Search Engine Marketing is the new Search Engine Optimization

Submitted by tstitt on Sat, 07/25/2009 - 18:29
Recently I asked trusted healthcare colleagues (not search engine optimization or marketing experts) on Twitter:
 
Why do healthcare providers and pharma companies with big brands, great patient education content and skilled educators let search giants like Google and generic healthcare services like WebMD, Revolution Health and HealthCentral grab and monetize the fast growing healthcare subject matter search traffic that, in many cases, could be better served by geographically adjacent, context sensitive and subject matter savvy healthcare providers or pharma companies?
 
The answers were:
  • Lack of resources to compete with venture and publicly funded for-profit companies, especially Google, but also the generic healthcare services
  • Lack of budget to engage search engine optimization/marketing experts and implement recommendations
  • Big gap in many healthcare organizations between those with understanding of the potential of healthcare provider educational skills/content to address patient healthcare search queries and those with the ability to implement a functional, patient-friendly healthcare organization branded search service
  • Challenges in differentiating between commoditized information provided by generic healthcare portals vs. unique patient education content/skills offered by providers
  • Healthcare and pharma organizations have deep libraries of compelling patient education resources and skilled educators that cannot be reached by search engines
The responses to my question also echoed issues I've heard regarding how search is used to support physician and nurse recruiting. Try using Google to search on "nursing jobs." Google organic search (the results on the left hand side, not the paid search results on the right hand side) will list various nursing job referral aggregators (e.g., nursingjobs.org) that in turn require the person searching to enter additional information (geographic preferences, skills/speciality, experience.) Inside the job aggregation site, the searcher usually sees healthcare provider opportunities identified by organizational name (the order in which the prospective employer names are presented is a bit of mystery but I'll save that for another post.) The use of online job search aggregators certainly makes tactical and economic sense for vanilla search keyword phrases like "nursing jobs." In many cases, search engine optimization (SEO) experts assist healthcare providers with nurse and physician recruiting by showing clients how to make effective use of job aggregators where the high traffic but broadly phrased search keywords are not linked to a specific geography, healthcare brand or job opportunity.
 
So maybe sending the rapidly growing volume of consumer healthcare related search traffic to the search giants, online healthcare generics and job aggregators makes sense. Limited resources, tight budgets, broadly phrased keywords, differentiation challenges and unreconciled organizational priorities are not easy obstacles to overcome. Conventional wisdom says healthcare providers should be focused on patient care, not complex distractions like online search. Leave the mathematically challenging technology of search to those who understand the nuances. Continue to pay SEO firms to deliver, funnel and harvest high volume search traffic, especially where nurse recruiting is a priority.
 
Here's my view:
  • SEO is dead. Let's ignore the black hats and their dastardly slight of hand tactics. Let's also ignore pay-per-click. Both of these tactics are not consistent with transparency goals that are valued at leading healthcare providers. The algorithmic gymnastics and gaming that the white hat search maestros perform on Google are masterful but expensive and tend to deliver short-term benefits since the Googlers are also constantly tweaking their algorithms. SEO methods typically don't create lasting 1:1 relationships or brand awareness with prospective patients, prospective employees or current patients.
  • SEO can be almost free. Choose an open source content management system for your consumer-facing enterprise online services (like Drupal) and use the relevant SEO modules. Thousands of talented open source developers are working 24/7 around the globe to make sure Drupal modules work effectively. Challenge these developers to address your specific search optimization requirements with custom SEO modules (often provided free or at very modest cost.) Most open source content management systems have sister organizations that offer professional technical support on a paid basis.
  • SEM is the new SEO. Encourage link or click baiting (sounds bad, is actually good) using compelling online content. Put that that untapped library of patient education content, those talented patient educators and the great stories about working at the healthcare provider to work online. Generate discovery, awareness and lasting attention. Use compelling content to generate unique visitors, page views, and return visits from people who are actively considering a relationship (job, elective procedure, treatment, diagnosis) with the healthcare provider.
  • SEM is the low volume/high relationship quality considered click/link transaction that compliments high volume/low relationship quality impulse click/link transactions generated by SEO methods. Impulse clicks (SEO) can drive tons of uniques and views. Conversions are premised on retaining a tiny fraction of the click traffic through an opt-in mechanism. Considered clicks (SEM) drive relatively low volumes of uniques and views but generate a higher and opt-in rate.
  • SEM and social networks are on a collision course, especially in a healthcare context. Eventually, the mostly unstructured and unmeasured influences of social networks (word of mouth, wisdom of crowds, some service recovery) will become structured and measured because professional direct marketers and customer service providers demand accountability from their chosen mediums and messages. The social network purists will argue that social networks are not intended as a channel for professional direct marketing or customer service efforts. Yes, we'd all like to see fewer annoying attempts at using social networks to make a quick buck. (Look for the Twitter equivalent of Do Not Call, Do Not Send Junk Postal Mail, Spam Filters to arrive soon. Personally, I'd like a Do Not Follow Me with your Get Rich Quick Pitch service.)
I can already hear the clear voice of one very progressive, social network pioneering hospital webmaster pointing out that online traffic quantity measurements - not opt-in, word of mouth, relationship or customer service metrics - are the primary performance indicator of online service success or failure for executive management at leading healthcare providers. The number of uniques, hits, clicks, or return visits to the healthcare provider web site are top of mind for those with budget, priority and program control. The hospital webmaster is absolutely right. The amount of volume search traffic currently generated by SEM and social networks to healthcare provider web sites when compared to volumes from traditional SEO methods is barely measurable. I could try and argue the merits of relative ROI since the typical healthcare provider investment in SEM or social networks is tiny by comparison to much larger spends on SEO and traditional media buys that also tend to drive high volume traffic. Given the lack of solid measurement tools for social networks today, I'd probably lose the argument .
 
Here are my 10 low cost ideas on how healthcare providers can start a gradual transition to transparent, affordable online search practices that ultimately deliver high quality (but low volume) relationship traffic directly to provider branded web properties in addition to high volume search traffic that arrives directly and indirectly through online aggregators.
 
1. Call a meeting with the SEO consultant. Ask them what specific steps are being taken to deliver traffic to branded web properties of the healthcare provider vs. indirectly via aggregation web services based on the top 10 target keywords. Ask them to show you what happens when you type "nursing jobs <your city> <your state/province>" and the next 9 top target keywords in your SEO plan. If the top ranked organic Google results are aggregation websites (nursing.org), not your website (nursejobs.hospitalbrand.org), determine where your brand is ranked/displayed inside the aggregation services and ask the same questions about how your brand is ranked at the aggregation site. Make it clear that, over time, you would like to establish direct brand relationships with search traffic even if that means lower volumes of traffic.
 
2. Ask the SEO consultant to review the patient education content, patient educator talent materials and job satisfaction content/testimonials that exist today and recommend where that content could be deployed online at existing branded web properties as well as at external properties to ultimately attract "link bait" direct traffic (vs. indirect aggregator or SEO white magic traffic) to the branded provider web properties. If the SEO consultant resists and instead suggests some new coolio algorithmic method, suggest you are looking to balance volume traffic with quality traffic where quality is based on opt-ins that remain loyal. This would also be a good time to have the webmaster or SEO consultant do a quick review of SEO 101 stuff - review the branded provider website metadata, look at title bars to insure they are descriptive and see if content on the current web site pages uses the keyword plan consistently. Alternatively, use one or more of the free online services to get an SEO score and detailed recommendations on how to improve organic search results for the branded healthcare provider web properties.
 
3. Ask the SEO consultant to provide an SEM proposal that would, over time, deliver search traffic to a branded healthcare provider web site/service based on use of compelling provider content and social networks and with a high priority on opt-in metrics over volume of uniques and page views. The opt-in offers (often associated with a unique landing page that can be used to measure the referring site of arriving visitors) may be as simple as an email newsletter or useful patient education materials. Test at least eight opt-in offers. Only two will be effective. Also ask the consultants how you can take advantage of geographic location information that is increasingly available from search using mobile applications or browsers on mobile internet devices and smartphones (users opt-in/agree that location data can be used-nothing sneaky involved.) Ask about how the location sharing features in upcoming releases of computer-based browsers can be utilized to deliver search traffic based on broad keywords directly to the branded provider web properties instead of aggregators.
 
4. Start evaluating social networks as a logical addition to your search strategy. LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter should all be on the list. Focus on understanding and overcoming the fears that are most common toward social networks in healthcare environments. Make sure everyone understands where HIPAA is relevant and irrelevant. Create a HIPAA FAQ for healthcare provider social networks if necessary. Make sure everyone understands how content on social networks is controlled and managed. Be crystal clear about how comments, Wall Posts on Facebook and other inbound consumer communication will be provisioned and moderated. Turn off comments on YouTube initially. Turn them on as comfort levels increase. Be sure to understand the difference between Fan and Group Pages on Facebook. Don't start with blogging. Weblogs are hard work and require dedicated writing talent.
 
5. Use open source search tools to mine Twitter and the blogosphere for mentions of your organization and the top 10 keywords in your SEO plan for 90 days. Take the results and drop them into various virtual buckets labeled positive, negative, neutral and quantify the data in the buckets. Do the same for competitors, partners and key vendors/suppliers. Hypothetically evaluate the potential benefits and risks of responding to blog posts or Twitter posts with the voice of the healthcare or pharma organization or an authorized representative. Share the results of the social network mining and hypothetical responses with key decision makers. Seriously evaluate the pros and cons of actually responding to blog posts, comments and Twitter posts of individuals seeking jobs as nurses or physicians.
 
6. Have your webmaster evaluate Drupal and Joomla! as well as other open source content management systems that enable rapid prototyping of personalized web services with minimal investment in design, coding or setup. Use existing branding and design templates to prototype a relationship web service. Evaluate the pros and cons of creating personalized web experiences for prospective patients, nurses, physicians or current patients that don't involve regulated employment records, medical records, disclosure or privacy issues. Most healthcare provider web sites, especially hospital home pages, are not optimal online visual experiences for establishing dialog and relationships with prospective patients, nurses or physicians. Consider creating a separate branded web property for relationship building that enables personalized communication. Turn the search funnel upside down and look through the narrow end.
 
7. Compile an accurate inventory of the patient education content, patient education talent and job satisfaction content assets. Evaluate what would be required to make those assets useful in an online context. Evaluate which assets would create a crystal clear distinction in the mind of a searching patient or prospective employee vs. what they would see from a search that took them to a generic healthcare service or a job aggregation site.
 
8. Take polls of patients and job applicants about their current search preferences. Specifically, ask them what they like and don't like about the current web services offered by the healthcare provider. Also ask them which online heath information or job services they trust.
 
9. Don't call Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or LinkedIn "social media" when you are explaining or evaluating social networks internally. Explain social networks as "another small media buy, mostly free of direct costs." For those who fear the worst about comments and inbound communication on social networks, remind them that letters to the editor of the local and regional newspapers have been also beyond their direct control while social networks at least give the provider control of comment provisioning and moderation.
 
10. Use the growing awareness about patient-centric benefits of Electronic Health Records to draw search traffic to healthcare provider branded EHR login pages. The new government in the US is just starting to raise awareness about EHR. More TV news coverage and talk shows will continue to elevate EHR keyword awareness. Specifically, look at EHR login pages as a chance to communicate clearly that the provider has implemented EHR as a benefit to prospective patients and prospective employees. Instead of a generic happy image on the EHR login page, how about a video from the CEO explaining why patient use of EHR systems is a priority?
 
A message to the SEO folks that may read this: I'm not the enemy. I respect your work. I don't expect SEM or social networks to make much of a dent in your healthcare business for years. Healthcare search has been a gold rush scenario for the last few years.
 
Finally, these are my opinions based on experience. Let me know your outlook. I'm a newcomer to long-form blogging. Suggestions and criticism welcomed.
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