Healthcare information is one of the most frequent types of searches on the internet — but about half the information searchers are offered is inaccurate. If you have a blog about health at your website (and if you’re a healthcare marketer, you should), how can you make sure your visitors know it’s trustworthy?
Healthcare consumers know that the internet contains untrustworthy information as well as trustworthy information. However, research on the subject has found that consumers feel frustrated because it’s hard for them to identify inaccurate information.
Do your visitors a favor and show them that your healthcare blog is trustworthy.
Look legit
Even when your visitors aren’t consciously aware of it, they are less likely to trust an outdated or unprofessional looking website. Google did some serious research and found that two factors affected people’s feelings about websites within seconds.
- Visual complexity made people feel less comfortable with a website. Too many items in the navigation, too much information in the header, too many attention-grabbing CTAs on a page — viewers feel less confident about the website and enjoy it less. Your website might not have started out cluttered, but if you’ve added things over time, it might be cluttered now.
- Prototypicality makes people feel more confident about a website. One very famous example of prototypicality is the question, “Is a robin a bird?” compared with the question, “Is a chicken a bird.” People can answer the first question much faster than the second. This is because a robin is a typical, ordinary bird. A chicken, on the other hand, doesn’t fly or sing and is raised for food. It is a bird, but it’s not a typical bird. If your medical practice website looks like a car dealership website, your visitors will trust it less than if it looks like a typical doctor’s website.
Stay up to date
Is your copyright notice showing a 2016 copyright date? Was your last blog post published eight months ago? Are you promoting events that are already over?
You won’t look trustworthy if you don’t keep your website current. Visitors may wonder whether you are still in business… or if you’re too slipshod to provide safe and effective service.
Provide sources for your health information
If your blog discusses the most recent measles outbreak, you should make sure that you link to current information from the Centers for Disease Control or your state Department of Health.
Your visitors may not click through, and they may not read the detailed information if they do click through. That’s why it’s very important to share clear, accurate information at your website. But demonstrating that you have reliable sources for the information you share helps build confidence.
Providing useful information with clear credibility is an important service for your patients and your community. Fortunately, a trustworthy website is also what Google wants to show searchers, so it’s great for SEO as well.
Contact us to get help with SEO for your healthcare website.
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