A physician website that does not use search engine optimization (SEO) is about as useful as a book without a publisher. It may be well written and have pretty pictures, but unless it gets seen by the intended audiences, it just sits there in cyberspace.
SEO is what moves your website up on Google and Bing search engines. Here are a few specific SEO tactics to help move your website higher in search results:
Page titles – Each page should have a unique title that utilizes important key words people use for searching with the most important words first. An example would be “obstetrician, gynecologist, infertility, urogynecology, Jacksonville, Florida.”
Headlines using good key words – “Our all-female medical staff provides highly skilled obstetrics and gynecological healthcare to Jacksonville and North Florida." This is termed the H1 header.
List the cities you serve – On the bottom of the home list all the regions your patients come from. For example, “Proudly serving patients from Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville Beach, Amelia Island, Fernandina, and St. Johns, Florida.”
Bulleted list of services provided – This helps when patients are searching for a doctor who treats the medical problems you treat.
Mobilize – Make sure the site works on mobile devices. Most Flash-based sites do not work on iPhones or iPads. A mobile site can be written for your practice utilizing your website.
Contact information on every page – Make sure the phone number is readily apparent and clickable on a mobile phone.
Most important is that all physician websites must be HIPAA compliant. If you send or receive email through Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook, your email is not secure and must be encrypted. The same goes for any forms patients fill out online. A skilled website developer can do this for your practice.
Mary Fisher is the CEO of Mary Fisher Design, an advertising, marketing and web development agency in Jacksonville, FL.
