ads, the competition for the most common keywords is fierce, and the effort required to rank highly and maintain that ranking on popular keywords like dermal filler or breast augmentation is huge. In contrast, by identifying the unique treatments and services your clinic offers and generating a list of keywords and key phrases that are most commonly looked for in search engines for these will give a better return on investment. For the same effort, your clinic website will rank highly across a number of niche treatments.
Even though a keyword may not be one of the more commonly searched terms, attracting patients to treatments that offer a high return on investment will keep devices and staff utilised. The lack of page ranking competition could see you attracting new patients from outside your usual geographic catchment.
Prepare popular patient-specific content
Preparing content around the most searched topics will keep your practice looking more relevant to current and prospective patients.
A success factor for any online business strategy is to prepare content that is trending. Choosing the right keywords to use in your blog posts will have patients keen to read your new content because it interests them and in the mid- to long-term will improve open rates on newsletters and views on social media accounts.
2. Update Your Content Regularly
You’ve probably noticed that ‘content’ is a pretty strong focus in this article. Search engines focus on content, too. Regularly updated content is viewed as one of the best indicators of a site’s relevancy, so be sure to keep it fresh. Audit your content on a set schedule (quarterly, for example), creating new pages and making updates to your treatment and about us pages as needed.
Blogging
Writing additional quality content, rich with keyword phrases, on your clinic blog will also boost your search engine rankings. Blog posts can even be shorter updates or focus on a specific aspect about treatments you are targeting. Internal links to related treatment/services pages and blog posts will also help give patients a better picture and additional information about the topic.
3. Make your site link-worthy
Both inbound and outbound links have value for you search engine page ranking.
A webpage or blog post that is authoritative, unbiased, content-rich and helps patients learn more about the treatments your clinic offers are more likely to be shared on social media and to attract links from other websites, which greatly improves your search engine optimisation.
The authority and credibility of each webpage/blog post can be further improved by making links relevant within the text. Instead of having ‘click here’ links, describe the topic of the destination page that the link refers to. ‘Click here’ has no search engine value beyond the attached URL, whereas text like ‘the science behind radio frequency skin tightening’ is rich with keywords and will improve your search engine rankings as well as the ranking of the page you are linking to. By using descriptive links not only does the page ranking improve, but they also add value to your patient’s experience.
Focussing on the quality of your content, periodically reviewing the keyword focus of your site and planning a schedule for regular page updates and blog posts are currently the most effective ways to ensure that your clinic website improves its position in search engine results and maintains a flow of new patients. AMP
