On-Page And Off-Page SEO: The Basics

The Ultimate SEO Checklist for Medical Practices

SEO for medical practices is a little different than a normal business.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a multifaceted, intricate process that involves both computer algorithms and real people’s experience of a website. The factors that play into where Google decides to place any given page on your site can be split into two camps: On-page and off-page SEO. For the best shot at getting high rankings in Google search results, you’ll need both to be as optimized as possible.

What is On-Page SEO?

In a general sense, on-page SEO is all the steps you can take on your own website to enhance and optimize the content, design, and technical aspects of your site to enhance its performance on Google. Key strategies for good on-page SEO for every page on your site include:

  • Include relevant keywords in your title tag
  • Structure your site with relevant categories and sub-topics
  • Update page content regularly
  • Use short, informative URLs
  • Write compelling meta titles and descriptions
  • Use and optimize images
  • Link to your own relevant content

Of course, when it comes to on-page SEO and other aspects of SEO, content is king. No matter how well you optimize your titles and descriptions, if the content doesn’t help the majority of readers, they’ll leave and Google will know. Over time, this trend of providing unsatisfying content can tank an entire website and make it extremely hard to rank highly and be seen without spending ad money.

What is Off-Page SEO?

As is painfully apparent, everything online is interconnected. The implications of the naturally interwoven internet for SEO means that you don’t control every aspect of your ranking simply by controlling your website. Off-page factors, largely dictated by links to your website from other sites, let Google know how trustworthy your entire site is, and therefore whether it will show your pages in certain search results. Off-page SEO optimization measures include:

  • Building backlinks
  • Enhancing brand awareness
  • Guest posting on other reputable sites
  • Building a social media presence
  • Hosting events

The goal of off-page SEO is to get your site in as many other site’s mentions as possible. If people have heard of you through media appearances, word-of-mouth referrals, or other ways that your website had nothing to do with, they’re more likely to search with your name in their query, signaling to Google that you’re a trusted source of information, even if your site isn’t ranking well as is.

This can also happen digitally, as trading guest blogs with other websites allows both parties to link to each other, essentially telling Google, they trust me and I trust them. Over time, a guest posting and comprehensive link building strategy elevates your site to new tiers of trustworthiness, giving your content priority for a wide array of search results.

Comprehensive Medical Marketing SEO Services

Knowing the breadth of SEO is key to crafting a winning strategy to increase the number of leads that come to your site each month. Learn more about how we can serve your practice with the innovative and creative tools at our disposal by getting in touch with us today. Start a conversation with our team by calling our office or contacting us online today.