How SEO Boosts Web Traffic, Patient Appointments

Keywords
The most important step in any SEO program is a quarterly review of the best keywords and key phrases for your website, Scott says.

"Words and phrases must be chosen carefully and must be tested to ensure that your consumers will be most likely to find you," she says. "There is a method to keyword and phrase development—both an art and science. If you are in the practice of rattling off a laundry list of words that you hope a search engine will match with your site, you are wasting valuable time. Your competition has a strategy and may also understand the rules of the SEO game. You are at a distinct disadvantage."

Nationwide Children's leadership and staff worked with Scott to come up with an initial list of strategic keywords and phrases to integrate throughout the site. They also came up with a process to regularly review and update keywords.

"As a result of this process, we were able to not only have a plan in place of how to grow, but we were able to educate our staff and leadership about how search really works and how we could all play a part in gaining organic results," Cannon says.