Healthcare SEO can be a little tricky. No one plans on getting the flu or spraining an ankle. When healthcare issues arise, users who turn to search engines to find out what to do (and where to go) are looking for information fast. Here are three ways that healthcare organizations can boost their search engine rankings and ensure that prospective patients can easily find them online.

Target Your Key Topics Effectively

When you're thinking about key topics to use for healthcare SEO, it is vital to keep your audience in mind. What are your patients searching for? How are they wording those searches? Though marketers for a pediatric practice might be tempted to use key topics like "kids health" or "children's doctor" in their SEO strategy, most parents searching for information about a local pediatrician are probably looking for practical information. Key topics such as "immunization schedule," "childhood diseases" or "infant growth chart" will be helpful in guiding parents towards your practice.

Create Original Content

Building off the key topics that you have selected for your practice, creating original content in the form of blog posts or informational articles will help your healthcare organization rise in search engine results. This can be especially effective if you time content around popular searches during the year. For instance, using the example of the pediatric practice above, traffic-friendly content themed around keeping babies and young children healthy during cold and flu season could generate a lot of interest and help push your practice to the top of Google's search results.

In addition to informational posts, publishing testimonials is also a great way to instill confidence in potential patients. Dr. David Geier of Sports Medicine Simplified suggests that medical professionals should also use their blog as a forum to answer patient questions. However, you should always be careful to provide knowledge without actually giving medical advice on blog posts or other informational articles.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Though there are certainly advantages to making any site mobile friendly, it is crucial for healthcare websites to have easy-to-navigate mobile versions that can be accessed via smartphone. Searches on mobile devices are becoming more prevalent as the smartphone market increases. If someone is searching for a clinic's phone number or hours of operation to schedule an appointment, it is important that such key information be easily accessible from the mobile version of the website. A click-to-call feature and an address that links to a mapping tool will help customers reach you quickly.

Just like with any industry, marketing professionals must to look at current trends and create meaningful content that users are likely to search for and want to read. In this industry, patient testimonials and helpful content can help potential patients establish trust and credibility with doctors long before they even set foot in an office. Add easy accessibility through the use of mobile optimization to the mix, and you've got a simple recipe for improving healthcare SEO.