Local Searches

How to Dominate Local Healthcare Searches in Your Area


September 27, 2022 For Dentists, For Doctors

Local SEO is a big deal. This is the algorithm that works to surface your healthcare practice when people in your area are searching for specific services, treatments, or products. With 46% of Google searches involving users looking for local information, ranking highly on local searches is critical to the success of your practice – even for specialists or those delivering telehealth care. 

Here’s how to elevate your practice in the eyes of the algorithm.

Claim and Optimize your Google Business Profile

Set up your Google Business Profile to your correct address and operational details. Once your listing is up and running, it’s time to optimize it. Describe your practice appealingly, accurately, and succinctly, and make sure it’s listed under the most relevant category. Add key information such as your address and contact details, operating hours, your services and procedures, and links where users can easily book appointments.

Also, be mindful of adding professional-quality photographs of your practice. You want these – not users’ own uploaded photos – to be the first impression people have of your practice. High-quality photos drive more clicks and result in more people choosing your practice over others.

Gather Reviews from Patients

Reviews are a key metric in surfacing your practice over others in local search. The more reviews (and the more positive ones), the more social cred your practice has, and the more Google will prioritize it. The number of reviews, how recent those reviews are, the frequency of reviews, and the overall star rating of your reviews are all factors that Google weighs. Build yours up by asking patients to leave a brief review post-visit via text or email. Let them know that a review helps your practice, and touch on the topics or areas that you hope they cover in the review. You can even incentivize reviews with a small gift card or “thank you” promotional item.

Responding to reviews in a professional, helpful way can also help with algorithmic visibility – and drives patient engagement. If you receive a low review, see what you can do to help resolve the situation; with luck, the patient will adjust or rescind their initial comments.

The Right Location is #1

Location is critical to success in healthcare. When ordering local business rankings, Google considers relevance, prominence, and distance. While you can build up your relevance and prominence scores with great SEO, distance is set in stone. If your practice is struggling with local search results despite your best efforts, a new and improved location – or even a satellite location – might be the right move. 

At Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty, we specialize in helping healthcare providers find their ideal space, and we can help connect you with the one that works for you. To find a healthcare space that works as hard as you do, talk to our team today!