Healthcare consumers in India are increasingly turning to digital channels to avail healthcare services, locate doctors and hospitals, or find information related to their remedy. Thus, the healthcare industry, hospitals in particular, are scrambling to be present on those digital channels to attract and engage with healthcare consumers. SEO company for hospitals open the opportunity to understand the most pressing information needs of their patients, address them strategically, and expand the orbit of care.
Leading hospital chains in India like Apollo Hospitals & Max hospitals have coalesced around a cohesive healthcare SEO strategy to connect faster with their audience by addressing their information needs, and accelerate sales conversations. Others should follow and replicate this strategy. This success story articulates the potential of a healthcare SEO strategy and opportunities it presents before the industry.
Search Trends in Healthcare Industry, India
In the realm of digital marketing, healthcare SEO stands out as a transformative opportunity that can unlock a range of advantages, directly contributing to online visibility and attracting patients. As per the latest search trends report published by Techmagnate, the healthcare industry indicated a growth of 39% in online searches Year Over Year (YoY).
The keyword bucket for hospitals has seen a significant growth of 75.47%. This surge in search interest presents a prime opportunity for hospitals to occupy the top search results and attract patients by leveraging the power of SEO for hospitals.
Sarvesh Bagla, CEO of Digital Agency Techmagnate, said, "Based on the report, Healthcare SEO has emerged as a game-changer for hospitals. It presents a unique opportunity for hospitals to harness the power of search engines and connect with patients actively seeking healthcare information online.”
Making Healthcare SEO Work for Care Providers
To effectively capitalize on the opportunities presented by healthcare SEO, hospitals should develop an impactful strategy tailored to their customers unique needs. Here are the steps to kickstart healthcare SEO:
Conducting Research to Identify the Keyword Universe:
Start by identifying the keyword universe that aligns with the patients services, specialties, and target audience. Remember, the keyword universe for enterprise SEO includes a large number of search terms, so it’s pertinent to not get overwhelmed by the volume and be highly strategic.
It’s important to begin by focusing on healthcare-specific keywords, like medical treatments, specialties, procedures, and location-based keywords. Once done, we prioritize these terms with substantial search volume and relevance to a hospital's goals and the healthcare consumers it aims to target.”
Fixing the Website Architecture:
A well-structured website architecture is essential for an enterprise SEO strategy to be effective. Hospitals should ensure the website is optimized for search engines and provides a seamless user experience. Granted that each hospital website is unique, the following factors will still prove useful in fixing the website architecture -
Group related content in subdomains or subdirectories to organize and categorize information effectively.
Refresh and update old content to ensure its relevance while protecting domain authority and valuable backlinks [on that content]
Pay attention to technical SEO aspects, including URL structure, meta tags, headings, and site navigation, to enhance crawlability and indexation.
Establishing Thought Leadership Through Content:
Creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content is crucial to establish thought leadership and increasing organic traffic. This involves developing a comprehensive content strategy covering various healthcare topics, services, and patient education materials. Consider the following steps -
Produce content in various formats, including blog posts, videos, infographics, web stories, etc.
Focus on providing valuable information to patients and addressing their health concerns
Incorporate targeted keywords naturally within the content to enhance search engine visibility
Get the content vetted by domain experts and practitioners or doctors
Automating (Whatever Possible):
Automation is valuable for enterprise SEO efforts, as it involves optimizing thousands and even lakhs of web pages. However, areas that require manual intervention and intelligence shouldn’t be overlooked or automated. Still, by leveraging tools and technology, hospitals can automate tasks like content distribution, keyword tracking, and reporting.
Define Correct Success Metrics:
To measure the success of an enterprise SEO strategy for hospitals, it's crucial to define the correct metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Consider the following metrics to track and measure these -
Organic search traffic to monitor the volume of web traffic to the website from search engines
Keyword rankings to track the rankings of the targeted keywords on search results by using dynamic dashboards [because there are a lot of keywords]
Conversions to measure the number of appointment bookings, contact form submissions, or newsletter sign-ups, resulting from organic search traffic
User engagement to analyze metrics like average session duration, bounce rate, and pages per session to gauge user engagement
Return on investment (ROI) to evaluate the financial impact of the SEO efforts by assessing the revenue generated or cost savings achieved through organic search
The digital realm has presented hospitals with new avenues to intensify their marketing efforts and personalize patient engagement. By embracing digital marketing trends, like healthcare SEO and content marketing, hospitals can keep up with evolving marketing practices and reach several benefits, accelerated conversations, faster path to revenue, etc.
However, it must be remembered that healthcare SEO has a lot of moving parts. And it needs to be approached correctly. A trusted partner can help in surmounting these challenges. Top digital marketing companies have deep capabilities to strategically address these needs. The right partner should have a strong track record of driving positive SEO results for hospitals.
