responsive web design for doctors
Have you checked your medical website on a mobile?
In this article, I willl explain the importance of responsive web design for doctors and specialists. Case studies per subspecialty included.
Have you checked your medical website on a mobile?
Els Van de Veire
February 14, 2022
What is responsive web design?
Mobile-friendly explained
Your medical website should look visually compelling and be user-friendly on any device, no matter if it’s a desktop computer, small laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
Do you remember when the first iPhone was launched in 2007 and you had to pinch and zoom to read the content? Those days are long gone. In 2015, Google rolled out a change to its algorithm. The purpose of this update was to give priority to websites that display correctly on smartphones and other mobile devices. In other words, responsive design became a ranking factor.
Yes, that’s right. A factor that actually influences how likely it is for your medical practice to be in the top positions for specific Google searches by patients!
Unfortunately, when your website is rather old, chances are that the user experience on a mobile device is very poor. Some doctors don’t have a mobile website at all. But if at least half of all your traffic comes from a mobile device, you can see it’s important to pay attention to your mobile design as well. You can also see how having a responsive medical website directly impacts the growth potential of your practice as a business.
50% of website traffic coming from a mobile device
Mobile vs desktop
According to Statista, mobile traffic accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. That means 1 in 2 website visits happen on a mobile device.
However, when I delve into the statistics of our clients’ websites, I often see larger proportions of the patient traffic coming from a mobile.
The exact percentage of mobile traffic will depend on your subspecialty and target audience. For example, if your target audience is female-orientated, you are likely to see more traffic coming from mobile devices than from other devices.
At Digital Practice we serve many subspecialities and we have compiled the most game-changing numbers and data for specific medical niches. Keep reading.
Mobile-friendly medical web design per subspeciality
Case studies responsive web design for doctors
OB-GYN mobile web traffic
Obstetricians and gynaecologists, logically, deal with a lot of women. Some are on maternity leave. Some have decided to dedicate their time to raising their children. Some women work, either part-time or full-time, some don’t.
As it seems, most women visiting ob-gyn websites do this from their mobile device. On average, 70% -so over two thirds of women- use their mobile to search for ob-gyn content. It makes sense, if you’re not active in the workforce, or on maternity leave, or even work part-time that you would use your mobile rather than a desktop computer.
So if you are a gynaecologist, obstetrician or a fertility specialist, it is pivotal to check how well your website looks and functions on a mobile.
Paediatric mobile web traffic
Wow, at least 77% of all traffic is generated from a mobile device. This may be related to the fact that newborns and children wouldn’t search for this type of content, but rather the parents and perhaps even more so the mother, juggling the tasks of a busy family life and doing this research while on the move.
Urologists mobile traffic
On average, about 66% of all traffic is generated from a mobile device. That is less than the two examples above, but still significantly more than the global average.
Bariatric surgeons mobile web traffic
61% of all traffic from our bariatric surgeons clients is generated on a mobile device. It’s interesting, because bariatric surgeons obviously serve both women and men, and yet we see a significant difference with ob-gyn & paediatric websites.
Orthopaedic surgeons mobile web traffic
When I look at our orthopaedic surgeons websites, this number further drops to 60%. Age and demographics are at play here, as well as the influence of sports injuries and the combination with a more male audience, doing these searches from a work environment.
Gastroenterologists mobile web traffic
The same goes for gastroenterologists. On average 60% of all traffic to our gastroenterology clients’ websites, is generated from a mobile device.
Dentists mobile web traffic
The average of mobile traffic of all our dentists websites is 52%. It is still more than the global average, but significantly smaller than the data from the ob-gyn case study.
Conclusion about responsive web design for doctors
Responsive web design company
Simply put, a website needs to be user-friendly on a mobile phone and any screen size for that matter. If not, you will lose potential new patients and business.
But this goes beyond the user experience. Responsive web design is a Google ranking factor. In other words, if your website is not responsive, its ranking in the search engine will be negatively affected.
Speak to us about your website
mobile friendly websites for doctors
Whatever the stage of your medical practice or your website, book an obligation-free consultation to look at the responsiveness and the overall performance of your website. You will be surprised by the extra business we can find, simply assessing the way your information generates patient leads or not.
- Tags: Web design
