Google’s Organic Ranking Factors for Medical Tourism Business

9 min readApr 17, 2024

SEO ranking factors for medical tourism are crucial for a medical tourism agency’s website to secure top positions in search results.

Google prioritizes useful, high-quality, and relevant content for users’ queries. However, meeting these criteria alone won’t guarantee a top ranking.

So, how does Google determine the top spot?

Let’s explore the key SEO ranking factors for medical tourism and their role in boosting your website’s visibility, attracting more visitors, and generating leads.

Before I go any further, I am Ismail Yusibov, an SEO specialist with over 5 years of experience. I have worked in-house, at agencies, and as a freelance SEO consultant, serving clients from diverse industries. I am currently working at “Make.az SEO xidmeti” agency. My focus areas include SEO, content strategies, content writing, marketing, branding, reputation management, and web development

My Linkedin / Freelance SEO Services / Facebook / Twitter / TrustPilot / Upwork / Facebook Page

Read all articles in the SEO guide for medical tourism agencies:

Does Google really consider 200+ ranking factors?

Google prioritizes content that is useful, high-quality, and directly relevant to users’ queries, aiming to offer the best information available. However, merely meeting these criteria doesn’t guarantee a top ranking. Despite the abundance of quality content online, Google assesses over 200 factors to determine rankings. Contrary to popular belief, meeting all 200 factors isn’t necessary to rank highly.

The notion of 200 Google ranking factors emerged in 2006 but was debunked by Google’s Matt Cutts in 2010, revealing the algorithm’s complexity. In reality, the signals considered by search engines exceed 200. Google’s 2016 announcement identified content, links, and RankBrain as primary ranking factors, though others also play a role.

By 2024, achieving a top Google ranking requires more than just these factors. SEO experts employ strategies such as authority building, website optimization, PR, and topical authority to enhance rankings. Now, let’s explore the key SEO ranking factors for medical tourism agencies.

How Google ranks a medical tourism agency website: 4 most important factors

The most important Google ranking factors for medical tourism agency:

Content
Backlinks
RankBrain
Topical Authority

Ranking Factor #1: Content

Quality content is important for both user satisfaction and search engine visibility. While the best content doesn’t guarantee top rankings, it ensures user satisfaction and meets their information needs.

To rank well on Google, publishing relevant, high-quality, and optimized content is essential.

Determining what constitutes “good quality content” can be subjective. What matters most is meeting user needs and satisfying search engine criteria.

Effective content writing involves keyword research and on-site SEO optimization.

Understanding user intent is vital. Tailor your content to meet the needs of potential customers browsing online.

For instance, someone searching for “hair transplantation in Turkey” likely seeks sales-oriented (commercial) content, while a query for “hair transplantation techniques in Turkey” indicates a desire for informative content.

What Makes Good SEO Content?

Assessing the quality of content hinges on subjective interpretation by individuals and objective evaluation by algorithms.

Good content resonates with both user preferences and search engine parameters. Simply gauging user satisfaction doesn’t suffice to deem content as good.

Key factors to weigh in content quality encompass:

Ensure your content aligns with user queries, providing in-depth coverage.
Clarity is key; ensure your content is easy to digest.
Engage users with an informative and interesting tone.
Enhance your content with relevant internal and external links.
Incorporate eye-catching visuals to enrich the user experience.
Boost your content’s authority through valuable backlinks from reputable sources.
Increase the depth of your content with specific facts and figures.
Avoid unnecessary elongation; concise yet informative content often outperforms verbose alternatives.

Ranking Factor #2: Backlinks

Backlinks, simply put, are links from other websites to yours. They play a crucial role in improving your site’s visibility. They signal to search engines like Google that your site is trustworthy.

Understanding backlinks can be challenging for business owners, especially given their often paid nature. Understanding where the money goes can be a challenge. Picture this: in social circles, trustworthiness spreads through personal endorsements, enhancing your reputation. Websites function much the same way.

Backlinks play a crucial role in boosting your site’s visibility. When reputable, high-traffic sites link to yours, it signals to search engines like Google that your site is trustworthy.

Andrey Lipattsev of Google confirmed in 2016 that backlinks are a key factor in SEO ranking.

Not all backlinks hold equal weight. Links from established, authoritative sites carry more weight, especially if they’re from older domains. Moreover, relevance matters — backlinks from sites in your niche are more valuable than those from unrelated sources.

What Makes a High-Quality Link?

Some clear signs indicate high-quality backlinks. It’s crucial to pay attention to these indicators as not all backlinks hold equal value, and acquiring poor ones can harm your website.

The primary gauge of backlink quality lies in their placement. Typically, superior backlinks are integrated within or above content, garnering more attention from search engines like Google.

In the screenshot above, the backlink from the Verge news page to the site named “Floppy Kick” is a very dominant and strong backlink. Additionally, the text used for the backlink (anchor text) is directly “Floppy Kick” and gives Google information about the content of the backlink.

Understanding backlink quality revolves around several key factors:

Relevance to the linked page’s topic
Authority and trustworthiness of the linking domain
Diversity and naturalness of link sources
Relevance and diversity of anchor text
Contextual integration within content
Social signals reflecting popularity
Link freshness and update frequency

What should you not do to get backlinks?

Avoid irrelevant backlinks that don’t correspond to your content’s topic.
Refrain from acquiring backlinks from low-authority domains.
Steer clear of linking from untrustworthy or dubious websites.
Don’t solely rely on one source for acquiring backlinks; strive for diversity.
Avoid using repetitive or overly optimized anchor texts for backlinks.
Refrain from placing backlinks in non-contextual areas within content.
Avoid employing spammy tactics or unnatural methods to acquire backlinks.

Ranking Factor #3: RankBrain

Google’s RankBrain deciphers user queries, particularly those unfamiliar to the search engine. It enhances understanding of user intent, enabling more accurate responses.

Google RankBrain improves search results by understanding user behavior and delivering relevant content. It focuses on user intent, ensuring valuable results.

Imagine you’re writing about “hair transplantation in Turkey.” Just emphasizing the cost and packages won’t help RankBrain understand your content fully. Users want simple, beginner-friendly info on hair transplant surgery in Turkey. To meet their needs, go beyond SEO and write content that connects with your readers.

RankBrain may seem complex, especially for non-SEO experts. To improve your website’s RankBrain, we offer 10 actionable tips.

Craft high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience’s interests and needs.
Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, keeping them contextually appropriate.
Utilize structured data markup to provide search engines with clear information about your content.
Foster a strong internal linking structure to guide users to relevant pages and improve site crawlability.
Focus on getting quality backlinks from authoritative and trustworthy websites within your niche.
Regularly update and refresh your content to keep it current and valuable to users.

Ranking Factor #4 Topical Authority

Many SEO agencies fail to inform clients about topical authority, a crucial aspect of establishing credibility and expertise within a subject area.

Essentially, topical authority building involves strategically planning and publishing content to improve a website’s authority on specific topics, thus improving visibility and ranking on Google.

Topical authority optimization is done to make the website appear more authoritative on certain topics by the Google search engine. In this way, the website is aimed to gain more visibility and ranking.

Topical authority is different from targeting a specific keyword and creating pages specific to that keyword. Establishing topical authority on a particular topic often requires much more content.

Websites with robust topical authority typically achieve high rankings across a broad spectrum of published content, a particularly vital factor for medical tourism agencies publishing content for various countries and specific medical procedures.

We have a step-by-step guide for you to build topical authority for a medical tourism agency website:

Choose Your Topics and Research: Begin by selecting a topic, such as “treatment in Turkey,” and conduct thorough research.
Identify Subtopics: Break down your main topic into subtopics like treatment costs, travel, attractions, and top clinics.
Develop Tailored Content: Craft specific content addressing each subtopic to cater to users’ search queries effectively.
Establish Connections: Enhance user experience by interlinking your content pieces related to “treatment in Turkey.”
Centralize Your Content: Compile all your “treatment in Turkey” posts onto one page for easy access and navigation.

In a nutshell, this explanation aims to show why having topical authority can benefit a medical tourism agency website. Such websites usually cover various topics extensively. The key is to ensure the website addresses all search queries and user needs related to its chosen topics. This can be done for multiple topics on the same site.

What Should Medical Tourism Websites Pay Attention to for Better Rankings?

Not all websites are alike. Medical tourism websites, in particular, pose unique challenges compared to other industries. Establishing SEO for these sites is complex and often involves extensive content creation to categorize information effectively.

Therefore, there are some nuances we can share specifically about medical tourism. While some of these are factors that directly affect your ranking, others are things that help you appear at the top of the search results page.

Relevant, high-quality and unique content

Although the title may seem generic, crafting unique content for medical tourism presents a challenge. Medical tourism content often lacks uniqueness, focusing mainly on promoted clinics, doctors, and generic information.

Simply offering descriptive and easy-to-read content isn’t enough. Medical tourism sites must strike a balance between informative material and conversion-focused strategies.

Consider a search for “rhinoplasty in Turkey.” Merely detailing the procedure isn’t sufficient; visitors seek recommendations for the best doctors and clinics, along with package details and contact information. Failure to address these aspects results in content lacking uniqueness and relevance.

Meeting the complex expectations of medical tourism site visitors requires a comprehensive approach tailored to their needs.

Using images

Using images won’t directly boost your ranking, they’re crucial for engaging users. Particularly for a medical tourism agency, visuals play a vital role. Showcasing clinics and accommodations through captivating images enhances user persuasion. Pre- and post-operative photos, along with testimonials, bolster credibility, especially for procedures like plastic surgery.

You need to establish credibility

The most important thing for a medical tourism agency is to build credibility. When users discover you through your website, your website should be able to tell the user that your business is reliable.

Research indicates that a staggering 97.2% of medical tourists prioritize ‘trust’ when making decisions, with 78% deeming it of utmost significance and an additional 19.2% labeling it as important.

Building credibility online can be achieved through various methods. Displaying accreditations, showcasing testimonials and before-after photos, sharing PR articles, offering free consultations, enabling live chat, and ensuring transparency in payment processes all contribute to gaining trust from potential customers.

Optimize your medical tourism agency website keeping the above SEO Google ranking factors in mind

Improving your website’s SEO is crucial for medical tourism agencies to rank higher on Google. By focusing on key ranking factors, you can boost your online visibility and attract more potential clients. Keep in mind that SEO is a continuous effort, demanding patience and consistency for lasting results.