SEO For Doctors: All You Need to Know
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March 28, 2025
These days, instead of calling the doctor's office for advice like they used to, patients just turn to Google.
What does that mean for you as a doctor? Well, if you want your medical practice to stand out in online searches, you really need to pay attention to SEO strategies.
Think about the benefits of showing up in local search results for your practice: more new patients, more bookings for high-revenue procedures, and a full schedule of consultations.
At SEOLair, we help doctors achieve their goals by using up-to-date SEO strategies, setting in the effort, and staying consistent to get great rankings on Google.
We put together this SEO for doctors guide to help you out too.
Let’s dive in!
SEO means improving a website to help it rank higher in search engine results. (SERPs).
This includes on-page and off-page strategies like researching keywords, creating content, building links, and optimizing technical aspects.
For doctors, the main goal of SEO is to reach potential patients looking for medical services online.
When somebody searches for a specific procedure or type of medical practice or looks up their symptoms, your practice should appear to help them and turn them into patients.
Many healthcare providers use traditional advertising methods like billboards and newspaper ads to reach local patients.
While these marketing methods for doctors can create brand awareness, they often do not attract new patients.
SEO for doctors can help you bring in new patients more efficiently and at a lower cost.
To connect with potential patients, your practice needs to appear in search results for the terms they are using.
When you optimize your site for search engines, you get:
✅New patients without paying for ads.
✅More visitors to your practice website.
✅Higher rankings for treatment and condition-related keywords.
✅Increased monthly patient appointments.
✅New patient reviews.
If you want to really boost your practice's visibility and reel in new patients, there are some key SEO for doctors and dental practices strategies you shouldn't overlook.
As a doctor, you want new patients near you. Local SEO is here as one of the best strategies of SEO for doctors to help people near you find you.
When people are looking for medical care, they usually search for things like "doctor near me" or "cardiologist in [city name]."
By using local SEO, you can make sure your practice appears in those searches.
Begin by setting up your Google Business Profile (If you don't have one already)
A well-managed Google Business Profile, along with consistent information about your name, address, and phone, shows that your practice is real.
Make sure to complete your profile with details such as the services you provide, the insurance plans you accept, and high-quality photos.
Use features like posts, videos, and photos, as today patients are more visual than ever, and feel attracted to practices that include multimedia in their profiles.
Ensure your practice is listed on various business and healthcare directories, including Yelp, Apple Maps, WebMD, and other suitable platforms.
Before you book a hotel, you look at the reviews, right? Well, patients do the same thing.
They want to know what others say about you.
So, aim to get many positive reviews as possible, targeting an average close to five stars.
You might want to think about automating the process to make it easier to ask for and keep track of reviews.
This is probably the hardest because most people forget, but make it a routine to regularly refresh your listings (wherever they’re available), mainly your Google Business Profile, to keep all your information accurate and up-to-date.
A keyword is a word or phrase that people enter into search engines (like Google, Bing, etc.) to find information.
When we use the right keywords that can attract patients, we get to improve our chances of a patient finding us, so we start by doing a research strategy.
"Patient intent" means the reason a patient is looking for health information or services.
There are three levels of search intent:
1. High Intent Searches
These show that patients are ready to book an appointment. For example, searches like "dental implant doctor near me" indicate that patients are close to deciding.
2. Medium Intent Searches
These patients are further along in their research but may not be ready to book yet.
For instance, patients looking for specific treatments like "mammography near me" are nearing a decision.
Searches for conditions, such as "malocclusion," in dental SEO mean they have a diagnosis but might still explore treatment options.
3. Low Intent Searches
These patients are generally not ready to book an appointment.
When patients search for symptoms, they often don’t have a diagnosis and aren’t looking to engage with a practice.
Make a list of keywords related to your medical specialty using tools like SEMRush.
Analyze the keywords based on traffic and difficulty.
We highly recommend you focus on "high intent" keywords that have good traffic potential and reasonable competition.
Now that you’ve got your list of focus keywords, it’s time to create some content that targets them.
A doctor's website must have individual pages for each treatment and condition offered with a targeted keyword focus.
On the other hand, a good website includes fully developed pages for each practice location with contact information and maps.
A blog post is essentially a piece of content published on a blog, which is a section of a website or a standalone website.
Now, let’s focus on your main topic and identify 3 to 5 relevant subjects to develop. You can use these subjects in your titles, headers, and content.
Aim to post every two weeks. Monthly posts might not bring in enough traffic quickly.
Video is becoming very important for content strategy. About one-third of Google searches now show video results.
You can create a video to introduce your practice and your care philosophy.
At the same time, educate patients about treatments to encourage them to take action.
Social media is very important for patients in their daily lives.
Aim to post about twice a week on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, focusing on health conditions and treatments.
Website optimization is a crucial aspect of SEO for doctors.
A fast-loading website is essential, as potential patients are likely to leave if a site takes too long to load.
Increased page load time can lead to lower conversion rates.
It's recommended to use Google’s Page Speed Insights tool to assess site speed, particularly for mobile users.
Links to your website boost its domain authority in Google's eyes, but not all links are beneficial—local links from relevant sites are especially valuable for attracting patients.
Link building can be tough for medical practices, so directory listings serve as an essential source of backlinks for reaching local patients.
Local sponsorships are an effective way to gain relevant backlinks.
They enhance your authority and signal local relevance to Google, helping attract more patients to your practice.
SEO for doctors involves strategies that take time and knowledge.
Most practitioners don’t have enough time to invest in these efforts, so they prefer collaborating with an agency.
However, many SEO agencies don’t focus on SEO for doctors.
At SEOLair, we do.
