PhysDESIGN.com, Inc.
(800) 337-7494
The Local Search Engine
Optimization Handbook
for Physicians
Everything a doctor’s office needs to know
to get local leads.
Why Optimize for
Local Search? It's In
the Numbers.
G
oogle estimates that 97% of consumers
search for information about local businesses
and services.
Another factor that has really increased numbers of local searches is the
massive growth in the use of smartphones and tablets to access the internet.
People use their mobile devices like portable Yellow Pages, and seek out
nearby bars, gyms and restaurants – and physicians - when they are on the
move.
• By 2016, 88% of local advertising will be delivered on a mobile device
(Source: *Borrell Associates 2012)
• 61% of searchers consider local results to be more relevant than
standard search results (Resource.com)
• Approximately 3 billion search queries contain local terms every
month (Source: comScore)
• 70% of online searchers will use local search to find offline
businesses (Source: Kelsey Group)
So it is well worth finding out how local search management and optimization
works so you can get the edge on your local competitors and grow your medical
business. Here's the lowdown on local searches for doctors.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
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2
What is a local search?
Anyone with even the most basic
experience of search engines will include a
geo-specific term in their search if they are
looking for a doctor nearby. It could be a
state or region but is more likely to be
something closer to their home: a doctor
they know, a search for a specific specialty
in a specific geographic area.
The results the search engine brings up
will have specific businesses and
information such as names, phone
numbers, addresses and even map
locations. You’re probably familiar with the
mapped results that Google displays for
local searches.
In BING, you may have even seen
the carousel of images that they
have showing for some local
searches.
A – pay per click advertisement
B – “Google My Business” results
C – organic search results
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
3
Do I really need to care?
If you care about your medical practice’s online
presence then you need to think locally. Local searches are
the lifeblood of most doctor offices and if your office isn't
appearing on local searches you are putting your medical
business at risk. A local search instantly connects current
patients and prospective patients with doctors performing the
relevant medical services.
And patients are doing more than searching, with some
75% performing "additional actions" such as looking for more
information about your practice, you as an individual doctor,
checking out physician review sites and other sources
beside your website – and stacking your qualifications
against your local competitor.
75%
88% of consumers who search for a type of
local business on a mobile device call or go to
that business within 24 hours. (Source:
Google Mobile Movement Study)
88%
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
4
What about mobile
devices?
Patients – both current and prospective – are increasingly
using their phones and tablet devices to research and select
local doctors in their local markets.
Whatever type of business we are talking about running - an IT shop, a bar, a butchers or a doctor’s
office, you have to be set up so that mobile users can find you. In 2015, more local searches came from
mobile devices than desktop or laptop computers. And mobile users are more likely to be seeking out
local info than someone at home. 42% of smartphone owners are doing at least four local searches a
week. (Source: http://www.iab.net/localsearch.)
Source: http://www.iab.net/localsearch
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
According to Google's own
research, "50% of consumers
who conducted a local search
on their smartphone visited a
store within a day, and 34% who
searched on computer or tablet
did the same.“
(Source: Google, Understanding
Consumers’ Local Search
Behavior)
5
How are people
searching locally?
80% of traffic to a website begins with a
search query (Source: Formstack)
50% of local searches do not occur on
search engines, but on directories and
apps. (Source ComSource)
61% of searchers consider local results to be more relevant
than standard search results (Resource.com)
Patients Typically encounter local listings in one of three scenarios
Searching for a specific doctor or doctors’ office
The patient searches for a doctor by the doctor’s name, address and/or phone number. Doctors
should aim to have an accurate listing surface that reflects their correct name spelling, address and phone
contact information.
Using local search as an exploratory tool
Here, the patient is looking for information to help select a doctor by searching by keyword and
location. For example, “cardiologist in boca raton.” For these searches, your website content and ranking
prove critical.
Contextual discovery
Activity of the patient such as reading online reviews, participating in group discussions, researching
medical conditions, or looking at a Google map can be used to target relevant local doctors. Local doctors
are often displayed alongside such content.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
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How can local
searches work for your
medical practice?
To get their attention, you need to
know WHERE patients are
searching, and WHAT information
they are seeking out.
Search Engines
Maps
- as with the Google homepage, you
- an increasingly popular way to search the local area is by a pinpoint on a
will get a list of results, some paid
map offered by Google, Bing or Mapquest, etc. These show doctor office
listings. Your medical practice can link information when selected. Map apps are great for local patients (both
from these listings when patients want current and prospective) as they can visualize where your office is located.
more information.
Social Media
Online Directories
- is a great way to reach out to patients as consumers and to find you
- like the old Yellow Pages only less
based on positive reviews of former and current patients. You are also
bulky, directories offer doctor office
integrating yourself into your patients' personal online space and you
profiles, important information and also
can find out about who uses your medical services.
allow paid for and organic results.
Local Apps
Healthgrades, RateMDs, Vitals, Yelp, Yext,
Foursquare, etc.
Local apps for mobile devices - mobile devices are those most likely
to be used for local doctor searches and many apps have been
created to locate the nearest obstetrician, cardiologist, family doctor,
etc..
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
7
So, how do I ensure my
doctor’s office appears in
local searches?
Getting your medical practice into local searches is
challenging. There are many Internet companies offering local area
searches and they draw their data from multiple sources. There are
also the results of searches from big search engines that extract
pertinent information from sites. You need to understand where
prospective patients are searching for information and ensure your
physician’s office appears, whatever parameters are used.
It is essential to get listed on certain directories: Google+
Local, Yahoo! Local and Bing Places for Business should be the
minimum required for any small businesses. It is also worth talking
to patients about how they discovered your medical practice - Yelp
and Citysearch are good for this.
… and because you are a doctor, you will want to be
conscience of the Physician Review websites, such as
Healthgrades.com, RateMDs.com and Vitals.com, just to name a
few. We talk more about Physician Review Websites below.
Below we will provide some general step-bystep instructions to help you get you started
on the right path to local SEO optimization.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
8
Managing your listings
There are two ways that your
information can then be
disseminated.
Listing data aggregators
Manually
Listing data aggregators like Neustar
You can do it manually by going through
Localeze or Yext make it easy to manage your
different listing sites and filling out forms with
listings across many directories. By uploading
your data. This gives it an "owner verified status"
your information to their databases, your listing
that can improve your performance within that
gets distributed to all the directories they partner
site, but it is a time-consuming process
with. This can save you a great deal of time and
frustration if you have multiple locations.
.
A good strategy is mixing these two tactics together. You can manually claim your most
important listings like Google+ Local, Yahoo! Local, Bing Places for Business and Yelp and then work
with a listing aggregator to cover the remaining mass of directories out there. As you will see, there
are specific ways to manage either way you manage your listings.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
9
Potential Problems.
Duplicate Listings
Duplicate listings - with search engines getting information from several sources, overlaps mean that
there can be more than one listing for one doctor’s office location. This can be confusing for the people
searching and they may end up bypassing your office altogether. So it's vital that all information is consistent,
each and every time.
If your medical practice has multiple listings for the same address, that’s a bad thing. We see this a lot
with physician groups that have individual Google My Business profiles for each doctor. Don’t fall into this trap.
To find out if you have any duplicate listings, visit Google MapMaker.
Remove any Google duplicate pages you have access to and reach out to owners of pages that share
your business’ address, name, or phone number. We’ll provide some steps you can take later.
Inactive Listings
Have you changed the name of your doctor’s office or physician group, moved address or even
changed your web address? Then your old information is still out there and sending patients in the wrong
direction. You have to make sure that out-of-date listings are removed by tracking down the people hosting
it. You should always keep your presence fresh and relevant.
You may never track down every inaccuracy: after all look
at what you are dealing with. The spider's web that is the
Local Search Ecosystem!
1. Source:
https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local_search_ecosyste
m.pdf
2. The Local Search Ecosystem is complicated so a certain
level of duplication and inaccurate listings are inevitable;
however, keeping these to a minimum by maintaining the
accuracy of your data (either through manual updates or
working with a listing aggregator) will help search engines
and directories keep things organized.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
10
Local Search Ecosystem
In the United States, there are
If your medical practice information is incorrect at
four primary sources of data for all the
any of these major providers, it may override what the
major search engines: Infogroup,
major search engines have in their own database. And if
Acxiom, Localeze, and Factual. Other
you're not included in the databases of these major
companies like Yellowpages.com,
providers, your business is not going to rank as well in
Citysearch, and Superpages.com can
Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
also play a role in this cycle, sending
"fresh" feeds to the search engines
every couple of months.
In addition to the major
search engines, there are a
myriad of secondary search
engines that are also valuable in
driving traffic to your website—
and hopefully bringing you more
medical business. Most of these
secondary portals get their data
from the exact same places that
Google and Bing do—just one
more reason you need to make
sure your business information
is correct at those handful of
primary providers.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
11
7 Steps to Better Local
SEO for Doctors
We’ve put together
some “best practices”
for your review.
While not exhaustive,
they will give you a
good jump start on
the road to better
Local SEO
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
12
Claim your address
on Google My
Business (GMB)
You know those little boxes
that appear in Google
search results listing
company names, addresses
and hours of operation?
That is Google My Business.
Google My Business boosts
visibility in search, map
searches, and Google+. As
far as SEO goes, if you’re not
on Google My Business,
then you have no business.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
13
Google My Places
Google My Business is a free service that
complements your existing website by giving
your business a public identity and presence
on Google. The information you provide
about your business can appear on Google
Search, Maps, and Google+.
Getting medical practice listed on Google My Business is
as simple as visiting Google’s dedicated site and signing
in to claim or add your business address.
You then go through a simple verification process of
sending a postcard back to Google or, in some cases,
verifying by phone or through instant verification. A full
explanation of how to get your business on Google My
Business is available on Google’s support page, however,
we have included the most important steps below.
Once your listing is approved, make sure you optimize it
with a lot of photos that include keyword-rich descriptions
that let visitors know what your firm is all about.
Update: January 2016
Google recently made
updates to how their local
business listings appear
in search (replacing a
listing of 7 with a listing of
3 GMBs), and they gave
their Google My Business
dashboard a facelift, too.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
14
Some likely scenarios in setting up a
GMB listing or listings
Single location – one doctor
If you are the only public-facing doctor at a given location, and you are looking for more presence online, it is
advisable that you create a unique GMB page which is dedicated to you and the practice as one. Users searching
for you will find the office information and users searching for the office or its services will find you as the primary
contact. Google suggests this format: “Create a single listing, named using the following format:
[brand/company]: [practitioner name].” (source: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177)
Single location – multiple doctors
A typical scenario is for multiple doctors to be hosted under a single location, in which case the
practice should create a separate local page with a verified address, phone number, and any
additional information. Practitioners who work for the practice can create individual pages which
contain the contact details of the practice but it is important that the business name of the page
is that of the practitioner and does not include the practice name.
Single location – multiple practices
Often a single practice provides a variety of medical services that are sometimes
not entirely related. For example, you could be the owner of a clinic with
departments specializing in gastroenterology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatrics
and immunizations. These departments can have different hours of operation and
specifications, and it is advisable that they have their separate pages.
Multiple locations – multiple doctors
Particular caution is advisable if your practice involves a constant change of
locations and multiple practitioners. Setting up a GMB page, in this case, can prove
to be challenging as there are some factors to consider. Will each practitioner have
their separate page? If so, what will be the address listed? It is not rare that
practitioners leave practices and move to other physician groups or hospitals so it is
worth thinking about this possibility and the potential impact this will have on your
practice. It is important to follow Google’s guidelines on managing a Google My
Business page in this circumstance.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
15
There’s an App for that!
Access Google My Places by Desktop …
… or your Mobile Device using the Google
My Places App
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
16
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
1
Step 1
Registering your medical practice on Google is a quick and easy stepby-step process. All you need is a Gmail account, a phone number and
address.
Go to www.google.com/business and click on the Start Now.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
17
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
2
Step 2
Once you sign in, you will see a map. In the search box (refer to below
screenshot), you can search for your business.
If you are not logged into your Gmail account, you will be prompted to do
so at this point. Once have logged in, a map of the United States will
appear, and on the left you will see a form asking for your business
name and address. This is the start of the registration process for your
medical business or individual page listing, this form also ensures that
your medical practice business or name isn’t already listed.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
18
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
3
Step 3
Occasionally your business will already be listed with Google. If it is, you
want to capture that listing and claim it as your own.
If you have not registered your
office or name previously,
Google shouldn’t be able to
find any search results. At this
point the form will have a drop
down button saying “None of
these match. Add your
business.” Click this button to
continue.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
19
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
4
Step 4
Once you click on ‘Add your business’, you will be taken to new window
where another form will pop-up, asking for your business’s name,
country/region, address, main business phone number and category
(meaning what type of medical practice is it). Finally, you have to answer if
your business delivers goods and services, here you will check “no.” Once
all these fields are complete click “Continue.”
For reasons detailed
later, be sure you
enter the medical
practice name,
address and phone
EXACTLY how you
will want it to appear
across the internet.
A tip on “categories” … you can select “doctor”,
but there are some that may be more accurate
and helpful, such as “cardiologist,” “medical
center,” and “pain management physician”
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
20
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
5
Step 5
After clicking continue, the next page will show a map with an arrow
above your practice address. Additionally, a form will appear with your
Medical business’s name, address and phone number. Below that
information will be a check box, asking you if you are authorized to
manage this business and that you agree to the Terms of Service. Check
the box and hit continue.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
21
Step-by-Step Process to get
on Google My Places
6
Step 6
The final step in the process is to get a verification code from Google. As a
safety precaution, Google will not let your business appear until you verify
that your business is legitimate. Google will mail your verification code to you
on a postcard within one week. Once you have the card you will return to
your Google business account at ww.google.com/business/ and type in the
code. Once completed your business will appear on Google.
Once your office is verified, you can edit your My Business page to reflect your
Medical practice’s brand. You can add a description, keywords and images to
make your profile match your website.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
22
Get your “NAP”
consistent and on
every page
Set Up Your NAP
You've got to make it easy for people and search
engines to find you. To do this, set up your NAP, which
stands for name, address, and phone number (with area
code). This should be included as crawlable HTML text on
your site. Avoid the common mistake of only including the
NAP within an image -- images can’t be crawled from
search engines like HTML text. The most common location
for the NAP is in the footer or header of the site.
How much information a publisher requires can vary, but always think NAP (Name Address Phone)! These
need to be consistent over every site. Don't vary the way you write the address or name of the business or you will
get duplicate listings. Add business hours and a mini-description of your company as well as the name of the city and
state. Social media links are important and are a big part of your online reputation.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
23
“NAP”
Consistency is Key with NAP
Consistency is Key !
In addition to ensuring that you have an up-to-date,
accurate listing on Google My Business, you should also
have one on both Bing Places for Business and Yext
(Yahoo’s local listings).
If you already have listings on both search engines,
double check that the NAP is correct; if you don’t have
those listings, make them!
Consistent NAP = Good
Anytime your NAP information is listed correctly on another website (whether a directory or
social media profile), it boosts your medical practice’s credibility with search engines a little bit more,
improving the likelihood that you’ll rank for search queries relevant to your practice. In other words,
every accurate NAP citation for your office will increase your chances of making it onto Page One of
search results!
Inconsistent or Incorrect NAP = Bad
When your NAP citations are incorrect or provide conflicting information, you won’t get “credit”
from search engines, which hurts your local rankings and makes it less likely that potential patients
will find you when searching for the medical services you provide.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
24
Publish fresh, relevant
& original content,
consistently
Marketers who have prioritized
blogging are 13x more likely to
enjoy positive return on
investment (ROI). (HubSpot
State of Inbound, 2014)
Companies who blog receive
97% more links to their
website.
(Business2Community.com)
“Content is an important part of any
Local SEO effort, so make sure
you're not tripping yourself up with
thin or duplicate content.” (Source:
MOZ)
Search engines will give
preference to sites that are always publishing
new content, so always remain consistent with
your blogging and with your About Us, Biography and Service pages.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
25
Get “citations”
Make Sure You Deal with the Physician Review Websites
One of the most important steps to take to enhance your medical practice’s local SEO is creating additional
NAP citations across the web using directories – including those physician review directories that I am sure you
have seen.
To Google, citations equate to trust in the same way backlinks do. Citations are loosely defined as a link
from an authoritative source or directory, review site or local pages directory. Citation links help establish trust with
Google through the validation of business information
If your practice is already listed in one of these directories, it’s important to make sure that the NAP
information on your listings is consistent with the information on your website. If the listing doesn’t exist yet, create
one with the correct information
If it exists but is inaccurate, update it to reflect the proper NAP. It’s pretty easy to update inaccurate listings—
usually, it just requires finding the contact page in the directory website’s footer and filling out a contact form with
the proper NAP for your office.
The growth of doctor review
sites like Healthgrades, RateMDs,
Vitals, and ZocDoc makes it
abundantly clear that online reviews
play a major role in healthcare
decisions. Even Yelp is part of this
movement; one survey found it to be
the most trusted healthcare review
site, so it’s not just for pizza and
bagels. But reviews play another role
as well, and that’s helping patients
find you in the first place.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
26
Multiple Office
Locations
Each office location should
have its own web page
Gone are the days when you could list “area served” on
every website page footer with a reference to every nearby city
and/or county. Some doctor office websites still do this, but it’s
spammy. A far better approach is to create a web page for every
office location.
Avoid Footers With “Areas Served”
Build individual SEO-friendly location pages
This is separate and
distinct from your
individual Google My
Business Pages.
Although, it can be
helpful to include a link
to the relevant GMB
listing on the individual
location pages.
Individual location pages provide search engines and
website visitors with your NAP, store hours, unique office
descriptions, parking/transit information, promotions, testimonials
from happy patients, and more. It's also important you avoid
duplicating content across multiple location pages. For single
locations, also create a locally descriptive About Us page.
For example, instead of having one generic contact page
that contains the address and phone of all locations, create one
contact page with the main office and additional pages for each
of individual office location.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
27
Use social media
It may be tempting to skip using
social media channels like Business
Facebook, Twitter, Google + etc, but
there is local SEO value in
incorporating these channels into
your overall brand
Social Signals account for 5.0% of Google’s ranking
factors (source: MOZ Local Search Ranking Factors)
Social signals within the world of SEO are certainly growing year on year. Maintaining active social media
accounts will not also improve local, but also sitewide SEO.
Depending on your specialty and your branding philosophy, it’s possible that you have profiles across a
variety of social media platforms. That means you have several opportunities for inconsistent NAP
information to be spread to consumers and search engines!
If you don’t already have profiles on these platforms, don’t fret—the most important ones for you to
focus on are Facebook and Google+! Just make sure those listings provide accurate NAP information
and you’ll be on the right track.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
28
Encourage online
reviews
Online reviews, although many physicians may be worried about going for
these, are considered an important ranking factor for local SEO search
results. Google+ reviews are shown in the search engine results page
(SERP) and indicated by stars. Asking your patients to leave positive
reviews on Google+ and other online review sites is beneficial.
Reviews are among
the top 4 ranking
factors in local
search results (12.3
%) (source:
SEMRush)
Yes, you saw these before under “NAP.”
There, these are important for the consistency of
your practice name, address and phone number.
Here, they are important for patient reviews and
the related ranking factor.
The Local Search Engine Optimization
Handbook for Physicians
http://physdesign.com
29
It's worth the effort!
So isn't it time you started thinking
locally?
Summary
Accurate NAP info, quality citations strategy,
positive online reviews and an optimized website will
be the base for your ranking success. Other practices
such as producing content on your blog and interacting
on social media will be your next step.
If you still feel a little overwhelmed with all these steps, and your online marketing to-do list is
just too long, especially given your top priority tasks, there is no shame in that! No doctor’s office or
physician group website has ever appeared at the top of a Google search straight away. However,
stepping up your Internet presence step-by-step is easy, even if you don’t consider hiring a full-time
online marketing professional at this stage. But in case you do need a hand … give us a call at (800)
337-7494.
Request a Quote
(800) 337-7494.
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Handbook for Physicians
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