The Role of Optimized Content for Patient Acquisition

Healthcare businesses are constantly searching for ways to acquire new patients. A cost-effective way to do this is through optimized content. Optimized content can help healthcare companies gain visibility in search engine results pages and reach prospective patients. This blog post will explore the role of optimized content for patient acquisition and provide strategies to create engaging content that builds trust and brings in more business.

What Is Optimized Content and How Can It Help with Patient Acquisition?

Optimized content has the best chance of ranking high on a search engine results page (SERP). When your content ranks highly on Google, you increase your visibility online, which helps prospective patients find you more easily.

Google continuously vets content and ranks the most credible sources at the top of the SERP. Being at the top of the SERP helps you establish authority and trust in existing and prospective patients. The more people engage with your content, the more they will remember you and schedule appointments with your business when they need healthcare.

5 Strategies to Use to Create Optimized Content for Patient Acquisition

To create well-optimized health content, you must understand the basic principles of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of tweaking content to have a higher chance of appearing at the top of a search engine organically, meaning you haven’t paid for any search engine advertising. Here are five practical ways to create optimized content for patient acquisition:

1. Use Content Keywords

With over 1.7 billion websites on the Internet, you need to use content keywords that will help your healthcare facility’s website rank high on a SERP. Using the right content keywords will attract more patients to your website. Choose keywords your patients will most likely type on the search engine, and check for the keywords’ competitiveness using a keyword research tool.

2. Add Internal and External Links

Using internal links that lead to another page on your website or domain can help you build authority on a topic, which increases your visibility. Links that lead to a page on another website or domain, or external links, can also help improve your credibility if they lead to trustworthy health sources, such as The National Institutes of Health or The World Health Organization.

Using internal and external links to build authority and credibility are simple yet effective ways to establish trust in new and existing patients.

3. Craft an Effective Meta Description

A meta description is a summary of your web page’s content. It appears under your page title on the SERP, which may influence the likelihood of a prospective patient clicking through to your website. Make your meta description concise (160 characters or less), using keywords to explain why your potential patient should click through to your website.

4. Position Visuals Strategically

To keep your content engaging for your new and existing patients, use visuals or images between the text. For example, you could display a colorful infographic on statistics related to your healthcare facility’s positive patient outcomes. 

5. Include Headings

Including headings in your content provides two main benefits:

• Your potential patients will have a much easier time reading and digesting your content when you break down your topic into subtopics.
• Search engines will be able to understand and code your content appropriately, which can help your healthcare facility’s website rank highly on SERPs.

Effective Ways to Utilize Optimized Content to Enhance a Healthcare Website’s SEO

Once you’ve optimized your content, place them strategically on your website using the following formats:

A Content Blog

Although it can be time-consuming, publishing content in a blog is essential to boosting your SEO performance. The more optimized content you publish, the greater your likelihood of appearing in search engines for prospective patients looking for a healthcare practitioner.

Choose a niche for your blog to focus on. If you don’t know what to focus on, listen to your current patients. What questions do they ask most often? Answer those questions in your blog to show how knowledgeable you are.

Social Media Links

How will people see your content if you don’t put it out there? Share it on social media to increase your visibility. This step is a simple, free way to broaden your reach to future patients.

A Website FAQ Section

A thorough FAQ section on your website can boost your SEO if you tailor your questions and answers to the most common questions patients typically type in the search bar.

Testimonials

When done right, adding testimonials shows prospective patients your customer service level. People usually only leave you a testimonial when genuinely impressed by your care and expertise.

Email Campaigns and Newsletters

Consistently sending emails and newsletters can help you build relationships with your patients outside your practice or hospital.

How Often Should You Update Optimized Content to Remain Effective for Patient Acquisition?

One of the most effective ways to boost your SEO performance is by auditing your existing content regularly and tweaking it to reflect updated SEO best practices. 

Utilizing well-optimized content on your website increases your website traffic and brand visibility. When you are visible online, current and prospective patients will turn to you when they need to schedule an appointment. 

Besides updating your existing content, you must be consistent with publishing new content regularly to keep your patients returning for more. Developing a content marketing strategy is a great way to stay consistent.

Although creating optimized content can be time-consuming, it is a cost-effective way to market your services and acquire more patients. If you don’t have time to create content yourself, you can always hire writers knowledgeable in healthcare and SEO, like the nurse writers at Write RN. Contact us to learn more about hiring professional health content writers.

References:

Larson, A. (2023, February 28). Boost Patient Acquisition with High Converting Content Framework. Cure MD Blog. https://blog.curemd.com/boost-patient-acquisition-with-high-converting-content-framework/
Loktionova, M. (2022, April 28). The Art of Content Optimization: The Complete 2023 Guide. Semrush. https://www.semrush.com/blog/content-optimization-guide/#optimizing-content-for-conversions
Spera, M. (2023, March 2). 6 Steps to Writing an Article that Will Rank on Google. GrowthBar. https://www.growthbarseo.com/blog/how-to-write-an-article-that-will-rank-google/?_gl=1*1jgviyz*_ga*MTk1NDUyNzQzNC4xNjgyMDE5Njc3*_ga_8FRC2RBC62*MTY4Mjk3MzkxNy45LjEuMTY4Mjk3NDYwMi4yLjAuMA..
Website Setup. (2022, December 26). How Many Websites Are There?  https://websitesetup.org/news/how-many-websites-are-there/#:~:text=It’s%20estimated%20that%20over%201.7,world%20contribute%20with%20online%20interactions.