Hospital SEO: Does mobile-friendliness matter?
We looked at data from healthcare websites to see what, if any, influence being mobile-friendly had on search traffic.
Google's mobile-friendly updates got a lot of attention when they rolled out in April 2015 and again in May of this year.
Each of these updates had the same goal—make sure mobile-friendly websites show up first on searches done using mobile devices.
Having a mobile-friendly website was important for healthcare organizations even before these updates took place. But we wondered how much of an influence the updates really had on organic search traffic to hospital websites.
To find out, we dove into analytics from three groups of healthcare websites:
- Websites that were mobile-friendly before the 2015 update.
- Websites that became mobile-friendly after the 2015 update.
- Websites that still weren't mobile-friendly after the 2016 update.
We published our findings earlier this fall on the eHealthcare Strategy & Trends blog—a great resource for healthcare marketers. To see what we learned, read the full post and get our tips for winning at mobile search.
The stakes for your hospital website are about to get higher
Google's previous mobile updates have focused on searches done on mobile devices. However, Google announced recently that it's moving to a mobile-first search index. That means Google will use the mobile version of your website to determine how to rank pages instead of the desktop version.
This announcement is one of the reasons we listed a mobile-first approach to websites as one of our top 2017 healthcare marketing trends.
A mobile-first approach means that the design and content for your healthcare website should be created specifically with mobile devices in mind.
If you're unsure of whether or not your site meets the needs of mobile healthcare consumers, let's talk. Call 888.805.9101 or email us.
