Already one month of 2021 has come to an end. Most of the medical practices had already started planning for 2021 in the last quarter of 2018. SEO is an integral part of the marketing plan for most clinics & hospitals. Here is what should be on your SEO radar in 2021:
Mobile-first indexing
Google rankings are now based on the mobile version of the web pages. Throughout 2021, Google has been migrating sites to mobile-first index. You would be notified when it happens to your website. Even if you have both mobile and desktop versions of your site, it is the mobile site that Google will use for ranking.
Page speed
Studies have shown that slow page speed and long loading time lead to abandoning the website. Google sees it as poor user experience and uses it as a page-ranking factor for both desktop and mobile sites. However, there are many Optimization factors which are considered by Google along with the page speed. So increasing the page speed does not solely determine the search engine rank.
Brand Mentions
Online brand mentions are part of Google’s search algorithm. The internet is changing. Earlier, links equaled trust, whereas lack of links indicated lack of trust. This approach is somewhat outdated. The web today has changed drastically. It is so much more than links and pages. It has now become a full-blown ecosystem where website trust can be expressed in a million ways. Unlinked brand mentions may be the timely replacement for a site authority signal the internet needs.
Amazon search
This aspect is not yet a ranking factor for healthcare. However, it may soon be, provided all the rumors about Amazon entering the healthcare space are true. Although Amazon’s search engine is used only within the Amazon site, it is still important as so many people shop on Amazon. If some aspect of healthcare is brought into the Amazon arena, it will be important to know how to navigate Amazon’s search.
Medic Update
Back in August, Google rolled out one of the most severe medic updates which impacted a huge percentage of the medical, health, fitness, and healthy lifestyle websites. Although, Google confirmed this was a global and core update which normally impacts all the websites. However, evidence proved the contrary. In order to recover websites from the medic update, we advise you to emphasize on the quality of content, link out more to authoritative sites, produce twice as more high-quality content to showcase your expertise.
SEO for healthcare is becoming tougher due to the ever-changing Google algorithm and the increased awareness amongst the industry players. It is not only about investing in search engine optimization, but the real returns will also only come when it is done correctly.