Blogging is crucial for private practice physicians looking to improve their online presence and bring in more patients. Consistently updating your blog with relevant, informative content not only helps establish your expertise but also significantly boosts your SEO rankings.
With 71% of bloggers identifying organic search as their top traffic source, it’s clear that well-crafted blog posts can be a game changer for driving traffic to your practice's website. By focusing on topics that address common patient concerns, you can improve your visibility on search engines, attract more visitors, and ultimately grow your practice. Let’s then dive into what makes a good, search-engine-optimized blog.
An easy and effective strategy to increase your blog’s performance is making your posts more readable. According to Illumination Marketing, the majority of users, approximately 86% of them prefer readable websites and stay on them longer. Keep sentences short at an ideal word count of 21 or less, as 43% of low-scoring texts have lengthy sentences. Also keep the maximum paragraph length to 6 lines or less–users will drop off if it feels too long.
What are they? Meta descriptions are also known as description tags, which describe the content of a webpage. These descriptions are important because they appear in the SERPs (search engine results page). An analysis from Backlinko found that pages with precise meta descriptions averaged 5.8% more clicks than those without. Furthermore, break up your post with different headings (H1, H2, H3- based on size and relevancy) to make it more readable and skimmable. It’s all about being user-friendly and delivering content that fulfill the user’s search intent.
Backlinks are crucial for increasing your rankings on Google. Backlinks are votes telling Google that your website has valuable information. Having multiple backlinks also gives credibility and authority to your website. According to Forbes, the top-ranked result has 3.8 times more backlinks than ranks two through ten.
To acquire backlinks, craft blogs that offer in-depth, original content with personal research, survey insights, and unique data. Including well-researched statistics, quotes, or findings makes your post a valuable resource, as journalists, other medical bloggers, or interested organizations will link back to you as a credible reference. Additionally, consistency is key. The more genuinely valuable posts you put out, the more for Google to crawl through, and the higher likelihood of improving your SEO rankings.
Linking to other relevant pages on your website (internal links) helps search engines crawl your site and keeps readers engaged longer. Furthermore, you want to mention, as you deliver relevant information, that you can “schedule an appointment today to learn more from your provider.” In this way, you continue to sell yourself as part of educating patients.
Keywords are the words or phrases patients use when they search for something in Google. Identify the keywords your patients are likely searching for and incorporate them naturally throughout your blog. Focus on long-tail keywords that match specific patient queries, and avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm readability and SEO rankings.
Write blogs that address common patient concerns, provide actionable advice, and share insights that establish your expertise. Content that is genuinely helpful is more likely to be shared and linked to by others, boosting your SEO.
Use images, infographics, or videos to break up text and make your content more engaging. Ensure that all visuals include alt text with relevant keywords, as this helps improve your blog’s visibility in image search results.
If you’re looking to get consistent, high-quality blog posts in line with your brand, schedule a call with MedCoShare’s MCS Services to learn more about how you can get blogs running on autopilot. You can schedule a free consultation with our team today and also receive a complimentary SEO website audit and social media evaluation, so you can learn more about your current standings. Furthermore, if you’re looking for a medical office space for rent near Philadelphia, PA, Marlton, NJ, or Houston, TX, do check out our available spaces today.
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