How to Search Engine Optimize the Name of Your Medical Practice

Posted by Peter McEllhenney on 20 May 2011 | 1 Comments

Tags: Medical Practice Marketing

The internet is an important resource for patients looking for doctors and other healthcare professionals.  So how you name your practice can have a big impact on whether or not patients find you.

To search-engine optimize the name of your health practice, I recommend combining two of the following three elements: (1) your location, (2) your medical or surgical specialty, and (3) your name.

I particularly recommend including your location in your name if you are a primary-care physician, since these practices get most of their patients from the local community.

For example, if you are opening a new family medicine practicing in the Bella Vista neighborhood of Philadelphia, calling the practice “Bella Vista Family Medicine” makes sense. 

Calling the practice “Family Doctors of Bella Vista” makes even more sense – from the stand-point of search engine optimization – because most people looking for a family doctor will search on the words “family doctor” not “family medicine.”

Also think about using your name in the name of your practice if you are established in your community. 

Say your name is “Sarah Garcia” and you’ve spent several years working as a family doctor for a large health system.  If you are opening a new private practice in the same community, calling your practice “Sarah Garcia Family Medicine” will help new and established patients find your new offices more easily.

Medical and surgical specialists should think about the same questions when choosing a name for their practices 

If you are a heart doctor who draws most of your patients from your surrounding communities, then calling yourself “Bella Vista Cardiology” makes sense.  To search engine optimize the practice name more, call it “Cardiologists of Bella Vista”.

Using your name and specialty in the name of your practice is a good idea if, again, you are already established in your community or if you a subspecialist with a regional reputation.

Keep in mind it’s possible to combine all three elements in your practice name.  Sarah Garcia could make the official name of her practice “Sarah Garcia Family Medicine of Bella Vista,” for example, which is great for search engine optimization, but is a mouthful to say when her staff answers the telephone.  A name Google likes can be hard on human beings, sometimes.

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