Nowadays, it's common to see influencer doctors with massive social media followings dominating the internet. With all the buzz, it's easy for essential strategies like SEO to slip into the background while you think, “Should I be making TikTok videos, too?”
Our answer: not if you don’t want to. The truth is that SEO is the most effective way for medical professionals to attract the right patients, especially if you don't have a huge social media presence. It’s consistent, too – you won’t need to rely on the whims of social media algorithms.
In this article, we’ll give you practical tips on improving your SEO as a medical professional.
Why Does SEO Matter for Medical Professionals? Should Medical Professionals Focus on SEO vs Other Channels?
When patients search for terms like “cardiologist near me” or “pediatrician in Houston,” your organic (SEO) presence will help them find you.
Unlike social media, which pops up for patients when they’re not explicitly looking for you, searches like these are high-intent searches. Patients are ready to book an appointment.
Ranking high on Google doesn't just bring you more qualified traffic—it also means the patients are actively searching for your services as you read this.
While SEO may not generate overnight results, it generates long-term results. A post on social media has a shelf life of days, and ads require you to pay for each impression. However, a well-optimized page can bring in traffic for months or even years.
Your Website is the Prime Example of YMYL
In our use-case playbook series, we’ve been discussing how Google is tougher on certain types of websites: those that fall under YMYL (Your Money or Your Life). Because health is one of the most important aspects of someone's life, Google raises the bar for medical websites.
You need to meet strict criteria to avoid being flagged as low-quality. And Google doesn’t want to send users to a doctor or health expert they can't trust. Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines check if your content is accurate, well-researched, and written by credible experts in the field.
It’s crucial for you to showcase your expertise with E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) focused content and ensure your site is a go-to source for reliable health information.
After all, if you’re not showcasing why patients should trust you, Google won’t either.
How to Get SEO Right for Your Medical Practice
Show Off Your Experience, Credentials, and Team Bios
In healthcare, your credentials are your most important trust signals to your patients and to Google.
Ideally, you should include bios of all doctors and healthcare providers detailing their education, certifications, and specialties. You could have them on a “Meet the Team” section on your homepage or on a dedicated “About Us” page and in author bios below the blog articles.
Include team photos to make it personal. People want to see who they’ll trust with their health, and this transparency builds trust. Plus, it’s a great way to add relevant keywords like "Harvard-trained dermatologist" or "15 years of experience in cardiology."
Link your credentials to reputable organizations or journals when possible. This builds trust and creates backlinks (a powerful SEO signal). For example: citing authoritative medical sources, such as peer-reviewed studies or recognized health organizations.
Examples of SEO for Medical Professionals Done Right
Take a look at the following “Meet the Doctor” section:
The bio of Dr. Robert M. Pettis highlights his educational background, certifications, and decades of experience in a specialized field (ENT/Head and Neck Surgery). This builds trust for both patients and search engines.
Similarly, the South Florida ENT Associates packed a punch with the following credentials serving as social proof:
Numbers like "1,200,000+ patients helped" and "50+ board-certified physicians" prove the clinic’s credibility quantitatively. Showing over "30 years" reinforces longevity and trustworthiness, which are essential in YMYL content. Finally, having a broad network (37 locations) shows stability and wide accessibility.
If you’ve got badges, display them prominently on your high-traffic pages like the following practice:
Displaying awards from reputable sources (e.g., Angie's List Super Service Award) adds another layer of credibility. These recognizable seals act as "third-party validation," which Google loves.
Optimize for Local (“Near Me”) Searches
Google's local algorithm is designed to deliver results based on proximity. So, if you optimize for localized keywords and have a solid regional presence (and plenty of good ratings), you'll be eligible to appear in the local pack.
These are the top 3 results in the Places section, excluding sponsored results.
Patients often search for healthcare providers using location-specific queries like “dermatologist near me” or “family doctor in Boston.” No one wants to drive to another town for a checkup, but sometimes they might need to.
For example, if they want to go to the absolute best specialist in the state, they’ll undoubtedly include the names of the most significant towns in their search. That’s why geo-targeted searches are a must for local SEO.
To rank for these, focus on localizing your content:
- Include your city, neighborhood, or region in your title tags, meta descriptions, and headers.
- Create location-based landing pages if you serve multiple areas.
- Mention nearby landmarks or neighborhoods in your content, as patients might search based on proximity.
Don’t forget to add your full address, ideally on every page, to make it easy for Google to index your location.
If you want to know how your localized keywords perform, go to your SiteGuru dashboard. In the Insights tab, go to Keywords. There, you’ll be able to see which of your keywords have improved and which of them aren’t doing so well. You can toggle different periods to see how those keywords have risen or fallen in a given season.
A great tip is to track those localized keywords so you can monitor them closely. And who knows—soon enough, they might become your top 3 or top 10 ranking keywords, as SiteGuru also shows.
Great Examples of Localized SEO for Medical Practitioners
The above practices include their location on their title tags.
The second and third results mention both the exact location and surroundings. This is a great way to optimize for searches that include “doctor near (location).”
The following practice also includes directions, followed by a map on every page of their website. This boosts visibility in local searches by improving the site's relevance to users searching within the area.
Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Imagine you’re looking up a doctor’s office on Google to be sure about the address, and you don’t find it in the right-hand sidebar. Would you still trust it?
Probably not.
Your Google Business Profile is a cornerstone of local SEO for a reason, but it’s not just about filling out your name, address, and phone number and calling it daily.
To maximize your Google Business Profile for medical services:
- Add high-quality photos of your practice.
- Include up-to-date business hours (including work hours on any public holidays).
- Write a compelling business description that includes your specialties and location.
- Regularly post updates, offers, or news about your practice.
- Encourage your satisfied patients to leave reviews.
Who’s Doing It Right?
The following listing for the Orlando Eye Associates clinic includes every piece of information a potential patient needs.
A map, address, open hours, phone number, Q&As, reviews, an outside view, and high-quality team photos.
Structured Data for Medical Organizations
Structured data helps search engines understand your website's content. For medical professionals, a specific type of structured data is called a Medical Organization schema.
Unlike Local Business schema, which provides general information about any type of business, Medical Organization schema includes specific attributes relevant to healthcare, such as:
- Medical Specialties
- Accepted insurance plans
- Treatment types
- Services
- Location
- Operating hours
- Reviews
The more comprehensive your schema is, the higher your chances of your practice appearing in featured snippets.
But that’s not all. You can use other schema types to boost your authority even more. Google’s Person schema and Certification schema are both applicable to medical professionals.
Person Schema details relevant individuals, such as their name, job title, and attributes like their medical specialty and practice affiliations. It also works for celebrity doctors.
Just as important, the Certification schema can highlight medical professionals' certifications, qualifications, and licenses. It helps search engines understand their credentials and adds credibility to their profiles.
To check you’ve added structured data correctly, use SiteGuru’s Technical > Structured data inspection:
Videos and More: Creating Trustworthy Medical Content for SEO
You should showcase your expertise in appointments and online. Creating high-quality medical content is one of the best ways to do this.
If patients spend time on your site reading articles or watching videos, it signals to Google that your content is valuable, boosting your rankings. Perform keyword research with the patients’ key questions in mind.
Additionally, sharing your blog content on social media can drive traffic back to your site, improving your off-page SEO.
Example of Great SEO Medical Content
Dr. Dray, a dermatologist based in Houston, TX, appears prominently in the SERP for branded keywords (those that include her name) because she constantly creates engaging, SEO-optimized YouTube content.
She optimizes their YouTube videos for search, which helps her rank in video carousels. The fact that a YouTube video shows up as a rich snippet in the search results means the video is optimized well enough to rank for relevant search queries like “skin care.”
She certainly did the research on the type of content her audience aligns with!
You don’t need to create video content to be successful. But you need to demonstrate your expertise with some content, such as -
- Case studies with detailed examples of how you’ve helped patients or solved specific medical issues.
- Infographics that break down complex medical information in an easy-to-understand format.
- Podcasts where you discuss medical topics or provide unique advice.
- White papers on specific medical topics, new research, or treatments.
- FAQs that showcase your expertise by providing clear answers to accurate, relevant questions.
- eBooks featuring comprehensive guides on relevant health or medical topics.
All of the above can act as multi-purpose content for lead generation, traffic acquisition, engagement, and SEO fuel. Multiple content sources can help you target relevant keywords, provide valuable information that attracts backlinks, and increase engagement time on your site.
Reviews Aren’t Just Eye Candy
You may think of reviews as a nice extra bump in trustworthiness, but they play a huge role in SEO. Managing your online reputation is critical, and reviews are a ranking factor for both local SEO and general search.
It’s no secret that potential patients rely heavily on reviews when choosing a provider. However, reviews also keep your Google Business profile and website fresh with new content, which Google truly values.
Plus, the more reviews you have (especially positive ones), the more likely you are to rank in the local pack. For example, in the following SERP for the query “chiropractor in Orlando,” the featured clinics had 300+ reviews of 4.9 stars, minimum.
Using Reviews for Your Medical SEO
As a bonus, you can add your Google reviews to your website for even more third-party credibility, as the San Antonio Gastroenterology Associates did on their website:
List Your Practice on Medical Review Sites and Directories
You should also ensure your practice is listed on relevant medical review sites. These platforms often have high domain authority, meaning a link to your website can boost your SEO. Examples include:
Being listed on these sites increases your chances of being found by patients who are researching doctors. It also boosts your backlink profile, which is a key ranking factor.
Some of these review sites create rankings in articles, which often appear in rich snippets. If your practice gets enough notoriety and positive reviews through your efforts, that’s an extra SEO-focused credibility source.
Build an Internal Linking Strategy
Building a solid internal linking strategy helps patients and search engines easily navigate your content.
When you link between related pages – like a blog post about heart health to a service page on cardiology – it helps visitors find the information they need quickly.
And by creating a well-connected web of links between essential pages, you're signaling to Google that these pages are relevant to each other.
Who’s Doing It Right?
The internal links from the following blog post connect to other blog posts and procedure pages, making it easy for readers interested in a specific procedure to find more detailed information.
Don’t Forget About Accessibility
Take a look at the following screenshot from Lifeworks Wellness Center:
Here’s something that would probably go unnoticed by the average visitor: the accessibility menu on the lower left.
An accessibility menu is vital for medical professional websites. It ensures that people with disabilities, such as visual impairments, can easily access and navigate the website. This is crucial for patient inclusivity, legal compliance, and, of course, SEO and UX-related benefits.
A simple click on it, and you can see for yourself just how helpful it can be for users:
Similarly, ensure your website and forms are HIPAA-compliant to avoid any issues with patients or regulations. Speaking of forms, reduce friction by integrating online appointment-setting software so patients don’t necessarily have to speak on the phone to reach you.
Better Health Starts with the Right Search
When you’re a medical professional, you need an online presence. And there’s nothing like SEO to help you start getting it and maintain it for years to come! While social media is great for “boosts” to your marketing strategy, use SEO as your foundation.
With the right strategies, like optimizing for local searches, managing your online reputation, and showcasing your credentials, you’ll ensure your practice stands out in the search results.
Whether you’re a solo practitioner, part of a larger medical group, or a marketer with clients in the medical field, SiteGuru can simplify your medical SEO. With step-by-step guidance and up-to-date reports on all areas of your SEO, you’ll be able to achieve your ranking goals much faster!
Kickstart your SEO journey – try SiteGuru with a 14-day free trial.
