3 Best Healthcare Local SEO Strategies To Use Now

A local healthcare clinic can't simply rely on word of mouth to promote services and increase foot traffic. Investing time and effort in healthcare local SEO now makes sense, with more people using the web to search for local companies.

Let’s explore the best local search engine optimization (SEO) strategies for healthcare businesses:

1. Claiming and optimizing Google Business Profile (GBP) listing
2. Creating high-quality content
3. Enhancing your business website

Promote your healthcare brand and be on top of search engine results with local SEO. Let’s go!

3 Top Strategies for Healthcare Local SEO

The internet has become an indispensable tool in local searches. About 35% of polled respondents in a recent survey used the web to look for local businesses many times a week. Over a fifth said that they searched for local businesses through the internet daily.

That means local clinics and doctor’s offices should include local SEO in their digital marketing strategies. And whether you want to optimize your website by yourself or hire an SEO expert, these five top techniques will ensure success.

     1. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile Listing

Every time someone searches for your business on Google using your keywords, your Google Business Profile (GBP) shows first. GBP is a listing where your name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation, photos, and reviews appear. You also have a short 750-character long blurb or description that gives your customers an idea about your business.

Claiming your GBP listing is the first step to optimizing your business locally. Once you're verified, claim your business profile and update it right away. Keeping your GBP updated with correct information helps your patients find your local clinic or office in a breeze. Here are a few tips for claiming and optimizing your GBP.

• Create a compelling business description. Make the most out of your 750-character description. Ensure your keywords are part of your description.
• Update your hours of operation, including holiday hours. Your customers should be able to know when to see you and if you have special hours of operation during holidays.
• Add a local phone number. Your patients should be able to contact you using a local number quickly.
• Upload many high-resolution photos. Add updated pictures of your business, including your facilities, services, staff, and treatments.
• Manage reviews. Encourage your patients and clients to leave a review after every interaction, such as a consultation or chat conversation. Respond personally to negative reviews and address any issues at once.

Further, your clinic or office should appear in local business listings. Your presence in various listings helps your customers reach out to you from multiple channels. More importantly, you gain local customers’ trust when they easily find you on directories they use.

     2. Create High-Quality Content

Content marketing is crucial to your local SEO. You must create compelling and updated content to promote your healthcare services. A 2021 survey revealed that 97% of marketers said content marketing is a part of their digital marketing strategies.

Good content creates positive experiences for your audience and invites them to check back in. It reinforces an excellent brand impression for your audience and encourages them to visit your local clinic. Use these tips to create good content.

• Keep your content fresh and innovative. Think of topics that your patients will find interesting and helpful.
• Write for your readers. Find out what your audience is looking for, their health questions, and issues. Aim to provide the best answers to these questions.
• Create readable content. Use appropriate and natural reader language, and choose your words carefully. Also, make your content skimmable with headings and bulleted lists.
• Maintain your brand image and voice. Keep your tone, messaging, and structure consistent in all the content you produce in the various channels you work in.
• Research your clients. This allows you to create content that they will appreciate and share.
• Repurpose your content. Blog posts can become short videos and how-to guides can become infographics. You can ask the help of a healthcare marketing expert to create the best content.

     3. Enhance Your Business Website

Your patients will probably find your website before they go to your clinic or other places. So, try to make web pages that look good and are easy to use for your visitors. Make your healthcare website look, sound, and feel professional. Every page should cater to your customer's needs and show your expertise.

Start your website's update with an SEO audit. An audit is a professional look at how well your site works technically and how well it markets itself. An audit can tell you a lot about how people use your website and how you can get more people to visit it.

A healthcare SEO company can help audit your website. You may start optimizing your website depending on the results. Here are a few tips to improve your website:

• Improve page loading times. Use compressed and optimized images, cache web pages, use browser caching, and minify site codes.
• Make your contact details visible. These should be on every page, at the top or bottom of the page, or in the margins.
• Use consistent colors and designs. This keeps your website simple and your audience focused on your content. Avoid pop-ups, distracting GIFs, and other similar issues.
• Add call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Place the primary CTA under the header, at the left, right, or center of your page. Use secondary CTAs for users who are not ready to convert, such as "See Menu" or "Learn More."
• Include visuals. Users prefer to watch videos rather than read texts. Create emotionally-impacting videos, use high-resolution photos, and make your visuals shareable.
• Use a responsive design. Your website’s display and content must adapt to any screen size.

Partner with a professional to get started with your local healthcare SEO. This expert will perform an SEO audit and optimize your website.

Summing Up

Healthcare local SEO strategies promote your clinic's brand, services, and expertise. Use it to your advantage by claiming and optimizing your GBP listing, using high-quality content, and improving your business website. With a locally optimized website, you can serve more patients and help them make sound choices for their health and wellness.

It’s time to upgrade to an optimized local healthcare site. Contact Digital Authority Partners to find out how.