Keys to Good SEO
Having a top ranking website is key to attracting new patients. In fact, 33% of Google users click on the top listening page in the organic search results and 89% of consumers use search engines for purchase decisions.
This is where SEO comes in. Search engine optimization is the process of increasing your practice’s position in organic search results. Basically, SEO helps ensure when potential patients search “ear doctor,” your practice pops up on the first page of results (and if you’re doing it correctly, in the top spot).
Below are our tips for improving your SEO.
Improve Reputation
Google and other search engine rankings rely a lot on your online reputation. This is because they assume (correctly) that users are looking for a business with high rankings. Companies with bad or no reviews typically rank poorly.
Do you have a spot on your website for patients to leave online reviews? Do you have a process in place to help increase feedback from patients? If not, figuring this out is a priority.
Responsive Design
Users are looking at websites on their smartphones at a staggering rate. In order to provide a good user experience, you must have a responsive design. If patients are having a poor experience on your website, they will quickly leave your site. Not only will you lose a potential patient, but search engines track this information. Websites with high bounce rates will lose their ranking.
So if you get a review that your site is hard to use, act immediately. Get as much information about what the user didn’t like so you can correct it.
Create New Content
Have you ever heard the phrase “content is king”? Well this is why: search engines rank websites higher if they think they provide meaningful content that brings value to the users. Updating your website, posting blogs, creating social media posts, releasing videos and producing newsletters are some of the most beneficial types of content for small businesses.
Be Patient
Proper SEO takes time. Unlike other paid campaigns that produce immediate but short-lived results, SEO produces long-term results over an extended period of time. If you make the above changes and don’t see instantaneous results, don’t worry. It takes time for search engines to recognize the improvements and change your ranking.
As you can see, investing time and resources into improving your SEO can have a significant effect on your practice. SEO is like a duck swimming across a pond. Just because you can’t see the pieces working does not mean they are not actively moving under the surface.