If you’re wondering how long it will take to get your medical website to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), you’re not alone. Depending on the age of your site, it can take anywhere between 2 months to a year. But don’t worry – there are things you can do to speed up the process.
In this article, we’ll explain how to improve rankings with medical SEO, as well as explain the factors that influence your level of success.
How Long Does It Take New Sites To Get Top Medical SEO Rankings?
When starting a new medical website, it’s important to have realistic expectations about how long it will take to see results from your SEO efforts. According to SEO specialists at Vine Digital, new sites can expect to start seeing results within a timeframe of 4 months to 1 year. Of course, the amount of time required will vary depending on the competitiveness of your niche and the strength of your SEO strategy. If you’re willing to dedicate more time and resources to your SEO efforts, you’ll likely see results more quickly. However, even if you’re not able to spend a lot of time on SEO, you can still make progress by building links and optimizing your site for key terms gradually over time.
How Long Does It Take Existing Sites To Get Top Medical SEO Rankings?
What about existing websites? Can they improve their ranking, and if so, how long does it take?
The answer, fortunately, is yes – existing websites can absolutely improve their ranking, and often see significant results within the first 2-3 months of implementing an effective medical SEO strategy. However, this is only a general timeline for medical SEO – some sites may see results sooner, while others may take longer. The important thing is to stay focused and consistent with your SEO efforts. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix.
So if you’re looking to give your website a boost, there’s no need to start from scratch – just focus on improving your SEO. With even a few small changes, you could see some impressive results. If you’re not seeing any movement after 3 months, then it might be time to reassess your strategy and see if there’s anything you can change or improve.
Factors Affecting the Success of SEO for Medical Websites
So there’s no question: SEO can be an extremely effective way of bringing more patients to your practice. However, your success depends on a variety of factors. Below are some of the most important factors a medical or healthcare business should consider.
DA – Domain Authority
Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank. A site with a higher DA score will see faster and more consistent results than a new site, or a site with a low DA score. So how can you improve your DA?
DA is calculated by evaluating factors like the number and quality of links pointing to a site, the age of the domain, and the overall strength of the site’s content. While it’s not possible to directly influence DA, there are a number of things you can do to improve your site’s ranking: including the steps in the coming sections. By taking these steps, you can rank for competitive keywords and phrases: as Google perceives your website as more and more of an authority on your chosen topic.
How Competing Medical Practices Use SEO
While the SEO landscape is constantly changing, one thing remains constant: the importance of monitoring your competition. After all, if your competitors are not using SEO effectively, you can expect to outrank them quickly. On the other hand, if they have an established SEO strategy in place and have been doing so for a longer period of time, it will be harder to outrank them. That being said, it is still possible to outrank established competitors with a solid medical SEO strategy. By doing so, you can ensure that you’re always one step ahead of the rest of your industry—especially in the healthcare niche, which is typically slower to adopt digital methods.
Quality of Content
The quality of your content is one of the most important factors influencing the time it takes to see SEO rankings. High-quality, relevant content is more likely to be shared and linked to by other websites, which helps to build authority and improve your rankings. However, if your content is poorly written or irrelevant to your target audience, it is unlikely to generate links and shares, and your rankings will suffer as a result. Therefore, if you want to see quick results from your SEO efforts, focus on creating content that is truly valuable to your readers—whether it’s patients or fellow medical professionals.
Mobile Site Page Load
According to Vine Digital, a website should load within 3 seconds—or you will likely lose potential readers. This is especially true on mobile devices, where users are often searching for information while they are on the go. In addition to losing users to your competitors, a slow-loading site can also negatively impact your SEO efforts.
Google and other search engines take page load time into account when ranking sites: a site that loads slowly is likely to have a lower position in the search results. As a result, it is important to make sure that your site loads quickly, both for the sake of your readers and for the sake of your SEO.
Site Structure
One of the most important aspects of SEO is site structure. This refers to the way your website is organized and how easy it is for search engines to crawl and index your content. A well-structured website will have clear navigation, consistent heading tags, and relevant schema markup. It will also be laid out in a way that makes sense for both users and search engines.
There are three main aspects of site structure that can impact your SEO: headings, schema markup, and page layout. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
Headings
Headings help search engines understand the hierarchy of your content. They also make it easier for users to skim your content and find what they’re looking for.
Schema Markup
Schema markup is code that helps search engines understand the meaning of your content, as you can tag key elements on the page. It can provide context for your page and help it rank for relevant keywords.
Page Layout
The layout of your pages can also impact their potential to rank. A well-organized page with a clear hierarchy is easier for both users and search engines to understand.
Internal and External Linking
Internal and external linking are both important for SEO. Internal linking helps to make a website more easily crawlable by search engines, which can speed up the process of seeing SEO results. External linking, particularly to studies and scientific data, can help to improve the credibility of a website. Both types of links should be used in order to see the best SEO results.
EAT
Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (EAT) is crucial to the success of any medical practice’s SEO efforts. Whether you need to write an effective doctor’s bio or an article on common signs of the flu, your content won’t rank without the qualities of EAT at its core. Google introduced this for health-related search queries in 2014, and these guidelines are designed to protect consumers.
User Experience (UX)
Good user experience (UX) is crucial to successful Search Engine Optimization; users ultimately determine if a site is successful or not, as Google considers factors like bounce rate and time on site when determining rankings.
If you’re looking to improve your medical practice’s SEO, start by taking a close look at your site’s UX. Is it easy to use? Is it mobile-friendly? Is it providing quality information that users will find valuable? If not, making some changes could have a big impact on your SEO results.
Services Offered
If you offer a unique service or product, you may have an easier time ranking for keywords related to your business. This is because there is less competition for these keywords. However, you may also have a smaller pool of potential customers. On the other hand, if you offer a more common service, you may have a harder time ranking for keywords due to the increased competition. However, there is also a larger potential customer base. As a result, the services your business offers can have a significant impact on how long it takes to see SEO results.
Location-Based or Remote
When it comes to SEO, businesses that are based in one specific location will usually see results much faster than businesses that are remote or spread out over multiple locations. This is because it is easier for search engines to index and rank local businesses since the target audience is already within a defined geographical area. Local medical practices can take advantage of localized content, citations, and reviews: while remote practices may need to rely more heavily on content marketing and link building.
How to See the Fastest Search Engine Optimization Results
Focus on Content Creation
If you want to see the fastest medical SEO results, focus on content creation. By ramping up your content output, you’ll create more opportunities for traffic, internal linking, and authority building. And all of those things will help improve your SEO rankings.
So what makes for good content? That depends on your audience and what they’re looking for. As you create more content, be sure to optimize it for the search engines by including relevant keywords and phrases.
Promote Your Site on Social Media
Don’t forget to promote your content through social media—either by organic posting, or paid ads. The more people who see it, the more website traffic you can attract. In general, regular and engaging social media updates can help direct traffic to your site: leading to faster SEO results for your brand.
Keep Your Google My Business Profile Updated
One of the best ways to ensure you’re getting the fastest medical SEO results is to keep your Google My Business (GMB) profile up-to-date. Your GMB profile is the first thing potential patients will see when they search for a new doctor, so it’s important to make sure the information is accurate and up-to-date. You can update your profile by adding:
- Photos of your business
- Hours of operation
- Specialties and services
- Current contact information
Keeping your profile fresh and updated shows Google that you’re an active business, and that you’re dedicated to providing the best possible care for healthcare customers. Click through to learn more about Google My Business for doctors, and how it can get your medical practice ranking.
Implement Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential for any SEO campaign: medical or otherwise. By targeting the right keywords, you can make sure that your website appears in front of potential patients who are looking for the products or services that you offer.
However, it’s important to choose your keywords carefully, as targeting overly competitive keywords can mean that you won’t see any results for a long time. Instead, focus on targeting long-tail keywords with a lower search volume. These may not be as popular as the more competitive keywords, but they’re more likely to result in conversions.
Target Local Queries
Local SEO is less competitive and easier to rank for relevant keywords.
Local SEO is less competitive and easier to rank for relevant local keywords. For example, if you’re a doctor in New York City, you’re more likely to rank for the keyword “primary care doctor NYC” than you are for the keyword “primary care doctor.”
Get Your Practice Listed in Relevant Directories
One of the most effective ways to improve your medical practice’s SEO is by getting listed in relevant online directories. By claiming and optimizing your listings on sites like Google, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, and Foursquare, you can improve your visibility and ranking in search results. And with more and more people using mobile devices to find information about local businesses, it’s essential to make sure your practice is listed on popular directories and mapping apps like Apple Maps and Yahoo Local. For the best results, be sure to claim and complete your listings on as many relevant directories as possible.
Get Your Patients Engaged
Good reviews from patients can do more than just boost your ego. They can actually help improve your medical practice’s ranking on search engines. That’s because Google takes reviews into account when determining how to rank a business in its search results. So, if you’re looking to see the fastest medical SEO results, one of the best things you can do is encourage your patients to leave reviews. Here are a few tips to help encourage patient engagement:
- Make it easy for patients to leave reviews by providing links or QR codes that they can scan with their smartphones.
- Encourage patients to leave reviews when they’re happy with their experience. This could include sending follow-up emails or texts after appointments.
- Incentivize patients to leave reviews by offering discounts or prizes for those who do so.
Just a few positive reviews can make a big difference in how visible your practice is online. And that could mean more patients finding and choosing your practice over others in the area.
Effectively Manage Your Reputation
Responding to reviews – both positive and negative – shows that you care about what patients think of your practice. It also helps to build trust and improve your chances of attracting new patients. By monitoring your reputation on platforms such as Yelp and Google, you can identify and address threats to your reputation early on, before they can cause lasting damage. By addressing negative reviews regularly and in a professional manner, you can ensure that your medical practice has a strong online presence – and the SEO results to match.
Remember, Medical SEO is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Search Engine Optimization is an important tool for any medical practice looking to grow online. However, it is important to remember that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Successful SEO requires a long-term commitment to creating and optimizing content, keeping up with trends, maintaining business profiles, responding to online reviews, and engaging with patients on social media. While the process may seem daunting at first, the payoff can be significant in terms of increased web traffic and patients. By taking the time to invest in a solid SEO strategy, you can set your medical practice up for success both now and in the future.
