Best Dermatology SEO Tips You Will Read in 2022 and 8 Useful Resources

Dermatology SEO: Global vs. Local SEO

Traditional SEO focuses on improving a website’s visibility on a global scale, while local SEO has a strict location-based focus. 

While SEO and local SEO use many of the same strategies, there are some differences that you should know.

Local SEO primarily relies on online directories, listings, and social media profiles other than your website, while global SEO focuses on creating valuable and quality content for your website.

Local SEO – The Most Important Type of SEO for Dermatologists

Local SEO is the most critical type of SEO for Private Dermatology Practices, whether they have one or multiple locations.

So, why is local SEO so important?

Google is localizing results as much as possible, especially for mobile devices, because they are tied to a particular geographical area. 

A report from Hitwise reveals that mobile searches in the U.S. are roughly 58% of the overall search volume¹.

For many search terms, people are looking for a local service. For example, the majority of people in Minneapolis, when searching for a dermatology clinic, the first search term they will use is “Dermatologist Near Me” or “Dermatology Clinic Near Me.” After this result, the following search query will be “Dermatologist in Minneapolis.”  

The first and most important step for local SEO and building a solid online presence for your dermatology clinic is to open or claim your Google Business Profile and create a profile in several local listings.

Consistent and accurate local listings are factors search engines consider when determining what sites to show in search results. Why? Because they want to provide searchers with the most accurate information. If your dermatology clinic presents a consistent presence across multiple company listings, it will begin to appear in local searches.

Being consistent means that these elements are always exactly presented the same way across multiple listings.

What is the Google Local Pack?

The Google Local Pack appears at the top of the search engine results when a person makes a search query with local intent; it is sometimes referred to as the Local 3 Pack, the Google 3 pack, or the Google Map Pack.

When Google gives a Local Pack to a person conducting a local search, it depends on the business’s relevance, distance, and prominence. 

In the digital world, real-world people, places, and companies are represented by digital entities. For example, you and your dermatology clinic do not exist in the digital world. Still, by creating profiles on Google, Facebook, and all other social media channels, these “virtual entities” are used by search engines to understand what your business is, what products or services it offers, and who could be interested in your product offering.

What Are Local Business Citations?

Local Business Citations also referred to as Citations, are a mention of your clinic’s name across the web, even if those mentions (or citations) are not linked directly to your website.

For example, if people talk about specific treatments received and mention your clinic by name, these are called citations. If a patient received outstanding care and says your clinic’s name and a staff member by name, this is also a citation. These citations and keywords give search engines context to make your clinic trustworthy.  

Managing local citations can take a lot of work — but there are some local citation tools you can use to save time and effort. These two tools are affordable and work well for small businesses.

What Are Google Business Reviews?

Google reviews help your business stand out. They provide potential customers (in this case, patients) with helpful information about your business. They appear next to your Business Profile in Maps and Search.

Google Reviews will consider the review quality, score, and keywords within the review text. 

The more reviews you have, search engines rank you higher because they will get more opportunities to understand the data.

Customer reviews are an integral part of any business; unfortunately, many medical practice owners do not know how to handle or respond to negative reviews.

Global SEO for Dermatologists

Writing search-engine-optimized (SEO) content that resonates with your audience is an excellent way of attracting patients to your dermatology practice. 

Remember that well-optimized content is written for humans, not search engines.

Create unique, high-quality, helpful content that will help your readers.

Write content for humans, and optimize it for search engines.

Website content is any textual, aural, or visual content published on a website, created to drive traffic, generate new leads, promote your brand, etc. 

SEO-optimized content is content created to target specific search keywords to attract organic traffic from search engines. 

There are different types of web content: website copy, blogs, case studies, ebooks, white papers, videos, images, audio, animations, etc.

Company blogs are one of the most popular content types. Although company blogs are very effective, they require a lot of time and tremendous effort if done correctly. 

Most companies with successful websites have small teams consisting of a content writer, an SEO specialist, a graphic designer, and sometimes a web manager.

That being said, it doesn’t mean you can’t produce quality content; you need to commit to doing it right, which means following the steps listed below for every piece of content you decide to publish.

Writing unique and quality content that ranks well and satisfies users and search engines is a lot of work. But one good article ranked high is much better than ten blog posts with great advice that nobody can find or read because they are not optimized, easy to read, and understand.

It is better to write a few evergreen content pieces that rank high in Google than 20 blog posts without good SEO work².

Keyword Research Steps

Choosing the right keywords will help you produce unique and quality content with excellent potential to attract new patients through organic search traffic.

1. Check the traffic potential

If a keyword doesn’t have a traffic potential (no one is searching for it), it won’t bring you any traffic.

2. Check the search intent behind the keyword

Checking the keyword intent is important to create content that matches the intent behind the user’s search 

•  Educational (a user wants to learn something)
•  Transactional (a user wants to buy something)
•  Navigational (a user wants to find a specific website, service, or brand)

3. Check the keyword difficulty

Anyone can rank for any keyword with the right effort.

But, some keywords are harder to rank for than others. Some keywords need more effort to start ranking. That is why you should check the keyword difficulty before you choose to target it.

Creating Engaging and Powerful Content for your Medical Practice

It can be hard to think of topics people would like to read about. We have created six topic examples so you can get started straight away.

Dermatology Topics to Potentially Drive Organic Traffic to Your Website

• Product, service, and price comparisons – What is the Best Treatment to Reduce Cellulite? – Comparison of the Different Technologies
• Problem-solving:  7 Easy Tips to Reduce the Oily Appearance in your Face this Summer
• Best Product Listing: Top 5 Face-Wash Products for Sensitive Skin
• Expert Advice: Using sunscreen during the winter reduces the chances of premature aging
• Frequently Asked Questions: Your patients probably ask the same questions repeatedly. Why not produce a content piece that allows them to educate themselves?
• Good-fit and bad-fit prospects: Who can benefit from a professional chemical peel (for example, patients with scars from acne), and who can use off-the-shelf products?

Content Formats for a Diverse Digital Marketing Strategy

These days, content can be presented in many shapes and forms. For example, you can write a blog post about a topic and then re-purpose that content into a short video where you briefly talk about the topic, or you can make an infographic.

Although there are many formats to create content, in this article, we will focus on the content formats that we believe can be used by small private practices to attract new patients.

• Blog articles
• Customer Stories/Testimonials 
• Short videos
• Infographics 
• Slide presentations
• Quizzes and surveys

Conclusion

SEO is not an “overnight success.” Following these tips will not skyrocket your website the next day. Search engine optimization takes time, effort, and resources. The more complex the challenges, the more likely it will take longer to see real improvements and results. And the results also depend on other so-called ranking factors³.

Despite all the effort you need to invest, the results that SEO will bring to your dermatology practice will be reliable and long-lasting.

References:
¹https://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025
²https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-evergreen-content
³https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-ranking-algorithm-infographic

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