Why medical SEO is different
Google treats healthcare as a YMYL topic ("your money or your life") — and judges it more strictly than most. Medical sites face higher bars for credibility: who wrote the content, whether the clinic is licensed, whether the reviews are real. Tricks that still work in other niches don't put clinics in the top here — they put them under a filter. There's one working path: real expertise, presented properly.
Local search: your main battle
A patient with a toothache doesn't search "best dental clinic in the UK" — they search "dentist Shoreditch" or "dentist near me". Local queries are less competitive and convert better: the person is already ready to come in. What wins here: a complete Google Business Profile with photos and fresh reviews; your address and service areas on the site; "service + area" pages if you run several locations.
A page per service
"Fillings", "implants", "braces", "hygiene" — each of those is searched separately. A single "our services" list page ranks for none of them. The working structure: a page per key service — with the price, answers to common questions, a photo of the practitioner who performs it, and a booking button. Ten service pages are ten entry points from search.
The technical base Google checks
- Speed: under 2 seconds on mobile — beyond that, patients leave
- MedicalOrganization schema: the markup behind rich snippets
- Mobile: 70%+ of medical traffic comes from phones
- HTTPS and correct personal-data handling in forms
A real example: Efedra
An Odesa clinic, after a redesign and 6 months of search work: 1,460 Google visits versus 340 in the previous half-year, impressions up from 1,820 to 13,000. That's not magic — it's service pages, local optimisation and a fast site. Full breakdown — in the case study.
What it costs and how long it takes
A one-off SEO audit is £300: a prioritised fix list. A clinic retainer typically runs £300–500/mo: technical work, content, local SEO, links, and a monthly report with rankings and traffic. First measurable results take 3–6 months. What's in the retainer month by month — on the SEO services page.