“How Do I Improve My Ranking On Google?” is, hands-down, the #1 question that we get from clients. Those that we talk to know that they want their practice/hospital to be one of the first to show up on any Google search of their specialty within their local area, but aren’t sure how to do it.
In order to take on this challenge, you have to first understand how a page becomes highly-ranked. Google uses two main software tools when finding relevant pages during a search: Page Rank Technology and Hypertext-Matching Analysis. PageRank, named after Google co-founder Larry Page, assigns a numerical value to each site based on the number of link-backs that web page has. Every time a link for that site is created, that page gets one “vote.” The more “votes” a page has, the higher it will be ranked in Google’s system. Simply put, if other websites are using hyperlinks that refer people to your site, Google considers your site to be an authority on that topic. Hypertext-Matching Analysis, on the other hand, inspects content by factors such as font type, subdivisions and the location of each word to determine how reliable a source is.
So what is the take-away from all of this technical jargon? What Google is saying here is that the way to move up the ranks in their search engine is to provide interesting and updated content. Think about it – the main reason someone offers a hyperlink to check out through a blog or website is because the source has great information that applies to a specific topic. For example, people go to sites like Craigslist and CNN, not for the design, but for the content and relevant information that they offer. The more link-backs that these sites have, the higher Google’s tools will rank them. Giving your visitors fresh content that they can relate to will keep them coming back for more, and will help you become an authority on Google.
If you aren’t sure what type of content to use, check out Phyzoom’s post on blog content for healthcare professionals.
