Unlocking Success: Mastering SEO for Plastic Surgeons

Yassin Aberra

I live and breathe Digital Marketing.

If you’re running a plastic surgery clinic, you understand the constant challenge of maintaining a steady flow of new patient consultations.

Fortunately, many plastic surgeons have mastered the art of marketing for plastic surgery, resulting in fully booked calendars with patient consultations from both organic and paid sources.

The primary distinction between organic and paid traffic lies in the cost per lead; organic traffic from plastic surgery SEO tends to have lower costs per lead compared to paid traffic.

A well-executed SEO strategy for your plastic surgery practice can yield sustainable leads at a significantly lower cost than Google Ads or other paid advertising methods.

In this piece, I’ll delve into the insights gained from years of managing plastic surgery SEO across various regions like the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Whether you’re looking to optimize your clinic’s website yourself or seeking guidance to choose the right SEO company, this article will serve as a valuable starting point.

Understanding Plastic Surgery SEO

Plastic surgery SEO is a specialized marketing strategy designed to attract plastic surgery patients through organic search results. This comprehensive approach encompasses various activities, all falling under three main categories:

Enhancing technical SEO aspects to ensure optimal crawling and indexing by search engines like Google for your plastic surgery practice’s website.
Tailoring the content on your cosmetic surgery practice’s website to align with the search queries potential patients are conducting, thus enhancing relevance.
Building the authority and trustworthiness of your website by creating authoritative content and earning backlinks from reputable sources.

It’s crucial to understand that SEO, including plastic surgery SEO, is far beyond just incorporating relevant keywords on web pages. It entails a multitude of tasks that require expertise across different sub-specialties and specialized skills, which are often rare to find in a single digital marketing professional.This complexity underscores the benefits of collaborating with a plastic surgery marketing agency instead of relying on a solo practitioner. Working with an agency can provide access to a team with diverse skill sets and deep industry knowledge, leading to more effective and comprehensive SEO strategies for your practice.

Enhance Your Google Business Profile

Plastic surgery SEO is often focused on local SEO strategies, particularly for Google Maps and local map results, which play a crucial role in optimizing your online presence.

When users search for terms like “facelift Virginia Beach,” the initial search results include map listings, making your Google Business Profile one of the first elements they encounter in organic search. This profile serves as a key touchpoint in the patient’s journey, housing essential components such as your reviews.

The quantity and quality of reviews on your Google Business Profile significantly influence whether potential patients click through to explore your website further. Thus, successful plastic surgery SEO not only aims to rank your website high in search results but also strives to secure visibility in local map results and encourages user engagement.

Google Maps determines local map results based on several factors:

Relevance: How well your plastic surgery services match the user’s search query. For instance, if someone searches for “best rhinoplasty surgeons NYC,” Google Maps prioritizes plastic surgeons with relevant keywords like “rhinoplasty” on their websites.
Distance: Proximity of your practice to the user’s location. Google Maps tends to favor businesses closer to the user, which can pose challenges for practices located outside prime areas.
Prominence: The reputation and visibility of your practice, considering factors like backlinks, online reviews, brand searches, and social media presence.
User intent: Google Maps tries to understand the user’s search intent. For general terms like “rhinoplasty,” the intent may be informational rather than local, affecting map result rankings.

To improve your plastic surgery practice’s visibility in map results, consider these strategies to optimize your Google Business Profile and enhance local SEO efforts.

1.Ensure Your Clinic’s Google Business Profile Is Fully Completed

Enhance your profile by adding high-quality photos to each section.

Potential patients are interested in seeing who their plastic surgeon is and may also want to get a glimpse of your office environment. Consider including “before and after” photos if you have permission from past patients.

When adding photos, aim for professional-quality images. Investing in basic lighting equipment (around $200 from Amazon) and using your smartphone can help achieve nearly professional-level results. Ensure the lighting in your office is flattering by avoiding harsh fluorescent lights.

Completing your Google Business Profile is straightforward, but it’s essential to follow Google’s guidelines:

Ensure your listing matches your signage.
Avoid listing addresses or offices that aren’t staffed during the day.

Failure to comply with these guidelines could lead to a suspension of your profile and loss of reviews. Review the Google Business Profile guidelines for more details.

2.Keep Your Plastic Surgery Practice’s Name, Address, and Phone Number Consistent

When setting up your Google Business Profile, ensure consistency in your plastic surgery clinic’s name, address, and phone number (NAP).

Maintaining NAP consistency is crucial for SEO purposes. Use the same format for your address across:

Your website
The schema markup on your website
Any social media or directory listings related to your clinic

Avoid discrepancies like using “rt70” on your Google Business Profile while using “NJ-70” on your website or social media pages. Inconsistencies like this can confuse Google and lead to uncertainty about your actual address.

Similarly, ensure that the name and phone number on your Google Business Profile match the information on your social media profiles, website, and website schema to maintain a cohesive online presence.

3.Develop a System for Requesting Reviews

Generating reviews for your plastic surgery practice can pose challenges.

Many patients are hesitant to publicly discuss their procedures, making it a bit of a task to gather reviews. However, don’t be discouraged; your competitors are likely encountering the same hurdles. This means you may need to invest a bit more effort than your local competitors to collect positive feedback.

Having numerous positive reviews not only builds trust with potential patients but also influences the keywords associated with your clinic in map results. Encourage patients to mention specific procedures like rhinoplasty or facelift in their reviews, as this can enhance your visibility in search results.

Remember to actively request reviews from satisfied patients and follow up if you don’t receive them promptly. This proactive approach can significantly benefit your online presence and reputation.

4.Acquire Quality Backlinks from Reputable Websites to Boost Your Map Ranking

Google considers links from one website to another as a vote of confidence, which plays a significant role in boosting your Google Business Profile’s ranking.

Link building is a crucial aspect of SEO, impacting your ranking in both map results and organic search results. I’ll delve deeper into the topic of link building later in this article because of its critical importance.

For plastic surgeons, having quality backlinks is essential for effective SEO strategies.

5. Start Using Google Posts

Although Google Posts may not directly impact your map ranking, they can influence potential patients’ decisions to schedule consultations with you.

Google Posts allow you to share updates and business announcements directly on Google Search and Maps, providing an opportunity to engage with your audience.

Get Your Technical SEO Right

Ensuring your technical SEO is optimized is crucial for your website’s visibility in search results. Even if you have excellent content, if Google cannot properly crawl and index your site, it won’t be displayed in search engine results.

Improving technical SEO can lead to rapid improvements in search rankings, sometimes within days. Many plastic surgery websites use WordPress, which simplifies SEO tasks compared to other platforms.

However, there are often technical SEO enhancements that can be implemented to improve Google’s understanding of your site’s content and relevance.

While this isn’t an exhaustive guide on technical SEO, here are some key improvements often needed for plastic surgery websites to enhance crawling, indexing, and overall search performance.

6.Exclude Low-Value Archive Pages from Indexing

Consider Noindexing automated archive pages generated by WordPress, such as tag, author, category, and similar archives. These pages typically offer little value to search engines and potential patients, making it advantageous to exclude them from search results.

Implementing a “noindex, follow” directive on these archive pages prevents them from appearing in search engine results while still allowing them to pass link equity and contribute to creating a thematic cluster of content through internal linking strategies.

7.Include Breadcrumbs on Every Procedure Page

Breadcrumbs play a vital role in assisting website visitors in navigating between their current pages and higher-level pages within your website’s structure. Additionally, they provide valuable information to Google about your site’s organization.

This becomes especially significant when implementing a location page strategy, where you create procedure-specific pages to target queries like “procedure + city.”

By incorporating breadcrumbs and establishing a robust internal linking structure among these pages, your plastic surgery practice can improve its visibility on Google. This approach can help you rank on page 1 not only in your physical location but also in any other markets you target. I’ll delve deeper into this concept later on.

8.Verify That Your Clinic’s Website Meets Google’s Core Web Vitals

Google incorporates Core Web Vitals into its ranking criteria, which assesses the real-world user experience on your website.

Core Web Vitals evaluate three key aspects of user experience:

Largest Contentful Paint: measures the time taken for the largest element on a page to load.
Cumulative Layout Shift: evaluates how frequently elements like buttons shift around after the page has loaded.
First Contentful Paint: determines the time it takes for the browser to display the initial elements of a page.

You can assess your website’s performance using tools provided by Google.

Google prioritizes mobile-friendly, fast-loading pages with stable layouts to enhance user experience. Ensuring your website meets Google’s Core Web Vitals is essential for maintaining a competitive ranking in search results.

9.Implement Technical SEO Strategies to Enhance Your E-A-T

Google categorizes plastic surgery under the “your money or your life” category, which means it’s crucial to prioritize trustworthiness and expertise in content related to such topics.

E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, is a key concept in Google’s quality evaluation guidelines. Google uses machine learning to assess the authoritativeness of content, making authorship details significant.

To enhance E-A-T for your website’s content, consider including the author’s name in all articles and implementing Schema markup to link to credible sources supporting their credentials. This can include platforms like LinkedIn or RealSelf, which provide information about the author’s qualifications and expertise. These measures help Google understand the credibility of your content and improve its ranking in search results.

10.Implement Simple Technical SEO Improvements for Significant Impact

Implementing certain technical improvements can significantly enhance your Google ranking. Here are some key strategies:

Optimize HTML header markup according to best practices.
Create and submit sitemaps to Google for efficient indexing.
Ensure proper utilization of robots.txt directives.
Avoid technical errors like canonical mistakes on your website.
Use descriptive anchor text when linking to important pages.

While this isn’t an exhaustive technical SEO guide, it’s worth noting that addressing these issues is manageable even for mid-level associates at a plastic surgery SEO agency like ours. These steps can go a long way in improving your website’s search performance.

Get Your On-Page SEO Right

Content creation is a crucial aspect of plastic surgery SEO, surpassing other activities in importance.

The primary aim is to craft content that aligns with a wide range of patient queries while also outperforming competitors in terms of depth and authority.

Conducting thorough keyword research will help identify the specific keywords and topics that your plastic surgery clinic should focus on covering.

11. Create an SEO Content Plan Supported by Keyword Research

Keyword research is the cornerstone of understanding how patients search for plastic surgeons and information related to plastic surgery online. This process involves identifying and analyzing the specific keywords and phrases used in search queries. It’s a fundamental part of SEO because it provides insights into what your target audience is seeking and guides how you can optimize your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for those keywords.

Understanding what prospective patients are researching on Google and how you can appear prominently during these searches is crucial for driving organic traffic to your website and ultimately growing your clinic.

There are various methods to conduct keyword research, with some common approaches including:

Brainstorming: Generate a list of relevant keywords and phrases based on your practice and target patient demographics. Utilize tools like Google Keyword Planner for additional keyword ideas.
Competitor Analysis: Analyze the keywords and phrases targeted by your competitors on their websites using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs.
Keyword Research Tools: Utilize dedicated keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to gather detailed information on keywords, including search volume, competition, and related terms.

Different keyword research tools offer varying levels of accuracy. For instance:

Google Ads Search Queries Reports provide highly accurate keyword data.
Google Search Console is another reliable source for keyword insights.
Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush offer comprehensive keyword research capabilities.
Additional tools like AlsoAsked can be useful for blog topic research, while Ubersuggest can serve as a basic keyword research option.

Once you’ve selected a keyword research tool, focus on understanding how prospective patients search for the specific cosmetic procedures you offer. Determine whether they search for terms like “rhinoplasty surgery” or “rhinoplasty surgeons,” or if they’re looking for “neck lifts” versus “chin lipo.” This information guides your content strategy and optimization efforts to align with user intent and improve search visibility.

Check Your Competitors’ Keyword Targeting

Utilizing an SEO tool like Ahrefs can provide valuable insights into other plastic surgeons in your market and offer essential keyword data. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct this research:

Sign up for an account on Ahrefs.
Enter your competitor’s website URL into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer tool.
Navigate to the “Organic Keywords” report within Ahrefs.

This report will unveil a comprehensive list of keywords that your competitor’s website is ranking for in search engine results pages (SERPs). Analyzing these keywords will help you identify which ones are most relevant to your plastic surgery practice and your target patient demographics.

In addition to the Organic Keywords report, Ahrefs provides several other features that facilitate researching other plastic surgeons in your market and obtaining valuable keyword data. These features include:

Competing Domains: Reveals websites competing with yours for organic traffic.
Content Gap: Identifies keywords your competitor’s site ranks for but yours doesn’t, aiding in discovering new keywords for your SEO strategy.
Top Pages: Displays your competitor’s most popular pages based on organic traffic, guiding you on topics and content types your target audience is interested in.

Leveraging these Ahrefs features can significantly enhance your understanding of the market landscape and refine your SEO strategy accordingly.

The Significance of Blogging in Plastic Surgery SEO

Blogging plays a crucial role in enhancing a website’s authority and credibility.

Firstly, blogs can attract backlinks from other websites, especially if they offer valuable information like definitions and data that support content elsewhere. When reputable sites link to your blog, search engines interpret it as a vote of confidence, signaling that your site is a trusted source.

Moreover, a well-crafted blog can help you reach your target audience effectively. By conducting keyword research for your blog posts, you can identify opportunities to address specific procedures where you have expertise. This often leads to discovering “long-tail keywords” that cater to the needs of potential patients seeking detailed information.

For instance, a facial plastic surgeon might aim to rank for searches like “rhinoplasty for bulbous nose.” Patients are often willing to travel for specialized expertise, and your blog serves as a platform to showcase your knowledge and proficiency in a particular area, attracting those seeking such expertise.

12.Enhance Your Procedure Pages for “Procedure + Location” Searches

The procedure pages on a plastic surgeon’s website are pivotal as they show up in search results when patients look for specific procedures in their location, like “facelift + city.”

Having well-optimized pages dedicated to each cosmetic procedure offered in desired locations is crucial for attracting new patients.

Consider the search results for “rhinoplasty surgeon near me,” where Google accurately recognizes local intent. It displays rhinoplasty surgeons within a reasonable distance, understanding the geographic preferences of patients for such procedures.

Notice that the results comprise directories for surgeon reviews or dedicated procedure pages, not generic homepages or broad “our procedures” pages. This relevance is key. A comprehensive procedures page won’t match the specificity needed for searches like “facelift Tampa” compared to a dedicated page tailored to that procedure in that location.

13.Craft an Engaging and SEO-Friendly Title Tag for Your Procedure Pages

A page’s title tag plays a significant role as it appears directly in search engine results when users conduct searches. These title tags are vital for optimizing search rank and click-through rates.

A well-crafted title tag not only includes targeted keywords but also entices users to click. For example, consider a title tag like “Best Breast Augmentation in Miami | Dr. Smith Plastic Surgery.”

Such a title tag achieves multiple objectives:

It starts with the target keyword (“Breast Augmentation in Miami”).
It communicates a unique value proposition (Best Breast Augmentation).
It includes the surgeon’s name, adding credibility and trustworthiness.

This approach not only attracts more clicks but may also signal to Google the relevance and popularity of your page, potentially improving its search ranking.

After optimizing your title tags, the focus shifts to creating comprehensive and informative content for each procedure. Google values content that provides valuable information to users, so aim to cover relevant topics comprehensively.

Research what’s currently ranking well on Google, not just in your local market but also in competitive regions like Beverly Hills or New York City. By understanding the content structure and depth of high-performing pages, you can create a richer experience for your visitors.

For instance, a page targeting “BBL London” should cover aspects like techniques, recovery times, costs, and potential procedures comprehensively. Analyzing competitor pages can help identify gaps in content richness, ensuring your content is more informative and engaging.

Tools leveraging natural language processing can aid in this process by extracting key entities and insights from top-ranking search results. Leveraging such tools, like Google Cloud’s natural language processing tool, can enhance content quality and relevance, aligning with user and search engine expectations.

14.Create Effective Internal Links to Boost Your Procedure Pages

Effective internal linking plays a crucial role in distributing link equity across your website, thereby enhancing the ranking potential of your procedure pages.

Firstly, incorporate breadcrumbs into your website structure. Breadcrumbs not only improve navigation between location and procedure pages but also assist Google in understanding your site’s hierarchy. This helps in passing link equity between pages and contributes to better rankings.

Secondly, establish internal links from parent pages to child pages. For instance, your “/otoplasty/” page should include links to location landing pages like “/otoplasty/jersey-city/” or “/otoplasty/hoboken/”. Similarly, each child page should link back to related pages, creating a content cluster around specific topics and boosting their search visibility.

Thirdly, ensure that your homepage links to each top-level procedure page. Including a dedicated section on the homepage to link these pages enhances link equity flow and improves their chances of ranking well for targeted keywords.

By implementing strong internal linking practices, you not only improve navigation and user experience but also contribute to the trustworthiness and authority of your website, factors that Google considers in ranking websites.

15.Acquire Backlinks: Essential for Effective Plastic Surgery SEO

Backlinks play a crucial role in Google’s ranking algorithm, evaluating the quality and quantity of websites linking to yours and vice versa.

When reputable sites like Women’s Health or the New York Times link to your site, it signifies trust and authority, akin to receiving votes of confidence.

However, earning backlinks is challenging. It requires time, specialized skills, and adherence to Google’s guidelines. Many SEO agencies lack the expertise to build a robust backlink profile, especially in the context of plastic surgery practices.

While some resort to spammy tactics like buying backlinks, these shortcuts can lead to penalties and removal from search results. It’s crucial to work with an SEO provider that prioritizes ethical practices and follows Google’s guidelines in link building efforts.

The Importance of Expertise in Your Content Writing

Google has significantly improved search result quality, especially for topics categorized as “your money or your life.” These include finance, health, science, and other areas with potential life-altering implications.

Content related to plastic surgery undergoes thorough algorithmic scrutiny due to its impact on individuals’ decisions and well-being. It’s crucial for such content to exhibit expertise, accuracy, and alignment with medical consensus.

The key lies in crafting comprehensive content that uses language akin to that of a medical professional, ensuring both depth and readability. This means conveying complex information in a way that remains accessible to a wide audience, including those with basic education levels.

At Sagapixel, our approach involves initial drafting by our writers, followed by review by contracted medical professionals such as doctors. We also prioritize client reviews to ensure content accuracy and alignment with their medical perspectives.

Assessing SEO Performance for Your Plastic Surgery Practice

Evaluating the effectiveness of SEO for your plastic surgery practice extends beyond mere first-page search rankings. It involves gauging the impact of your SEO strategies in attracting and converting new patients. Let’s delve into the essential metrics to monitor and how they progress over time:

Stage 1: Website Indexing and Content Visibility (Months 1-3)

In the initial stages, prioritize getting your website indexed by search engines and ensuring that new content is easily crawlable.

Utilize tools such as Google Search Console to pinpoint any indexing challenges. Additionally, keep track of the number of pages that are successfully indexed to gauge your website’s expansion over time.

Stage 2: Keyword Performance and Ranking (Months 3-6)

After ensuring your content is successfully indexed, keep a close eye on the rankings of your targeted keywords, particularly focusing on those with significant search volume and minimal competition.

Monitor both general keywords like “plastic surgery [your city]” and specific terms related to procedures, such as “breast augmentation cost.”

With ongoing optimization efforts across your website and content, anticipate a gradual improvement in your rankings for these critical keywords.

Stage 3: Expansion of Organic Traffic (Months 6-12)

As your keyword rankings improve, you should notice a growth in organic traffic to your website. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to track website visits, paying close attention to organic traffic sources. Analyze user acquisition trends and pinpoint which keywords are responsible for driving the highest traffic volumes.

Stage 4: Conversion Rate and Patient Acquisition (Continuous)

The primary objective is to convert website visitors into actual patients. Keep tabs on form submissions, inquiries via phone calls, and appointments booked online.

Analyze the performance of various landing pages and procedures to identify those that generate the most leads. By delving into user behavior and refining your conversion pathways, you can effectively turn your SEO endeavors into tangible new patient consultations and procedures.

It’s crucial to understand that SEO is a long-term endeavor, requiring patience and a focus on delivering top-notch content. Continuously monitor these metrics to gauge your advancements and fine-tune your strategy for sustained success.

Plastic Surgery SEO Offers the Most Cost-Effective Lead Generation When Ranking Well

In the realm of plastic surgery marketing, organic traffic stands out as a potential driver of the most cost-efficient customer acquisitions.

A successful plastic surgery SEO initiative holds the promise of delivering steady and predictable leads over an extended period.

However, it’s worth noting that SEO is not an instant fix; it requires time to yield substantial results. A recommended approach for your clinic is to complement your SEO efforts with a PPC campaign. Google Ads can help kickstart lead generation and provide the necessary revenue to sustain and expand your practice through organic search optimization.

As an integral component of a holistic digital marketing strategy, plastic surgery SEO is poised to significantly contribute to the future growth and success of your clinic. If you’re interested in discussing strategies for your practice, feel free to schedule a meeting with me or a member of our team by clicking here.