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The podcast is proudly brought to you by Inter-Dev, an international B2B digital marketing agency dedicated to helping businesses navigate the digital landscape. We'll bring you insightful discussions, expert advice, and the latest trends in the industry.
SEO for Healthcare and Medical Device Companies
SEO for healthcare companies is becoming increasingly crucial. Decision-makers are relying more on internet research to decide which medical devices and software to buy. And in the general field of healthcare, people are relying on the internet to receive information about their health and decide which healthcare services to use.Having your healthcare company’s content appear on the first page of search engine results carries advantages such as credibility, acquiring targeted traffic to your website, and increase qualified lead generation.Unfortunately, this knowledge is commonplace, which means that competition for top rankings on search engines is fierce. Almost all healthcare companies incorporate an SEO strategy in place. To win, you’d have to commit to embracing an SEO strategy and include it as a part of the online marketing efforts. Procuring the services of a professional SEO agency can tip the scales in your favor.Before we look at how to do conduct a successful SEO process, let’s acknowledge it’s importance.
Why Is SEO an important digital marketing strategy for the Medical Startups Industry?
Medical Startup Products Need Extensive Awareness
Say your company has come up with a new way to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections – you might have an awesome product, but it will take a lot of work before you are hitting your sales targets.Before your product came into the picture, healthcare providers had been getting along fine. They had most probably found workarounds for the inefficiencies of existing tools and methods.To get them to buy your product, you’ll first have to make them aware that it exists – which is not that easy. But the difficult part is convincing them that they need your product and that they should abandon their present way of doing things.That’s where SEO for medical device companies comes in handy.One of the most effective ways to generate awareness and show people your product’s utility is a combination of content marketing and SEO. However, implementing SEO successfully is not easy, especially where there is stiff competition from long-established players in the industry. To move the needle, you’d have to seek help from the professionals.
Decision-makers Use Content to Inform Their Purchase Decisions
Even in established companies, digital marketing strategies play a huge role in lead generation. For instance, nowadays, brochures are scarce. If a healthcare provider wants to know which home sleep apnea test to use for his patients, their first and probably last stop will be their browser.They’ll use the internet to compare features and prices, read peer-reviewed articles that back the products, and narrow down interesting prospects. They’ll then use the same websites to make contact and probably ask for a demo or a case study. If you’re on page 3 of the search results for “home sleep apnea test,” no matter how good your product is, they’ll probably never get to it.In fact, they probably won’t venture past the first page. So, you’re out of the race before it even begins.This is why healthcare SEO services are in such high demand. Everyone wants to be on the first page where they at least have a chance to be considered.
SEO for Medical Device Companies: A Guide to Success
There is a wide range of best practices for general SEO. However, when it comes to healthcare industry, following the best practices blindly won’t get you far. There’s a playbook of proven tactics that can be implemented.Such tactics are guided by one overarching principle: the provision of the best user experience. Each page should have a clear beneficial purpose to the intended user. Google has a way of determining whether a page has a beneficial purpose and to what extent that purpose has been achieved. So, the better you perform on those two fronts, the higher your search engine ranking will be.Another important consideration to always keep in mind is that healthcare websites fall under YMYL sites. Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) is a designation given by Google to sites that have a direct influence on people’s real-life wellbeing. Such sites include those that enable financial transactions and those that provide healthcare information.Pages in YMYL sites are subject to more stringent page quality standards than none-YMYL sites. They should rank highly for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. (EAT) For example, healthcare advice should be given by a healthcare professional with proper credentials and an easily verifiable identity.The success of your medical device startup will depend on the medical device SEO strategies you use. If you are not well-versed in SEO, it would be wise to seek help.
What SEO Practices Work Well for Medical Startups?
Optimizing for High EAT Scores
Since healthcare sites are designated as YMYL sites, you have to ensure that your content has high EAT scores. The lower your EAT scores, the lower your website will rank.The YMYL designation is used by analysts to check whether Google’s algorithms are working as expected and to improve them accordingly. As such, Google is getting better at determining the EAT quality of sites.To score highly in EAT, make sure that it is clear who both the owner and creator of the main content on a page are. Their credentials should also be clear and their contact details provided. Moreover, you can make verification easier for example by linking to the creator’s social accounts. Sensitive information should also be supported by links to credible sources, such as peer-reviewed articles in medical journals.In short, do your best to make sure that your content is authoritative, trustworthy, and that its creator has the requisite expertise.
Optimizing for Mobile
Mobile devices are increasingly being used to access the internet. In healthcare, this trend is even more prominent. If someone is in pain and urgently needs a dentist, chances are that they will use their smartphone to find one. Most informational queries, such as “How to know if I have Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” are also made via mobile devices.A company that sells home sleep apnea tests would benefit greatly from directing as much traffic from the above query to their site. To do this, they’d have to rank as highly as possible on search engine results for the query.Providing an optimal experience for users on mobile devices goes a long way in boosting your probability of ranking higher. It is therefore an important pillar in healthcare SEO services.
Optimizing for Local Search
Whether you provide healthcare services or you supply medical devices to healthcare providers, you should make it easy for potential customers who are close to you to find you.With the integration of maps and locations into search results, local search has been growing in utility and popularity. Searches that have the term “near me” are becoming more common.If a woman is pregnant, they’ll probably want to compare the closest health facilities to pre-determine where they’ll go when labor starts. If a physician is looking for stethoscopes, assuming that the difference in quality and price is insignificant, they’ll want to buy from the company that is nearest to them.
What Is Important When Choosing a Healthcare SEO Agency?
Experience in Healthcare SEO
A marketing agency can be good at what they do but if they haven’t worked with healthcare companies before, they may not be the best choice. For instance, the right medical SEO agency knows what HIPAA regulations are and how to demonstrate compliance in the content they produce on your behalf. They also know the patient’s journey and how to position your services appropriately.
Case Studies Detailing Successful Healthcare SEO Projects
Case studies are proof of an agency’s experience. They are also proof that the agency can help you. If it was able to make a difference in a case similar to yours, then it’s highly likely that they will help you.Additionally, if a company has many case studies to showcase, it means they have a high success rate. If they have only a few case studies, it may be a red flag.
Reputation
Doing due diligence before hiring an agency is always advisable. Don’t only depend on the reviews that they showcase on their website. You should also consider reviews on third-party websites, which are not filtered and have a much lower likelihood of being doctored.Honest feedback from different sites on the web, including social media, empowers you to make a better decision and to know what you’re getting into.