Google’s New Search Rules of the Road: An Opportunity for Healthcare Sites to Improve
Try “Googling” search terms for your practice or hospital. Your healthcare site page ranking may have moved (or may move soon). The world’s biggest search engine has changed the secret formula that it uses to index all that is cyber. And different rules are now producing different results.
At its deep, dark digital core, Google is an algorithm. Actually, it’s a series of complex algorithms—and who-knows-what other secret sauce—that considers, calculates and reports the 3,700,000 results (in 0.25 seconds) when you search for “doctor in Des Moines.”
The ultimate prize is being at or near the top of the Google search results …top listings win visitor traffic for your site. The first seven to ten positions are significantly more valuable than the millions of other listings that fill the pages beyond.
It’s no surprise that Google’s search ranking algorithms are a closely guarded secret. And all that Google is saying is that they’ve made changes to help users find what they’re searching for, and helping websites with original content and information.
Google watchers believe that so-called “content farms” are being recognized as unfairly manipulating search results. And that would be an opportunity for legitimate healthcare sites to improve their page rank and relevance.
Fresh Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is needed. If you haven’t been concerned about your website content or SEO lately, this is an excellent time to be sure your online investment is playing fairly and getting the most from changes to the Google SEO rules of the road.
As a first step, review this reference article, Updating your Website for Fun and Profit. And your next step, connect with us here about healthcare search engine optimization that gets traffic to your website and patients to your door.
