Top 3 Trends for Healthcare SEO in 2016

The healthcare industry can no longer remain immune to the evolution of SEO marketing. According to Google, one in 20 Google searches is health related. Consumer search continues to change with the rise of mobile use, medical applications and more. If you want to prepare your SEO strategy for 2016, review these three following SEO trends and see which ones you can apply to your medical practice or business.

1. App Store Optimization (ASO) – If you plan to launch a mobile health app, you’ll join more than 100,000 applications. The mobile medical app (MMA) industry continues to gain strength in 2016. According to a report from Mobile Health Economics, the mobile health application market is estimated to double from $6.4 billion to $13.5 billion in 2016. How can you fight off feverish competitors? Use app store optimization (ASO).

According to Neilsen, someone who is looking for an app, like a fitness tracker, will most likely search in the app store. App store optimization helps you reach the right audience. Here are a few tips to optimize your healthcare app for the app store:

• Keep your title short – Limit your app title to 25 characters or less. A long title fails to fit and gets cut off in the middle. If mobile users can’t read the full title, then they’ll be less likely to download the app and your rankings will suffer.
• Stay Keyword-focused – From your title to your app description, make sure you include a few focused keywords. Note: Don’t overload your description with keywords. Apple and Google penalize you for the overuse of keywords also known as keyword stuffing.
• Downloads trump ratings – Focus on the number of downloads to boost rankings and visibility. There’s no easy fix to boost downloads besides hard work, clever promotion and a quality app. Take a look at the graph to the right to see how downloads correlate with search rankings.

If you want to browse more ASO tactics, check out The Kissmetrics Blog.

2. Unique Healthcare Search Platforms – You can boost your search ranking by listing your medical office on healthcare search platforms and medical practice review sites. Multiple medical practice review sites exist today. But, recent technology changes such as electronic health records (EHRs) and big data have led to an emergence of new healthcare search services. Aside from current review websites like com and ratemds.com, new apps and websites nowoffer sophisticated search options. Here are a couple apps who want to change healthcare search:
   • Zocdoc, an app and website, is an online marketplace available to patients who search for doctors, want to instantly schedule an appointment, browse reviews and get appointment reminders.
   • Amino, is a digital healthcare startup looking to improve healthcare search. Since 2013, Amino gathered healthcare transaction data from more than 188 million Americans. Armed with this data, the app offers a “patient-centric” search platform that includes personal preferences fit for an individual. For example, according to a recent article in Tech Crunch, “a female user who is pregnant can locate a doctor who has a low recent rate of C-section deliveries if she prefers to have a natural birth.”

Healthcare search platforms want to distance themselves from Google. Make sure you’re listed on these search platforms to expand your online presence, acquire links, and monitor reviews to see what people are saying about your practice.

3. The Rise of Voice Search – Voice search, like Siri or Cortana, continues to grow and expand from mobile to PC. Healthcare providers and facilities need to prepare for potential patients who use voice search. How can you attract people looking for the closest dentist on Siri? You can employ the following tactics.
   • Use queries of three to four words – According to Bing, two-word queries are the most popular for text search. But, when people use voice queries they use a string of three to four words. For example “What is strep throat?” This example leads us to the next tip on voice search optimization.
   • Answer the 5 W’s – Do you remember the last time you used voice search? You probably used the word who, what, where, why or when in your voice command. A recent article from Rosetta confirms the unique use of question phrases in voice search. To take advantage of this knowledge, use question phrases in your keyword campaigns. For instance, “Where is Dr. Smith’s office?”

Enhance your practice’s online presence or improve medical app downloads with these three essential SEO healthcare trends. If you have any predictions on the state of healthcare SEO, please share your thoughts in the comments. To learn more about healthcare marketing, read our blog “Are local reviews are hurting your healthcare business?”