SEO for Medical Practices: The Ultimate Guide

If you are a doctor or medical practitioner, you know how difficult running a practice can be. You also know how difficult it can be to attract new patients and keep current ones.

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Fortunately, by utilizing your website's search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, you can reach a broader base of potential patients and establish your brand. Contrary to popular belief, SEO for medical practices doesn’t have to be difficult, and there are many resources available to help you optimize your practice’s website.

What Is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to a variety of optimization tactics for blogs, websites, and webpages, which help improve your position in a search engine’s organic results. Millions of searches are processed by search engines, particularly Google, every second, and users expect them to provide the most relevant results.

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If you have ever used a search engine, you know that Google ranks the best answers first, and less informative or useful answers rank last. There is a strong correlation between your Google position ranking and the number of clicks your medical website receives.

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By employing SEO techniques, you can boost your website’s online visibility and increase the number of clicks it receives. You can also generate more organic traffic, which will improve your ranking automatically. To achieve this, you will need to prove to Google that you have the best answer, and once you do this, you will rank higher on the search engine results page. You can show you have the best answer by posting quality, informative content on your page, communicating marketplace authority, helping Google read your pages, and offering a seamless user experience.

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However, it is important to note that SEO only uses organic strategies to increase web traffic. Paid strategies such as PPC (pay-per-click) are not utilized, so you will receive a higher return on investment (ROI) when you use SEO techniques.

How Do Search Engines Work?

Simply put, search engines are algorithms or systems used to index, crawl, and rank content on the web. Search engines display their results in an ordered fashion based on other user searches. Google is arguably the most popular and important search engine, but other engines such as Yahoo! and Bing exist as well.

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Even sites such as Pinterest and YouTube can be considered search engines of sorts since they are frequently used to discover content. Every search engine employs its own ranking criteria and methodology, but in the end, they all have the same goal – to help users find what they are looking for.

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Generally, it only takes a few milliseconds for a search engine to answer a question. This means that search engines are highly efficient, but just how do they answer questions so quickly? Search engines utilize bots, sometimes called spiders, to crawl through web content. Google refers to this collective use of crawlers as its Googlebot. The bots trace link connections across the internet, seeking out new and updated pages. Once the pages are crawled, Google selects certain ones to add its index, which will serve as an expansive library of web content.

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In the index, pages are categorized according to the information they provided the bot, such as keywords and loading time. This process is always taking place since the bots are always finding and categorizing web content. The order the bots display their results is defined through ranking. Every time a user searches for something, the results are ranked.

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According to the keywords entered into the search engine bar or tab, Google will swiftly comb its indexed pages to find pages that coincide with the keywords and the question asked. Google classification is decided by the best relationship between a set of keywords and several other ranking factors that compose the search algorithm.

On-Page vs Off-Page Ranking Factors

The Google algorithm is believed to use more than 200 different ranking factors. The relationship between these factors determines a site’s position on the search engine results page. Search engines do not publicly divulge their ranking factors, but numerous market studies have shown there are two types of ranking factors – on-page and off-page.

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As expected, on-page ranking factors exist on a webpage. For this reason, on-page SEO techniques serve to optimize these elements. Some of the most common on-page factors include:

• Content
• Heading tag
• Meta description and title.
• URLs
• Images
• Snippets

Google evaluates on-page factors to determine what type of information is offered by the page, which in turn will tell it how to index it. The search engine will also evaluate if the website offers a positive user experience and relevant content.

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Elements that demonstrate a page’s status as an authority but are not on the web page itself are referred to as off-page factors. Off-page SEO largely consists of proving a page’s authority and acquiring backlinks. Off-page factors include:

• Brand mentions
• Social signs
• Direct search
• Number, context, and diversity of backlinks.

The more relevant backlinks a website has, the more authority it will have. If a webpage receives a high number of visitors through direct searches for a brand name or mentions from authoritative sites, it will be considered more authoritative.

Avoiding Black Hat SEO Strategies

Google’s algorithm is always striving to improve the search experience for its users, so it aims to combat low-quality content. Using dubious methods to improve a site’s search engine ranking is known as Black Hat SEO, and as a medical practice, you do not want your website to use Black Hat tactics.

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Many of these tactics have been around since Google’s earliest days, and in simple terms, they help websites cheat the system. Some of the most common Black Hat strategies include:

• Cloaking – pages that offer different content to bots and real users.
• Doorway pages – pages that redirect users to malicious pages.
• Keyword stuffing – excessively repeating keywords.
• Link farms – pages that only contact backlinks to other pages.
• Comment spam – pages that comment only on blacks to gain backlinks.
• Hidden links and texts – pages hiding links and texts from users, not bots.

As someone who wants a user-friendly, high-ranking medical practice website, it is important to avoid employing Black Hat tactics at all costs.

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Unfortunately, Black Hat strategies still exist, however, Google’s increasingly advanced and complex algorithm does a much better job of identifying them. When a page frequently utilizes Black Hat techniques, they are penalized by search engines. These penalties range from a temporary ban to a complete drop from search engine result pages.

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In other words, if you want to rank high, you need to follow Google’s SEO guidelines and employ White Hat SEO (the opposite of Black Hat SEO) tactics. White Hat tactics can include improving a site’s usability, receiving backlinks from authoritative partners, and naturally incorporating keywords.

SEO for Doctors – Is it Worth It?

At this point, you may be wondering why SEO is important for a medical practice. After all, won’t interested potential patients automatically seek out your site? The short answer is no, if you don’t employ some SEO techniques, the quality of care you provide or your reputation as an outstanding medical provider won’t drive people to your site.

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The algorithm that drives Google becomes more complex as time progresses, and due to this increasing complexity, SEO is immensely important. If you don’t incorporate SEO into your website’s construction, no one will be able to find it. This could have disastrous consequences for your business. To make matters even worse, potential patients could turn to your competitors if they can’t find your site.

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Knowing the previously mentioned information, you now know you need a comprehensive, effective SEO strategy to:

• Give you an advantage over your competitors.
• Boost your credibility.
• Achieve high search engine results page rankings to drive traffic and generate clicks.
• Improve overall engagement rates.
• Encourage local potential patients to visit you.
• Improve users’ overall experience on your website.

In the end, SEO is about putting your medical practice in front of internet users’ eyes and attracting the audience you want to reach.

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The world of SEO is constantly evolving, and when you first attempt to employ tactics such as keyword research, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

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To help your page reach a broader patient base, you can start with the basics and build as you learn more. To do this, start by focusing on the following SEO techniques:

• Choose an SEO strategy – Define your practice’s strategy.
• Create content – Create content based on certain keywords.
• Keyword research – Utilize important keywords relevant to your industry.
• On and off-page SEO – Set out to improve your website’s usability and authority and build backlinks.

By focusing on a few key SEO elements, you can make a huge impact on your website.

How Long Will It Take for Your SEO Strategy to Work?

Since Google does not publish its algorithm, the amount of time it takes for you to rank on Google will depend on the changes you’ve made and your particular SEO strategy. Using the right strategy, you should see ranking changes within six to 12 months, and the changes you see will likely depend on what your goals are.

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If you are like most people, you probably want to increase website traffic, boost sales, and obtain more business leads. The top three Google results receive the majority of web traffic, so making SEO changes isn’t a quick fix. It should be part of your long-term SEO marketing strategy.

Crafting a Sustainable SEO Strategy

To obtain the organic traffic your practice wants, you must create relevant content. The content you create should be medical-oriented, and before you launch an SEO campaign, you will need to plan carefully. What audience are you trying to reach? How do you intend to reach them?

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Asking yourself such questions will help you during the planning stage. Unlike businesses that use sponsored links and advertisements, you shouldn’t expect returns overnight. Fortunately, a successful SEO campaign can produce more sustainable, long-term results. When crafting your search engine optimization strategy, it can help to take the following steps:

Define Your Objectives

The first step in crafting a solid SEO strategy is to define your objectives in optimizing your blog or website. Ideally, you should have the following goals:

• Generate more leads
• Increase organic traffic
• Boost sales
• Educate your market
• Reduce client acquisition cost (CAC)
• Increase brand authority

If your goal is to increase brand authority, SEO can help you by ensuring your website ranks highly on the search results page. By establishing goals, you can also set metrics, which will help you measure your SEO strategy’s success in real time.

Create a Buyer Persona

What type of audience are you trying to reach? Who is your SEO strategy for? What type of patient would you like to attract to your practice? By asking yourself the previous questions, you can develop an accurate buyer persona. A buyer persona is a description of the personality of the client or customer you want to attract to your business.

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By developing a realistic buyer persona, you can focus on potential patients’ pains, questions, and needs, all of which you can address. Consider potential patients’ various demands throughout the stages of the marketing funnel. Place more general keywords near the top of the funnel and more specific keywords near the end. This will help you make the most of your keywords.

Take Advantage of SEO Tools

To create a successful SEO strategy, you will need to know what tools to work with. There are many tools available to companies and individuals hoping to improve the ranking of their websites, and most of them can help you diagnose problems and make initial optimizations.

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The right tools can also help you track the overall impact of your changes. The two most important SEO tools are Google Analytics and Google Search Console, and they are both free of charge. These tools will play a major role in measuring the effectiveness of your strategy.

Google Analytics is a popular data analysis tool that can help you evaluate the performance of your SEO digital marketing campaign. It can assist by helping you:

• Identify your target audience and create an accurate buyer persona.
• Discover your most visited and high-performing pages.
• Identify which marketing channels generate the most traffic.
• Observe and monitor organic traffic numbers.
• Better understanding of engagement rates (ex: rejection rate, session length, pages per visit).
• Monitor conversions

The analysis tools previously listed are only a fraction of those offered by Google Analytics, which can help you during the planning stages of your strategy, as well as the implementation stage.

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Google Search Console is a tool that helps facilitate communication between Google and your website. It offers a variety of useful reporting tools, which can help you:

• Find any issues regarding the indexing of your website.
• Monitor the average position of your pages on SERPs (search engine results pages).
• Know if your site has been penalized by Google or hacked.
• Identify which keywords to place your site on SERPs.
• Identify the organic click-through rate of your pages on SERPs.
• Find out which sites backlink to yours.

Google Search Console focuses more on webmasters, so it is a bit more technical than Google Analytics. Despite its technicality, its interface is user-friendly, so you can direct more complex demands toward professionals and diagnose problems yourself.

Perform Keyword Research

Keyword research can help you discover the search terms that have the most potential for your SEO strategy, according to conversion, search volume, and competitiveness. It is one of the most important elements of your SEO strategy and your digital marketing strategy as well since it helps you identify optimization opportunities and establish creation priorities.

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To start researching keywords, make a list of terms related to your product, brand, and industry – you can use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to do this. Organize your list into which keywords should be used during each specific funnel stage. Once you understand the importance of keywords, you can start optimizing your pages using them.

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Users express their questions in terms of keywords. Keywords have the ability to activate indexed pages in a search engine, and when a user searches for a term, Google will seek out the most relevant matches within its page index and display them. The order in which search results are displayed will depend on different ranking factors. Google uses artificial intelligence to comprehend the intention of a search and the variations of a particular keyword.

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This means you don’t have to use an exact keyword or repeat it over and over. Even if a user inputs an incorrect or misspelled variation of a keyword, Google will understand what they are trying to look for. For this reason, you don’t have to worry about a keyword’s exact match.

On-Page SEO Optimization

If you want a strong SEO strategy, you will need to take on-page SEO very seriously. On-page SEO factors serve to improve the experience of your visitors and make it easier for Google to read your website. Here are some of the most important on-page SEO factors to keep in mind:

User Intention

Your on-page optimization techniques should focus more on users’ search intentions, which will differ from search to search. Ideally, your content and pages should correspond to what people are searching for, and one of the easiest ways to find this out is to use Google itself. After performing keyword research, you can use Google to find the highest-ranking results. Using Google can also help you determine what type of content you need to use.

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For example, if you sell costumes, you will want to be sure to incorporate pictures into your content. This is because when you search for a specific costume, more than likely, pictures will be the first thing to pop up on the search results page.

Length of Content

The length of your content can affect your page’s ranking, but it is not a direct factor used by the algorithm. Longer content tends to help pages rank higher because it offers more details and delves deeper into the subject matter. Simply put, it helps answer searchers’ questions more extensively.

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Depending on the type of patient you want to reach, you will need to tailor the length of your content. If you are like most medical practitioners, you have a lot of competition. For this reason, your content should be thorough and answer users’ questions in detail.

Publishing Frequency

Simply put, the more content you publish, the higher your page will rank. This doesn’t mean you need to spend all of your time publishing subpar, non-informational blogs just to rank. You must find a balance between the quality of your content and the quantity of it.

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There is no need to publish content that doesn’t answer users’ questions, and if you do, your page could end up ranking lower. Use content creation to your advantage to attract an interested audience and prove to Google that you have relevant and up-to-date content.

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There is no ideal posting frequency – you must decide how often to post content based on your audience’s demand.

Content Quality

When creating content for your site, you should focus on quality. Ideally, your content should be relevant, concise, easy to understand, accurate, and trustworthy. It should also address a user’s intention. By posting excellent content, you will increase the likelihood of receiving quality backlinks and generating engagement.

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When optimizing your content, you should pay careful attention to its scannability. Scannability is how readable a text is using resources such as lists, subtitles, and images. If you’ve ever been turned off by a solid block of text, you aren’t the only one.

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More than likely, the content you were reading had little to no scannability. By using subtitles, bolded text, lists, and images, bots, and readers can better understand your piece.

Keyword Usage

As previously mentioned, you will need to selectively utilize keywords when writing your content. The Google algorithm understands how humans use language, so it doesn’t seek out exact keyword matches.

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To rank higher, you must employ a term’s semantic field, in other words, the term itself, as well as its variations, relationship to other words, and synonyms. By focusing on this, Google will have a better chance of understanding the content on your page.

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It is also immensely important to place keywords where they will be valued the most. Bots tend to focus on the title, URL, heading tags, and the first paragraph of a page first. For this reason, you should place your keywords in these locations.

Images

The Google algorithm doesn’t fully comprehend the content of an image, so you will have to help it do so. Like written content, you can optimize your page’s images for SEO purposes. Using this strategy, you will provide textual data about the images on your page. You may use alternative text, image URLs, context (text around the image), and captions.

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Alternative text is especially important to visitors to your site who may have visual impairments. Alternative text should be a concise description of the image with a keyword so Google can properly index the image. Your pictures should also load quickly so they can be indexed faster.

Internal Links

Internal links are extremely important when it comes to on-page SEO. Internal links serve as connections between internal pages, and they exist to help lead users to other relevant content. Networks of internal links help Google better understand your website and find your content easier, primarily because links reveal the hierarchy of your pages.

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For example, the more internal links and the closer to the homepage a page is, the more important it is. You can use internal links to boost the authority of your site.

Rich Snippets

Content fragments from a particular page that provide additional information on a search engine’s results page are known as rich snippets. Rich snippets provide extra information about your pages to both users and bots and they serve to underscore your link on results pages.

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A good rich snippet will increase your site’s click-through rate. To create an effective rich snippet, you must use structured data since it is easier for bots to read organized content. You can do this by using plugins or having a programmer do it for you.

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Google also offers a list of rich snippets, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your purposes, and it also shows you which codes to use if you prefer to create one yourself.

Off-Page SEO Optimization

You must also utilize off-page SEO techniques if you want to rank highly. Off-page SEO techniques will show off your market authority and prove to Google that you are a trustworthy reference. Unlike on-page SEO, you won’t have total control over optimization when you are doing off-page SEO.

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For example, the option to incorporate backlinks to your website will depend on others. There are tactics you can use to increase the chances of this happening. Here are some of the strategies you can use:

Backlink Building

Links are often considered the building blocks of the web. They connect pages and allow users to discover and easily navigate content. Bots also use link networks to index content and understand which pages are the most important. Link building refers to the construction of a link network that leads to your pages (these types of links are called backlinks).

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The more high-quality backlinks a page receives, the more relevant it will be to the market (according to Google). It is important to understand, however, that you will need backlinks from several high-authority sites, not just a single domain or an untrustworthy site.

Acquire Quality Backlinks

As previously stated, Google aims to prevent and punish Black Hat SEO tactics. In the past, link-building was frequently used to generate artificial authority. By requiring high-quality backlinks, Google prevents sites from accumulating artificial authority, and obtaining high-quality backlinks will prove you are a trustworthy reference in the medical industry.

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High-quality backlinks:

• Are naturally used in the context of a page.
• Utilize anchor text properly.
• Come from sites with page and domain authority.
• Come from trustworthy sites.
• Have a connection to your industry.
• Are located in a prominent position on a page.

When assembling a link-building strategy, look for the characteristics listed above when seeking out backlinks.

What Is Local SEO?

As a medical practitioner, you are probably most interested in drawing people from the immediate area to your practice. To do this, you can use local SEO techniques. Local SEO is a type of SEO that focuses on helping businesses and organizations rank better for location-specific search terms.

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For example, if you own a neurology practice in San Diego, you will want to rank better for localized search terms such as “San Diego neurologist.” Potential patients may also use search terms such as “neurologist near me.” This allows Google to utilize its geolocation information to find nearby physicians.

Benefits of Local SEO for Medical Practitioners

These days, most people will turn to Google when searching for a doctor. This is because Google provides concise, trustworthy Google search results, as well as reviews. If a patient can’t find you online, more than likely, they won’t walk through your doors.

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To get patients through your doors, you will need a solid local SEO strategy. Some of the benefits of local SEO include:

• Attracting the target audience of potential patients to your practice.
• Maximizing foot traffic to your enterprise.
• Establishing authority in your field and areas of expertise.
• Reducing overall advertising costs.
• Becoming a viable contender with your competitors.

In short, local SEO will help potential patients who need your help find you. It can also help them learn about possible medical issues they may have, which in turn will encourage them to trust you.

Launching a Successful Local SEO Campaign

It can take a while to see results from a local SEO campaign. Fortunately, you can launch a successful campaign by taking the following steps.

1. Claim Your Listings

In modern times, trustworthy online directories such as Yelp and Google My Business are frequently used. Some, such as Best Doctors or Healthgrades are geared toward doctors. For this reason, you must keep your directory listings up-to-date with accurate listings. Be sure to claim and verify your directory listings from time to time.

2. Research Local Keywords

As previously mentioned, you will need to focus heavily on choosing the right keywords to incorporate into your content. If you are launching a local SEO campaign, you must choose keywords locals are likely to search for. What issues are potential patients likely to be facing? What local search terms are they likely to choose?

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By asking yourself such questions, you can figure out what potential patients may be searching for. You can also utilize a local keyword research tool if you need to.

3. Optimize Your Site for Local Searches

Most people want to patronize doctors and other medical professionals in their communities, primarily because it can be inconvenient to visit a doctor in another town or state. For this reason, your local SEO strategy should focus on your specific town and neighborhood.

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Effective SEO for medical practices includes optimizing for local searches so patients know you exist. Incorporate location-specific terms wherever you can to make them count.

4. Create Localized Landing Pages

Some healthcare providers prefer to target multiple locations within a certain area. There is nothing wrong with this approach, and as a matter of fact, it can be advantageous if you serve many areas or have multiple practice locations. However, you will want to avoid targeting too many locations, especially since it can confuse Google and visitors to your website.

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Make sure each location has its own landing page so the information stays organized. Use original content on each page to address potential patients’ concerns. Provide driving directions and any additional information patients may be looking for.

5. Incorporate Social Proof

Do you have proof that you provide exceptional medical care? If so, you can use it to your advantage. Social proof can be a powerful tool in the world of digital marketing and for good reason. Potential patients will want to feel like they are making the right decision by choosing your practice, so it can help to incorporate endorsements, positive reviews, and testimonials on your website.

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You can also include any awards or recognitions you may have. Take these steps to establish trust with site visitors.

6. Optimize for Mobile Devices

Laptops and desktops remain popular, but these days, most people prefer to surf the web on mobile devices and tablets. The majority of web traffic comes from mobile devices, so you must make sure patients can access your site from their cell phones.

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Make sure the design of your site is fast, simple, and capable of adapting to various types of screens. Ensure all the buttons on your site are touchscreen-friendly.

Why Hire elk SEO Services for Your Medical Practice?

If you are interested in SEO for doctor offices, elk Marketing is here to help. We offer a variety of SEO services, both paid and organic, and we can help your company increase its online presence and attract prospective patients from all walks of life.

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We specialize in growth SEO, and we strive to help businesses expand and thrive. Contact us today to learn more!

Sources

• moz What Is SEO
• TechTarget Organic Search Results
• TechTarget Search Engine Definition
• Google How Search Works
• Indeed White Hat SEO
• moz What Are Keywords
• Search Engine Journal Onpage SEO
• HubSpot Offpage SEO
• Yoast What Is Local SEO

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