Introduction to OBG/YN SEO in 2024
If you have made an amazing website for your OBGYN practice, but just aren't seeing the traffic and clicks you expected, then you have come to the right place. Our objective is to teach you quick and effective tips for the new year, and turn your website from a flop into a success! Let's look at some of the best strategies for effective SEO in 2024.
Key Strategies for Effective SEO
Everything is connected. You can’t just have a good looking site anymore. You also need valuable content, a clean bill of technical SEO health, local search visibility, and an engaging social media presence. If all that sounds too difficult to achieve on your own, don’t worry. It's deceptively easy to rank well online, especially when you follow these fast and easy tips for SEO optimization in 2024.
Optimizing Website Content
Most sites are poorly optimized, but what does that mean? To rank well on search engines there are two major factors that you want to focus on. Your content, and your technical SEO.
Content
Content is just about anything on your site. This includes text, images, videos, and more. For now, let's focus on text since it is easy to produce and something that most sites are sorely lacking
Best practice is to add at least 500 words on each topic or service you provide. You also might want to include Blogs, FAQs, About Us info, ect. Be sure to include the keywords potential patients are searching for, such as “Ultrasounds”, “Well Woman Care”, “Mammography”, “OBGYN in [city name]”, or any specific service you provide. If you are not sure what to write about or how to get started, look at your competition. Google the top ranking OB/GYN practices in your area, and read through their services pages and blogs for inspiration.
Technical SEO - Titles, Descriptions, and Headings
Technical optimization is formatting your site in a way that is easy to understand. We don't mean to use simpler language or including diagrams to explain what you offer. We mean working on the backend of your site by organizing your meta tags and data so search engines can better understand your site. This can be achieved with well thought out Titles, Descriptions, and headings. Let's look at an example of a Title and Description to give you an idea of what you should aim for:
Baby Steps OB/GYN | Dallas, TX
Trusted OB/GYNs serving Dallas, TX. We provide complete women's health care, from low and high risk obstetrical care. Contact us at 214-544-6600
Here we clearly stated the name of your practice in the Title and even included the service area. Next we gave a short explanation of who we are in the Description and added a Call To Action, asking the viewer to call us. We even provided our phone number to make it easy for them. If you want to see how your Title and Descriptions will look, you can use this free tool on To-The-Web.
You also want to use Headings to organize your website from most important to least important info. Imagine if you only had 5 seconds to explain exactly what a page was about, that's how a H1 tag should look. You can only have one H1 tag per page, but you can also use H2s, H3s, H4s, ect. To help organize your information into topics with subheadings. This will make your content easier for both viewers and search engines to understand.
Leveraging Local SEO
Optimizing your local SEO is far easier than your website, and in some cases, can see even greater results.. While there are several great local listings, let's focus on Google Business, since it's the biggest one with the majority of the traffic. Here is a step-by-step guide to get seen on Google’s maps and local searches.
Step 1: Make an account, and get it verified.
If your account isn’t verified and linked to your website, then it's like owning a gym membership but never going inside. Nothing is going to change.
Step 2: Add all your information under Edit Profile.
Fill out every category here, your Business Name, Category, add a Description of your practice, Links to your website, Social Media, Phone Number, Business Hours, everything.
Step 3: List out your service areas.
You want to list out all the areas you service. This includes nearby towns and anywhere in roughly a 2 hour drive time of your location. Do not include every major city in the US, or areas farther than a 2 hour drive from you. Google is smart and will ignore your service areas if it feels like too much of a stretch.
Step 4: Begin posting
Posts don’t need to be long, a few sentences will work, just like when posting on social media. You want to post at least once a week to remain relevant, and do not need to post every single day. Google just wants to make sure you are active and engaging with viewers.
Step 5: Reply to reviews and testimonials.
Engagement is crucial, and you want to respond to any reviews you get, the good and the bad. Encourage your patients to leave 5 star reviews, and address any complaints you see.
We understand that this feels like a lot of work, but the good news is that this is fast to set up. Once your profile is complete, it can mostly be left alone with only a short post each week. Be sure to respond to reviews and update your profile if any major changes occur, such as moving locations. The increase in traffic and visibility online with optimized local SEO is a game changer for many small practices.
Social Media for Visibility
Social media is so much more than likes and follows, it's a platform to connect with potential patients and strengthen bonds with existing clients. Engagement and responsiveness are the key factors when using social media for an OB/GYN practice. You most likely aren’t going to go viral or be seen by thousands of people, but you can establish connections with the women in your area and offer direct one-on-one advice.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really a one-size-fits-all approach to a successful social media campaign. You want to post regularly (at least once a week), respond to questions, share stories, and keep your followers up-to-date on the latest news. It's important to find your own voice and strategy for engaging with potential patients.
You will also want to be aware of the differences between each platform. Be aware of the audience on each and pick the platforms that you feel resonate the best with your goals.
Facebook: Nearly ⅔ of adults in the US use Facebook. Its audience is mostly 30+, and allows for hyper-localized targeting.
Instagram: Focuses more on images and video, and is popular with a younger audience. Appeals to emotion and trends are more important here than on Facebook.
Youtube: Video content can be an effective tool for targeting the modern consumer. Posting patient stories, video FAQs, and health information talks can reap great rewards.
Linkedin: This platform is great for professional networking. It can be used to get referrals, recruit qualified staff members, and build a more professional brand image.
Conclusion and Next Steps
With the new year is just around the corner. It's time to start optimizing your site so you can start 2024 strong. Enhance your site with additional content and clearly defined meta tags to generate those valuable keywords that potential patients are searching for. Get seen in your area with local SEO and filter out traffic from far away sources. Connect with your clients on social media to strengthen bonds and create a lasting relationship. Each of these tasks is another step to online stardom, and when all performed together, will rocket your site to success!