In this current era of going digital, Search Engine Marketing in India is a popular trend irrespective of the business. But, its role in the healthcare sector cannot be rejected. The trend of hospitals providing digital services brings stability to the Indian healthcare sector which is falling short on infrastructure and other resources. Through digital marketing in the healthcare sector brands can easily reach out the patients from remote villages. Blogs, articles, and a good market campaign can bring your website into the eyes of your prospective clients.
Importance of SEO Marketing in The Healthcare Sector
Before reading on the importance of SEO Marketing in the Healthcare Sector, take a look at some of the essential facts:
- Around 58 percent of web users turn to digital marketing ensuring that correct medical treatment and procedure goes really well.
- Around 77 percent of patients search for clinics or doctors before making an appointment.
- Around 44 percent of mobile users search for hospitals after reading about the hospitals on the blog.
These facts are well supported by the quote of John Weston, CMO at Mayo Clinic, who said that “The consumer-to-patient journey is largely a digital journey at their moment of need”. He added further “If I were diagnosed with something tomorrow, one of the first things I would do is go online.”
This eventually takes us to the prime importance of SEO Marketing in Healthcare which is to rank on top in the Google search. Let’s see at some of the other benefits of healthcare SEO services:
Patients Want To Be Well-Informed
In the era of increasing health awareness, patients want to be well-informed. Around 60 percent of patients research the website before coming for treatment. In such a scenario, a good website that gives them reliable information that ranks well in the Google search comes as a prime priority. Thus, have a website that offers information about your key services. Talk about your physicians, their qualification, their education, office locations, and a photo. Link the names of the physicians to any of their publications or write-ups they might have contributed to.
Helps You Target Foreign Patients
India is the hub for affordable medical services. Many patients from foreign countries fly to India to get affordable treatment. This is a great opportunity for medical hospitals to turn them into their customers. For this, SEO has a great role which will help your page rank higher in the Google search. This will eventually bring more clients and business to you.
For Building a Strong Brand Image
A good reputation of the hospital is the prime need for it to attract patients from India as well as abroad. Here, comes the role of digital marketing. Launching positive online marketing campaigns, writing quality blogs, engaging webinars, and sprinkling it with the touch of SEO are some of the ways to attract audiences at large. Daily viewers flocking to your Facebook page and liking health-related posts will help you create a positive brand image.
To create a long-lasting relationship with patients
SEO marketing along with other tools of Digital Marketing helps you create long-lasting relationships with customers. For instance, take a look at this post of Fortis Healthcare Facebook Page.
“Did you know that men are twice as likely to develop oral cancer than women? There are several causes for oral cancer and we are listing down a few of the high-risk factors.
Visit the nearest Fortis Hospital to seek medical consultation and get yourself screened for oral cancer if any of these risk factors concern you.”
With this example, it is clear that such kind of information will bring the consumer back to the page of Fortis Hospital. This somehow creates an unconscious relationship between the viewer and the brand.
In my case, I have a very strong association with TOI. My day is not completed seeing the posts from the brand. This sort of association is created between the viewer and the brand through blog posts. This eventually impacts the brand name. Thus, creating an interesting FB page along with well-written blogs and then applying the magic of Search Engine Optimization to it is all you need to create an everlasting bond with the consumer.
Reaching Viewers in Small Villages
Through SEO marketing it is essential that you can reach a large number of audiences. An informative blog post published on the Facebook page can easily inform a person living in a far-off village about the risk factors of cancer or other diseases. Thus, publishing blogs and using SEO services to make sure that they are read is one of the vital tools to educate viewers in villages or small towns.
SEO Marketing is the Most Cost-effective Internet Marketing Strategy
The cost factor is another reason to go for SEO marketing. It is one of the economical forms of Internet marketing strategies. In other forms of internet marketing, you can earn instantly. For instance, through article marketing and other free strategies, the company can earn only in the short run. PPC is another way to bring in quick traffic and business. But, all these strategies are short-lasting. SEO is the only way to make a sustainable income in the long run.
With SEO you can expand your customer base targeting even more customers than before. For instance, if 1, 000 visitors come to your website. Think how much possibility you would have to convert it into your customers. Also, multiply this with months and years. This will show the amount of profits generated over the long run. Thus, going for keywords that the patients would use is a great way to come into their searches. For this, you can take the help of the keyword planner. It is important to note here that SEO is not a one-time activity. You need to regularly analyze the keywords and update them.
Higher ROI
Opting for SEO in the healthcare sector is a great choice because it gives more ROI. The results are measurable. Through Google Analytics, you can track the traffic, and the increase in rankings and conversions. The amount invested in SEO yields more return when compared to other sort of internet strategy. Thus, opting for Higher ROI is a great alternative. Apart from higher ROI, SEO helps you to make your website more user-friendly. It makes navigation easy helping readers to find information easily. Thus, SEO makes your website more approachable helping the search engines to crawl through your website.
Enhance Patient Experience
With SEO you can enhance the patient experience increasing their retention rate. Patients can order medicine online and can ask their queries via online chat adding to their experience. Also, patients can book appointments, give feedback, and read feedback from other customers. This eventually reduces the cost of every acquisition.
Future of SEO Marketing in India
The future of SEO services in India is very vital as India is about to become a digital leader in the Healthcare sector. India took a resolution in May 2016 and opted for mobile health. This action of India was supported by 30 nations. This clearly shows that the country will be a leader in the healthcare sector. Even Narendra Modi, India’s honorable Prime Minister gave equal importance to Digital Health. This change will create a great need for SEO services in the healthcare sector. This will create the need for developing a mobile responsive website creating a great need for creating impressive designs. The ranking of the site depends on creating a great design for the website.
Conclusion
We have seen the importance of the digital healthcare sector. On Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, Healthcare makes up around 70 percent of the share. As far as Google Plus and Pinterest is concerned healthcare contributes around 20 percent of the share. This shows how much brands are giving value to content creation and using backlinking to rank on the first page of Google search. SEO Marketing in the Healthcare Sector is very important.
Thus, the creation of a site that is easy to navigate along with interesting blogs is a must to create a reliable patient base.
In the end, SEO Marketing is one tool that will come out as your savior in the world. If you are eyeing a way to convert your leads into prospective customers and that too in the era of digital marketing, then SEO is a must for you. Whether you are a doctor, a medicine supplier, or a medical representative SEO is a must for your organization. Your website plays a significant role in attracting more visitors and generating more leads.
However, SEO marketing has many benefits but it offers many challenges as well. There is a privacy concern, issues of intense competition, exploding data volumes, limited information on the patient, the proliferation of digital channels, and social stigma.
