How are you managing your practice’s online presence?
Online business directories draw in direct consumer traffic, proving their weight in gold next to your practice’s website and social media pages. Although there are upwards of thirty business listing websites that a prospect may stumble upon, Google My Business, Yelp and Bing are among the top, as well as Facebook and Foursquare. Whether a potential patient is searching for your opening hours or patient reviews, they’re more likely to come across your business listing than your website. This is because your listing profile’s information significantly impacts local SEO as business listings are an important factor in Google’s search ranking.
The data you choose to post and manage on your online business directories can help you shape your online presence. Here are 3 ways how.
Optimize voice search results with your opening hours and address
Out of almost 75,000 businesses, only 4% are voice search ready. If your practice isn’t optimized for voice search, this can be a blow to your bottom line as voice search happens predominantly on mobile devices with a high percentage of requests for local or offline business information. Often, voice search queries are for quick pieces of information like business hours or an address. With a listing management strategy and tool, your practice can successfully answer any mobile voice search request for your hours, phone number, address or website from more than 30+ business listing sites.
Increase your website traffic with informative patient reviews
When a consumer lands on any one of your business listing profiles, they are likely going to be drawn to your patient reviews. With more than thirty directories showing consumers your website URL, this will undoubtedly increase your website traffic. They’ll be in the research stage, and your patient reviews will answer any questions they may have, and ideally lead them to your website. But don’t forget that online review sites like Google and Yelp and are included in the list of profiles that need to be managed consistently. User searches could vary from a service, your practice name, or a service + reviews, so a variety of relevant sites have the potential of displaying your practice and website as an option.
Boost SEO with both
Since user searches vary so widely, having your practice listed on directories and review sites alike could help boost your website’s SEO. One of the core principles of SEO is backlinks – also known as a link one website gets from another website. Another core principle is relevant keywords, so be sure that your profiles describe your practice’s services correctly. Always write your profile copy using popular keywords potential patients may use in their search instead of the industry vernacular that’s more popular amongst you and your peers.
Your practice can’t afford to have inaccurate listing data, so they need to be managed. With a listing management tool, you can save time and avoid losing business by maintaining up-to-date listings, removing duplicate listings, and cleaning up your overall online presence.
Sources
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-seo/local-search-ranking-signals/#close
https://searchengineland.com/just-4-of-u-s-businesses-voice-search-ready-finds-analysis-of-nearly-75000-companies-315143
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/drive-traffic-to-websites/
About the author,
Melody Gandy-Bohr
Melody is a marketing professional with more than 10 years of experience in digital marketing. She currently works for Demandforce as a Content Marketing Manager, creating engaging content collateral for several health marketing brands. Melody has extensive knowledge about the digital marketing tools that practitioners need to succeed in business, including email automation, online reputation management, patient communication tools.
Looking for PM or EMR Software?
MicroMD PM and EMR/EHR is flexible and can fit almost any specialty. Let us help you get back to the business of healing.
