video SEO
Discover how video SEO can drive more patients to your practice
Discover how video SEO can drive more patients to your practice
Kris Borgraeve
December 29, 2021
What is Video SEO?
how can video help with SEO?
Ever since YouTube became a household brand in 2005, you hear the marketing buzzwords echoed year after year: Video Is Big. So what makes Video SEO so powerful when you decide to grow your private practice?
Let’s start by explaining what exactly is meant by Video SEO. Search Engine Optimisation – or the way content is organised on your website so Google can scan it and make you rank in the search results – is essential to keep attracting new patients. Video SEO is the use of videos to make your medical website more visible when a patient does a Google search. It brings together two seemingly different worlds, but in actual fact, there is a logical connection between video and SEO.
Google visibility, as we have covered in many of the Grow! articles here in our online magazine is all about producing and publishing content that offers value to the consumer. In your case, that would be content that is meaningful for patients and other referring doctors. The core of search engine optimisation for doctors revolves around organising your content strategically, and in line with the latest best practices.
With Google owning YouTube, it makes sense that video content is taken into account, to define what goes where in Google ranking. Hence the videos tab when you perform a search, which you would choose to only watch videos about a certain topic, just like you are able to select only images. This is where Video SEO comes into play: the more your videos are optimised, the more likely they are to rank well when a patient is looking for relevant information.
Find out how video boosts your medical website
video seo demo
The competition to be on number one of Google with your medical website can be fierce. That is why an integrated medical marketing strategy will always create multiple avenues. It includes medical copywriting that follows the best practices for SEO and medical content marketing, and video SEO is a failproof method to get even more local visibility.
In the demo below, I walk you through how this actually works from a patient perspective. As you will see, being present on page 1 of the Google video results can make a pivotal difference for your practice!
Why video content is essential for medical marketing
healthcare video marketing
Video is a spectacular game-changer when your practice is aiming for one of the following objectives:
- You want to create a leadership status
- You want more clicks, traffic and conversions
- You want patients to feel as if they have already met you when they first see you
- You want to make consultations more efficient so you don’t hear yourself answering the same questions over and over again
- You want to build a unique brand experience for your private practice
Video does all of that, and as such is has transformed the path of many health practices in unprecedented ways. The data we map from hundreds of thousands of patient queries into almost any medical specialty a modern hospital offers, speaks for itself: video simply works.
And if you want to approach healthcare video marketing in a more intuitive way, check out Dr Tamara Hunter’s way of building rapport with her patients. Or Dr Harsha Chandraratna explaining FAQs about weight loss surgery. Or Dr Paul Staerker when he explains chiropractic treatment of low back pain.
I would argue that – beyond the proven impact on traffic and conversions – video adds the human component to your online strategy. Doctors have a few key currencies and I think you will agree that trust, credibility and rapport would be in the top 5. Video conveys these values or personality traits really well.
How to get started with video SEO?
video marketing basics for doctors
You can work on your healthcare video marketing with a phased approach; in other words, you don’t have to come in with a bang to conquer the universe with your video strategy from day one.
If you are looking for a checklist, a roadmap for your medical video SEO campaign, this is a good starting point that we have been applying with many of our customers:
- Start with one video. Pick a topic that you are passionate about: Why you choose this particular approach for a known surgery. Why you chose to become an obstetrician. The main reason why you keep hearing that patients refer friends to your practice. Do you see the pattern here? ‘Why’ questions are great stuff for this work. Why? Because they trigger underlying purpose and they will stop you from going into presentation mode.
- Think of FAQs. What are the typical questions patients have? Dig up that old list or start a new one. Imagine you are at a family dinner and someone asks these questions to make conversation. How will you explain it in 60 seconds? The bullet points you jot down are your success scripts.
- Create a YouTube channel. Or have one created by a video-savvy marketing team such as the one here at Digital Practice. Just like I wouldn’t perform my own surgery if I needed it, you would probably ask video marketing experts to do this for you. The channel has your brand elements, links to your website and is configured so you can start using it by uploading videos. Since you have just made one and have a plan for at least another five, we can state that you are now officially in the business of video SEO and video marketing for your practice!
- Have fun! Consider this a way to have conversations with future patients and referring colleagues such as family physicians or general practitioners.
Vlogs, podcasts and live streams
advanced video marketing healthcare
Video can do even more for your patient acquisition when you are in private practice. The latest trends in video marketing offer unique opportunities to connect with your local community, amplify word-of-mouth and build a strong leadership profile.
- Vlogs: A vlog or a video blog, suggests that you post regular episodes. In the context of your practice, it could be a regular update on new research, lifestyle and prevention tips, explainer videos linked to certain aspects of your medical specialty or health and lifestyle advice. YouTube channels can be called vlogs, and since you can invite people to subscribe to your channel, it has the potential to increase your influence among specific users who start following you.
- Podcasts: Although strictly spoken podcasts are often limited to audio items, there is such a thing as video podcasts. It’s basically just a synonym for an online video or a vlog, and the main difference would be that it can be accessed through a dedicated podcast app that updates the subscriber when a new episode is added.
- Live streams: Both YouTube and Facebook allow you to simply press the button and go live. It adds momentum, it positions you as a leader, and it allows you to publish spontaneous and authentic content. Live streams remain available as an on-demand video item after you went live.
Don’t let the labels and names discourage you. Online video comes in new formats such as IGTV (Instagram), or LinkedIn native videos, and before I publish this article there might be a new label or container popping up somewhere. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you start making use of video to build a strong online reputation.
Remember that all video items can be embedded on your web pages and reinforce the conversion power of your medical website. Also bear in mind that video items on your YouTube channel – can increase your overall Google ranking.
We are here to help you with video
free video SEO tips for doctors
An obligation-free strategy session about Video SEO and healthcare video marketing is a great starting point. Book it now so we can discuss the growth potential of your medical practice. I look forward to meeting you!
- Tags: Video marketing
