Online Reputation Management vs SEO: Which is Better for Doctors?

Online reputation management or ORM and search engine optimization or SEO are two marketing tools that are often believed to be the same or similar. But it is not true. The work of SEO in your marketing strategy is to get a higher ranking in various search engines and increase the visibility of your website or the content present on it. On the other hand, online reputation management for the healthcare industry is a much broader field responsible for handling the overall reputation of the doctor or his or her practice or the brand on the internet.

According to healthcare digital marketing experts, it will be interesting to note that SEO can be a part of an online reputation management program but ORM can never be part of SEO.

Let us understand the difference between the two to get a better understanding of what exactly is needed by the doctor or the healthcare organization.

What is search engine optimization?

Let us begin with SEO and understand what role it has to play in the digital marketing of a company. SEO is a vast topic and it seriously can’t be summarised in a single article. But if we cut the long talk short and focus on the basics, then SEO refers to the making of a website or a blog about the guidelines given by the search engine. It uses an appropriate keyword to push higher the ranking of the website. It can be used as an important tool for increasing traffic on a particular website. For a doctor, it can prove to be quite helpful in registering their presence online and increasing the number of patients from the area around their clinic. Appropriate keywords for a medical website are ‘Dentists in Delhi’ or ‘Physician in Australia rather than the name of the clinic or the hospital.

What is online reputation management for doctors and hospitals?

Online reputation management refers to building, establishing, and maintaining the reputation of the doctor or the clinic or the brand on the internet. According to Medibrandox, a renowned healthcare digital marketing company in India, online reputation management is an ongoing tool consistently working towards building a perception of the medical service in the minds of the people.

ORM is not limited to one or two strategies as it has many aspects to deal with. Dealing with negative and defamatory comments about your medical practice using various social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter or educating your target audience about the core value system and nature of your medical practice, it is all part of online reputation management.

In short, online reputation management focuses mainly on the image of your brand in the minds of the people. It constantly works on building a positive image and reviews for your brand. It does not have short-term goals such as increasing traffic and sales but it eyes on long-term success by creating a positive impact in the minds of the people.

ORM is a complete package that includes the search experience of the users, increasing organic search results for the website, crowdsourced information, video marketing through inspiring and educating videos, social media management, and profiles on online directories.

Which type of healthcare digital marketing strategy your medical organization needs: SEO or ORM?

The best way to find this is to type the name of your brand, your clinic, or you as a doctor on Google and see what you get. Whether you get negative remarks about your practice or positive remarks. It is also important to type the names of the doctors serving in similar fields as yours. And see what kind of feedback they get from the internet.

What if you see negative comments?

If you see negative comments regarding your clinic, services, or you as a doctor, it’s time to pull up your socks and take care of your online reputation management. You will have to use all the important tools to eradicate those negative comments or send them to the bottom so that people read positive things about you. One negative comment can cause greater damage than you can think of. So, it is important to work swiftly on any negative feedback you receive.

What if you don’t see any negative comments?

If you don’t see any negative comments regarding your brand or your services, then you can surely take the liberty to pat your back. But you cannot relax as you need to work hard on your SEO, increase organic traffic to your website, provide useful and meaningful content to the people coming to your website, and maintain that positive image created on the internet.

MediBrandox is a renowned healthcare digital marketing agency in the UK that takes care of the marketing needs of hundreds of hospitals, retail clinics, private practitioners, and pharmaceutical companies. It has a team of expert healthcare marketing professionals creating customized marketing plans for every client coming to them for healthcare marketing in Singapore or healthcare marketing in Australia. If you wish to alter your reputation on the internet, Medibrandox is the door you should knock at.