How to list your medical clinic online

Over 50% of Australians look online for health information, and one in five internet searches are health-related. If you run a healthcare business, here’s how to list your medical clinic online.

Test your online presence
Google is the leading search engine used by patients to learn about a health care provider before booking an appointment. To find out how your health practice is presenting in a Google search, you can test it yourself. Type in the name of your practice and see what comes up. In a different search, try entering some keywords that refer to you – these might include your location and the word ‘health’ or ‘medical’. If you find that your practice is not showing up at the top of the list of results, or that your contact details are incorrect, you should verify your listing with Google.

Verify your listing with Google
The fastest way to list your medical clinic online is to verify it with Google. It is not difficult to verify your online listing and it will help you ensure that your services are being promoted and presented correctly. Simply use the free Google My Business tool to ‘claim’ your listing with Google. Google will then mail you a postcard (to confirm that you are indeed the business owner) for you to complete and return with your correct contact details. Information required includes your address, phone number and website, but you can also upload photos, a logo and a short blurb about your services, and insert your opening hours. The process usually takes around 2 weeks and is helpful in ensuring that patients can access your services quickly and easily.

Consider purchasing some online advertising
Once you have listed your medical clinic online, you may wish to do some online advertising. If your business is not presenting at the top of an internet search results page, you can pay to boost your online presence. The most common way to do this is to register with Google AdWords (also know as ‘search engine marketing’ or SEM). It is a pay-per-click service, so you are only charged when someone clicks on your listing, to visit your website or phone you (if you’re using Click to Call). Your budget is up to you, but the higher you bid, they higher up in the search results your service will appear.

Try a different approach
Many businesses are achieving better brand awareness by targeting their customers through Facebook advertisements. Facebook ads are useful because you can focus on specific age groups, demographics and locations. This can help you not only to attract more patients to your health service, but also reach the right people because they already have your service in mind when looking for a healthcare provider.

Don’t forget about your AHPRA obligations
When you are thinking about your online advertising, remember that all Australian registered healthcare practitioners are responsible for adhering to the AHPRA advertising guidelines. If you’re unsure about what these guidelines mean, you might like to check out our recent blog Understanding AHPRA’s Advertising Guidelines.

What’s next?
Reach out to the Affect Media team for on obligation free chat on how we can help your healthcare organisation get found online.