Second-Rate Content Does Your SEO No Favors
Your domain is a thing of beauty—it’s been around for years, it’s keyword driven (perhaps even paired with a location), and it’s publicly registered.
You’ve got a killer website design—it’s mobile-friendly, the color-scheme pops, and the imagery is reflective of your client-base and office environment.
Your on-page and off-page SEO is spot on—your page titles are unique and concise, your backlink portfolio is extensive, and there’s no sign of keyword stuffing throughout your site.
Your website content is fine—you have original content on your procedural pages, you have basic information about each of your available treatments, and you blog on a regular basis.
In theory, you have all the makings of a successful search engine optimization strategy for your medical or dental practice. So why isn’t your website at the top of Google’s listings (or at least showing steady progress towards the summit)? Here’s a hint: you may want to take a closer look at your content.
In this day and age of Internet marketing, simply having “some” content on your website isn’t going to cut it (yes, even if it’s completely original and hits all the key terms). What Google wants now is content that truly benefits the reader; not content that attracts a viewer’s attention via keywords but merely scratches the surface in depth and value.
Put yourself in a patient’s shoes:
Let’s say you blew out your knee while making a sharp cut on the tennis court. The audible pop accompanied by searing pain that has yet to subside is pretty solid evidence you’ll need more than just ice and rest. So what do you do? You get online and start searching orthopaedic websites for what type of injury your symptoms indicate, as well as what your potential treatment options are.
If you visit a site that lists a couple of common knee issues, vaguely hints at some treatment possibilities, and then urges you to schedule a consultation to discuss your options in person, how likely are you to immediately stop your research and call to set up an appointment? Probably not very likely.
Chances are you’d return to your Google results to find a different website that proves to be a bit more educational; one that offers information on symptoms, treatment methods, downtime/recovery, and numerous other details related to various knee ailments. You know…a site that’s actually beneficial to you—the reader—who is seeking to become more informed before making a major decision about where to go for care.
Google has caught on to this trend of ditching “click-bait, shallow content” websites for sites that are packed with helpful information. With user experience in mind, the search engine giant is more focused than ever on what value your content provides to visitors; in other words, how well does your content serve the intent of the audience you’re aiming to attract?
Based on this information, the importance of creating robust, content-rich web pages is at an all-time high (and continuing to climb). Now, we’re not talking about filling your procedural pages with text just to drive up word-count—we’re talking about getting inside the mind of your prospective patients and providing them with information that will help answer their questions and aid their research process.
A great way to do this is to ensure your procedural pages are chock-full of information regarding benefits, candidacy, technique variations, pre-operative considerations, and/or any other applicable details regarding the services you offer. To go above and beyond (and really help blow away the competition), throw in some FAQs you hear from patients. Doing so can further expand your pages while capturing the eye of viewers whose inquiries about a particular treatment are a bit more specific.
Ultimately, the more comprehensive and helpful your website content is, the better opportunity you create for your practice to be successful both online and in real life. Remember: Google rewards sites that it deems valuable to users, and users who view you as an expert on whatever it is they seek are far more likely to convert into patients.
Need Content Help?
Making sure your content is continually up to par is tough when you have a practice to run, so let Rosemont Media help. Along with a full range of SEO services for medical and dental professionals, our Internet marketing experts can develop and implement a customized content marketing package for your practice that allows you to focus on providing an optimal level of care while giving you the peace of mind that your website is also performing at the top of its game. To get in touch with a member of our team, please don’t hesitate to contact Rosemont Media online or by phone today.
Editor’s note: The original version of this post was published on January 31, 2017.