For the healthcare industry, being easily found online across Google Search and Google Maps is critical to achieving your growth and new patient goals. Take a moment to do a quick search of the services you offer within your community. For example, do a search for “dermatologists in Dallas.” What you’ll find are dozens of providers within a 50-mile radius of you. How are you going to tell Google that your business should be ranked highly in those local search results – beating out all of your competitors?
If you are an optometrist, dentist, med spa, or a related healthcare services industry member, your marketing plan for 2025 needs to focus on getting found easily on Google. How can you do that? That’s what we’re going to break down here for you now. Use these actionable steps to build a strong marketing strategy for 2025.
Utilize the following marketing strategies to get found on Google as a healthcare service provider.
Establish Your Free Google Business Profile
There is no more important tool beyond a website to a business that wants to rank in the search engines than a Google Business Profile. This free-to-claim tool enables local businesses to provide information about their businesses to Google, including where it is, what you do, and what you have to offer.
You can learn how to set up a Google Business Profile for your healthcare service company within a matter of minutes. Once you do, start using all of its components, including:
- Business information: Company name, address, website, and contact information must be the same here as it is on your website, LinkedIn pages, or other pages. Ensure it is 100% accurate.
- Photos: Use photos to showcase your team and your work. It’s a critical component of interacting with potential patients.
- Local keywords: Incorporate the names of the cities you provide services in, especially those close to your physical location. Incorporate words that describe the services you provide, including any brand names, as well as where you are located.
- Reviews: Guide patients to using Google Reviews once they complete a visit. That means sending your patients a text message or email with a link to your reviews page. Then, when patients post a review, make sure you comment on it.
- Questions: Google Business Profile allows consumers to ask questions. These questions are a way for you to provide clarity but also boost your rank. Ultimately, these are topics most important to your patient base.
Your Google Business Profile is critical for several reasons. If you search for the services you offer within your local area, chances are good, you’ll see the Map Pack. It’s a set of three businesses located close to your physical location. These Google Business Profiles are front and center to the patient who is looking for solutions to their problems, and you want to be within that.
Your profile is also an empowering tool in that it provides you with a free way to build your brand and direct traffic to your website. It helps you connect with your patients but also allows you to showcase your services, benefits, and competitive edge.
Build Your Local Search Strategy for 2025
Healthcare services naturally have a locally focused patient base. That means to build your leads in 2025, you need to have a locally focused keyword strategy.
What is a local search keyword strategy? It’s a way for you to show Google and your patients who are looking for services within your specific service area that you are available to meet their needs. To rank for local search:
- Incorporate your location keywords – those keywords that also include the city where you are based (dentists in New York City)
- Use the names of the cities your patients come from for the services you offer, such as within a 30-mile radius of your business
- Drop in local terminology, such as information about the location of your business (what’s across the street or how far are you from the freeway)
Your local search strategy for 2025 needs to be very patient-focused. Ask yourself what your patients are looking for in a provider within your area. Do you offer specific branded skincare treatments? Use that alongside your location as a keyword.
Onsite Optimization Strategies for 2025
The foundation of all of your marketing efforts has to be on your business’s website. Your website must:
- Showcase what you do and why
- Incorporate your comprehensive brand reputation
- Offer insightful information on what you offer
- Create a clear strategy for patients to find you, learn from you, and then set up an appointment
- Meet all technical SEO requirements
There are several key marketing strategies for healthcare service providers that can enhance these areas. For 2025, here’s where to start with online SEO:
- Focus on EEAT: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are the foundation of an optimized SEO website. It is no longer possible to gimmick the system. For any licensed professional, it is critical to demonstrate this. You have to demonstrate your ability through these strategies.
- Optimize your website’s usability: Ensure your site navigation is clear. Ask a friend who has never used your site to navigate it.
- Optimize your pages: Incorporate your local keywords into headings on your site. Offer a variety of styles of content, such as videos, photos, bullet points, and infographics.
- Incorporate internal links: A natural internal link strategy will help people navigate your site easily. It will also show search engines where to go next to learn more about your services.
- Use clear calls to action: After reading your content, what do you want people to do? Call you, fill out a form, or do something else? Make sure your call to action is clear and organized.
These on-site search engine strategies help Google recognize your site’s value, which will drive more people to it.
Build Your Reputation to Show Google Your Value
To get found online, it is necessary to have some type of social proof. Anyone can say anything in their marketing, but what really makes the difference is demonstrating what you can do and are doing for your patients. Reviews are a big part of healthcare service marketing. They help Google see the value you provide to your patients. At the same time, they show your would-be patients exactly what you can do for them.
Google Business Profile is an excellent tool for capturing reviews. To maximize their benefit to your business, focus on the following:
- Create a way for all of your patients to leave reviews. SMS text messages – like those you send for appointment reminders – can direct patients to your Google Business Profile to leave a review. Send this message within the hours of their appointment and then again after their follow-up.
- Ask patients for testimonials: A short video testimonial is a fantastic way to build confidence in new patients. Use these video testimonials on your social media pages and website.
- Utilize email newsletters. Email newsletters are an excellent way to get reviews from patients who have recently visited your office and reinforce your brand messaging. Use them to offer insight and resources for your patients to use to achieve specific goals. For example, could follow-up care improve their skincare? What can they do to combat skin damage during summer or dry skin during winter?
Once you start to get responses from your patients, the next step is to use those reviews wisely. You can use them in quotes on your website. Consider creating a before and after page on your website that demonstrates real patient reviews and outcomes. Use them in your marketing efforts.
Most importantly, respond to your reviews. This is a great way to build your reputation as a provider, especially when you do so in a positive, visible way online. For example, you receive an excellent review from a patient who came in for a med spa appointment. Showcase that review, share it, and make sure you’re thanking that person. Add a personal touch to it, such as “It was great to see you…”
If you have negative reviews, it’s even more important to respond to them. Do so in a positive way, “I’m sorry this has been your experience. I want to learn more and fix the problem for you. Contact …..”
How to Build Your Marketing Strategies for 2025 with Confidence
There are so many ways to get found by Google today, and no single way is the best. Instead, you need a comprehensive approach to marketing that incorporates numerous strategies. That’s where Surefire Local can offer you help.
It is a single, all-in-one, and easy-to-use platform that allows you to market your healthcare business with confidence, speed, and effectiveness. It offers review request tools, SEO strategy-building steps, online advertising, and much more. Ultimately, it grows your business’s online visibility, boosts your patient base, and drives revenue growth.
If you’re a healthcare business, including optometrist, dermatologist, med spa provider, dentist, or other fields, reach out to Surefire Local now for a free demo. See what we can do for you.