Healthcare SEO agency

Medical marketing audit part 2: The SEO gaps most medical websites miss

If you are auditing your own medical marketing, start with one simple question:

Does your medical website have a clear page for every important service, condition or treatment you want to be found for?

Els Van de Veire

June 28, 2026

Healthcare SEO, AEO and GEO

The biggest medical marketing mistake hiding in plain sight

A practice may have a beautiful homepage, a strong doctor profile and a clean design. But if the website only has a general “services” page, Google may struggle to understand exactly what you offer. More importantly, patients may not land on a page that answers their specific question.

You may think a patient simply opens Google and types in “women’s health services”. Some do. But most patients search for the specific problem they have, the treatment they are considering, or the type of doctor they think they need.

• fertility specialist LOCATION
• gynaecologist LOCATION
• PCOS treatment LOCATION
• endometriosis specialist LOCATION
• fibroid treatment LOCATION
• menopause doctor LOCATION

A good example is Dr Tamara Hunter’s website. The site does not rely on one broad page about fertility and gynaecology. It has separate pages for fertility treatment, IVF, gynaecology, PCOS, endometriosis, menopause and other patient concerns. That gives Google more specific pages to rank and gives patients a more relevant page to read when they arrive.

The same applies in plastic surgery.

Dr Andrew Hadj’s medical website has separate pages for breast augmentation, breast lift, abdominoplasty, liposuction, gynaecomastia, blepharoplasty, otoplasty, skin cancer surgery and hand surgery. A patient searching for “abdominoplasty Brisbane” has a very different question from someone searching for “skin cancer surgery Brisbane”. Those two patients should not land on the same generic page.

That is the first lesson: specific service pages matter.

How this helps medical SEO

Medical SEO is about helping your website appear in Google when people search.

For medical practices, service pages are often the foundation. Each page can target a specific topic, location and search intent.

A strong service page should explain:

• what the condition or treatment is
  
• who it may be relevant for
  
• what the patient can expect
  
• when to seek medical advice
  
• how the doctor or practice can help
  
• where the service is available
  
• what the next step is

This helps Google understand the page, but it also helps patients feel informed before they enquire.

How this helps healthcare AEO

Healthcare AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation.

This means writing content in a way that answers clear questions. It matters because people now search in more conversational ways. They ask Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or voice search direct questions.

For example:

“What are the symptoms of endometriosis?”
“When should I see a fertility specialist?”
“How long is recovery after abdominoplasty?”
“What is the difference between a plastic surgeon and a cosmetic surgeon?”
“Who to see in Perth for IVF?”

Your service pages should answer these questions clearly. This is where FAQs can help. They make the page more useful for patients and easier for answer engines to understand.

How this helps healthcare GEO

Healthcare GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.

This is about making your content easier for AI tools to read, understand and reference when they generate answers.

AI tools are more likely to understand your practice if your medical website has clear, structured pages with useful explanations, location details, doctor credentials and direct answers.

This does not mean writing robotic content. It means making your expertise easy to interpret.

For example, a page about IVF should not only say “we offer IVF”. It should explain who the doctor is, where consultations happen, what patients may expect, and how the process works. A page about skin cancer surgery should explain the reconstructive focus, the types of cases seen, and the locations where the surgeon consults.

That context matters.

Simple SEO checks doctors can do themselves

Open your website and make a simple list.

Column one: all the services, conditions and procedures you offer.
Column two: whether each one has its own dedicated page.
Column three: whether the page answers real patient questions.
Column four: whether the location is clear.

You will quickly see your gaps.

If you are a gynaecologist, do you have separate pages for PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, heavy periods, menopause and fertility concerns?

“If you are a plastic surgeon, do you have separate pages for each procedure, plus pages that explain safety, recovery, risks, suitability and what to expect?”

Els Van de Veire | Co-founder Digital Practice

This is not about creating thin pages just to rank. Each page needs to be genuinely helpful, medically accurate and compliant.

FAQs

You made it this far

If you have read this whole article, you have just seen the SEO strategy in action.

This page is part of our medical marketing audit series, but it also supports our own visibility as a healthcare SEO agency. We are targeting medical marketing searches, explaining SEO, AEO and GEO in a practical way, and showing how useful service-led content can work.

That is exactly how we approach searchability for medical practices too: clear topics, helpful answers, strong structure and content that is written for both patients and search engines.

Other articles in this medical marketing audit series