On-site and Off-site Medical SEO: The Major Differences

Your medical website is your online clinic or virtual doctor’s office. It’s where you feature your expert services, accept appointments, and promote your unique medical brand.

But even with the best service and the most engaging content, it is hard to find people to visit your site, let alone walk through your local office doors. You need updated medical SEO strategies to help you optimize your medical website.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the term for strategies aimed at optimizing websites to reach the top ranks in search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO can boost site traffic using the most updated trends to make it easier for your customers to find you online. There are many SEO tactics, and medical SEO refers to strategies that work best for medical-related websites.

Watch this video to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to Medical SEO!

What Are On-site and Off-site SEO?

To learn more about how SEO can help medical websites increase their traffic, you will stumble upon two major types of SEO tactics: on-site and off-site SEO.

On-site SEO refers to the strategies that marketers use to enhance their websites. On-site means optimizing everything that’s part of the website, from its content to its web design. Meanwhile, off-site SEO refers to all the tactics performed off-site such as social media platforms and blog sites.

On-site SEO

On-site SEO strategies are about using codes, text, and images that compose your website. Frequently, marketers improve their on-site SEO first before their off-page SEO. For medical websites, marketers must use on-site strategies to create an updated, high-quality, helpful website that benefits patients, customers, and businesses.

The following are factors that affect the success of on-site SEO:

     1. Title Tags

Your title tags are HTML elements located within your website. Title tags specify the titles of your web pages, which help reach users who want to take advantage of your medical services. Optimized title tags guide users through finding what they are looking for.

Use your keywords to optimize your title tags. You can use different keywords for every campaign or web page. This will help your customers locate what they need within the many pages of your medical website.

     2. Description Tags

The description tags show underneath the title tags on the results pages. A description should be 160 characters or fewer, summarizing your content to help your audience know what you’re offering. Optimize your description tags by adding your keywords and making the descriptions concise, easy to read, and encouraging.

     3. Mobile Website Responsiveness

More and more people rely on their mobile phones to find medical experts in their local area. They also use their phones to access the web for quick answers to health questions and to book various medical services. Creating a website well-optimized for search can help rank your business higher.

A mobile-responsive website displays perfectly from different mobile devices. All the site elements such as the menu, service pages, contact forms, appointment forms, and health tools must be accessible even from a smaller screen.

     4. Website Speed

Website load speed is a crucial algorithm that helps Google rank you on SERPs. Nowadays, people won’t spare even a few seconds to wait for a site to load. Oftentimes, they won’t wait and simply exit a site that’s unresponsive for only a few moments.

You can improve website speed by arranging your site elements. Optimize image sizes, reduce CSS files and JavaScript, and use caching. You can also use a better web host to enhance your speed.

     5. Keyword Meta Tags

The keyword meta tag is a type of meta tag found in the HTML code of your web page. Keyword meta tags are not visible to your audience but can be seen by various search engines.

Meta tags tell Google the topic of your web page. Because of the importance of keyword meta tags, you must choose the highest-value keywords that will best rank you in organic searches.

     6. H1 and H2 and Alt Tags

H1 and H2 are header tags necessary for improving on-page SEO. Adding your minor keywords to your header tags help your site communicate with search engines better.

Meanwhile, alt tags are another HTML attribute used in image tags. Using your keywords in your image tags can help index your site for easy retrieval of your web content.

     7. Anchor Text Links

Adding anchor text links to your site content can also help you rank higher on SERPs. Make your anchor text relevant to your content. Link to high-authority sites to improve your credibility and overall content quality.

     8. Sitemaps

By using sitemaps, you’re inviting search engines to move through your website. Sitemaps also allow your users to find what they are looking for easily.

     9. Website Content

Update your medical website content regularly to improve the effectiveness of your SEO strategy and increase your traffic. Content is not just text; you can optimize your website using medical videos, infographics, and images.

Off-site SEO

Any SEO tactic created outside your website is an off-site SEO strategy. Although off-site tactics are different from on-site strategies, marketers combine these to help enhance their site rankings.

     1. Social Media Platforms

People also use social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to find updated and relevant information. Strengthen your social media presence by creating regular posts, answering questions, and updating your information on your social media channels.

     2. Online Directories and GMB

Adding your business to local and national medical online directories can help you improve your online visibility. Your business information should be correct and updated on all directory channels.

Take advantage of Google My Business (GMB). This is your unique search engine listing that your customers can see when they look for your clinic or office.

GMB is connected to Maps. If you have more than one location, you must create separate GMB profiles for each.

Final Words

Optimizing your on-site and off-site SEO strategies can boost your rankings on search engine results pages. Using these strategies can help you drive more traffic to your site and increase your revenue in the long run.