Backlinks\u2014links on other websites that lead back to your medical office’s site\u2014are worth their digital weight in gold.<\/p>\n
They’re good for your practice in two ways.<\/p>\n
First, a link on a heavily trafficked medical information or doctor-locating site will greatly improve your visibility with potential patients. The more patients interested in your services seeing a link to your practice at just the right time, the more new patients in the door, plain and simple.<\/p>\n
The second way backlinks can help your healthcare practice thrive is by improving your SEO<\/a>. Search engines like Google see backlinks as an indicator of quality\u2014if a well-known site with a good reputation links to information on your site, Google sees it as a sign that your information is valuable, and it improves your search engine rankings for searches related to that page accordingly.<\/p>\n But backlinks are only as good as the site they’re on. A backlink on a spammy or low-value site will actually hurt your SEO, and backlinks that you place in press releases won’t have much of an effect either way. The best backlinks happen organically; you produce valuable content that makes reputable sites more than happy to link to your site.<\/p>\n Here are six tactics for producing the content and performing the outreach you need to build better backlinks and visibility for your medical business.<\/p>\n Media sites need content, and expert insight into a current event is one of their favorites. When there’s medical or healthcare news in your community, write a piece and reach out to local media sites with an offer to let them publish it. A link to your practice in the byline isn’t much to ask in return, and it will boost your reach with local patients interested in health news\u2014and in finding a doctor with the answers they’re looking for.<\/p>\n Non-profit organizations, charity fundraisers youth athletics, hobby groups, and more are always looking for sponsors. A relatively small donation can give you huge returns in terms of overall community presence and visibility. You can almost certainly get a link or two directly from each group’s website, too, and if you can get local media to cover the event you can score a more valuable backlink there\u2014and get more exposure for a good cause, too!<\/p>\n If you’re having trouble finding groups, checkout Meetup.com. A link on this high-traffic site can be a big SEO boost, and it will allow you to target groups that match your ideal patient profile.<\/p>\n Discounts for medical services can be tricky, we know, but if there’s a low-value commonly-used service you offer that you can use as a loss-leader it can be a great way to promote yourself and spread a few backlinks around. Free flu shots for all students and teachers at the junior high down the street, hearing tests for police officers and their families, a basic checkup for all members of the Chamber of Commerce, and so on. These groups will tell their members about the opportunity on their websites with a link back to yours, and presto! You’ve got traffic to your site and to your medical office.<\/p>\n Volunteering your services to high schools, colleges, and other educational facilities can also be a great way to boost your community presence and earn quality backlinks on an ongoing basis. Hold regular clinics, provide checkups a few times a month\u2014ask administrators what they need, and find a way to give it to them. Their gratitude will translate into plenty of value for your practice.<\/p>\n You’re a doctor. That means you have years of education and experience that can be directly useful to anyone who likes being healthy. Pick a specific topic\u2014something related your ideal patients will be interested in\u2014and create an informative, patient-friendly guide or fact sheet. The best nutritional tips based on the current state of medical knowledge, key exercises to overcome a certain type of injury, updates on common medications and new alternatives\u2014the sky’s the limit.<\/p>\n You’ll want to publish the guide on your site, but the real value comes when you offer it up to other sites in exchange for a link. If the guide is as fantastic as it should be, they won’t need any convincing.<\/p>\n Creating a new website<\/a> devoted specifically to one condition and\/or treatment can also drive boost your SEO and linking power, both for your niche site and for your office’s primary site. Just make sure every site you make is high-quality and contains original, useful information; making lots of low-quality site to give yourself backlinks is a quick road to digital destruction.<\/p>\n Get your name out there alongside the kind of information your patients are looking for, and you’ll get plenty of organic backlinks to help you gather more patients from searches.<\/p>\n Like other media outlets, podcast creators are always looking for expert guests to bring in for interviews. There are tons of health-related podcasts; try to find some with listeners in your area, but even those with a wider or different audience can provide you an online profile boost and a valuable backlink.<\/p>\n Reach out with specific pitches\u2014offers to discuss a particular issue that’s relevant to your practice and to the podcast’s themes. Prepare well, deliver a solid interview, and you can find yourself a regular guest on numerous casts, with links to your site a natural part of promoting each and every appearance.<\/p>\n One of the easiest ways to get backlinks\u2014and improve your SEO in general\u2014is to make sure you’ve claimed your practice’s profile<\/a> with Google, Yelp, Bing, and healthcare-listing services like ZocDoc.<\/p>\n1. Lend Out Your Expertise<\/h3>\n
2. Sponsor Local Events<\/h3>\n
3. Offer Free Basic Services to Professional Groups, Schools, Etc.<\/h3>\n
4. Create a Useful Guide<\/h3>\n
5. Get Interviewed<\/h3>\n
6. Claim Your Online Professional Profiles<\/h3>\n