Healthcare Search Engine Marketing: A 2024 Guide

Healthcare search engine marketing is a digital marketing strategy that uses paid search and SEO to boost revenue and authority within the healthcare industry. Get ahead while adhering to search engines’ strict rules with this guide.

The healthcare industry is notoriously challenging when it comes to online marketing, with lots of rules and regulations you need to adhere to.

We spoke with Matt Smith, Associate Director of SEO at HawkSEM, about how to build a solid healthcare search engine marketing strategy.

So put on your stethoscope, prepare your prescriptions, and let’s start our diagnosis.

What is healthcare search engine marketing?

Healthcare search engine marketing (SEM) combines search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns to generate leads, revenue, and credibility for your healthcare business.

For example, the Mayo Clinic has a robust search engine marketing strategy that includes Google Ads:

…and SEO content.

So, how does this combined approach to healthcare search engine marketing help healthcare businesses like the Mayo Clinic?

By using both SEO and PPC, you:

• Increase the odds of your targeted audience accessing your website
• Boost your brand awareness across search engines, social media, and selected websites
• Can gather a wide range of data that can help you with your marketing strategy

Not only this, but SEO and PPC work better together. For example, while SEO is fantastic for driving organic traffic to your website, it can take time to work. With PPC, you can get your website in front of potential patients straight away.

How to win at healthcare SEO

Did you know that one-third of people search the internet for information about medical symptoms before seeing a doctor?

Whether your target audience wants health advice, is searching for a job in the healthcare sector, or is looking for the best healthcare tech, it pays to rank in Google.

Let’s look at how to build a healthcare SEO strategy that drives results.

• Prioritize the right SEO services
• Understand YMYL and E-E-A-T
• Encourage positive online reviews
• Build quality, credible backlinks
• Create a phenomenal user experience

Prioritize the right SEO services

Depending on the type of healthcare business you operate, you’ll want to focus on three key areas of SEO.

• Content marketing
• On-page SEO
• Local SEO

Content marketing

Content marketing boosts brand awareness, allows you to show off your expertise, and helps you stand out from your competitors. Good content marketing can also drive valuable backlinks to your site (more on that later).

Plus, as there is a wide range of content marketing types, including blogs, infographics, videos, ebooks, and white papers, you can choose the one that suits your precise needs.

The American Diabetes Association has a fantastic approach to content marketing. It offers interactive content and quizzes, shares the stories of people living with diabetes, and has a library of videos demonstrating healthy recipes.

The trick to content marketing in a competitive healthcare sector is to narrow your focus and concentrate on what you’re best at.

“For example, if your healthcare company is particularly knowledgeable in infant care, build quality content and backlinks around that area,” says Matt Smith.

“The more topical authority you have in a specific area, the more you’ll be able to rank and build a user base.”

It also pays to see what content your competitors lack: “For example, your nearest competitor might have topical authority on influenza prevention and treatment, but almost nothing on symptoms. If it’s relevant to your business, create content to fill that gap, and you’ll get results.”

On-page SEO

On-page SEO involves optimizing all your website elements. This keeps readers happy when they visit your website and also makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your pages.

It involves:

• Adding relevant internal links to your pages
• Using headings and subheadings to make your pages easier to read
• Uploading images, videos, and other assets
• Creating unique meta descriptions and page titles
• Optimizing your page copy for your chosen keywords. We’ll talk more about the importance of good keyword research later

Local SEO

With local SEO, you optimize your web page and business listing so that when people search for your business, for example, “primary care doctor near me,” you rank as high as possible.

Local SEO isn’t relevant to all healthcare businesses. However, if you have a brick-and-mortar storefront or clinic, it’s a worthwhile investment.

An SEO agency can increase the chances of appearing on the first page of Google, including getting a place in the coveted “snack pack” – the map at the very top of the search results.

We helped Happy Ears Hearing Center with its local search, increasing local conversions by nearly 44%.

Understand YMYL and E-E-A-T

Google considers healthcare a YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topic. This means your healthcare content has a bigger impact on a person’s life than, let’s say, a kids’ ecommerce clothing store.

“Being a part of the YMYL sector means you’re held to higher standards,” says Smith. “You need to give people and the search engines a reason to trust you.”

How does Google determine if your content is credible? Through E-E-A-T.

E-E-A-T stands for “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.” The more E-E-A-T your content demonstrates, the more likely Google is to uprank your site.

“When creating content for your website, it’s best practice to bring in reputable healthcare professionals who can write, review, and audit your content,” says Smith. “This builds credibility and shows visitors they can trust what you say.”

For example, see how Clue certifies the article below:

Source: Clue

The article was written by Kate Wahl, a science writer and researcher. It was then reviewed by Sarah Toler, Clue’s Science Lead, nursing doctorate holder, and certified nurse midwife. This shows vast expertise and expertise around the topic of birth control.

Google’s quality rating guidelines (QRG) mention that content based on experience is also acceptable. If Clue were to interview women about their personal experiences with birth control and post it, that would demonstrate E-E-A-T too.

“If you want to show E-E-A-T, build a content strategy and production system that is well-researched, provides value, and talks about first-hand experience, ” says Smith. “Also regularly review your articles and what you link to. The healthcare sector moves quickly, and your content can quickly become out-of-date.”

Encourage positive online reviews

Good reviews don’t just encourage people to use your healthcare service – they show the search engines that you’re trustworthy and credible, which can lead to an SEO boost.

Encourage happy patients and customers to leave a rating or review, whether on Google, Trustpilot, or dedicated healthcare sites like Healthgrades or WebMD.

If you get a bad review, it’s vital to address and rectify it immediately. Here’s an example from BetterHelp:

Source: Trustpilot

BetterHelp’s representative responded to the bad review the same day they received it. They apologized for the bad experience and committed to finding a solution that worked for the client.

45% of customers say they’re more likely to visit a business that takes the time to respond to negative reviews.

Build quality, credible backlinks

Backlinks are links to your website content found on other professional sites – ideally, on reputable medical websites if we’re talking about healthcare search engine marketing.

Links on other relevant websites act as a vote of confidence in your site, leading to a valuable SEO boost. According to Ahrefs, the more backlinks you receive, the more organic website traffic you get, and the higher you rank.

Low-quality, irrelevant, or non-reputable backlinks can hurt your healthcare business, resulting in lowered rankings and tarnished credibility. This means it’s crucial to plan your backlinking strategy and choose the right sites to appear on.

For example, Harvard Health is a highly reputable medical research site with lots of backlinks of its own. Getting a link to your website from one of its articles is a massive win!

Here are some of our expert tips for backlink-building and off-site SEO:

• Update your profile on search engines and directories: Directories are your friend here, especially if you have a brick-and-mortar medical office. Update your search engine profiles on Google and Yahoo, and reach out to any healthcare directories relevant to your business
• Set aside time for link-building outreach: Focus your pitches on relevant bloggers, healthcare organizations, and professional networks. Research each prospect thoroughly and highlight your reputation, results, and relevance to their publication in your request for a backlink
• Get backlink support: You might use a tool like Semrush to analyze a site’s backlink profile — they have a library of over 43 trillion sites! Or, you could entrust your SEO strategy to a marketing agency, saving you hours of pitching, sourcing, and analyzing potential links

Create a phenomenal user experience

The user experience (or UX) of your healthcare website can have a significant effect on your SEO. The more engaged people are, the more likely search engines are to see your site as high-quality and valuable. Plus, performance metrics like the Core Web Vitals have a direct impact on your search engine rankings.

It’s also important to remember that people with disabilities, or who are searching discreetly using a mobile phone, might be checking out your website. The easier it is to find what they need, the better.

Here are some ways you can improve the user experience you offer:

• Page speed: Long load times interrupt your audience’s browsing sessions and skyrocket your bounce rate. Check out Google’s PageSpeed tools to see where you’re at and speed things up
• Navigation: Your content should be easily skimmable, with headings (H1, H2, H3), summaries, and an intuitive drop-down navigation menu. Header and footer navigations make it easier for visitors to find what they need in a hurry
• Site architecture: Strong site architecture makes your most important web components and content easily accessible to both your audience and Google’s crawlers
• Colors: Your color scheme should feel engaging but not overwhelming. Most importantly, background colors should never compromise your audience’s ease of reading

If you’re a healthcare marketer, look to competitors for UX inspiration. What comes up on the first page of Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages) when you type in a relevant keyword?

Check out their content and brainstorm ways to deliver the same value to your audience in an even more user-friendly way. For example, with more compelling visuals, comprehensive explanations, and interactive web features.

How to get ahead with your healthcare PPC strategy

Healthcare PPC can boost your brand awareness and bring you new customers, but it’s not without its challenges. For example, “treatment” and “cord blood” are two of the twenty most expensive keywords in Google Ads!

Here’s how to lower your cost-per-click (CPC), beat the competition, and stay on top of stringent guidelines.

Check out more of our expert tips about PPC for healthcare providers.

• • Watch out for Google Ads campaign disapprovals
  • Use assets to capture urgent searches
  • Create a robust keyword strategy
  • Understand HIPAA compliance

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Watch out for Google Ads campaign disapprovals

You need to advertise healthcare products and services in a certain way online. This means an increased chance of Google Ads disapproving your ad if it doesn’t meet standards.

Here are a few of the things to look out for:

• • • Restricted terms: Google restricts all prescription drug terms from ad text and landing pages. Even if you manufacture the drug, you’re still limited to where you can advertise
    • Unapproved substances: Marijuana might be legal in certain U.S. states, but it isn’t in Guatemala. If you serve audiences in both countries, you can’t include marijuana in your Guatemala PPC ads. Google’s restrictions for unapproved substances get tricky if you’re dealing with multiple local campaigns with different local regulations
    • Remarketing: Remarketing campaigns for healthcare are prohibited in Google Ads due to privacy concerns

Review Google’s guidelines for healthcare ads and take note of the limitations for speculative therapies, clinical trial recruitment, and certifications.

You might need to get certified with Google before advertising content for medical certification services, or you’ll risk automatic disapproval.

Ad disapprovals can mean wasted time, and even account suspension if you get too many of them. Working with a PPC agency is a good way to avoid costly mistakes and get your campaign up and running faster.

Use assets to capture urgent searches

Assets (formerly known as ad extensions) give your search and display ads extra pieces of useful info for your audience. In a healthcare setting, that extra information goes a long way.

Say you have an audience seeking relief from a medical issue. Your product or service might help them, but they might not have time to sift through your website — even if your UX is on point.

Healthcare audiences often have extra stress and urgency propelling their search, so assets can be super effective. You can use them to share your healthcare practice’s phone number, and address, or direct customers to your most popular pages.

How do you know which problems need quick action? Audience research.

Find out which of your services are most popular. Then, sift through customer feedback to learn any inefficiencies in service delivery. These are great starting points for working out which assets to use.

Create a robust keyword strategy

Keyword research is essential to any PPC strategy. You need to know which keywords your prospective patients are most likely to use and which will lead to an increased chance of conversions.

Your first step is to understand your audience. Imagine what pain points you solve for them and envision what search terms they’re typing into Google.

Your SEO content should capture the attention of new patients and audiences seeking your expert opinion about a medical issue. But your PPC should always capture the portion of your audience that’s closest to conversion.

That way, even if your keywords are expensive, they become worth the cost.

Long-tail keywords will also help you here — they’re more specific and directly address your audience’s unique challenges.

For example, instead of “therapists online,” focus on “online therapists specializing in work-related issues.”

“Remember though that healthcare PPC is less about keeping costs low and more about keeping your return on ad spend (ROAS) high,” says Smith. “As long as your revenue from leads and customers exceeds your ad expenses, it’s a worthwhile investment.”

Understand HIPAA compliance

Earlier we mentioned that healthcare businesses couldn’t use remarketing campaigns in Google Ads. This is because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

“The number one error I see healthcare organizations make in Google Ads is building and executing paid campaigns without a base-level understanding of HIPAA compliance,” says Smith.

“This can lead to potential regulatory issues down the line. At worst, it will get you into legal trouble with retargeting, personalizing ads toward individual patient sectors, or breaking Protected Health Information (PHI) governance.”

Here are some ways you can help your ads stay compliant:

• • • Focus on general health and well-being rather than specific conditions or treatments
    • Use broad geo-targeting to reduce the chances of reaching an identifiable group or specific individual
    • Don’t collect PHI on landing pages linked to your ad campaigns

If you’re still unsure, a PPC marketing agency can ensure your ads stay compliant and that you don’t track the wrong information.

The takeaway

A comprehensive healthcare search engine marketing strategy isn’t just an option. It’s a necessity for any healthcare business that wants to stand out, build credibility, and help people get the right diagnosis.

Need a second opinion when it comes to SEM? We’re here to help. With years of expertise in PPC and SEO, backed with unparalleled data analysis from our proprietary tech, ConversionIQ, we’ll create and implement an SEM strategy that delivers results.

We helped VIOS Fertility with its SEM marketing, helping it maintain and enhance its SEO after acquisition, as well as managing its Google, Bing, and Facebook ads. As a result, VIOS Fertility saw a 128% increase in both new website users and organic website sessions.

Get in touch with us today and get the clicks and conversions you deserve for your healthcare business.

This article has been updated and was originally published in April 2023.