Get New Patients with Health Care SEO

Healthcare marketing trends are constantly evolving, making it essential for practitioners and DTC brands to stay updated and adapt to the changing landscape. As digital integration continues to shape marketing strategies, understanding the most effective and compliant healthcare digital marketing trends becomes crucial. In this summary, we will explore some of the top trends in healthcare marketing that are expected to persist in the coming years.

Video Marketing for Doctors

Video marketing has become a highly effective strategy in healthcare marketing. It allows potential patients to get a glimpse inside the practice, fostering a sense of familiarity and trust with the physicians and practitioners. Video content also offers an opportunity for providers to engage in the healthcare content marketing strategy with minimal time commitment. Compared to writing long-form blog posts, filming a 2-3 minute video on a smartphone is much more accessible for busy surgeons. Video content also tends to garner better engagement and reach compared to graphics and photos. By featuring doctors giving advice, educational pieces, and FAQs, practices can leverage social media platforms to share the videos with their followers. A great starting point for video topics is to have providers jot down common FAQs from patients, providing a wealth of content ideas. Embracing video marketing can give practices a significant edge over competitors who have not yet tapped into this trend.

Reputation Management for Google Business Profiles

Reputation management is a critical driver of growth for Google Business Profiles (GBPs). As Google prioritizes local search experience, user-generated content, such as patient feedback and reviews, plays a significant role in determining the placement of GBPs in local search queries. Patients now rely heavily on online resources, including reviews, to research the reputation and quality of care provided by healthcare practices and providers. It is essential for practices to implement a dedicated program to gather new reviews on both location and provider GBPs, preferably through automation. Additionally, Google's algorithm can analyze the content of these reviews and extract relevant keywords that can boost search rankings for specific searches. Reputation management will continue to be a key healthcare marketing trend, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a positive online presence.

Local SEO

Local SEO has undergone significant shifts in the past three years, particularly benefiting brick-and-mortar practices. The value of your website and its visibility for specific conditions and treatments largely depend on local SEO. For multi-location practices, key drivers of local medical SEO in 2023 include location pages and Google Business Profiles. By combining these elements, practices can achieve top rankings in "near me" searches. Implementing a Franchise SEO model on your website, similar to how franchises like Chick-fil-A optimize their online presence, can be an effective approach. Rather than attempting to rank individual treatment or condition pages for multiple geographical areas, focusing on location pages and Google Business Profiles can drive search results for specific treatments in proximity to the user. Another important but often overlooked local SEO trend is optimizing physician profile pages. By optimizing these pages based on the specialist's area of expertise, practices can increase their chances of appearing at the top of relevant search results.

National SEO

For national healthcare companies, content plays a crucial role in healthcare marketing trends. Many successful disruptors that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic have implemented highly effective educational content strategies through blogs. When targeting national search rankings, educational material becomes a valuable tool for driving significant search traffic to your website. Two essential aspects of this strategy are consistency and high-quality long-form content, along with growing domain authority to compete with well-established digital health companies in the industry. For instance, companies like Roman and TalkSpace have achieved substantial traffic and brand awareness through information-based articles and blogs. By providing valuable and informative content, healthcare organizations can establish themselves as trusted resources for potential patients conducting research on the services they provide.

Staying abreast of these healthcare marketing trends can significantly impact the success and growth of healthcare practices and DTC brands. By implementing local SEO strategies that balance on-page and off-site optimization, practices can improve their visibility and ranking for specific treatments in their respective locations. For national healthcare companies, investing in a robust content strategy, including consistent and high-quality long-form content, is crucial for driving search traffic and establishing brand authority. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, practitioners and marketers must adapt and leverage these trends to effectively reach and engage their target audiences.

Tracking and Data Analytics

In terms of tracking and data analytics, there have been recent changes due to privacy concerns. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released guidelines on tracking and data usage, specifically focusing on popular third-party marketing tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Meta (Facebook) Pixel. The HHS is concerned about the exposure of protected health information (PHI) to third-party platforms, as these tools do not typically offer business associate agreements (BAAs) for regulated entities. This raises questions about the control and security of PHI when utilizing these analytics and marketing platforms.

The HHS guidelines suggest that tracking technologies on unauthenticated webpages that address specific health conditions, enable doctor searches, or allow appointment scheduling without credentials may access PHI. In these cases, regulated entities must comply with HIPAA rules and ensure the protection of patient information. Healthcare organizations need to carefully evaluate the third-party tracking tools and remarketing strategies they employ on their websites to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.

To address the challenges posed by the HHS guidelines, some companies have developed HIPAA-compliant tracking solutions that cater to the specific needs of regulated entities, helping them maintain compliance while still benefiting from effective tracking and marketing techniques.

Google Ads and Performance Max Campaigns

Google Ads remain a prominent healthcare advertising trend in 2023 for booking more patients. However, there are notable changes and trends within Google Ads that marketers need to be aware of to optimize their campaigns successfully. Performance Max (PMax) Campaigns, powered by AI-based optimization functions, have emerged as a significant trend. Marketers must keep up with these changes and adapt their campaigns for success in the healthcare industry. To make the most of PMax campaigns, having a sufficient budget (around $50-$100 per day) is necessary to gather enough data for proper scaling. Additionally, having video assets is beneficial for maximizing the impact of these campaigns. It is crucial for practices to invest time in identifying negative keywords as Google Ads now uses AI to suggest keywords. Ensuring proper conversion tracking setup is also critical for campaign success, as optimization primarily relies on data and AI. Unfortunately, many practices have incorrect setups for conversion tracking, so getting this aspect right can greatly improve campaign results.

These trends provide opportunities to showcase expertise, build trust, and drive patient bookings. Embracing these marketing trends can lead to a competitive advantage and continued growth in the dynamic healthcare industry.

Programmatic Display Advertising

Programmatic display advertising is another major healthcare advertising trend. It involves using automated technology for media buying and ad placements across various channels and mediums in real-time. This approach offers lower costs and better real-time tracking data compared to traditional ad placements like television commercials or billboards. One of the top trends in healthcare marketing under the programmatic umbrella is the use of over-the-top (OTT) and connected TV (CTV) channels to deliver video-based ads to potential patients. Addressable CTV enables an omnichannel advertising approach, reaching patients across multiple devices and mediums. Geofencing is a powerful tool within programmatic advertising that allows healthcare organizations to target audiences based on their physical location. By delivering targeted ads to potential patients in specific locations and remarketing to them across various devices, programmatic display advertising can generate leads and drive appointments effectively.

Proactively managing and collecting positive reviews for GBPs contributes to a strong online reputation and boosts visibility in local search queries. Implementing programmatic display advertising, particularly through OTT, CTV, and geofencing, allows practices to reach potential patients in an omnichannel manner, improving engagement and increasing the likelihood of conversion. As healthcare marketing continues to evolve, these trends provide valuable opportunities to connect with patients and drive business growth.

By staying informed and adapting to these healthcare marketing trends, organizations can enhance patient satisfaction, protect patient data, and optimize their marketing efforts effectively.