Surfing the internet, you may see a post or two or more about SEO. It seems to be the most sought-after among businesspeople, webmasters, and even bloggers.
You might even be wondering what the big deal is? What makes SEO so special? Do doctors need SEO? If so, why?
First of all, let’s start at the beginning, and it all starts with technology.
The Era of Technology and the World of Internet
In today’s generation, it is not a secret that people are growing more and more dependent on the internet.
They rely on the internet to answer their questions and solve their problems.
If they are hungry, they search for a restaurant nearby or order their food online. If they want to buy something, they look up for a store near them or purchase what they need online. And you can bet that if they’re going to search for the best doctor near them, they will undoubtedly do so with the help of the internet.
Proof of this that since 2009, 61% of Americans go online in search of health information. The usage of the internet never waned, and it is sure that people who are searching the internet for health information never stopped.
Almost everything is done with the use of internet nowadays. Therefore, isn’t right to be fishing where the fishes are?
Having your business on the internet is not that any different from marketing your practice via newspaper, magazine, television or radio.
The difference with promoting your services on the internet is you play by a different set of rules. You get to compete with more competitive rivals. This is where SEO or Search Engine Optimization for doctors come in handy.
Here are some other reasons why SEO for doctors is essential for them and their practice.
1. Making a Presence
If you aren’t found on the internet, you might as well not exist.
Millions and millions of people rely on internet searches expecting to find what they are looking for.
In fact, approximately 3.58 billion of people all over the world use the internet and people who are using the internet via mobile devices accounts for 52.64%. Furthermore, surveys show that 68% of search inquiries are health-related.
Search queries such as “medical practice + near me”, “medical practice + location” and symptom searches are made. With SEO, you can take advantage of those queries to gain potential patients.
Additionally, word of mouth is growing obsolete as more and more people rely on the written reviews that peers, families, and friends make online.
Therefore, having an online presence will significantly increase your chances of having your practice visible to plenty of potential patients.
2. Cost Effective
Although there are a plenty of advertising media to choose from, how much will it cost you in the end?
These kinds of advertising require you more than just an effective SEO strategy. This may require your time, effort, creativity and budget.
Digital marketing is one of the most cost-effective methods of advertising. Even though there are other strategies for gaining new leads and customers, they can become really expensive to continue.
Additionally, leads generated from those kinds of methods have lower chances of converting.
With SEO, lead generation is focused on people who are searching for health-related queries. This ensures that the people you are offering and advertising your practice to are the people who are looking for similar services on the internet.
Having a great SEO team on your side will improve your practice, increase qualified patients while saving you further costs.
3. Improve Marketing and Traffic
As the use of internet and digital media grow, traditional media such as newspapers and physical magazines dwindle.
Advertising and marketing your practice or services in those media will be a waste of money, time and effort while making your gain fewer patients.
Applying SEO in your practice will improve your website’s ranking which increases your web traffic. As mentioned above, online presence is important.
If your website is ranked high with the help of SEO or is included in the local 3-pack, which showcases three local business near the searcher, this significantly improves your traffic.
Think of it as having a good spot in a busy street, although most will just pass you by, there is a high possibility that most can become your patient.
4. Build Trust and Credibility
You’ve made your website, and you’ve updated it with helpful and useful content such as blog posts and video blogs about your practice.
Making good content will show people that you know what you are doing and you are good at it. When people get to read your work and they are satisfied with what they read, you increase your credibility.
SEO can help you spread and improve the reach of your content by optimizing it for easy social and organic promotion. Valuable and optimized content makes it easier for search engines to crawl and feature in the SERPs or Search Engine Results Page.
Having high ranking content can also boost your website. People find high ranking sites credible and trustworthy since they trust that Google is giving them the best results of their inquiry.
And if you have high ranking pages in your arsenal, that brownie points for you.
Wrapping Up
The internet and technology have become an essential part of person’s life.
Building an online presence isn’t easy, but if you want some reliable and quality results, you have to work hard for it. It takes some time, dedication and budget, yes, but the results will be worth it.
It is essential to bear in mind that if you can’t create an online presence, you won’t get that many patients. The same goes if you don’t make an effort to be part of the online world.
The importance of SEO gives business of any niche significant and plenty of benefits.
Not only does it improve your rankings in the search engine, SEO also improves usability and user experience on your website. An example is optimizing your site for mobile search and its serviceability when in mobile devices.
Therefore, in order to take advantage of the opportunities that the internet can give, investing in SEO is a step towards a profitable and successful business.