SEO For Doctors: 10 Tips to Get More Patients Online [2025 Edition]

82.8% of patients use search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) to find a doctor.

If you’re a doctor who is looking to attract patients online, SEO is the BEST tool to build trust and improve your online presence. This is because more and more people are turning to Google to find medical advice and professional help – thanks to the rise of digital media. 

For example, consider the search query “best plastic surgeon in London.” When a patient or anyone interested in that topic is looking for a QUALIFIED doctor who can address their medical needs.

Here’s where having your own website that’s properly optimized for SEO helps your practice appear on top of Google search results, ultimately helping you attract more clients.

In this guide, you’ll learn;

• The benefits of using SEO for doctors
• 10 proven strategies to get more patients for your practice website
• Real-world examples and more

Why Is SEO Important for Doctors?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is ESSENTIAL for doctors because it offers so many benefits, including;

• It helps you attract new patients and book appointments online.
• Helps you build an online reputation, brand, and credibility as a doctor in your specialized skill (such as gynecology, cardiology, etc).
• Local SEO helps you attract patients from the surrounding area.
• SEO gives you an advantage over your peers who don’t run a website or have an online presence.

Also, SEO allows you to optimize your online presence for keywords that potential patients are searching for, such as;

• private practice near me
• best family doctor or 
• specialist for [condition]

When it comes to receiving health care, the majority of patients have sought services at a private practice (67.9%), according to Doctor. 

The above stat reveals the popularity of private practices and the importance of having an SEO strategy for doctors who want to attract more patients. Enough said, let’s now discuss the BEST SEO strategies for doctors.

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10 Strategies To Perform SEO for Doctors [2025 Guide]

1. Local SEO: The Foundation of SEO for Doctors

Local SEO (Google My Business) is a MUST if you’re offering healthcare and emergency medical services.

Why? Let’s say a patient who needs immediate medical attention (such as heart stroke, brain stroke, seizures, etc), might search for healthcare providers in their area.

Here’s where local SEO comes into play which will help your medical services appear on top of Google search results. 

Here is what you need to do as a part of local SEO for doctors:

1. Claim Your Business Listings

If you want your patients to easily find your website and business on Google Search and Maps, you need to claim your listing on Google Business. 

Here are a few simple steps involved in creating and verifying your Google Business listing;

• Create a Google Business Profile account: Sign in to your Google account or create a new one.
• Add your business: Search for your practice business and claim it if it already exists. If not, add your business information including operational hours, phone number, etc.
• Verify your business: Once it’s added, Google will send a postcard to your business address with a verification code. Once you receive it, enter the code online to verify your listing. That’s it, you’re done!

If you want to simplify your online marketing efforts and increase local visibility, we recommend Semrush Local. 

Why should you use it? The BIGGEST benefit is that it can help you optimize your Google Business Profile and automatically list your business in 150+ local directories. It can also  help you 

• Track your business’s citations across the web to ensure NAP consistency
• Respond to reviews and monitor your business’s reputation
• Provide AI-powered auto-replies and reply suggestions and more

The best part? You can grab Semrush Local’s free trial for the next 14 days.

2. Utilize Listings

For patients to find your details online, you need to provide ACCURATE information that includes hours of operation, services, and practice photos. You can also include special features like appointment scheduling if available.

You can use Google My Business to claim your listing to add such information online. Most doctors and medical practitioners also use listing directories and citation sites. Here are a few top citation sites where you can build listings for doctors.

• doctor.webmd.com
• HealthGrades.com
• RateMDs.com
• Zocdoc

Make sure the NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) details are consistent across all platforms including your Google Business profile.

3. Get Patient Reviews

Patient reviews are important for two reasons: they can help you build credibility and Google trusts user signals like reviews.

The best tips to get more patient reviews are;

• Make it easier for satisfied patients to leave positive reviews by providing clear instructions on how to leave a review on popular platforms like Google, Facebook, G2, Yelp, etc.
•  Respond to ALL the user reviews to engage with patients and address any concerns.
• Try offering special incentives for patients who leave reviews by offering a small discount or zero admission fee.

2. Start With Website

A Milestone report unveiled that patients primarily book doctor’s appointments through hospital websites (83%), followed by health insurance company sites (54%), health information websites (50%), and online review platforms (26%).

So, having your own website definitely helps you attract more patients as a doctor.

Fortunately, starting your own website is NOT rocket science. Here’s a simple guide on how to create a good website as a doctor that too under a small budget.

We recommend the self-hosted WordPress platform for creating a site, because it’s the most powerful CMS.

To use WordPress, you need web hosting where you can host all your files, images, blog posts, services page, etc. Hostinger is an excellent choice, as it’s not only used by millions of sites but also offers affordable hosting plans starting under $3 per month.

To get started, visit this link to land on Hostinger’s website.

Click on the Claim Deal button to choose a hosting plan that suits your budget and website needs. 

For most people, the Premium plan is enough which costs just $2.69/mo and offers a FREE domain.

As you can see above, for 48 months (which is 4 years), the hosting only costs you $130 that includes a free domain, free website backups, SSD storage, free email, and more.

For more information, check out this free guide on installing WordPress on Hostinger. In case you’ve any more questions with website setup, email us at [email protected] and we’d be glad to help.

Improve Your Current Website Design

Once your website is set up, ensure your website is user-friendly and professional.

Here are some tips to improve your website’s design.

• Use landing pages, as they can help you with better conversion rates. You can use page builder plugins like Elementor or Hostinger’s website builder to easily design and customize landing pages for your medical website.
• Show social proof on your website as it builds trust and attracts patients. You can include patient reviews and testimonials, patient case studies, awards and recognitions, etc.
• Add live chat functionality to your website, as it can significantly boost SEO for doctors. Patients often prefer instant communication. Fortunately, with the rise of AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, you can easily integrate a 24/7 live chat feature on your site that can answer common patient queries, booking appointments, etc.

Implement SEO Best Practices for all Site Pages

Here are some of the best SEO practices to boost organic rankings.

• Create content: It’s a good idea to create blog posts regularly that help you find patients online. You can analyze websites from other doctors to come up with topic ideas.
• Optimize meta titles and descriptions: Meta titles and descriptions play a key role in content optimization. Make sure they’re unique and engaging so you can get more clicks from organic search.
• Write optimized headers: Headers (h1), subheaders (h2, h3, h4, etc) are important while optimizing your pages or content. Make sure to include relevant keywords that describe your services you want to offer. Use descriptive H1 tags that include primary keywords and don’t use more than one H1 per page.
• Include keyword-rich URLs: Keep your URLs short and sweet. Use a primary keyword naturally. Let’s say your target keyword is “Orthopedic Surgeon Services in New York”, you can use an optimized URL like “ny-ortho-surgeons” or “ny-orthopedic-surgeon” instead of a lengthy URL such as “orthopedic-surgeon-services-in-new-york-city.” 
• Add ALT text for images: Use relevant ALT tags to accurately describe the images that you use on your website. For example, instead of “image123.jpg”, use “doctor’s stethoscope”.

Improve Website Structure

You also need to improve the structure of the website so your patients can browse services effortlessly. Here are a few quick tips.

• Create a clear and logical navigation menu. Ensure all important pages are easily accessible and include internal links.
• Create a sitemap so search engines can discover and index your content
• Use a search button and display at a prominent position so people can easily find what they want.

3. Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of any high-traffic website. If you want to generate more search traffic to your medical practice or doctor website, find relevant keywords that people use.

According to a survey by Doctor.com, 52.5% of people enter the relevant keywords like “type of doctor”, or “specialist near me” to search for healthcare online.

You MUST understand Patient Intent to attract relevant visitors to your site from Google.

Let’s assume, you want to start a website to offer “Cardiology Services”, then you should find keywords like;

• Top Cardiology Physicians in *City Name* 
• How To Take Care of Heart Patient 
• Heart surgery types
• Cardiology clinic services

Make sure the keywords you find are generally long-tail keywords (more than 3 words) because they’re often easy-to-rank. 

For keyword research, we recommend a premium tool like Semrush. Here’s a quick tutorial on using Semrush to find relevant and easy-to-rank keywords for doctors.

Quick note: Semrush offers a 14-day free trial, so grab it to start the keyword research process.

Once you’re on Semrush, go to the keyword magic tool and enter any topic or keyword phrase relevant to your website (or services you want to provide).

As you can see, Semrush is suggesting over 500 keywords for the example keyword mentioned above. You’ll also see various filters like keyword intent, search volume, keyword difficulty (KD%), CPC, etc to find easy-to-rank keywords.

Simply, pick “Easy” keywords from the KD% filter (you can also use other filters like CPC, search volume, etc).

Boom! You’ve just discovered some of the easiest-rank keywords.

Want more information? Here’s a free guide on keyword research to find better keywords.

4. Content Creation

HELPFUL content creation is the KEY to building a successful SEO strategy for doctors. You can’t rank your website without creating content.

Here’s a simple guide on content creation on different platforms. 

Blog Posts on Your Website

If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader in your medical field, regular blogging is a great way. Find relevant topics, identify your target audience, analyze your competitors’ sites and create content that fills the gaps.

Videos

If you’re a medical expert or doctor, answer common medical questions on videos and upload them on YouTube. Make sure to properly optimize your videos with relevant title tags and descriptions to attract more video views.

Social Media Posts

Use social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to educate, engage, and build trust with your patients. The key here is to create and promote REALLY good content by including tips on preventive care, nursing common myths, and inspire healthy habits.

The key here is to promote your content on social media sites to get more social shares and referral traffic.

5. Medical Practice Website SEO Optimization

There are a few important factors you must implement to better optimize your medical practice website which are listed below.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals (CWV) are THREE metrics that measure website loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability of the page. If you improve these things, you’ll notice higher rankings, better user experience, and engagement. 

A few tips to improve your site’s CWV score include;

• Optimize page loading speed 
• Improve the overall user interactivity
• Add visual stability to improve user experience

You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to measure and enhance Core Web Vitals. 

Here’s what it looks like;

Here’s a simple guide on mobile SEO optimization of your website.

Practice Website Speed

Page loading time plays a key role in user experience and search rankings, here are a few ways to improve it.

• Limit the usage of WordPress plugins you install. Too many plugins can significantly impact your website’s loading time, slowing down your site. Install ONLY the necessary plugins.
• Start compressing images, as most images can be large files that can slow down your website, so reduce their sizes before you upload them onto the dashboard
• Use caching to improve page load times. Website caching stores frequently accessed files on your website’s server, so they don’t need to be loaded from scratch every time a visitor accesses your website

6. Backlinks 

One of the best SEO strategies for doctor’s sites is link building. Backlinks are a KEY factor in ranking your website on top of Google, as search engines consider links as “votes”. 

The more links your website has from authority and relevant sites, the higher authority your website will have. 

1. Build Backlinks: Make sure to spend quality time building links. There are many ways to build links including using guest blogging, blogger outreach, influencer marketing, etc. 
2. Improve Internal Links: Linking to your internal posts and pages is equally important, as they pass link juice to relevant pages. So, learn how to interlink other important pages using SEO-friendly anchor text. 

7. Author Bio of Real Doctors 

Gone are the days when you could start an information website and still rank, now Google takes E-E-A-T signals into consideration while ranking pages.

That’s why you should add an author bio of REAL doctors to build trust and make your website a trusted resource.

Here’s what you should do: Make sure to include the author’s name and provide a brief bio highlighting their credentials, expertise, and experience in EVERY blog post.

If possible, create an exclusive page showcasing the articles, credentials and expertise of the doctors writing for your website.

Here’s an example of the WebMd website;

8. Find Other Sources to Get Traffic

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – don’t rely only on Google, you MUST diversify traffic sources.

Here are some of the BEST platforms for doctors to get some links and traffic to your sites.

Quora: Quora is the #1 Q&A platform used by millions of people. It’s also the best traffic source, especially if you’re planning to offer practical medical advice to users. 

For example, a dermatologist can answer Quora questions about acne, skin care routines, and common skin conditions. 

By giving practical advice and linking to relevant blog posts on your website, you can establish authority and attract potential patients. Here are some more tips to increase your website traffic from Quora.

Reddit: If you want to engage directly with the public to offer medical advice, Reddit is a great place. You can find and participate in relevant subreddits to give genuine and professional advice to build an audience.

Medium: If you want to share in-depth articles, research findings, and patient stories – Medium is an excellent platform. Similar to a blog, you can create posts, optimize them, and show your credentials to build a following. 

9. Integrate with Free Analytics Tools 

You MUST integrate your website with Google Analytics and Search Console, as they can help you with many things including;

• To understand your website’s performance
• Track your website traffic (including various search queries)
• Analyze click-through rates, bounce rates, etc
• Identify technical issues and more

Here are some quick ways on how to integrate them;

1. Google Analytics: 

You need to create an account or sign in to Analytics to get started. Then, enter the data stream details that include your website’s URL.

You can either use Global site tag (gtag.js) or Tag manager for tagging instructions. Copy the code snippet and paste it just below the <head> tag in your HTML document. Save and publish it. For a detailed explanation, check this tutorial from W3Schools.

2. Google Search Console: 

Go to Google Search Console and click “Add a property” and verify your website in the following ways;

• HTML file upload
• Domain name provider
• HTML tag, GA tracking code, etc

That’s it, all your website data should begin to appear in your property in a few days. 

10. Update the Content

If you’re looking for tips on advanced SEO for doctors, update existing content. In case you’ve published over 100 articles or case studies on your website and are still struggling with traffic – update your existing content. Make it patient-centric content.

Also, find your top 10 traffic-generating posts using your Google Search Console and include relevant terms like “best cardiologist in [city]” or “treating diabetes.” (or whatever the keywords you want to rank for).

The key here is to prioritize articles with high traffic potential. Here are some quick tips;

• Add new FAQ sections, statistics, or examples to existing content. For instance, a 2021 article on “best supplements for weight loss” can be updated with the latest scientific findings on weight loss supplements.
• Make it visually appealing by replacing old images with high-quality visuals. You can also add infographics or videos to make content more engaging.
• Lastly, don’t forget interlinking. Connect old content to new, relevant posts to improve your website’s navigation, link juice and SEO.

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Final Words On Top 10 SEO Strategies For Doctors

SEO helps you find more patients and build a personal brand as a doctor. By using the right tactics like keyword optimization, helpful content creation, and local SEO strategies – you can build a successful practice.

Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments. 

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FAQs