Not all SEO is created equal. However, the average digital brand can use the cliché approach to SEO. Create powerful content, incorporate relevant keywords, and optimize some imagery – and you’re on your way to ranking highly in search engines.
On the other hand, SEO for plastic surgery practices s entirely different. Google, Bing, and other major search engines use different ranking techniques for medical-related websites. In addition, there are profound limitations on what you can and can’t include in your content, as Google penalizes plastic surgery practices for misinformation, discrepancies, and other hiccups.
It can seem overwhelming if you are new to plastic surgeon SEO at first. Lucky for you, I’ve pieced together tips on how to get started with search engine optimization for your plastic surgery practice.
Why SEO is Crucial for Your Plastic Surgery Practice
Search engine optimization (popularly known as SEO) is a host of tactics, strategies, and best practices to rank websites and content higher on search engines like Google. Therefore, it’s the process wherein you make your plastic surgery website more accessible for Google, Bing, and other major search engines to find and rank.
SEO is essential to boost online visibility, and SEO for plastic surgery practices is no exception. But that is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the benefits of a good SEO strategy for your plastic surgeon practice.
Boost online patient referrals – 75 percent of online users seek Google and other search engines as a springboard for their patient journey. Seven percent of the two trillion-plus queries that Google processes each year are medical-related. If your plastic surgery website is at the top of Google search results for the right keywords, you can bolster your online patient referrals.
Generate more patient appointments – On average, 2.95 percent of web traffic from organic search results in purchasing products or services. With plastic surgery being a hyper-targeted niche, the conversion rate is higher. That means you can expect a bump of over 30 new appointments if you increase your website traffic by 1,000. SEO is one of the best ways to attract more web traffic.
Cost-effective – SEO is a “free to join” program that delivers high returns on the cheap. You’ll only have to budget for content creation, optimization, and ongoing updates. The good thing is that a good SEO agency can help every step of the way at an affordable monthly fee.
Better than paid advertising – SEO will continue generating results for your plastic surgery practice long after you publish your content once it has picked up. Unlike paid advertising, you don’t have to pay for every web visitor you gain.
As said by Digital Authority Partners, SEO helps your plastic surgery practice boost referrals, increase foot traffic, and make it easy for prospective patients to find your website and contact information online.
Top SEO Tips for Plastic Surgery Practice Success Online
– Keyword selection: Think of your patients’ pain points and search habits
Google uses keywords to deliver searches helpful to users. If you’d like Google to find your plastic surgery website online, you’ll have to pick the right keywords. How so? First, you need to consider your prospective patients and their search terms to find plastic surgery practices.
But keyword research can yield many keywords, leaving a burning question: how can you tell good keywords from bad. If you’re a newbie, you can use Google’s Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, and other SEO tools to get some clarity.
Understanding your patients’ search intent is another crucial way to identify the best keywords for your plastic surgery SEO. You’ll need to segment the pain points of your target audience and cross-reference your list of possible keywords with your closest rival’s highest-ranking search terms.
– Make sure your plastic surgery website is fast-loading
The speed at which a website loads is a ranking factor for search engines, and Google has confirmed this. If your practice website loads slowly, it’ll be disfavored in Google rankings. Websites that load quickly will appear higher in search results, reports WSJ.
And that leaves the top search positions open to your rival practices. Thankfully, there are numerous measures you can take to speed up your website loading:
- Enable browser caching for your website
- Cache your website pages
- Minimize redirects
- Reduce image size and optimize them
- Host your website on a performance-centric platform
- Delay loading of JavaScript and CSS files
– Optimize your website for mobile browsing
Mobile-friendliness is another crucial factor for Google when ranking websites. So how does your practice website perform on tablets and mobile devices?
With Google’s mobile-first indexing strategy and more than half of web traffic having a mobile origin, now more than ever is the best time to optimize your plastic surgery website for mobile. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing out on more than half of your prospective patients.
– Keyword-optimize your landing pages
If you’re new to SEO for plastic surgeon websites, you may be wondering if it’s necessary to incorporate keywords into landing pages. And the answer would be a resounding yes.
Include relevant keywords in the URL, headlines, image tags, site menu, meta-tags, and other aspects of your landing pages. They make your landing pages more accessible for Google to find and rank.
– Craft compelling content
As with any niche, you need to provide your readers with informative, relevant, and engaging content. Provide valuable tips and information to set you as an authority in your plastic surgery specialty. Your content should include optimized images and video to make them consumable.
– Garner positive online patient reviews
Google uses the EAT (Experience, Authority & Trust) system, which is more important when ranking medical-related websites. Earning as many positive patient reviews as possible is the easiest route to garnering a high EAT ranking. Create a dedicated page for testimonials and reviews.
Use Facebook, Google, Yelp, and other review aggregating sites to earn more authority.
Conclusion
Staying on top of your plastic surgery SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. Create killer content, optimize for the best keywords, and ensure your website loads fast and is mobile-friendly. Positive patient reviews can also help.
