The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world as we know it upside down. Among the most impacted are healthcare providers on the front lines of the effort to keep us safe and healthy.
With information and available resources changing at a rapid pace, it can be challenging to keep your patients and content up-to-date. To help, we’ve compiled this checklist of the key changes you should make to help ensure your patients have the information they need and your site has organic visibility for key searches during this challenging time.
#1 Create a COVID-19 Landing Page or Hub
As a healthcare provider, your services are directly impacted by the current situation, so it’s important to ensure any changes are made clear and available on your website.
Create a specific landing page or even a hub of pages on your website to house all information and updates about changes to:
- Visitation Policies
- Patient Appointments
- Services Provided
- Office Hours or Closures
- Special Precautions
Ensure this information is readily accessible by updating your home page and adding a special banner to the top of your site to ensure easy access no matter how someone enters your site.
For pages with these special announcements, consider using structured data markup for COVID-19 announcements to make clear to search engines that you have a relevant and important announcement.
#2 Answer All of the Questions Patients Have
The unprecedented nature of the current situation has left everyone with many questions and concerns.
First and foremost, it’s important to address all questions current and potential patients have about how your services have been impacted or changed, such as:
- Are you accepting new patients?
- Is it safe for me to go to my previously scheduled upcoming appointment or procedure?
- Can I schedule a virtual appointment with a doctor?
Additionally, as industry experts, many healthcare providers have a unique opportunity to address some of the concerns patients have about the current situation. Ask those on the frontlines for your organization about the most common questions they receive from patients. Then create a resources page to answer those questions.
Don’t forget to mark up your FAQ content with structured data to ensure it’s easily understood by search engines. This may even allow your questions and answers to be shown in the search engine results page as an enhanced result.
#3 Update Service Content to Align with Changing Search Queries
The drastic impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our lives has changed the way we search for healthcare. Although it’s still too early to know how lasting these changes will be, there are simple ways to update your content today to align with these changes in search behavior.
For example, for service lines that provide telemedicine services, consider the following content updates:
- Revise the title tag for the page to include the search queries patients are using to find online or virtual care. For example, if your psychiatry services can be provided online, consider including the term “telepsychiatry” in your title tag.
- Add a paragraph of content to the top of relevant service pages to make clear that the service is available virtually. Make sure to incorporate the search terms patients now use to find those services.
And don’t forget about content that lives offsite. Ensure your telemedicine services are also listed in your Google My Business listing.
#4 Develop Content Patients are Searching for
Although turbulent, the situation also presents an opportunity to adjust your content strategy to fit the current needs of individuals. Take time to monitor search trends and identify opportunities for creating content to meet the needs of potential patients today. Tools like Google Trends, can be highly valuable for identifying opportunities.
If you’d like specific recommendations and opportunities for updating your website content, email [email protected]