the healthcare provider's guide to optimizing local search ranking
TRANSCRIPT
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www.patientpop.com
The Healthcare Provider’s Guide to
Optimizing Their Local Search Ranking
| PRACTICE SOLUTION
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When your patients perform a local search for a provider in their community
— as more than 77% of prospective patients will do this year — you want your
practice to be one of the first they see.
It’s common sense, but it’s also been proven: Studies show local and organic
search delivers more ROI than any other marketing channel with the highest
number of clicks and best quality of leads.
The Healthcare Provider’s Guide to Optimizing Their Local Search Ranking
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Check it out:
In this whitepaper, we’ll tell you how Google determines local search rankings and
what you can start doing today to get to the top of the page.
How Google Determines Local Search Rankings
While Google is protective of exactly how they determine local search rankings, they
do release recommendations. Recently they revealed that local search rankings are
based on three factors:
1. Relevance
2. Distance
3. Prominence
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1. Relevance
Google is 100% on the side of the user, which is how they’ve become, and
remain, the leading search engine. Google’s algorithm is intended to find the
best answer for each query.
To optimize your relevance, anticipate the ways that prospective patients look
for a provider like you. Are they searching for a particular service you offer?
Searching for a provider who takes their specific insurance plan? Searching for
a provider affiliated with a particular hospital?
If you put up a site with generic content, you’re missing out on local search
opportunities. (More about practice website must-haves here.)
Your Website and Review Sites Should Feature:
• A list of all providers along with bios that include schools,
professional associations, career highlights.
• If you have one, a list of all members of the advisory board
and their bios.
• Surgery centers or other facilities which your practice
affiliates with.
• Insurance providers you accept.
• All Services: (e.g., Botox injections, gastric bypass surgery,
ViPeel)
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Dr. Amersi’s Services Page
Dr. Amersi gives herself an SEO advantage by listing all her services (this isn’t even
the full list!). If a patient is searching for, say, a local OB-GYN that performs the
MonaLisa Touch procedure, Dr. Amersi ensures they’ll find her.
She goes one step further, as each specific service links to an informational page
for that service: this one for Dyspareunia. This page educates prospective patients,
provides more rich content, and adds extra SEO benefits by utilizing strategic
keywords.
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Adding a Frequently Asked Questions page gives providers an opportunity to
be thought leaders and add SEO weight.
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2. Distance
Google wants to highlight the most relevant businesses that are also closest to the
user’s location. If you want to take advantage of their focus on proximity, ensure
that your practice address is accurate on your site… and everywhere else you’re
mentioned online, including local business directories, business review sites,
and healthcare directories.
Finding each place you’re listed online takes quite a bit of scouring, but if they list
an outdated — or just plain wrong — address, phone number, or hours could affect
how close you appear to the user.
List your practice’s correct business hours, and ensure they’re accurate across
the sites listed above. This is important especially for mobile search, where a user
can filter for businesses close to them which are open at the time of search or at a
particular time.
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Maximize your search rankings by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing
— you’ll show up on Google maps as well as search results.
If you want to see how your practice appears across the web, you can use our free practice
scan tool to find any inconsistencies.
3. Prominence
Google plays its algorithm pretty close to the chest, but this last pillar of local search
factors in how well-known a business is. Prominence takes into account how much
information Google can find about your practice — the more the better. It also takes into
account your organic search rankings. To build prominence, build your presence on the
web.
Ensure you have links back to your site from:
• Articles about your practice.
• If you find a piece written about you and it doesn’t link to your site, contact the
author and ask if they’ll add one.
• Online business directory listings on sites like Google, Better Business Bureau,
yp.com, etc.
• Healthcare sites listings like Healthgrades and Vitals.com.
• Review site listings like Yelp and Angie’s List.
- The quantity and quality of reviews factor into your ranking.
Remember the Basics
The ABCs of SEO still apply. Ensure your content is well-written and includes pertinent
keywords, your page loads quickly, and your site is responsive to different devices. And
always stay up to date on changes and Google recommendations.
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Optimization for local search takes time and effort, but remember that it
provides the highest ROI of any other marketing tactic.
If you don’t have the time or resources to focus on local SEO, PatientPop
provides everything you need to build your practice’s online visibility, your
digital reputation, and your patient base. From launching your new search
engine optimized website to claiming and enhancing 70+ online business and
healthcare directories to integrating seamlessly with your office operations,
we’ve helped thousands of healthcare providers take their practices to the next
level.
See how your practice is performing online today with our free practice scan!
www.patientpop.com
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning all about the basics of Local Search.
As a busy healthcare provider, though, do you wish someone else could just create,
optimize and maintain your digital presence?
If so, check out PatientPop. We’re the first all-in-one practice growth platform
designed for healthcare providers — and, among many other robust features, we’ll
take your SEO to the next level.
How Are Your Local Search Rankings Today?
Diagnose your practice’s online performance today with our free practice scan.
This powerful diagnostic tool scours the internet for your practice’s online visibility,
reputation, and directory profiles to show you how you’re performing and where you
can improve.
If you’re interested in seeing how our platform can transform your marketing and
practice growth, request a demo or contact our sales department.
Contact Us
1-844-487-8399
www.patientpop.com