16 October 2023

Medical Schema Markup: A 60 Secs Guide for Healthcare Providers

By Linda Eva Seuna

Picture this:

You’re a dental surgeon, and you’ve just opened your own practice. You’ve got a great website, and you’re starting to get some patients from online searches. But you want to do more. You want to be the first dentist that people see when they search for a dentist in your area.

That’s where medical schema markup comes in. But hold on, what exactly is this mysterious markup all about? No worries, as your friendly healthcare SEO buddy, I’m here to break it down for you in a way that’s both informative and engaging.

So, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and let’s delve into this quick but enlightening dialogue to uncover the secrets of medical schema markup for dental or healthcare seo.

Medical Schema Markup: What You Need to Know

Pay attention to this insightful conversation with Dr. Roberts to gain a quick understanding of medical schema markup in layman’s terms.

  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “Good morning, Dr. Roberts. As promised, I’m finally here to talk about medical schema markup and how it can help your dental practice.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “Good morning. Thank you for honouring your promise. I’m eager to learn more about how your schema markup stuff can help me.”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “Great! Schema markup is a way of adding extra information to your website that search engines like Google can use to better understand your business and what services you offer. This can help you to show up higher in search results, and attract more patients.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “That sounds great. But how does it work?”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “Think of it like this: imagine you’re writing a letter to a friend. You could just write the address, but that wouldn’t tell the postman much about the letter. You could also include the recipient’s name, phone number, and email address. This would help the postman to deliver the letter more quickly and accurately.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “I see. So schema markup is like adding extra information to my website to help search engines understand it better?”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “Exactly. And when search engines understand your website better, they’re more likely to show it to people who are looking for a dentist in your area.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “That makes sense. So what kind of information can I add with schema markup?”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “You can add all sorts of information, such as your name, address, phone number, email address, medical specialty, and opening hours. You can also add information about your services, such as the types of dental procedures you offer.”

Without delving into technical details or coding, this is an example of the type of information that LocalBusiness (Physician) schema markup helps to feed. It is typically displayed on the right-hand side, known as the right rail, of search engine results pages.

  • Dr. Roberts: “That sounds like a lot of work.”
  • Healthcare SEO Specialist: “It’s not as difficult as it sounds. There are a lot of tools and resources available to help you add schema markup to your website. And once you’ve done it, you don’t have to do anything else. The schema markup will stay on your website and continue to help search engines understand your business.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “I’m still not sure if it’s worth the effort.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “That’s impressive. I’m starting to think that schema markup might be a good investment for my practice.”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “I think so too. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need further assistance getting started.”
  • Dr. Roberts: “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”
  • Healthcare SEO specialist: “You’re welcome. I’m confident that schema markup will help you take your dental practice to the next level.”

That’s it! In just 60 seconds or more, you’ve grasped the basics of medical schema markup, empowering you to enhance your online presence and attract more patients to your healthcare practice.

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Author Profile

Linda Eva SeunaFounder @CopyHealth+, SEO content writer/translator for health brands with French or English audiences