Solving the Mystery of Online Search for Doctors

Like many traditional industries, healthcare practitioners tend to lag behind the curve in their marketing strategies. The consequences, as you can imagine, are dire. Clinics that are slow to integrate digital marketing strategies are inadvertently neglecting the needs of their patients and, sooner rather than later, will lose business to clinics that offer a frictionless, connected patient experience.

The numbers back up this assertion.

• A Prophet study found 81% of consumers were unhappy with their overall experience at a clinic.
• Accenture ran a study on patient satisfaction and found that clinics with the most satisfied patients brought in as much as a 50% increase in net margins compared to customers who had an “average” experience.
• Another study from SolutionReach projects shows that 43% of millennials will switch healthcare providers in the next few years. The study goes on to state that millennials, on the whole, will choose doctors that offer better digital connectivity, communication, and services.

In order to be found by the growing number of unsatisfied patients looking for a more tech convenient healthcare solution, doctors need to understand the fundamental benefits of online search. While digital marketing is a holistic endeavor — with every strategy influencing the effectiveness of others — the most crucial area of marketing that every doctor must understand is organic search. This, of course, means solving the “mystery” of online search.

What Doctors Need to Know About Online Search

Online search is any query typed into the search bar, including paid, organic, and rich results. Based on the research findings above, there are two fundamental truths about online search in the medical industry that doctors should take note of.

1. Search is the most cost-effective way to bring in new customers.

In the healthcare industry, the most important type of online search is organic search. Organic search has shown to bring in strong conversion rates and ROI over the long term. The reason why is quite simple: Website traffic comes from people searching for topics related to the material on the site. Affinity is already established by this, as searchers already know what they are looking for.

A person searching for “cheapest dental office” will scroll through the businesses listed and eventually pick the one that offers the best combination of web experience, price, and location. Doctors who still budget for non-digital types of advertising can take some of this monthly budget and apply it to organic search strategies to see excellent results. Through keyword optimization, publishing valuable blogs and resources on the site, and optimizing for local search, doctors can ensure their site appears before competitors and they connect with some of this targeted traffic.

2. Local search is some of the most relevant traffic you can get.

While digital marketing can sometimes seem as impersonal as a billboard advertisement, the fact is that local search cuts through the chatter and puts local businesses in front of a regional audience at the most crucial time — namely, when they are searching for a solution. Local search is particularly influential in the healthcare industry, as a vast majority of search traffic comes from people searching for clinics in their area.

Local search is any query that stipulates a geographical location. For example, check out the search results for “doctors office in San Francisco.”

Notice how prominent Google maps is in the results? It crowds out many other local offices, because a map showing doctors’ office locations in downtown San Francisco is, in the eyes of Google, the most accurate response.

Results showing a map in local search are very common, and in order to be listed, doctors need to optimize their Google My Business profile with name, address, phone number, and other features.

PatientPop is one company dedicated to improving the digital identity of doctors offices by providing the only all-in-one solution, and a suite of practice growth tools for healthcare providers including ones to gain top visibility in online directories and track results from online search rankings. The company’s doctors are getting results too, take Dr. Pugliese for example, she grew her new appointments by 258% since implementing PatientPop’s all-in-one practice growth solution which includes optimizations of local search profiles.

The Value of Online Search in Building An Enduring Brand

Online search and local search, in particular, is the new best way to bring in new customers and retain existing ones. Creating a seamless digital customer experience from the first interaction through to booking appointments and beyond is something that not many doctors offices provide. Those that do, by understanding and leveraging the dynamics of online search through proven digital marketing strategies, are poised to be the most sought healthcare practitioners for a new generation of patients.