Search engine marketing for your orthopaedic website

Boost your Presence, Build your Brand

Christian Veillette M.D., M.Sc., FRCSCAssistant Professor, University of TorontoShoulder & Elbow Reconstructive Surgery

University Health NetworkAffiliated Faculty, Techna Institute

Email: orthonet@gmail.com

DisclosureMy disclosure is in the Final Program

Book and in the AAOS database.

I have no potential conflicts with this presentation.

Objectives

• Understand the basics of search engines

• Describe what SEM is and how it is done– Natural optimization (SEO)– Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

• Learn about social media optimization (SMO) and its role in SEM

• Learn how to measure the success of SEM

How does a Search Engine Work?

How does a Search Engine Work?

How does a Search Engine Work?

How does a Search Engine Work?

How does a Search Engine Work?

How does a Search Engine Work?

Google Inside Search

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/

Who is who?

http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginerelationshipchart.htm

Jan 2012

Who is who?

http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginerelationshipchart.htm

March 2013

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

Why do we care?

Location! Location! Location!

http://www.eyetools.com/inpage/research_google_eyetracking_heatmap.htm

Click through rates

Health Consumers Online

• 59% of all adults in the U.S. look for health information online

• 80% of Internet users look online for health information– making it third most popular online activity

• Most start with a general search engine, rather than a medical vertical

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/HealthTopics/Part-1/59-of-adults.aspx

Looking online for doctors is 3rd!

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/HealthTopics/Part-1/59-of-adults.aspx

SEM vs. SEO• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - Positioning

of your web site in the search engines so that it is found by your target market at the right time.– Search Engine Optimization– Link building– Pay per click

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – SEM technique to optimize site content to improve search engine rank and visibility

How does it fit together?

Pro:• Great Long-term ROI• More exposure/awareness• High ceiling and volumeCon:• Tough to quantify• Lots of work (design/dev)• Takes a while

Pro:• Quick setup• Highly measureable/quantifiable• Less development resourcesCon:• More expensive• Lower ceiling/volume potential• Subject to “Ad Blindness”

Paid

Organic vs Paid Search

Organic

10% of Clicks

Organic vs Paid Search

90% of Clicks

Search Engine Marketing – Next Gen

• Target keywords• Link Building• ALT/TITLE

attributes• Keyword density• Sitemap• Reporting/Analytics

• Campaign design• Google Adwords• Facebook Ads• Microsoft

AdCenter

• Increase linkability• Make tagging and

bookmarking easy• Reward inbound

links• Help content travel

What do Search Engines look for?

• Readable Text

• Fresh, unique content

• Relevant inbound links

• Good site architecture

• Unique meta info

• Social connections

Site Health

Google Webmaster Tools – http://www.google.com/webmasters

CONTENT!

SEO Pyramid

SEO Workflow

What Steps Can You TakeMini-Online Marketing Plan

1. Keyword research for target market2. Select 3 prioritized optimization terms 3. Set up hosted tracking solution4. Optimize the home page with location

+ service/product5. Optimize inner pages of site and

sitemap6. Submit site to search engines and

directories7. Research link building opportunities8. ADD UNIQUE FRESH CONTENT

AND GOOGLE+ BUTTON!

Step-by-Step SEO - David L. Nelson, MD

http://www.davidlnelson.md/

Step-by-Step SEO - David L. Nelson, MD

http://www.davidlnelson.md/

1. Research your target market

• Brainstorm:– How will your target market

search for you?• Hand surgeon, hand surgery, wrist

surgery

– Are you targeting a geographic area?

• California, Greenbrae, San Francisco, Oakland

Keyword Research Suggestion Tools

• Google Keyword Tool– https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

• SEOmoz– www.seomoz.org/tools (free trial + paid)

• Wordtracker– www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com (free)– www.wordtracker.com (paid)

• Keyword Discovery – www.keyworddiscovery.com (free trial + paid)

Keyword Research Tools

http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

2. Select 3 top search terms

• David L. Nelson’s 3 prioritized terms:

– California hand surgeon/surgery– Hand specialist California– San Francisco/Greenbrae hand specialist

– Consider:– hand pain, wrist pain, carpal tunnel, trigger

finger

3. Set up hosted web analytics

http://www.google.com/analytics

Setup Google Webmaster Tools

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

4. Optimize home page

Title Tag Meta Info Alt Tags H1 Tags Javascript Embedded links Footer

Old View Source

New View Source

5. Optimize inner site pages

• Unique text and meta information for every page on your site!

Title Tag Meta Info Alt Tags H1 Tags Javascript Embedded links Footer

Internal Linking(aka Information Architecture)

90% of the Rankings in 4 Factors

• #1 - Keyword Usage & Content Relevance

90% of the Rankings in 4 Factors

• #2 - Global link popularity (PageRank)

90% of the Rankings in 4 Factors

• #3 - Anchor Text Weight

<a href=http://www.davidlnelson.md>Dr. David L. Nelson – Hand Surgeon</a>

90% of the Rankings in 4 Factors

• #4 - Domain Authority

Growing impact of social media

• Helps content get indexed faster– Tweeting cuts indexation time by 50%

– Reduces time it takes Googlebot to find your content from hours to seconds

• Increases rankings for terms in the share– Shares can trigger freshness portions of Google

algorithm, temp. increase ranking

• Increases domains ability to rank– High levels of social activity shows search

engines that you’re authentic, engaged, valuable

Twitter and SEO

• Use keywords in tweets that link back to your website

• Use keyword descriptive hashtags

• Optimize your company bio aka description, URL

Google Plus and SEO

6. Submit your site

Suggested search engines:•Google http://www.google.com/addurl/

•Yahoo http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

•Bing http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx

Suggested directories:•Google Local/Places http://www.google.com/local/add

•Yahoo Local http://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php

•Bing Local http://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

7. Research Link Building Opportunities

http://www.opensiteexplorer.com

Inbound Link Best Practices• Obtain links only from quality, authoritative

sources related or relevant to your site– Top sites have good PageRank

• Can view PageRank levels from Google Toolbar

• Links to any page on your site; not just homepage– Deep linking

• Do not obtain links from “shady” sources– Link farms/rings– Link exchanges from sources of little/no Page

Rank• Do not purchase links from others

Where else?• Blogs – WebMD, RevolutionHealth • Profiles – AAOS, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook• Orthopaedic Directories/Authority Sites

– Orthopaedic Web Links– Orthogate– Spine Universe

• Local Directories– Citysearch, Yellowpages, MD Compare Sites

• Press releases/Topic articles– Link back to your site

8. Keep your site freshNew content ideas:•Press releases•Articles•Events•News updates•Image galleries•Interviews•Videos•Blogs•Social Media

SEO Methodology

• Keywords Research & Analysis

• Crawlability issues / HTML Optimization

• Content Development / Copywriting• Onsite Optimization (body texts, titles, meta tags etc)

• Internal Linking, Navigation, Sitemaps

• Link Building Campaigns

• Analytics, Testing & Refinement

• Social Media / Author Rank

Questions?