Optimizing Google Business Profiles (the profiles you see on Google when you search for a local business) can be difficult. For one, Google prioritizes proximity over other ranking factors in local searches. That means that, although most people would be happy to travel to a different part of town to visit a doctor or dentist they trust, Google ranks medical offices largely based on how close a searcher is to their location. (As if people wouldn’t travel to a different part of town to visit a doctor or dentist they trust.)
An SEO firm may be able to squeeze out a nominal increase in your practice’s Google Business Profile’s ranking despite the proximity handicap. But the cold, hard fact remains that, if a prospective patient isn’t relatively-close to your office when they search for your type of practice, your GBP likely isn’t going to rank well compared to competitors who are closer.
Fortunately, if you have a bilingual doctor or dentist in your office, you can create a Google Business Profile for that individual. That means that, although your practice may not rank well for a search of your area of expertise in English beyond a radius of 5-10 miles or so*, your practice may rank exceptionally-well in Spanish. Why? Because you may have one of the only GBPs for a Spanish-speaking doctor or dentist in town!
With a dedicated Google Business Profile for your Spanish-speaking doctor or dentist, you have a platform on which your Hispanic patients can leave reviews in Spanish. What’s more, you can link the profile of your Spanish-speaking doctor or dentist to your Spanish-language website. It’s as if you have a Hispanic-oriented practice at the same location as your primary practice!
Also, if your practice has multiple locations, you can create a Google Business Profile for each. With multiple locations with a 5-10 mile maximum search radius for each*, you can rank well in different parts of town!
Make sure to take advantage of these and other bilingual digital medical marketing tips Doctores NOW offers. Remember, if you don’t take advantage of them, a competitor might.
*Maximum search radius depends on a number of factors and could be larger in less-densely populated areas.
