Including a blog on your company site can be an effective way to improve your medical SEO and attract more customers to your site. Providing factual information gathered from reliable sources is important for any blog to rank well. However, it is particularly important for healthcare blogging.
Why do the sources you use matter
The Google algorithm takes many factors into account when ranking pages. One of these factors is page quality. Page quality is an assessment of how well a website meets the needs of the user. Google gives preference to sites with high-quality pages because the goal of the algorithm is not simply to send users to the page that successfully games the algorithm but to send users to the pages that are most likely to have useful information for a specific query.
To receive a high ranking for page quality, a site must have a beneficial purpose and demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. The E-A-T ranking a page receives is partially dependant on the subject matter of the page. Pages that Google classifies as “Your Money or Your Life” are held to a higher standard than other pages. Healthcare affects a person’s life, so healthcare blogs are held to a high standard for E-A-T. Additionally, providing inaccurate information could negatively impact the reputation of your practice and cost you your clients.
How to choose authoritative sources
One way to build credibility for your healthcare blog is to only use authoritative sources. All sources should be reliable, relevant, and timely. Additionally, you must cite every source that you use, both to avoid plagiarism and to provide evidence to your readers that the information you are presenting is trustworthy. You can cite your sources by either listing them at the bottom of your content or linking to them within your content.
There are several criteria to consider when evaluating a source:
1. Credibility
The source of the information is the most important aspect of credibility. Avoid using information from sites that do not identify the author or explain where the author’s facts came from. Investigate the credentials of the author and of anyone the author cites. Find out if the author has financial ties to any studies cited or products promoted. Ideally, medical information should be reviewed by a medical professional.
2. Content
The content on any site you use as a source should be accurate and backed by clinical or scientific evidence. Sources of information should be cited. Avoid sources that present one-sided views of the controversial or disputed information.
3. Originality
Credible and authoritative sites should link to any information used from another site. Go to the linked site and use that site instead of citing a secondary source.
Consider outsourcing your blog
Blogs are powerful tools for content marketing for healthcare, but including inaccurate information from unreliable sources may do your practice more harm than good. If you are not confident that you have the time and research skills to evaluate sources of information for your blog, consider letting the team at Doctor Genius do the work for you. Visit us online to learn more about how we can help you.
Doctor Genius, located at 16800 Aston Street, Suite 270, Irvine, CA 92606, provides a range of services for practice success. We seek to meet our clients’ needs by providing a variety of marketing, SEO, practice optimization tools, and coaching to transform the healthcare experience. Though we work to provide the most accurate information, the content found on this website is solely intended for entertainment purposes. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the information provided is entirely correct. You may not use the information on this site to cure, prevent, or diagnose a perceived medical issue. If you have healthcare-related needs, please speak directly to a healthcare professional. Never self-perform medical treatments discussed on this website. All images displayed are also for entertainment purposes only, and personal experiences may differ. Please note that the business tactics mentioned on this site might not be applicable to your industry or practice.
