If you’re interested in elevating your medical website’s link building strategy, here are three simple ways to get started.
Link building, while an important component of any digital marketing strategy, remains one of the most elusive SEO tactics. Links are essential to drive clicks and generate leads, but Google’s algorithm continually penalizes sites that employ suspect link building tactics.
In addition, link building can be difficult to scale — it’s a long and sometimes arduous process, so it’s often a better idea to focus your digital marketing efforts elsewhere first. That said, if your blog, website, and social media presence are strong and well-established, it may be a good time for your medical practice to consider implementing a robust link acquisition strategy.
Like most aspects of SEO, your link building efforts should be grounded in well-written, accurate, and informative content. To obtain (genuine) backlinks, your content will need to form the basis of other marketers’ or writers’ research — but, of course, for them to find your content, you’ll have to rank in Google.
Here are three ways to attract backlinks and sustainably increase your rankings:
This tried-and-true rule of content marketing is especially important when it comes to link building. As linking to broken or unreliable pages can potentially hurt search rankings, you’re unlikely to receive desirable backlinks unless your content is high-quality.
In a way, the question of content quality is a one-two punch. Weak content means other sites aren’t likely to link to your page — and they probably won’t find it anyway, since it won’t rank well in Google or other search engines. High-quality content — copy and images that are compelling and address patients’ goals and pain points — on the other hand, is a win-win. In fact, great content is one of the best weapons in your SEO arsenal.
One of the best ways to get quality links — especially when you’re first starting out — is to simply solicit them directly. Featuring patient influencers in your content, such as bloggers who are open about their health or other healthcare professionals with a significant following, encourages them to share your content and help you gain impressive traction quickly.
Further, reaching out to patient influencers or peers in your industry via social media or email with a direct request for backlinks in exchange for a feature or a reciprocal link is often productive for both parties. That said, be sure to be polite, open, and honest when you solicit links.
Google and Bing aren’t the only search engines out there — it’s becoming increasingly common for patients and professionals alike to search for content on social media websites as well. For this reason, it’s important to promote (and re-promote, and promote again) your content on social media, using appropriate hashtags to attract an interested audience.
You can also search relevant hashtags to connect with patients and influencers who may be interested in your content, and reply to their posts encouraging them to check out a recent blog article or follow you for more information. This can help you build relationships, garner familiarity and trust, and eventually build valuable links.
While the link building game can be tricky, it’s an important part of a successful digital marketing plan. By maintaining a high research and editorial bar for your content and building relationships with influencers in your particular space, you can grow to see exponential gains in clicks and traffic.