According to Pew Research around 72% of Internet users searched for medical service providers in the last 12 months. The challenge is that most medical practices have realized that Internet marketing is an absolute necessity in the current competitive environment. This means that competitors will be on the Internet – what will allow a medical practice to take up a valued space on the first page of the search engine results is finding a professional and experienced healthcare SEO (search engine optimization) agency.
It is always worth remembering that the old saying ‘the best place to hide a dead body is on page two of the Google search results – no one ever looks there. If your medical practice is not on that first results page – your practice is at a serious competitive disadvantage.
So what are the other advantages to finding the correct healthcare SEO agency?
Aside from promoting atop-of-mind awareness through positioning on the first page of the search engine results a good SEO company will allow a practice to attract potential patients who are in search of specialized treatment. This is accomplished through the placement of key phrases in the structure of the website. However, in order to identify those phrases, a significant amount of analysis must take place. A healthcare SEO agency will have skilled and professional experts who will be able to use a variety of measurement tools to ensure that the SEO content of the website delivers value through feeding the sales funnel.
A skilled healthcare SEO agency will also be able to provide quality content for both social media and website. The key here is the word ‘quality’. The Google algorithms are continually scanning for original and quality content – and that sort of content is what elevates the ranking of the company. Not only does it ensure a favorable ranking – but content that shows insight and expertise is also extremely sharable on social media – expanding the marketing reach of messaging. It is also worth noting that quality content adds to the credibility of the organization – it becomes a trusted source of information, and that trust then extends to the services that are offered by the practice.
An SEO partner who understands your business – and the importance of both patient relations and attracting new patients to the practice is today an essential part of the medical marketing mix. Those medical practices that ignore the need for SEO professionals will almost always be sacrificing market share. Retaining the services of skilled SEO consultants should be viewed as an investment, rather than a simple expense.
