Local Business and SEO - the importance of spatial marketing for hospitals

[Christopher Boyer]

I recently had a conversation with our resident Local SEO & Local Business specialist, Richard Haussmann, regarding the importance of spatial marketing to hospitals and healthcare organizations. The video is below, and my thoughts (and specific tips) hospitals could follow to improve their local online presence, after the jump...


It's important to note, as search engines become more sophisticated, local or geographic components are being added to each search engine result. You could see this today whenever you search for something (say "orthopedic surgery, Denver, CO") in Google, and a map is displayed as part of the search results.

Have you every clicked on that map, to investigate these local business listings? Have you looked at your own hospital listing, and seen the information these local listings provide (reviews, hours of operations, links from other organizations that rate your hospital like HealthGrades)?

If you haven't claimed your business listing already, here are links to the three major search engine "local listings"...be sure to search your listing, and own it:

• Google Local Business Listing
• Yahoo Local Business Listing
• Bing Local Business Listing

What information can I change with my listing?
Most of this information is editable, but not all – much of it pulls from other “established” sources. However, this is an excellent opportunity for a hospital to “claim ownership” of their own listing, and control some of the content. Not only can you add additional details about your hospital (including the awards you won), but also links to your hospital website, pictures and change the location on the map, to reflect more accurately where your hospital is located! Go one step further, and make sure to update your visiting hours, links to careers and even your key service lines.

This information will not only be helpful to those using Local Business listings to find your hospital (and how you relate to your community), it can help with your SEO purposes.

How Google determines ranking on Local Business Listings
According to Google, all Local Search results are based primarily on relevance. Google will rank local business listings based on their relevance to the search terms entered, along with geographic distance (where indicated) and other factors. Sometimes the search technology decides that a business that's farther away from your location is more likely to have what you're looking for than a business that's closer.

Google doesn't say (nor should they) how a business can be listed toward the top of these results. Just like SEO, there are many contributing factors. Currently, location, Yellow Page listings and local Internet advertising do seem to help. Although you don't need a website to be listed in Google Local, a properly optimized site can be a big plus.

Google Maps and the Local Business Center are a free service, so there's no way to request or pay for a better ranking. Google does keep the details of the algorithm confidential in order to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone, however by increasing the information in your listing (as well as links back to your website), updating your free listing can only help your SEO efforts.

Local SEO for your website
In addition to claiming your Local Business profile, you should also make an initial effort on your hospital website to enable local SEO. Make sure to include your hospital's address and contact information on every page of your hospital site (and make sure the contact information can be read by the search engines - and not part of a graphical image),

What's next for Local Business Listings?
As discussed in the above video, the future of local business listings is still being determined. As more and more people start using iPhones, Blackberrys and other internet-enabled mobile devices, the concept of local SEO becomes more and more relevant as most search results are including geographic indicators. Helping the search engines identify your hospital's location will only help people find your hospital quicker.

Moreover, as the web becomes more and more focused on geographic-specific, the concept of "spatial marketing" will play a higher role in online marketing strategies. It's best to start dedicating a bit of time now to local SEO & search - before the future of online marketing passes you by (because they can't find you!).

Your thoughts? Leave comments below...or follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chrisboyer.