A Complete Guide to Healthcare Off-Page SEO Techniques

A Complete Guide to Healthcare Off-Page SEO Techniques

Healthcare businesses must optimize their website and online presence with SEO best practices to enhance their presence on digital platforms. One of the most beneficial SEO techniques to acquire new patients and retain the existing ones is off-page SEO. Healthcare off-page SEO techniques can help professionals target a specific patient market and drive organic traffic to their healthcare website. There are several off-page SEO practices like local SEO optimization, valuable link building, and online review management.

Marketers perform these practices outside of a healthcare provider’s website and help a healthcare business stay relevant in today’s competitive digital scenario. These practices make an organization that offers health services appear more often whenever someone searches for the treatment offerings that the specific business provides. It ranks the healthcare practice higher in search engine result pages and increases the chances of getting clicked by potential patients.

A study result has shown that 60% of patients are more likely to perform a web search before they visit a clinic. Thus it is crucial for your healthcare business to earn a top spot in the search engine results and grab the attention of your potential patients.

The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is ever-evolving and off-page SEO is one of the most crucial elements of it. Want to know the best off-page SEO strategies to achieve the top rankings for your healthcare business? Explore our comprehensive guide to healthcare off-page SEO and grow your business online.

What Is Healthcare Off-Page SEO?

It refers to certain search engine optimization practices that you can perform outside a medical website. It requires you to optimize your healthcare website’s visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through valuable backlink acquisition, local SEO optimization, online reputation management, and more. Healthcare off-page SEO techniques help a healthcare business build authority outside of the site and drive organic search engine traffic to their practice.

You don’t need to make any changes to your healthcare website yet improve search engine rankings with impactful off-page SEO strategies. These practices aim to make potential patients see your healthcare practice as a trustworthy and authoritative resource.

Healthcare off-page SEO significantly focuses on the external factors of a website and the practices involve beyond the website improvement. It helps a healthcare business firmly establish its credibility in its medical specialty and offers it a competitive edge. On the other hand, it helps search engines understand what others think about your healthcare website and treatment services. A reputed healthcare SEO agency can help you with their proven expertise and skills in off-page SEO best practices.

4 Major Advantages of Off-Page SEO for Healthcare Providers

Off-page search engine optimization provides an extensive range of benefits for a healthcare business. The practices are quite different from on-page SEO techniques but the benefits are equally significant. A successful healthcare SEO strategy will be incomplete without off-page SEO practices. Below we have mentioned four significant benefits of off-page SEO techniques. Let’s have a look.

1. Increased Online Visibility through Backlinks

Backlink acquisition is one of the most effective SEO strategies that significantly improves a healthcare business’s visibility. Off-page SEO allows you to acquire backlinks from authoritative websites. This way you can reach the audience of other reputable websites and leverage the exceptional exposure. You can make your treatment offerings more visible on online platforms and attract those who genuinely require the services.

2. Qualified Website Traffic

Healthcare off-page SEO techniques help you to drive organic traffic to your website. It helps your practice reach a wider audience and encourages them to visit your website. Off-page SEO will rank your website higher in search results which will attract more traffic from the audience who search for related keywords. You can use Google Analytics to track your website traffic and user behavior.

3. Improved Search Engine Rankings

You need to optimize your healthcare website with relevant keywords with higher search volume and lower competition. It will make your website align with the search queries of your potential patients. The more keyword optimized your website is, the higher rankings you can achieve in search engine result pages. You can use Google Search Console to monitor and improve your healthcare website’s performance in Google search results.

4. Enhanced User Engagement

Off-page SEO techniques like social media marketing and content marketing allow effective communication with potential patients. You can interact with the patients through social media comments and review sites. This positively contributes to improved user engagement for your healthcare practice. Healthcare off-page SEO also generates interest in prospective patients to learn more about your treatment services.

Off-Page SEO Best Practices to Grow Your Healthcare Practice

Healthcare off-page SEO can offer you a list of significant benefits if you follow certain strategies. Here we have explained the top 8 off-page SEO techniques that can improve the search engine rankings of your healthcare practice. Let’s have a look.

1. Acquire High-Quality Backlinks

It is one of the most strong healthcare SEO strategies that marketers perform outside the web pages. Good quality backlinks can completely transform healthcare content and showcase that the content is backed by authentic and authoritative sources. It is a process where you get other websites to link to your site. These links are known as backlinks, and search engines tend to consider healthcare content with more backlinks as authoritative.

A study result has shown that businesses that share blogs receive 97% more backlinks to their site. Google and other search engines will rank your healthcare site higher if it owns a significant number of backlinks. The quality of the backlinks equally matters as a site with authoritative backlinks carries more weight than one with backlinks from a low-domain site. Check out the tips to acquire backlinks from the right website.

  • You can organically get backlinks when some websites link back to your healthcare site to appreciate it as a resource.
  • You can promote your treatment offerings and other unique facilities of your healthcare business.
  • Additionally, you can contact a reputable website to link back to you and request the owner to share your content on their website in exchange for agreed compensation.
  • You must ensure that the backlinks present in your healthcare content come from an authentic and reliable domain.
  • You can use tools to measure the quality and quantity of backlinks and organic traffic levels.

These are the important elements of link-building techniques for healthcare websites.

The Significance of Guest Posting on Healthcare Blogs

You can request guest posting opportunities from other relevant and renowned businesses. They will share your healthcare content on their websites if they agree to it. It will make your treatment services reach the audience of that website and lead to valuable backlink acquisition. You can research those healthcare practices that offer guest posting and backlinking opportunities. For example, a pediatrician clinic may backlink to a dental practice’s webpages on their website.

Profitable Collaborations with Healthcare Influencers

You can collaborate with popular healthcare bloggers and social media creators to promote the treatment services your healthcare business offers. This is called influencer marketing which is a crucial part of healthcare off-page SEO techniques.

It is a great way to make your healthcare business a renowned brand and reach new audiences. Effective collaborations with influencers allow you to utilize the wider audience reach and promote your services more attractively. When a popular influencer publishes or promotes your healthcare content through their online profiles, it will naturally increase your content reach.

Brand Mentions

How will you know that your business is doing great in today’s competitive healthcare industry? Your medical practice will flourish if your content owns a few authoritative backlinks, people talk about your services quite frequently, and there are some online mentions of your brand.

Brand mentions refer to the online references to your healthcare business name. These mentions signal to the search engines that your medical practice has left a great impression on the people. You can engage more with your social media audiences and communicate with them whenever possible.

Broken Link Building

You must find out whether there are any broken backlinks to your webpages on other websites. Links that don’t work properly must be removed from the sites. You can contact the other resource owners to update those broken links. You can even suggest they add new links to your webpages. This practice will also reduce the number of 404 pages and redirects and positively contribute to a better user experience.

2. Leverage Social Media Marketing to Drive Traffic

According to research, 41% of people tend to select a treatment center based on the content they find about it on social media. Every healthcare business must build an engaging social media presence to grab the attention of the global audience.

It is one of the most popular healthcare SEO services. For instance, you struggle to get good backlinks and guest posting opportunities. But you can get more attention if you have an attractive social media page with attractive posts and a significant number of followers. Let’s know how you can utilize social media marketing.

  • You must consistently post healthcare content on your page. It will increase the chances of your getting more traffic and links.
  • You need to create engaging videos and stunning images related to a variety of healthcare topics like healthcare tips, treatment procedures, and recovery details.
  • Healthcare professionals must generate fresh content based on their niche and manage a content calendar to schedule their posts to avoid missing any opportunities for maximum engagement at specific hours.
  • You must maintain a consistent brand voice through your social media posts that seamlessly reflect your healthcare business’s values.
  • Storytelling plays a huge role in social media engagement. Healthcare professionals can share real photos of their clinic, staff, and infrastructure to create patients’ interest in their practice.
  • You can choose a social media platform where your target audience is mostly active. Additioanlly, you need to check which platform best suits your healthcare niche. However, platforms like Instagram and Facebook can be specifically helpful to promote your healthcare products and services.

3. Build a Strong Local Presence with Local SEO

No matter how premium your healthcare services are, you must own a strong local presence to attract the local patients to your practice. Local SEO strategies are another crucial part of healthcare off-page SEO techniques. 

Around 46% of all Google searches are for a local business or service. It shows how important it is for you to build a reputable local presence. Healthcare local SEO is the process of the optimization of a medical practice to increase traffic, visibility, and brand awareness in its local area. Let’s know how you can optimize your healthcare business to make it rank for local search results and attract potential patients within your business’s geographic area.

A Google Business Profile with Essential NAP Details

It is a free business listing tool from Google and helps you manage how your business appears in Google. Healthcare practitioners must claim their Google Business Profile (GBP) and optimize it with all the necessary details about their business. It will make their practice more visible on Google search results and help them attract more local prospects. You need to update your GBP with the NAP details which are the name (N) of your healthcare business, address (A), and accessible phone (P) number.

Additioanlly, you can add photos of your medical organization to your GBP profile and ensure the information you have added to it is accurate. A healthcare practice with an updated GBP profile will rank higher for searches like ‘best physician near me’ or ‘affordable clinic in town’.

Local Directory and Google Maps

Healthcare organizations must create their profile in all the local online directories or claim the same if they already have profiles in these directory listings. The contact information must be the same across all the local directories like Google Maps. Most patients prefer to choose a reputable and trustworthy provider in their nearby area due to transportation facilities and they can avail of the treatments in an emergency. This Google Map listing will help potential patients easily locate your healthcare practice.

Local Citations and Location-Specific Keyword Utilization

Healthcare businesses must ensure that all the contact information of their practice is consistent across all online platforms like business directories, social media, and review sites. This local citation is important as Google uses this to confirm the accuracy of the contact information. Inconsistent citation can create confusion for the patients and they may not trust your expertise. Similarly, search engines may not show your practice as a reliable medical resource due to inconsistent contact details.

You must conduct a detailed keyword research to identify the local keywords and understand the search intent of the local prospects. You need to incorporate relevant keywords in your website content to make it rank for local searches. For example, one of your potential patients has searched for ‘best child specialist near me’ and you have also optimized your website content (such as the pediatric treatment service page) or landing page with the same keyword. Your healthcare website with these local keywords will be more likely to rank for these searches.

4. Prioritize Digital PR for Your Healthcare Business

Healthcare businesses can use PR techniques to earn valuable backlinks from authoritative sites. Digital PR increases brand awareness and brand searches for their medical practice. It is one of the important healthcare off-page SEO techniques that requires you to craft and distribute newsworthy announcements about your healthcare business to media outlets and digital platforms. It makes your medical practice appear in front of your target audience. You can drive referral traffic to your healthcare website.

Healthcare practices can share press releases for media coverage and generate public interest in their treatment offerings. Effective digital PR techniques can offer an exceptional exposure to your healthcare brand and help you achieve quality backlinks. It enhances your online reputation and increases the chances of your practice appearing more often in organic search results. You can incorporate keywords relevant to your healthcare practice niche and create a specific landing page to maximize the effectiveness of your off-page SEO techniques.

5. Initiate Forum Conversations with Patients

Forums are a virtual space where you can initiate online discussions with people on a variety of topics. It helps a healthcare business engage in meaningful conversations with its potential patients and build long-term connections with them. They can also share information or exchange ideas on crucial medical topics. You can establish an online community and allow the users to post their messages or ask their queries. Additionally, you can respond to the existing threads on a specific healthcare topic.

The following are some important factors you must remember when you create forum discussions to expand your healthcare business’s reach.

  • Healthcare professionals must create a complete profile with anchor text in the signature.
  • You can share like in the forums for SEO purposes but it will not help your medical practice rank better in Google. However, you can initiate and actively participate in forum conversations that rea related to your medical expertise.
  • It will help you position your practice as an expert in the niche and make new audiences aware of your medical services.
  • You can share relevant content that a community member has shown interest in.
  • The two most popular online forums are Reddit and Quora. You can use these platforms to initiate open discussions with your potential patients.
  • Healthcare practitioners can resolve the queries of others or give them suggestions to initiate conversations.

6. Improve the Quality of Your Healthcare Content

You can seek professional healthcare content marketing services to improve your website content quality and use the power of content to attract more patients to your practice. You must craft educational and relevant content to generate interest in your potential patients and showcase your healthcare practice as a knowledgeable medical resource.

You need to publish great content to earn backlinks and showcase EEAT (experience, expertise, authoritiveness, and trustworthiness) through it. It is Google’s framework to analyze content quality and determine whether content deserves to rank higher on their search results.

Additioanlly, healthcare practitioners must distribute their content across popular online platforms to boost the off-page signal. Let’s know how you can showcase EEAT through your healthcare content.

  • You can share your medical achievements, awards, and certifications to showcase your proven experience in your medical field. You can also share case studies and document patient success stories.
  • Healthcare practitioners can leverage guest posting through reputable sites relevant to their niche. Furthermore, they can showcase their medical qualifications through their content.
  • High-quality backlink acquisition and engaging forum discussions can be extremely beneficial to showcase the authority of your healthcare business holds in the market.
  • You must secure your website and collect positive reviews from the satisfied patients. You need to update your privacy policy to ensure that your prospective patients can trust your treatment expertise.

Creating Informative Healthcare Guides: Present information that visitors will find valuable, enticing them to explore further.

Incorporating User-Generated Content: Display product offerings of satisfied customers to win trust.

Informative Blogs and Healthcare Guides

Healthcare businesses can create informative blogs to provide healthcare tips and guides. This way they can address common patient queries and educate the patients on various crucial medical topics. SEO-optimized blogs allow you to showcase your healthcare knowledge and rank your website on search engine results. It is the most important element of content marketing that you can use to reach a wider audience.

User-generated Content

Patient reviews and success stories create a sense of trust among potential patients. It assures the new patients that they will make an informed medical decision if they choose your healthcare practice. User-generated content has more potential to attract new patients. A study result has shown that 6 in 10 consumers consider user-generated content as the most authentic form of marketing content.

Content Syndication

It refers to a process where you republish your content on one or more websites. This is not one of those mandatory healthcare off-page SEO techniques but some businesses may choose this as it is easier than fresh content creation. It reaches your content to the new audience if you rightly choose sites to syndicate your content.

For instance, you have published a healthcare blog on your website but it has failed to get your desired reach. Sometimes this specific content may perform exceptionally well when you publish it on other websites. However, you must ensure that your syndicated content version links back to your original one on your website.

7. Encourage Online Reviews and Manage Online Reputation

Positive patient reviews can influence others to trust your healthcare practice.You must encourage your satisfied patients who have availed of treatment services from your healthcare clinic to leave their reviews and share their experience. This practice helps you build and manage a positive online reputation for your healthcare business. You can position your practice as a reputable medical resource.

We suggest you respond to all the reviews you receive from your satisfied patients. In certain instances, you may receive negative feedback from them. You must reply emphatically yet professionally to those negative reviews and try to resolve their issues. It will showcase that you value your patients’ opinions and are flexible to improve your patient care services. You can add links to the review sites to help the patients leave their reviews. Additioanlly, you can email them to follow up regarding their review sharing on your website, social media pages, and GBP profile.

8. Organize Podcasts to Discuss Crucial Healthcare Topics

Healthcare podcasts have gained immense popularity in recent years and are known to drive exceptional engagement. Most medical businesses have still not used podcasts to enhance their online visibility due to a lack of expertise and skills. You can get a competitive advantage if you organize podcasts to promote your healthcare business. It will help you reach a new audience and gain more visibility on other sites.

You can request prominent medical personalities or healthcare specialists to become guests on your podcast. Similarly, you can research the trending healthcare topics to discuss on your podcasts. The guest may link back to your site if they find your practice valuable and authoritative. Podcast content also has more potential to expand your practice’s reach.

Conclusion

Off-page SEO is a crucial segment of search engine optimization that requires marketers to perform certain best practices outside a website. Though you need not make any changes to the website, you can still achieve countless benefits with effective off-page SEO strategies. These techniques can completely transform a healthcare business and help it ensure a steady flow of patients.

The right strategies implemented at the right time can make a change for your medical care practice. Want to skyrocket your healthcare business and achieve your desired marketing goals? Our effective healthcare off-page SEO techniques will help you achieve an exceptional online visibility and establish a memorable digital presence for your healthcare practice. 

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This entry was posted in SEO.

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