Google Panda and Penguin Changes: Two More Reasons for Doctors to Blog
No medical social media strategy would be complete without a plan for a blog. If you are a physician who wants to establish an online presence, Google has made some changes recently that should prompt you to start blogging now. Google Panda and Penguin updates are a boost for bloggers who have worked hard to provide quality content.
Google Panda and Penguin: Content and Context
Google’s latest Panda 3.5 update is about content quality and penalizes misuse of keywords. Physicians using SEO agencies who advise stuffing pages with keywords without real context may already see traffic dropping off. You want to achieve natural organic search results with relevant and updated content.
Google’s new Penguin update targets unnatural links, the kind people buy in link-building strategies to link to their websites. Now Google is rewarding you for linking out to other credible sites. If you link to other colleagues or research institutions, you are seen as more credible.
Google’s goal with the new changes is to reward high-quality sites and combat spam.
High-quality medical websites regularly update their content, and a blog is one of most important tools. With a blog, you keep your content fresh and stay relevant with Google’s search algorithms. You also build authority which attracts Google and new business. Patients will find the physician who expresses and shares his expertise.
Why a High-Quality Medical Website Needs a Blog
Patients naturally use search engines to ask questions, and a blog is a great way to answer those questions. You probably answer the same questions every day in the same way--put it in a blog post! Chances are many potential new patients have the same questions. Putting your answers down in a blog post will actually save you time, and establish you as an authority on the topic. Content authority is what Google wants to see with the new updates. This will also enable you to compete in the world of “long-tail” search as opposed to trying to go up against the big guns in the short tail search world.
Content is the New Marketing
My post on whether or not a meniscus tear requires surgery is the most valuable question I answer on my website and the greatest driver of traffic. Since I first posted the answer to that question in March of 2011, I have had more than 80,000 views on my website for that question alone and 235 comments! This is a great example of a long tail search success.
What is the most important question in your practice?
Another great source for blog content is current medical news. You attend conferences in your medical specialty and read the latest research. You also hear about medical developments in the news–and so do your patients. Share the news with your patients, and add a brief opinion. Blog posts do not have to be long, 300 to 450 words is a good target for most subjects.
Here are some of my examples:
What is a High-Quality Website According to Google?
Google posted a list of questions to consider when evaluating content on your website. Some of my favorites include:
- For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
- Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
- Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
- Does the article describe both sides of a story?
- Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
For the full list of questions, see “More guidance on building high-quality sites” from Google. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments below!
Google affiirms that ‘CONTENT IS KING” not SEO or keywords.
Truth!! We need to work together to drown out the commercialized nonsense!
Howard
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Love your articles as usual Howard. In addition to the Google updates there’s one more critical aspect doctors need to consider … integrating as many Google resources as possible into their blogs and websites.
For example, one of our clients is an orthopedic doctor who installed Google Analytics, linked his website to a Google places account, signed up for alerts, and of course started a Google+ account for the social media aspect. With all 4 of these Google products we took his website ranking from page 6 of results to page 2 within 3 weeks of running the updates. 2 months later he’s ranking on first page of results … with a simple WordPress blog. Yes, wordpress.
And the fifth way to seriously increase business for a healthcare practice via new patients is to integrate Google Adwords … once all the updates are done. I can’t stress that enough. This is a reason why Click-Through-Rates are above 10% on this doctor’s advertisements and he’s paying 300% less per click than a website without all these tools.
There are countless of SEO companies and “gurus” but it’s all about content and being able to use all the resources available, not just “keywords” and link building.
One last comment… if you’ve got great content people will link with your website all the time.
Great job Howard, keep on writing!
Thanks Simon… even with those few plugs
Congrats on your efforts at helping others.
Panda and Penguin will assist brands (including physicians) rank by producing content that it judged as being worthwhile, reasonable, actionable and hopefully evidence based — because people will share it with their own networks. But avoiding much of the commercialized “branded” nonsense will still be an issue as we (physicians, nurses, trainers, and therapists all endeavor to provide patients with great content.
Thanks for the comment.
Howard.
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[...] Howard J. Luks, MD- Posted in: Medical Social Media No CommentsTweet Knowledge is power… and content is king. A presence online and in medicine and social media is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of [...]