The average sales conversion rate for website visits to buying customers was 2.95% in 2017. Assuming this to be also true of healthcare, an increase of website traffic of 1,000 would lead to an increase of almost 30 new patients. There are several ways to generate more web traffic, but organic SEO is one of the best.
In order to answer this question, let us just clarify the difference between Organic SEO and Adwords. Adwords is when you pay Google for your practice’s website to appear as one of the four advertisements at the top of the Google search results page.
By contrast, Organic SEO is positioning your website to appear in the real search results (as one of the 10 search results below the ads).
Now to answer the question: The short answer is that both of them have their advantages. Adwords allows your practice to immediately be at the top of the page, however it comes at a cost.
First, it can be very expensive – especially if the keywords you are targeting have high levels of competition.
Second, as soon as you stop paying Google, your ads will stop appearing.
Organic SEO, on the other hand, is a more affordable and more long term strategy. Your plastic surgery website can be positioned to be top of the real search results on Google, so that patients are genuinely finding the most relevant practice for their needs.
Furthermore, organic SEO is longer lasting than Adwords. Once at the top of Google, it will likely stay there for several months (and if SEO services are continued then it can stay there indefinitely).
Plus – best of all – it is more affordable. Red Castle’s plastic surgery SEO package is very affordable and has proven to be very cost effective in terms of providing many more patients than the monthly cost of services.
If you are interested in strategically positioning your practice for the long term trend (that more and more patients will find their next doctor online), then organic SEO is something you should seriously consider.
Red Castle typically includes 10 keywords in our plastic surgery SEO campaigns. But how do we decide which 10 keywords to select?
First, we make sure that the keywords are actually being used. After all, there is no point being top of Google for keywords which patients are not searching for!
Second, we select keywords which correctly identify the plastic surgery services you offer. For example, if you are a plastic surgeon who performs rhinoplasty, then we may include keywords such as “nose surgery + your city” and “rhinoplasty + your city”.
Furthermore, to avoid competing with plastic surgeons across the world, we recommend that keywords include your geographical area (usually the nearest city and/or county). Here is a set of example keywords below:
If you are – or desire to – provide a certain service on a national scale, then you may even want to include the keywords without specifying a geographical area. For example, if you work as a national plastic surgery expert witness.
SEO for plastic surgery practices can cost thousands of dollars. Red Castle Services, however, believes in charging a modest monthly fee, because we believe in helping our clients in the long term. Plus, we always want our services to cost less than the money they generate.
We know that our monthly fee has an excellent Return On Investment, which we can backup with monthly reports. View our SEO Pricing and Packages.
Red Castle provides monthly reports, so that our plastic surgery clients can clearly track the performance of the SEO campaign. Most importantly, the reports include the position of the keywords and the position change over time.
For example, perhaps at the beginning your keyword “plastic surgeon Miami’ was in 89th position on Google, but 3 months later it is in 2nd place.
Plus we also include other useful data, such as website traffic and the source of this traffic. Tracking the traffic source is important, as it allows us to see where prospective patients are finding your website. Is it via social media? Or Google? Or from other sources?
By closely monitoring this we can demonstrate how positioning your practice on the first page of Google greatly increases traffic to your website via Google.
Is your website mobile-friendly? In other words, does it perform well on smart phones and tablets? Over 50% of web traffic now comes from mobile devices. So, if your site is not mobile-friendly, then you are missing out on over 50% of prospective patients.
Google has publicly stated that website speed is a factor for Google Search. In other words, if your website is running slowly, then it is less likely to appear top of Google search results. Not sure if your website is fast enough? Perform a free Google site speed test here.
Do your landing pages include the keywords? Does the page URL have the keyword? Is it clear to Google (and prospective patients) what your page is about? Is their a site menu? Is it easy to navigate your site? Remember, you need to make it easy for Google (and prospective patients) to find the information they need.
Ever heard of keyword stuffing? It’s when you use the keywords too many times. This is a red flag to Google that you have over-optimized your site. Such tactics are sometimes referred to as “black hat”. Instead, consider using synonyms. So, instead of writing ‘plastic surgeon’ a hundred times, consider using alternative phrases like ‘cosmetic surgeon’ and ‘plastic surgery clinic’ etc.
As with any industry, you need to give the customer what they want. And when they are researching cosmetic surgery procedures online, they want information. Does your site give them the information they need? Does it position you as the authority of this topic? Your site needs amazing content. This means content which provides the information patients need. It also means content which is easy to navigate and well presented.
Another factor in Google’s algorithm is (reportedly) Google reviews. This makes sense: If someone searches for “plastic surgeon near me”, is Google more likely to recommend the surgeon with 1 star, or the surgeon with 5 stars? Many doctors find online reviews frustrating, because patients can post negative reviews and it can be very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to remove them. Therefore, it’s important to be proactive about this. Rator8 is a company which specializes in online reputation management for doctors.
As with any industry, you need to give the customer what they want. And when they are researching cosmetic surgery procedures online, they want information. Does your site give them the information they need? Does it position you as the authority of this topic? Your site needs amazing content. This means content which provides the information patients need. It also means content which is easy to navigate and well presented.
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