An ophthalmology practice usually contains three businesses. Routine medical eye care is insurance-driven and local. Elective surgery, refractive procedures and premium cataract lenses, is a considered, expensive, self-funded purchase researched for months. The optical dispensary is retail competing with online sellers. They have different searchers, different margins and different constraints, and one set of pages serves none of them properly.
Elective surgery is where the search work actually pays
Somebody researching refractive surgery or a premium lens is spending a significant sum of their own money and will read for weeks: what the procedure involves, who is a candidate and who is not, what the risks are, what it costs, what recovery is like and who the surgeon is. Honest, specific, clinician-reviewed answers to those reach that person. Routine medical care, by contrast, is won on the map listing and the insurance list.
Publish candidacy honestly, including who should not have it
Being explicit that some people are not suitable, and why, is both a professional obligation and the most persuasive thing an elective surgical practice can publish, because it signals that you turn people away. Practices whose pages read as though everybody is a candidate lose the cautious, well-informed patient who was the best prospect.
The insurance list drives the routine medical half
For medical eye care most patients start with which plans you accept, and the insurers' own directories send more patients to most practices than any campaign. Publishing the current accepted plans, and correcting your listing in each insurer's directory, is unglamorous and usually the highest-return hour available on that side of the business.
The dispensary competes with online retailers and should not pretend otherwise
Frames and contact lenses are sold online at prices a practice cannot match, so the optical side wins on the things that cannot be shipped: fitting, adjustment, complex prescriptions, same-day service, and dealing with a problem in person. Pages that say that plainly do better than pages that try to compete on the price of a box of lenses.
Healthcare rules apply, and surgical imagery raises the bar
Tracking on patient-facing pages, review responses that must not confirm somebody is a patient, and consent for before-and-after imagery all apply here as in any practice, and a surgical specialty publishing clinical photographs carries a higher exposure. The consent process has to be documented and the outcome claims reviewed by the surgeon, not by the marketing supplier.
Questions people ask about ophthalmology SEO
Which part of an eye practice should marketing target?
Elective surgery is where search work pays, because the patient researches for weeks and funds it themselves. Routine medical care is decided by the map listing and the insurance list.
Should we publish who is not a candidate?
Yes. It is a professional obligation and it is the most persuasive thing an elective practice can publish, because it shows you turn people away. Pages implying everybody qualifies lose the best-informed prospects.
How do patients find routine eye care?
Through insurance directories and the map listing more than through your website. Publishing accepted plans and correcting the insurers' own listings is usually the highest-return hour on that side.
Can the dispensary compete with online sellers?
Not on price. It competes on fitting, adjustment, complex prescriptions and dealing with problems in person, and pages that say so plainly do better than ones that argue about the price of lenses.