November 2012: The Year in Review

This month marks the one-year anniversary of our newsletter. Here’s a review of the important topics we covered over the last 12 months – along with some important updates!

Our newsletter was launched in November 2011 to keep you up to speed with the rapidly changing world of Internet marketing. We’ve touched on a range of subjects over the past year, from Google updates to mobile search. In this month’s newsletter we revisit the important points and give you a look at where things are headed…

Google Visibility

In our inaugural newsletter we provided you with a few simple actions that can improve your visibility on Google. Here they are.

First, conduct a test by typing in key search terms to determine where you and your competitors appear. Are you on the first page? If not, current and potential patients mostly likely aren’t finding you. Your practice should appear in a number of places, including the organic listings, directory listings, Google business listings, and PPC ads, among others. Next, make sure your contact information appears prominently. Finally, ensure that your website is giving patients what they want – including before and after photos and patient testimonials – because if you give your target audience what they are looking for, they will have no reason to look elsewhere.

Effects of Google Updates on SEO

Google continually updates the algorithm responsible for its search results, but some of the more recent updates attracted more attention than usual from mainstream media and resulted in significant changes to healthcare-related search results.

The first was the “Panda” update. Websites with highly redundant or duplicate content have been affected by this change. As time goes on and Google further refines its algorithm, duplicate content of any kind is likely to be a target. So if your practice website contains duplicate content, or if you purchased “canned” content that has also been sold to others, it’s time to address it; otherwise, your search engine rankings are in danger of being damaged.

The second was the “Freshness” update. In October of 2011 Google announced that it would favor websites whose content was timely and relevant. This update garnered a lot of attention and inspired much consternation in more than a few medical practices. But fortunately Google’s algorithm is sophisticated enough to recognize that the definition of “fresh” varies depending on the type of website. More to the point, a healthcare website containing information about surgical or dental procedures is not “expected” to have updates on a frequent basis. According to the chief of the Google Spam and Search division, quality links and targeted, unique content on specific pages of a website remain the backbone of Google rankings.

UPDATE: The Panda and Freshness updates were followed by another controversial update. Coined the “Penguin” update, this change has made professional-level SEO more important than ever.

The “Penguin” Google Update

One of Google’s most controversial actions of 2012 was the launch of an algorithm change – subsequently coined the “Penguin” update – which penalized websites for “over-optimization.” This update has been devastating to many practice websites.

The key objective of the Penguin update was to address the excessive use of the same key words, or similar content, on a given website or network of sites. If your rankings have fallen significantly (more than three or four positions), then your site may have been penalized.

To determine if your site is vulnerable to Google’s Penguin and other algorithm updates, it is best to enlist the services of an SEO expert who can look for the telltale signs of “over-optimization.” The difference between “good” optimization and “fatal” over-optimization has become increasingly nuanced; therefore, professional-level skills are more important now than ever.

Google’s changes are likely to continue as they compete with other online players for advertising revenue, so elective healthcare practices that rely on Google to drive prospective patients to their practice websites need to be nimble to weather the storm.

Internet-based Referrals and Directories

More and more patients are going online to locate doctors and other local businesses. Statistics from the Pew Research Center noted this trend and reported that a key cohort of elective surgery patients was (and is) the same age group that is using the Internet to find local businesses. Specifically, people between the ages of 18 and 40 – who account for a significant portion of the elective procedures performed in the United States – are more likely to seek or verify information using the Internet.

As this tech-savvy group grows older, it is unlikely that they will abandon the Internet. As for the younger generations, they already rely on the Internet for just about everything. It is also important to note that there is a growing trend toward Internet search even in the older age groups.

As a result, it is very important that your practice invest in Internet marketing and advertising, including directory listings. In May of 2012 we outlined 5 simple steps to guide you through the process of selecting a directory.

1. Start by searching like a patient. In other words, look for information on procedures. “Cost” and “before and after pictures” are the highest converting search terms, so if a directory doesn’t appear on the first page of Google’s search results for search terms like “dental implants cost” and “mommy makeover before and after,” it probably isn’t worth the investment.

2. Next, read the content. Is it credible and informative? If not, it will not help you convert potential patients.

3. Now analyze the directory. Is contact information easy to find in the listings? Are other top doctors listed?

4. Avoid long-term contracts. It shouldn’t take more than four to six months to determine if a directory is working for you, so there is no need to sign up with a company that requires a long-term contract.

5. Track performance. To assess the effectiveness of your listings, you need to have the ability to monitor visitors to your profile/website, as well as email leads and phone call leads. Directories that fail to provide this tracking data make it difficult to evaluate the return on your investment, so look into this before you sign up.

Google Places

Back in February we introduced many of you to Google Places and gave you tips for setting up your account. By now, hopefully, many of you have done so.

Google Places listings now occupy much of the real estate at the top of the search results pages for search queries that affect doctors and dentists, such as “Seattle cosmetic surgery,” “cosmetic dentistry Los Angeles” and “Dallas LASIK.” This makes Google places a potentially great source of new patients and means that a properly established Google Places page is more important than ever.

Google Authorship

Another program our newsletter touched on was Google Authorship. This tool, which allows website owners and the authors of articles to have a photograph next to their listings in the search results, gives you the opportunity to gain increased face time with prospective patients. If you’re lucky, you may even be the first doctor in your area to sign up for Google Authorship.

Google Authorship is an outstanding opportunity for practice branding. What could possibly be more important to your brand than your own image? If you are a Ceatus client, we have already begun the process of signing you up for this exciting program.

Social Media

Social media has been called the 21st Century’s word of mouth. It is a great tool for engaging current patients, in turn increasing loyalty and encouraging them to refer their friends to your practice. Though Ceatus’ research shows only a small percentage of patients arriving directly from social media, there’s no denying that it is a growing means of communication. When it comes to visibility, it’s important to be where potential patients are, and this now includes social media platforms.

Perhaps the best news about social media is that it doesn’t take much to realize the maximum benefit. By simply establishing a quality presence on Facebook and Google+, you place your practice in front of millions of people — and thousands of potential patients.

Mobile Search

Mobile search is an important part of the search community, and it’s becoming even more important as time goes on. A large percentage of local searches performed on mobile devices are accounted for by people in need of directions, phone numbers and quick recommendations for restaurants, bars, hotels and entertainment venues. But this doesn’t mean that people aren’t looking at elective medical practices on mobile devices. Mobile users are clicking through the websites of our clients and they are spending a similar amount of time on the sites and visiting a similar number of pages as they do on their PCs.

But though mobile search is on the upswing, Google may have something to say about it. Currently, Google does not recommend mobile websites, because these websites are placed on separate URLs (e.g. m.yourdomainname.com), and these additional URLs create significant clutter in the search database. Instead, they are recommending “Responsive Web Design,” which utilizes modified CSS code to display a website using a different configuration depending on the device, but using the same URL.

At present, we are following Google’s recommendations regarding mobile websites and therefore we are not recommending them to our clients. However, we do recommend that you determine if your regular website is mobile friendly. It’s relatively easy to check; go to your Google Analytics account and see if mobile users visiting your website are leaving your site because your design is incompatible with mobile devices. Feel free to contact Ceatus for help with this.

Website Content

Content is still the key to both SEO and conversion.

Consumers turn to Google for information because they believe that Google’s search results will give them quality sources of information. The best way to become one of these sources is to “optimize” your site with unique content, because this is what Google rewards. Unfortunately, to this day there are still plenty of Internet companies selling the exact same website content to hundreds of clients! If you have been caught up in one of these scenarios, your website may not rank higher than the ninth or tenth page of search results.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to convert the people visiting your website into patients visiting your office. Unique content plays a vital role in this process, too. Unique, educational, well-written content keeps your visitors engaged; content that is generic, boring or “over-optimized” with keywords does not. Potential patients who are engaged by your content are more likely to contact you, and people who are well-informed when they arrive at your office are more likely to schedule a surgery.

Geo-targeting

Many consumers begin their healthcare research with large educational websites, so establishing an affiliation with a credible educational website is beneficial to you and your practice. The question is how to ensure that consumers will associate you with the site’s content, especially consumers who are not yet looking for a doctor. The answer is Geo-Targeting.

Geo-targeting is a technology that detects the location of a website visitor and displays local information to him or her. In 2011, Ceatus was the first company in the elective health care industry to “geo-target” its clients in all sections of its educational portals. Profiles of local doctors (Ceatus clients) were (and are) displayed on hundreds of consumer education articles relating to a vast array of medical and dental procedures. So, as consumers read about the procedures they are interested in, they also see doctors near them who can perform these procedures. This has led to a sizable increase in leads from prospective patients.

Ceatus has since also expanded its geo-targeting strategy to our before and after galleries and testimonials pages – the most heavily-visited pages – which has led to even more targeted leads for our clients.

It’s been a big year for the Internet industry, with many changes and also some challenges. So what are we to conclude from all this? The constantly evolving nature of the Internet landscape continues to create opportunities to brand your practice, as well as increase patient volume and revenue from the treatments your practice offers.

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