What is SEO? Everyone knows now, but how is local SEO suitable for doctors? This article will help you learn how to do local SEO for doctors effectively. But first, understand why a local SEO is required in medical practices. Local SEO helps doctors get several benefits that enhance and improve their reach. The first benefit is it increased market share and website traffic. The second benefit is it decreased reliance on Google and lost a patient to rivals rate. The third benefit is that it contributes to a higher ranking for the treatments and services.
Doctors’ local SEO strategy
1- Create and optimize Google my business profile
Google follows different rules for doctors as they can make over 1 listing with the same name and contact number. But with, one condition is that it should not collapse the opening and closing time of all businesses. For further knowledge, you can read doctor-related policies on Google my business. You should collect more information regarding Google my business policies for doctors. And so, if you don’t know policies properly, you may violate some policies or not be using all features. This may impact your listing and SEO services for doctors negatively.
Doctors are allowed to create more than one listing, which means more business. As you know, people visit doctors’ websites when they are in problem. If they get into trouble with the wrong information on your website, you will receive negative reviews. Therefore, business hours, web page, address, mapping, contact number, photos, etc., need to be accurate and updated.
2- Create and optimize other important profiles
Several other essential platforms are available apart from Google my business, like Practo, Lybrate, and Justdial. At these platforms, your business should be present with a unique identity. You must have up-to-date profiles on these platforms. Besides this, you should optimize your profile and focus on it. There are two main reasons behind this strategy. First is, Google uses information on other sites to confirm your listing’s information. This means, in order to verify your information, Google checks whole data available on other sites. And when you update your business profiles on other sites, it becomes impossible for someone else to manipulate your listing.
Your competitors perhaps want to harm your website through “suggest” and “edit” options. But they cannot do this as your profile is up to date and will be safe on Google my business. Second is, you cannot leave your business vulnerable to Google my business only. For instance, if Google may suspend or ban your listing, you will probably not shut down your business. In addition, you want customers to find you on Google.
For this reason, you have to ensure your business profile is updated on other platforms. Most importantly, it will save your listing on Google my business. And in case your listing is not safe on Google my business, your business should be safe.
3- Create a good website to do local SEO for doctors
Doctors often think, why do they need any website as patients come to them physically. In addition, patients will also not read their websites before knowing them. However, it is true at some points but thinks how patients will learn about you and your work. Apart from this, how will search engines know about your existence? The search engine will only be able to know your existence through your website.
Doctors must have an official website as they fall under the essential category, name YMYL (your money or your life). Individuals, businesses, or websites that fall under the YMYL category follow more strict rules made by Google. Google verifies their information more strictly then allows and promotes them to work on it. This is why you should create and manage a navigate website for your business.
4- Improve EAT to do local SEO for doctors
In SEO services for doctors, EAT stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. As doctors’ websites fall under the YMYL category, they must be accurate. Google judges doctors’ websites based on EAT factors. The main work of EAT is to provide accurate information about websites and ensure it is safe for patients. Expertise ensures if the medical information provided on the web page is accurate or not. Authority ensures if the person providing medical knowledge is authorized or not.
Furthermore, both expertise and authority look similar, but they are not. For instance, you are a kidney doctor and want to upload some useful content on your website based on experience; Google will allow you to do it. But there is a long-term kidney patient that has experience in kidney treatment due to their own experience. And so, the patient who wants to upload content based on their experience and knowledge can also write on Google. In addition, people gain knowledge through their experience.
For instance, long-term diabetic patients learn how to inject themselves. Furthermore, nursing staff gain knowledge from their experience and become experts, but these are not authorities. Understand this, you can only take knowledge from a long-term patient regarding illness but will not take treatment from them. This is precisely where expertise and authority differentiate. So, you will only get authority when you are a doctor. The third term is trustworthiness, which means can the doctor be trusted or not. However, there is still no fixed page available to check these three things for your website.
Moreover, there is no number or algorithm available to check the rate. But you have to share your contact number, other profile links, award recognition, and partner organization links on your website. In addition, it will also help Google identify the actual doctor.
5- Create a content plan
Once you establish a doctor’s website, create a content plan and publish it on your website. Here the content does not point out blogs or articles. You should never post blogs for medical content; instead, make proper pages and post content. Add author profile on every content page and link doctor profile so that Google understands a doctor handles this website. It will reflect that the doctor is expertise and authorized. In addition, update your page content regularly to offer accuracy to your visitors. Because if your profile is not updated, Google will not trust it, whether your information is accurate.
6- Create a backlink campaign
Doctors are specialized professionals whose paper publishes in newspapers and get the reward. So, it is not difficult to create backlink campaigns for these professionals. You can get better backlink sources by creating expert content and using doctor’s publicity and name. Do not focus on normal social bookmarking and links on random websites because everyone is doing the same. Use doctor’s awards, recognition, and news to gain high-quality backlinks. Moreover, SEO services for doctors is very effective to reach a large audience.
Summary
Now you understand how to do Local SEO for Doctors, and you can gain traffic to your website. However, you may choose a digital marketing agency to put your business ahead of your competitors. It is obvious that many competitors surround you in the market. But you have to create your own identity. In such a case, you need expert assistance to adapt to every situation you face. To survive in the competitive market segment, you will require a Digital Marketing Agency.
When you do Local SEO for Doctors, you can attain high success and become sustainable in the market. Moreover, it will also uplift the growth of your hospital. If you want to collect extra information about how to do Local SEO for Doctors, you can contact the experts of the SkySeoTech team.
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