How to optimize search engines for medical services?

Simply put, the search engine optimization of medical websites is about improving the ranking of those websites that provide medical services to get more visitors and patients looking for those services. Statistics indicate that 73% of patients search for medical services through search engines, while about 89% of users go to search engines to find answers to their medical inquiries.

When it comes to medical services, most users and patients do not reach them through advertisements or social networks but various search engines. So, if you have a medical site, you will undoubtedly get many visitors by optimizing search engines and making your site appear higher on the first page of search results.

How to improve your medical site ranking?

There is always a reason why some sites appear in advanced results in Google search results pages, and Google ranks sites based on some algorithms specifically designed to provide the user with the best results and the most appropriate answers to their queries. There are about 200 factors that determine the ranking in search engines, the most important of which are the following:

Site speed

Site speed is one of the most important factors that Google’s algorithms rely on to rank search results pages. As a result, site speed has been adopted as a primary factor in Google search engine rankings as of 2010. In 2018, the importance of site speed increased after Google’s “load speed update.”

Site speed is not entirely dependent on the site’s load time but varies based on the site’s server, the size of the page’s files, and the quality of the images on the page. For example, a page can take 10 seconds to fully load, which is a very long time, isn’t it?

Not quite, the page can start loading some data and images within the first second, which means that the user will start responding to the page from the first second, and here it can be considered a high speed of the site. The speed of the site is not only related to the loading time, as the speed of the site can indirectly affect the ranking of the site by increasing the bounce rate or decreasing the Dwell time.

The site is compatible with smart devices.

According to Google, in 2016, the number of searches using smart devices increased 27.8 billion times more than the number of searches using PCs. In addition, statistics indicate that 58% of all searches on Google are done by smart devices, which is increasing yearly.

Initially, Google released an update for responsive sites with smart devices and then imposed restrictions or penalties on sites that are not compatible with smart devices. Then it released an update that did all searches based on compatibility with smart devices first, known as the Mobile-First Index.

You can ideally consider your site compatible with smart devices if the following conditions are met:

All pages, including data, images, or videos, are uploaded using any type of device
Your location does not hide any data in the smart device version
Loads at high speed as a smart device user would expect
Your site’s user experience aligns with users of all devices

Publish high-quality medical content

Not only does your site need to be fast and compatible with smart devices, but it also needs high-quality medical content that helps you build a strong relationship between your site and visitors. And, of course, don’t forget to optimize the search engines for the content you publish. But how can you consider your content to be high-quality content?

Well, high-quality content is the one that adds authenticity to your visitors, helps answer your target audience’s queries, and fulfills their needs. Here are some tips for keeping your content on your site to optimal quality:

Create valuable content for the user first, not to rank in search engine results pages.
Do not deceive users by providing false, exaggerated, or incomplete information.
Ask yourself, is this content useful to visitors? Would you have posted the same content if the search engines weren’t there?
Post exclusive content that is not duplicated or copied from other websites.

Creating high-quality medical content that combines accuracy, professionalism, and reliability requires a professional content writer who studies the medical field and has good experience with medical content. He is the one who you can hire easily through an independent website

Click here for more information

Choose keywords carefully

Choosing those keywords depends on your study of the target user and knowledge of the search words and queries he is looking for in different search engines.

Of course, your goal in optimizing search engines is to get more visits from search engines or what is known as organic traffic, and keywords help you determine the quality of these visits. For example, medical websites are currently seeking access to the first three search results on search results pages for “coronavirus serum.”

Using medical photos and videos

Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular daily, and as a result, web pages with videos attract 157% more visitors. The higher the visibility of the same video on the first page of search results.

The images and videos you use on your site should be optimized for search engines to help you rank in the first results of search results pages. Statistics show that 39% of users won’t respond to your site if you don’t upload photos and videos quickly.

Pay attention to external SEO

External SEO is everything you do “outside your site” that impacts your site’s ranking in search results pages. External SEO includes building backlinks and improving both the Domain Authority and Page Authority for your site.

A study from Backlink revealed a direct link between building backlinks and ranking sites in search results pages, with search results #1 tending to have 3.8 times more backlinks than results #2 to #10.

Aside from backlinks, there are many external SEO strategies, perhaps the most important of which are Guest Posts, that you can harness to boost your site’s SEO, as well as social media marketing and paid marketing methods.

Local SEO

Local SEO is the use of search engine optimization techniques and strategies to reach local users and promote your site or brand locally. You can improve your local SEO by finding the keywords that a local user is searching for and optimizing your business page on Google My Business.

77% of smart device users use search engines to find local medical services, while 46% of all Google users search for local services and stores. Local SEO has some factors that affect your ranking on search results pages, including:

The geographical location from which the user is searching
Insert NAP Citation contact information
Create a Google My Business page
Number of times check-ins are present at the specified location
Number of times posted on social networks
Evaluate the service on Google Maps

Create a Google My Business page

Considering that you are the owner of a medical website design or provide medical services, of course, you should pay attention to the Google My Business page.

According to the MOZ survey in 2018, presence on Google my business is the most influential factor for local SEO. You can list your service in Google My Business for free; all you need is a Google account. Google allows you to enter the following information to serve you on your Google My Business page:

Service name, address, and phone number, or NAP Citation.
Your site link
Working hours and days off
Classify your business.
Your address is on Google Maps.
Your accounts are on different social networks.
30-second photos and videos.
Dedicated link to book an appointment at your clinic or to perform any procedure you want.

Optimizing search engines is your way to getting more visitors and increasing sales of your medical services. Still, you must ensure that getting to the top of the search results pages is a process that requires study, effort, and time and is not the result of a moment or a coincidence. Then, you can delegate the matter to specialists and hire an independent SEO expert, to work on improving your site for search engines.