SEO for Hospitals and Healthcare

Think about the services you provide. Ask other co-workers, management, and other related people to the operation of the hospital for words they would use describe those services. Use this list to begin your research. Using a keyword tool, there are many, research each keyword by typing it in the search box and seeing the analytics for each keyword. The keywords with the highest ranking should be used first and then go down the list. Once you have your keywords ranked it is just a matter of using them.

There are several ways to use your keyword research. One way is to ensure that the headings of all your web pages have one keyword included in them that is relevant to the information included on that page. However, it is important to point out that with keywords the phrase “more is less” should come to mind. In past times using many keywords over and over helped to send your website to a higher ranking. This is no longer the case because search engines have worked to make the emphasis be put on quality content not on how many times you can put a phrase in one small article.

This is great for you because you provide an essential service, search engines will value that, but you have to let them know how valuable your hospital’s website really is. It is more than a listing a contact information. It provides interesting and necessary information to the public.

Right along with using keywords, metadata gives you the opportunity to connect with search engines and speak their language. Metadata is bits of HTML code that tells search engines what each page is about one your website. This helps when search engines crawl over the internet and look at your website. They can read that code and index your website correctly. This is important because the more accurately your website is indexed, the easier it will be for search engines to rank it higher based on value and relevancy. How can it establish relevancy if your website is indexed in a location for which it is not truly relevant?

Many websites have a basic site map, and some don’t have any at all. choosing to go without one can make it harder for your website to be ranked. A site map is just that a map of your website that shows all of the places you can go. However, the more complicated websites, like websites for hospitals will have an extensive site map. So getting an expert to help you create one is a step that would most likely be very beneficial.

Using social media is a perfect way to connect with patients and potential patients on a social level. It can drive organic traffic to your website through the everyday contact with individuals that might now or in the future be in need of medical care. It is important to provide in that social media post something that is relevant and interesting. This will increase the amount of follower you have and therefore increase the amount of the pool of people that could become future patients. Search engines tend to rank websites that get traffic from a variety of different ways higher because they see them as the most valuable to readers.

Make sure that search engines can easily find your address and contact information. This will come in handy when people search for hospitals on their phones. Those people who do probably want a quick return, so they can go immediately. Also using platforms such as Foursquare and Google + Local Page will give potential patients many ways to find you. Though with pages like these, there is a section for review monitoring, so responding when necessary is important.