Healthcare SEO: How to Improve Rankings + Costs Involved

Healthcare SEO helps you boost online visibility to build brand awareness and authority while driving organic traffic to your site. Here are our expert tips for optimizing your healthcare website.

Patients expect effortless services from their healthcare providers, and that process starts with finding the right medical professionals online. Healthcare SEO helps medical organizations get in front of new patients by boosting online visibility

We’ve got you covered with a complete guide to healthcare SEO featuring tips and strategies from our own Matt Smith, Associate Director of SEO at HawkSEM, as well as other industry experts with experience in healthcare SEO.

What is healthcare SEO?

Healthcare SEO involves strategies that boost a healthcare provider or business’s web presence. The goal is to create more visibility and achieve higher rankings on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

In other words? Healthcare SEO builds more brand awareness, authority, and organic traffic, all of which lead to greater success.

Examples include helpful blog content, having user-friendly website forms and features, creating reliable and authoritative visual and written content, and multichannel (web and social media pages) content.

It sounds a lot like traditional SEO, but healthcare SEO is unique with these caveats:

• Stricter Google guidelines like Your Money or Your Life (YMYL), which applies to topics that can significantly impact the readers’ health, safety, well-being, or financial stability
• HIPAA compliance and legal issues

Plus, you’re catering to potential patients who might have more urgent intent behind their search terms, which your digital marketing strategy should handle with care. For example, someone who discovers an alarming new medical issue will hurry to Google for answers.

Bottom line, healthcare SEO gets you in front of your audience and maintains your authority. But what does that mean for your business?

Why does SEO matter in healthcare marketing?

Here are just a few of the reasons why medical providers and companies need to focus on healthcare SEO.

Can’t rely just on referrals

Whether you own a medical practice or niche SaaS business, you know that potential patients aren’t relying on referrals as much anymore.

One consumer survey found that patients search for medical services online twice as much as relying on referrals, services they’d only find if a provider has a solid SEO strategy.

Of course, you can reach them quickly with PPC marketing, but building trust and fostering long-term relationships requires a holistic SEO strategy.

Rising customer expectations

Customer expectations continue to increase in healthcare. McKinsey shares that today’s healthcare customer seeks “transparent, predictable, and mobile-friendly experiences”—qualities that many healthcare businesses and providers haven’t caught up with.

A mobile-friendly site is one that’s easily accessible on mobile devices. But mobile-friendliness speaks to a greater user experience that SEO helps you achieve.

Transparency comes with regularly updated, reviewed, and authoritative content on relevant healthcare topics.

Reliable customer experience

And finally, healthcare SEO helps you provide a reliable experience with consistent marketing practices that cater to your audience’s interests and needs based on audience demographics and keyword research.

In turn, healthcare SEO gives you:

• More leads and website traffic
• Improved customer loyalty
• Increased brand awareness and authority

How does SEO further a healthcare company’s mission?

As a healthcare business, your mission and values are central to your reputation and impact. You could have the greatest mission in the world— like to help people manage their chronic illnesses or make access to fertility clinics universal for all—but without healthcare SEO, no one’s going to know about it.

Why? Because your business will be buried on the SERP. You can circumvent this obstacle by rolling out an effective SEO strategy.

At the core of this strategy is the goal to build trust with authoritative content and transparency. When you do this, your mission reaches more people, and you help more people.

What healthcare business doesn’t want that?

How much does SEO for healthcare cost?

The costs of SEO for healthcare range from $3,000 to $10,000 and more per month. Cost varies depending on whether you are managing SEO efforts in-house or hiring an SEO agency to support you.

Whether you hire an agency or manage SEO in-house, some factors that impact cost include:

• Competitiveness of the keywords you target
• Amount of content you need to produce
• Size and experience of your SEO team
• Tools and resources the team uses

The best way to determine the actual costs of working with a healthcare SEO agency is to book a consultation to discuss your company’s specific needs. Sign up for a free consult with the HawkSEM team for more details.

5 healthcare SEO tips from industry experts

We’ve brought together some of the best SEO experts in the healthcare industry to provide tips on how to help your medical website rank on the first page of Google.

1. Use strategic medical keywords
2. Create credible, trustworthy content
3. Make an impact with local SEO
4. Power up your link-building 
5. Provide a stellar user experience (UX)

1. Use strategic medical keywords

Keyword research is a vital part of your healthcare SEO strategy. The goal of keyword research is to discover the keywords and phrases that potential patients use to find companies like yours online.

To get started, brainstorm a list of keywords you think new patients might use to find you. Broad keywords like “dental office” or “dental services” will likely have a lot of competition. Instead, go for long-tail keywords that are more specific to the problems your patients face.

For example, if you’re a dental healthcare provider, you likely offer various services for dental health issues. But to build authority, you could cater to people searching for general information about dental topics and symptoms, like:

• How to get white teeth
• Common cavity causes
• Sore tooth remedies
• Phone consultations

The list can go on and on. Use this strategy as a starting point, but conduct more in-depth dental SEO keyword research using Google’s Keyword Planner. You can use it to determine:

• Keyword difficulty: How difficult it is to rank for each keyword
• Intent: Why the person is searching for that keyword, i.e., transactional or informational
• Keyword volume: How often that keyword is searched for each month
• CPC: Cost-per-click for a keyword

But don’t limit your keyword strategy to Google. If you’re a healthcare provider, your audience might also be on Bing. Search Engine Journal studied healthcare brands’ organic performance on Google versus Bing. The results?

• Lower CPC on Bing 71% of the time
• Higher CTR 41% of the time

Is your head spinning with all these search engines? Let us help with a curated Bing SEO strategy. We’ll align it with your overall search engine marketing strategy in a way that converts your target audience on every engine and platform.

Ok, so you’ve got a solid keyword list — now what?

Adding keywords to on-page SEO

It’s time to use your keywords throughout your website and in your other content, which includes:

• Home page and website content
• Ad copy
• Landing page copy
• Blog content
• Social media content
• Product descriptions
• Case studies

Let’s say you post regularly to your healthcare blog. Use on-page SEO tactics to ensure your keywords rank. Add keywords to:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Headings
• Blog content
• CTAs
• Linked anchor text

The content structure and headings should help readers navigate your content. According to Smith, a lack of headings, images, and links; unclear topic focus; or keyword stuffing are all tell-tale signs of poor on-page SEO.

Use clear, keyword-anchored CTAs to encourage action and promote strong SEO.

Here’s a great example from Cedars-Sinai:

Source: Cedars-Sinai

Can you guess what keyword the medical center is trying to rank for?

If you guessed “Virtual Second Opinion,” you’re right. Notice how it’s in the header and CTA?

These on-page SEO elements work a bit like an outline. But what does healthcare content look like?

2. Create credible, trustworthy content

High-quality content is the engine that keeps your SEO efforts going. Consistently creating relevant content that uses strategic keywords while adding real value for readers helps the search engine algorithms understand what your content is about and serve it to the right audience.

Semrush shares that healthcare content should answer your audience’s questions at every point in the customer journey, whether they’re new leads seeking general info or ready to convert.

“The #1 tactic I recommend to healthcare providers is creating content that answers the most specific, impactful questions people have that are related to their area of expertise,” says Nick Gibson, B2B marketing consultant who’s worked with healthcare companies like Hims & Hers Healthcare.

“For example, one of my clients generates 3-4 appointments per month by explaining the treatment options for a specific surgical complication with a simple 600-word blog post targeted at people within their state. The treatment is a $14k-20k surgicial procedure that this client specializes in.”

Keep your audience top of mind

What kind of content would interest your audience? It ultimately depends on your business. A big hospital like Cedars-Sinai has a broad topic base to cover:

Source: Cedars-Sinai

So many ideas! You’ve got symptom comparisons in the Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate article, a staff showcase, and an in-depth guide on long COVID. Chances are, Cedars-Sinai did keyword research to figure out what symptoms and illnesses their audience was typing into Google search.

Of course, the more niche your healthcare business is, the more specific your content becomes. For example, Dreamed Diabetes creates decision-support tools, aka SaaS virtual advisors for people with Diabetes. Naturally, this brand’s blog content will surround Diabetes topics:

Source: Dreamed Diabetes blog

Are blog posts the only type of content healthcare businesses can create for SEO? While 35% of healthcare businesses named blog posts the most profitable content format in 2021, you can also create lead magnets.

Smith says tried and true tactics include “timely content with unique stats, infographics, and buzz-worthy news.”

It’s worth noting that blog posts were tied with video content, closely followed by success stories.

Other content ideas include:

• Webinars
• Product guides
• Case studies
• Data visualizations
• Ebooks
• White papers
• Podcasts

All of your content should use SEO best practices to shine online. This includes using relevant keywords in your content, using proper heading hierarchy, and creating content based on the audience’s intent.

It’s also important to remember Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Make every piece of content you share helpful, rich, valuable, and chock full of insights from experienced healthcare professionals.

Publish authoritative content

Healthcare content is given extra attention due to its YMYL nature. Since your content could affect someone’s health, Google punishes brands with low rankings if their content isn’t authoritative.

Before you hit publish, ask yourself:

Have healthcare professionals reviewed the content? 

If not, the writer should state that the content is from a personal experience or reference claims with reliable sources.

Source: Flo

Feminine-health SaaS brand, Flo, has a blog library brimming with helpful articles for various feminine health topics. We love the authority on this one — tagged with “fact checked” and “medically reviewed” by an obstetrician and gynecologist. These details make the content trustworthy for both Flo’s target audience and Google’s crawlers.

Smith reminds us that medical reviews aren’t always necessary, though.

“It depends on the level of technical knowledge needed to create the content. A blog on the ‘top 10 workout routines’ requires much less knowledge than, say, ‘how does the circulatory system maintain homeostasis.’”

In Flo’s case, the gynecologist’s oversight was necessary for the specialized knowledge required to write about hormones and childbirth.

If you’re uncertain whether you need a medical review, Smith recommends evaluating competitors to see how they leverage content authors.

Is it the most up-to-date advice and information?

Update articles with the latest medical insights for relevance and accuracy.

Source: Flo

Notice how the article from Flo was updated last year?

“Healthcare sits firmly in the YMYL category on the internet, which means it must be fact-checked and accurate,” says Smith. “If not, the business is opening itself up to potential legal action.”

Is it communicated in an engaging and accessible way? 

Healthcare topics shouldn’t have hard-to-read medical jargon. Instead, distill complex topics and concepts into accessible, engaging language.

Source: Flo

Using the same article from Flo as an example, we notice emotional appeal to the audience’s pain point, short but informative sentences, and bullet points to break up the text. This article demonstrates flawless E-E-A-T for healthcare SEO.

3. Make an impact with local SEO

If you’re a brick-and-mortar healthcare provider, local SEO is a vital box on your healthcare SEO checklist because patients want quick service that’s close to home.

Say you’re a marketer for a heart specialist in Columbus, Ohio. Your boss has specialized medical expertise, which means patients will travel from all over to see them.

But why not attract the ones close to home, too? Those are easy wins, at least for these Columbus-based specialists who prioritized local SEO:

But people don’t need to specify their city to see businesses with local SEO. A Columbus resident can type “heart specialist near me” and still see the results above.

Encourage online reviews

Notice any contenders that really stick out in the example above? How about the third one, McConnell Heart Hospital at Riverside? The 4.8-star rating is assuring, and the reviews seal the deal:

One patient wrote: “They literally saved my life.”

Positive reviews are essential for local SEO. Struggling to get them? Try incentivizing your patients to leave reviews. You might send a personalized, friendly email with a discount card or gift card.

Here’s the thing—people who have bad experiences are quicker to leave reviews, so it’s important to encourage satisfied patients to provide testimonials to mitigate bad ones.

If you get a negative review, don’t panic. Just respond with grace and compassion. Search Engine Land found that most people will forgive a negative review if they see initiative from the business to rectify the issue through a response.

“I recommend a proactive approach to getting patient reviews. By strategically responding to both positive and negative feedback, you can build trust with potential patients and strenghten local search ranking singals,” says Ishfaq Hussain, SEO expert at Silverstone Technologies.

“For instance, a multi-location physical therapy client we partnered with experienced a 25% increase in qualified web traffic and a 17% boost in appointment bookings within just six months of implementing a robust review strategy.”

Update your Google business profile

Your company’s Google business profile is an important part of local SEO strategy. This is the profile that pops up when someone searches for local medical providers on Google.

This profile contains all the information a local patient would need to know about your facility including your address, hours, phone number, a description of your office, and patient reviews.

Keeping this profile up-to-date with the most accurate hours, services, photos, updates, and more is essential to bringing in local traffic from search engines.

For multi-location providers, “ensure each office has its own Google Business listing with unique descriptions,” Gregory Shein, SEO expert and CEO of Nomadic Soft.

“Create localized content for each office on the main company website, and get reviews from patients at each location to boost credibility and search rankings.”

Find local SEO keywords

If you’re a medical provider that wants to bring in new local patients, add localized keywords to your list. Often, this is as easy as adding the city name to your keywords.

For example, let’s say a plastic surgeon was targeting the keyword “rhinoplasty.” Here are some ways to localize this keyword:

“Rhinoplasty Houston”

“Rhinoplasty in Houston, TX”

“Houston rhinoplasty”

Create localized content

Once you have local keywords, you can use them to create localized content. Think beyond blog posts. Many medical marketers use these keywords on service pages or even create separate pages for different local offices using keywords with the city name.

When you type “rhinoplasty Houston” into Google, Dr. Kristy Hamilton’s service page for rhinoplasty appears at the top of the results page.

This website does an excellent job of using local keywords like “plastic surgeon in Houston” and “board-certified plastic surgeon Houston” to bring in local clients.

Update NAP across listings

Keeping your NAP (name, address, and phone number) up to date across online directories and other local listings is an important part of local search engine optimization.

Make sure that all your contact and office information—including your email address, hours, and description—is updated regularly. Keep a list of all the directories and profiles you have online, and be sure to update them whenever something changes.

4. Power up your link-building

Any publicity is good publicity, right? Not in the healthcare space, where bad press can be disastrous.

But if other authority figures in your vertical quote you and say lovely things about your business? That’s the chef’s kiss for healthcare SEO.

Since your business affects people’s well-being, it’s crucial to build trust. And the best way to gain trust is through link-building.

Link building happens when authority figures add backlinks and citations to your site from their website or blog. This shows both the search engines and readers that you are an authority on the topic that is trusted to provide relevant, valuable, and truthful information.

“You should identify particular pages and content you want to rank based on business goals in the healthcare space,” says Smith. “From there, determine the best way to acquire those links.”

Check out Dreamed Diabetes’ news and media page:

Source: Dreamed Diabetes

Reuters, Yahoo! Finance, and the Jerusalem Post are all high-ticket publications that infuse quality and authority into the brand’s online presence.

It’s possible that these news sources wrote about Dreamed Diabetes through their own research in the niche. However, link building also encompasses relationship building with aligned publications.

Smith says to conduct PR outreach, send pitches to your most relevant news sources, and propose a guest post.

External links are great for brand awareness and authority, but Google’s crawlers crave even more links for ample rankings.

Building local links

If your office is serving local clients, don’t overestimate the power of building high-quality backlinks from local business and community websites.

For example, entrepreneur Udemezue John worked with an orthodontist to help build local backlinks:

“We contacted local parenting blogs and activity centers, offering informative guest posts on children’s dental hygiene. The backlinks boosted their local authority and within a few months, they saw a significant increase in organic traffic from parents searching for ‘pediatric dentists near me.’”

Don’t forget about internal links

Internal links create a network on your website, with the goal of keeping people circulating through that network. In other words, placing relevant links to other pages of your website encourages more engagement, keeping them on your site longer.

For example, you might link to your services page from a blog post or link to your About page from your home page. These links help your audience — and search engine crawlers — navigate your website by better understanding the connection between pages.

The easier it is for a search engine to crawl your site, the more likely your site is to score high rankings.

Here are some internal linking best practices:

• Include links to older blog posts in newer blog posts.
• Edit older blog posts to add links to new relevant blog posts.
• Use keywords in anchor text (the copy that you add the link to).
• Review your site regularly for broken links.
• Open links on the same page rather than in a new tab or window.
• Link to relevant services in blog posts, especially in CTAs.

5. Provide a stellar user experience (UX)

Web experts at Lion+Mason describe UX as potentially life-saving.

Consider access to patient care. It doesn’t start in a hospital or healthcare clinic anymore; it starts online. A strong UX makes healthcare information more accessible for potential patients, accelerating their process of finding a suitable service.

Plus, great UX satisfies your audience and Google’s algorithms. Search engine crawlers will notice if your site’s UX falls short. For example, Google and Bing examine how people interact with websites as part of their ranking factors.

High bounce rates could indicate that people have trouble finding the necessary information. Crawlers also look at where people’s cursors and clicks lead them and whether they can successfully navigate a website.

If people can get around your site with ease, search engines will reward you with first-page results as long as you check off all the other SEO boxes.

These tips can help you maintain strong UX on your healthcare website:

• Quick site speed: Potential patients want quick access, so if your site takes several seconds to load, you might need help from a web developer to speed things up.
• Intuitive navigation: Do all your web pages connect logically through drop-down menus and internal links? The most important information should be easily retrieved from your home page with a click or two.
• Accessible and readable written content: Does your web and blog copy feel logical and accessible? Edit all content before publication to catch any long-winded, jumbled paragraphs, or grammar issues. Ensure consistency across font types, styles, and colors, along with using bullets and paragraph spacing to break up large chunks of text.
• Mobile-friendly experience: Your web pages should display properly on both desktop and mobile devices.

Why you should partner with a healthcare SEO agency

Surgeons don’t usually perform operations by themselves.

More often, the operating room is filled with experts and specialists like nurses, anesthesiologists, and physician’s assistants. In other words, it requires expertise and teamwork. 

And so does healthcare SEO. We’ve equipped you with industry best practices, but even the most seasoned marketer is spread thin.

And when the progress you’ve made becomes compromised, even the best strategy won’t hold water without consistency, cohesion, and the proper resource investments.

You may be able to handle it all in-house, but you will likely see slower results, more obstacles to scaling, or fall for common mistakes along the way. You can avoid these pitfalls by partnering with a trusted SEO agency.

Working with a trusted agency for healthcare SEO services allows you to have all hands on deck to help you set and achieve attainable goals. The agency provides invaluable feedback on your site and current content while implementing strategies to help you improve your search rankings and organic lead generation.

A healthcare SEO agency is devoted to your success, and you’ll never have to go it alone with these experts in your corner.

The takeaway

We know how busy healthcare marketing teams are, and keeping tabs on all these best practices is a full-time job. Not to mention, Google keeps a close eye on healthcare businesses, and for a good reason — people’s well-being is at stake.

With support from a digital marketing agency, healthcare businesses can use medical SEO to boost their organic search rankings, bring in new patients, and earn patient loyalty.

Ready to scale your healthcare marketing strategy? Reach out to us today to get started.

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