It’s competitive in the medical industry. Even doctors, dentists, specialists and allied health professionals need customers. The best way to achieve this is by being front and centre of Google’s page 1. The only way you are going to get there is to have a better SEO strategy than your competitors.
Having said that, it’s not easy to get there especially if you are just starting out with a new website or have been using an SEO agency in the past with lets say less than ethical SEO practices. Google has toughened up it’s ranking criteria so basically you have to be doing it better and doing it for a lengthy period of time to see sustainable results. But before you start thinking that this is an impossible task, let me tell you that it’s very do-able. You can rank your medical practice or clinic but you just have to change your mind set. You now have to think locally.
What is local search for medical centres and medical clinics?
Let’s say you’re a ENT specialist is Surry Hills then you want to rank your website for searches that are conducted locally. There is no point ranking your website for patients in Parramatta when most of your clients are going to come from Surry Hills, Paddington, Darlinghurst or even part of the CBD. Ranking locally with local search is the way to go and is what will start driving new patients to your website.
There are a few benefits of ranking your medical practice locally and these are:
1) it’s a lot easier and quicker to rank you locally as there is less competition. Think about it for a moment. Ranking an ENT specialist for the local inner east area of Surry Hills is so much easier than the whole of Sydney. Whilst many doctors would love to rank all over Sydney (feeling that their patients can come from anywhere) the reality is that Google will really only rank local businesses (whatever they are) for local consumption. Google is very specific and very geo targeted in this regard so it’s a lot easier to comply with what they’re looking for.
2) being on page 1 for your local search means that you are going to get most of the search inquiries as most people will never go past page 1 when they search. Page 1 rankings hold so much credibility that if your up there your going to get call from people that want to use your services. Theory behind this is that if Google places you high on their page, then you must be OK and trustworthy.
3) local search results are what patients are looking for. If they are living in the east they want to see results from local doctors. Seeing results from out of the area where there would be a long commute is not going to make them happy. This is why Google displays clinics and centres locally higher on the list.
Now if you think that just because you’re a local doctor that Google will instantly place you on page 1, you can think again. Unless you’re one of the only doctors in a remote area then your definitely going to rank. But let’s say your in Bondi Junction where there are hundreds of doctors a local SEO campaign will have to be implemented for you to see any results.
4) local search results will provide honest reviews which is great to attract customers. If you’re getting great reviews then Google will display this on the search results – this seems to be a new initiate from Google and it’s working really well.
5) if your ranking on local maps then you will also get directions on how to get to the centre or clinic. There will even be a neat little pin point showing you exactly where it is. Great for standing out as well as helping people located you.
When you look at local search you can start to see all these lovely benefits starting to add up for your business.
If you are in the medical industry and want to get more people through your front door then why not contact us here at SEO Sydney Experts. We will get you where you want to be ranking locally.
