Local SEO For Clinics: Top 5 Ways To Gain More Views
“46% of all Google searches are seeking local information.”
These days, local SEO is increasingly significant when it comes to the healthcare sector, such as hospitals and clinics. The basic fact is that people must first find you if you want to boost the number of people entering your door. And nowadays, a growing number of people use search engines to find the establishments they frequent. Therefore, local SEO has become essential for increasing your web presence’s visibility in regional and localised organic search engine results.
To put it another way: Local SEO is Google’s attempt to give local businesses preference in search. There are various ways to prioritise.
Google frequently serves a map pack when it detects local intent in a search query (for example, when it notices that the query includes “near me” or when it picks up on a subtle phrasal indication). Google My Business profiles are another crucial local search function. Often displayed on the right side of the screen, these include information about a company’s hours, phone numbers, ratings, addresses, reviews, and more.
Because the strategy is more relevant to your local patient group, optimising your local SEO implies increased website traffic, leads, and conversions. Consider a targeted strategy to help you compete more effectively against larger brands or clinics/hospitals with infinite resources.
But the big question is, how do you do it? Let's take a look at the top five methods clinics can improve their local SEO:
1. Boost Your Google Business Profile
The very first thing is about reverting back to your patients. Always react to customer feedback. This demonstrates civility and helps prospective patients understand that your clinic or hospital is operational.
Add more photographs to your Google Business Profile, such as customer interactions, storefronts, logos, and so on. This lends authority and trustworthiness to your listing, making it easier for users to contact you or book your service.
Make sure to include UTM parameters in any links that originate in GBP (website, booking, etc). If you notice a large number of visitors accessing your website from the listing, you may make more educated marketing judgments (e.g. decide whether to invest in better photos or not).
SERP improvements such as highlighted knowledge graph cards, snippets and Google My Business, have all contributed significantly to this surge. Fill up as much of the SERP as possible by adding site links, having enough material to rank, and being active on social media.
2. Create a local search-friendly website for your clinic or hospital
Improved site visibility in local search is a crucial component of expanding the clinic’s or hospital’s patient base.
To do this, add a more detailed contacts page to the website (noting directions, nearby subway stops, etc.) and integrate a Google map directly into the design. Second, increase your E-A-T score by adding additional material to the website. Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are abbreviated as E-A-T. The idea was popularised following the controversial Medic Update in August 2018 and is based on Google’s Search Quality Rater rules. E-A-T is one criterion that Google considers when assessing a web page’s overall quality.
The other information you need to update on your website is by including a phone number in your Google Business Profile and placing your most important points of contact—your company’s name, address, and phone number—in the page’s footer, you may send more local signals to Google. This should make it clear to your patients that you are a locally focused firm and can answer their search query.
3. Improve the voice search engine
In the future years, voice search will experience enormous growth. So, rather than optimising for how individuals write their queries, local SEO must take into account how people ask inquiries while speaking into gadgets.
Basically, while conducting voice searches as opposed to standard searches, your patients employ more long-tail terms. As a result, you’ll also need to modify your content’s SEO to fit someone else’s more casual speech. For instance, you should consider the usual question openers (who, what, when, where, why and how).
When optimising for voice, it’s also essential to take user intent into account because these searches are typically made when the user needs a particular piece of information.
They anticipate receiving a prompt and helpful response if they ask Alexa to convert teaspoons to cups while they are baking. This data needs to be accessible in case a potential client utilises voice search to inquire about your clinic’s hours.
4. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Perhaps because this is such an important aspect, we advise our medical practitioners to engage in SEO activities on a regular basis.
The shift to mobile is happening quicker than anticipated, according to a 2018 Stone Temple study that compared mobile and desktop patterns from the previous year. Mobile website visits increased from 57 percent in 2016 to 63 percent in 2017, while visits from desktop computers as a whole decreased from 43 percent in 2016 to just 37 percent in 2017.
Numerous studies have shown that in order to compete in local SEO, your website must be optimised for mobile. Make sure your website has the following elements in addition to being mobile-friendly:
- Use readable, larger font sizes
- Make sure your website loads quickly; aim for three seconds maximum.
- For great UX, make sure the UI is clear.
- Just the information you need to convey should be communicated through visuals and copy.
5. Go For Local Keyword Research
In order for the search engines to link relevant inquiries to your listing and perhaps direct patients to it, you must conduct keyword research, which is at the core of local SEO.
Local keywords are distinguished from generic keywords by geographic qualifiers like “Dentist near me” or “Pediatrician Nashville,” which serve as identifiers for them.
To begin with local keyword research, you must first be perceptive and put yourself in your patients’ shoes. Make a list of all the keywords you can think of and ask yourself, “What do people think when they are looking for a doctor?” What search terms might individuals enter to find a doctor?
List a few keywords that are pertinent to your phrases and strike the correct mix between competition and search volume. To find out the terms your rivals are ranking for, employ keyword research tools. These phrases have a history of bringing interested patients to clinics like yours. They can therefore assist you in locating the appropriate level of visibility.
One final additional tip for the day:
Since the pandemic, people have become more interested in learning about a location’s health and safety policies before travelling there.
As a result, Google has included safety and health-related information to GBP listings. Other features, such as whether patients must make an appointment in advance or can walk-in, can be added in addition to the health and safety features like temperature monitoring, mask restrictions, staff safety protocols, etc.
Final Talk
For your business, local SEO can open up new channels of visitors. You may be able to improve bookings and profit by improving your ranking for nearby potential clients.
There are more aspects that influence local ranking and search in addition to these five. Docpromo is available to support you in this. Together, let’s make your patients aware of your online presence.
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