Healthcare SEO Marketing

Drive Consumers to Your Site

Despite all the changes digital marketing has undergone over the years, one specific process remains at the forefront of all good online campaigns: SEO. Organic search leads the pack in terms of traffic sources across all businesses, and health systems are no exception. Whether you do a good job with yours or a bad one, roughly 50% of most online traffic comes from organic searches.

If your business isn’t using SEO, there’s no association between you and the indutry you’re working in. That means all of your traffic will be coming from what we call “brand terms”: people specifically searching for the name of your business. And there’s nothing wrong with people knowing your name well enough to search for it. But is that really the sort of notoriety you want to bank your visibility on?

SEO helps to take your healthcare business beyond simple brand traffic. It puts you in the middle of the flow of traffic, diverting people looking for your services directly into your path. Even someone not specifically looking for you will find your business promoted among your competitors, just by virtue of being in your industry.

Rank for the type of search related to your business, and you’ve effectively increased your brand visibility. More awareness of your business as an option in your field means you become an authority figure for customers to discover. 

Get More From Voice Search

There was a time when voice search seemed like more of a gimmick than anything else. The truth is, however, that it’s become a mainstay of the way people use the Internet in the last few years. With smart devices, home AIs, and virtual assistants available for more reasonable prices and in a wider variety, the whole world has embraced voice technology.

But how do you gear your website to take advantage of this technology? It’s no real surprise: with high-quality SEO. Voice optimization for phones and smart devices requires a well-built website with first-rate SEO practices in place. Content needs to be optimized for voice search as well as for traditional searchability.

There are content elements to consider, like creating blogs and site content that matter to your end-consumer.  But it also means conquering the technical elements, putting your site at the forefront of both voice and traditional searches.

Get On The Same Level As Your Competitors

The digital landscape is always evolving. Just when you think you’ve gotten the hang of it, there’s always some new development to learn and factor in, if you want to keep that competitive edge. This is great news for digital marketers like us, hungry for the next big challenge, and in love with our industry. It’s also dangerous news for medical businesses who let these opportunities pass them by.

There’s an old saying in digital marketing: the best reason to invest SEO is that your competitors already are. SEO not only helps you to stay ahead of your competitors; it’s also the thing that will give them the lead if you never invest in it. Rank your site with keyword-rich optimization and search result features like knowledge panels, and local packages, and you’re using your digital presence to its full extent.

Improve The Rest Of Your Marketing

If you invest in quality search engine optimization, the increase in your visibility has a knock-on effect on the rest of your marketing work. More market relevance means more relevance with your consumers, as well. You end up gathering an audience based on your understanding of the work you’re doing.

SEO shows off your business as a resource. Someone that truly understands the needs of your audience, as well as their problems and the shortcomings of your industry. You get the visibility you need to reach people in new ways, and places you perfectly to answer whatever questions your clients have.

And this kind of “higher level” website design will spread its influence to the rest of your marketing, as well. With insights into which keywords your audience is searching for (and how often those words lead them to your website), you know what people need. This can help you direct new business ventures, develop offline marketing materials, and improve your business by leaps and bounds.

We see it all the time. SEO guarantees your website provides a better user experience, loading quickly, showing up when it’s needed, and outperforming your competitors. It becomes easier for users to navigate on mobile devices, the content becomes more relevant to what they’re searching, and the experience becomes more useful overall.

SEO doesn’t just help you rank higher. At the end of the day, it’s about benefitting everyone who visits your site, generating value and setting you apart as a site worth visiting.

FAQs

In 2019, Google processed nearly 2.3 trillion searches. It’s hard to picture numbers that go into the trillions in literally any field aside from search results. And, with that said, it’s hard to imagine why anybody would willingly forgo a slice of that kind of traffic. It’s everywhere, and if you want to be anywhere, you’ve got to play the game.

Now, digital marketing may be everywhere, but the truth is it’s still a highly technical process. With SEO, PPC, and social media constantly evolving, there’s always something new to learn and always something that still needs to be done if you’re going to stay ahead.

Which is great for digital marketers. But it can be a little intimidating for anybody not in the business. There’s a lot of technical stuff that goes into a successful marketing plan, and a lot of subtle creative stuff, as well. So, it’s our pleasure to bring you these answers to your frequently asked questions.

“Do I actually need SEO?”

To put it simply: yes. You 100% need search engine optimization for your online presence to be effective.

To elaborate: Search engine optimization has become the standard procedure for bringing in visitors to a business website. There was a time when it was optional and just something “the smart guys” did. Now, it’s not a question of being smart. It’s a question of being competitive. Because, without SEO, you’re missing out on the leading marketing innovation of the 21st century.

Never forget: search engines are a tool people use to discover things. This means that not playing by their rules means you’re not getting discovered. And there’s nothing worse for your marketing than making a habit out of not getting discovered.

Not convinced? In 2019, Google accounted for more than 75% of global desktop search traffic. Bing occupied more than 9%, with Yahoo at 2.77%. That’s not just a playground you want to be in. It’s one you need to be in.

“But how does SEO even work?”

When it comes to search engines, there are three primary factors at play:

1. page authority
2. content relevance
3. site crawlability

So we start with authority. This is how search engines measure your website’s value compared to other sites across the Internet. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in – this is measuring how many people use your site and comparing it to every other site in existence. Google and other search engines form an image of your reputation, this way.

Next, Google (and its brothers and sisters in search) will evaluate your relevance. These are algorithms, using any and all data they can find to understand what your site is about and why it matters. Search engines take a look at what industry you’re operating in and compare your site’s content to certain benchmarks for quality and relevance in those fields. Should your site have imagery to help convey your message? Is one blog a week enough, and shouldn’t it be over 1,000 words? Search engines ask questions like these, make a judgment on your site, and assign it a relevancy score.

Lastly, Google will measure your site’s technical layout, onsite resources, and response time to see how long it takes a crawler to work through your site, find what it’s looking for, and index it. This “crawlability” is a measurement of your website’s quality and willingness to work within the confines of Google’s algorithm.

“How Does Backlinking Improve My Authority?”

One of the best tools in the digital marketing toolbelt is the subtle art of backlinking. This is the process of reaching out to other licensed and well-respected websites and brokering deals to have them link back to your website. This works as a sort of endorsement, showing the search engines that your site is “good enough” for someone John Q Public respects to give you their stamp of a approval.

In Google’s eyes, other websites linking back to you is the strongest signal possible that your website is trustworthy. Web Daytona works with this in mind, using affiliate links from authority websites to boost your website’s overall authority. The search engines can see exactly how many backlinks you have, who they’re from, and how long you’ve had them for. Based on this, it decides on how to perceive you.

This is a prime example of the old adage: quality over quantity. The better the quality of the links back to your website, the more effective your ranking will be. It’s important to recognize, there’s no buying your way into this. Cheap freelance platforms might give you affordable backlinks, but theyse are usually not worth it at all. It’s easy for Google to spot a bought backlink, and they are likely to penalize you for trying to game the system. Their policy is designed to tank your rankings if they catch you, and you want to do everything you can to avoid a situation like that. Once your search ranking has hit rock bottom, you’ll need to remove the links to your site, anyway, and request that Google take another look at your website.

At the end of the day, the best way to create value and be rewarded for it is to focus on creating valuable content. Link building works best when you avoid shortcuts.