How Google+ May Benefit Healthcare Patients, Hospitals & Practices

Posted by Kyle Misencik on Jun 15, 2012 in Articles by Kyle Misencik, Google+, Local Search | 0 comments

Not long ago the Internet exploded with chatter from the merging of Google+ & Google Places. Although the actual management of the new Google+ Places hasn’t changed, the look and feel of those pages has changed dramatically. I’d like to dive into these new features and how these might benefit both healthcare patients as well as hospitals and healthcare practices.

Essentially Google’s merging of these two platforms introduced 3 new elements that online marketers must be aware of:

1. Google+ Places Pages Are More Visual

Gone are the days of setting up your Places account, loading in the barebones information and leaving your listing to fend for itself. If Google is emphasizing the look of your Places page, you better believe those listings that have attractive photos and videos are going to be given special treatment.

Google+ Images help people visually recognize your hospital or clinic

Let’s think about how this might help a mother whose son just experienced an emergency – she jumps in the car, searching for “Emergency Room” on Google Maps to find directions to the nearest hospital. If the listing has been optimized, not only will she find general pictures of the hospital itself, but she can find a photo for the Emergency Room entrance – making it that much easier to visually recognize the entrance in a hectic situation.

2. Google+ Places Pages Are Now Socially Interactive

So Mom arrives with her son at the hospital Google helped her find, enters the ER and the nurses take her son into the hospital room right away and begin to work. In the end, they’re able to address the problem quickly and provide Mom with all the information she needs to keep her son healthy and happy. She goes back to the Google+ Places page, leaving a review for not only everyone to see, but her Google+ friends as well. Now whenever someone is looking for a hospital they will see that positive review and consider going to that hospital, and Mom’s close friends will see this on Google+ and you can be sure her social network will keep that hospital top-of-mind the next time healthcare treatment is needed.

3. Google+ Places Pages Now Display Zagat Scores

30-point rating system from Zagat are the new reviews for Google+ Places

Google acquired Zagat and are now leveraging the in-depth review site to show Zagat scores right on a search engine results page. No more 5 star reviews – Zagat allows people to rate listings on a 30-point scale where points are distributed across a variety of categories. This will allow people like Mom that are in crunch time (such as during a medical emergency) to quickly make the best decision as to where to take her son.

So as you can see, Google+ Places can not only help your business stand out from the crowd even more, but can even save lives when done right. Learn more about what you can do to help your healthcare office or hospital stand out on search engines.

If you’d like to learn more about Google+ Places visit this article straight from Google on the update.

You don’t want to mess with Kyle Misencik, another one of our Search Campaign Directors. He may be able to woo you with all his geeky analytics speak, be warned… he was a bouncer in a former life.

Kyle joined Intrapromote in 2011 and has been knocking our socks off since day one. (By the way, Kyle, we’d like our socks back.) Kyle is a huge music fan and his interests lie across a variety of genres.

His IP claim to fame lies in the fact that he was born on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) and when he isn’t updating a client’s SEO work, he’s off snowboarding, playing drums or jumping on the nearest motorcycle he can find.

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Kyle Misencik

Senior Campaign Director, Organic Search at Intrapromote

You don't want to mess with Kyle Misencik, another one of our SEO Campaign Directors. He may be able to woo you with all his geeky analytics speak, be warned... he was a bouncer in a former life. Kyle joined Intrapromote in 2011 and has been knocking our socks off since day one. (By the way, Kyle, we'd like our socks back.) Kyle is a huge music fan and his interests lie across a variety of genres. His IP claim to fame lies in the fact that he was born on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) and when he isn't updating a client's SEO work, he's off snowboarding, playing drums or jumping on the nearest motorcycle he can find.