Long story short, the answer is yes. For most outdated websites, starting from scratch is one of the best things you can do, because it can improve cross compatibility, page speed, security, and integrations, like Nitropack, universal payment solutions, Google sign-in, etc. This story is the perfect example of how positive an effect starting from scratch can have on your online presence. So let’s start.
In today’s competitive digital environment, having a solid online presence, especially as a medical professional, is not just an advantage, it is a necessity. Patients, now more than ever in history, use search engines to find medical experts, so without a good search engine rank, it is hard to get noticed and make a good impression.
This medical professional, who specializes in bariatric surgery, was a prime example of expert medical services being out of sight, despite his experience and brilliant results. His outdated website was barely creating any traffic, lingering far away from the top of search results, making him practically invisible to users.
By using a data-driven SEO strategy, the business and website successfully landed on the first page of Google search results, attracted new leads and clients, and made the overall online presence more stable. Here is how that was done.
Goals and Steps
To improve the online presence of this medical professional, the first step was developing a list of goals to follow, which included:
- Improving website interface and mobile optimization.
- Improving website performance.
- Improving the search results status.
- Improving brand image.
- Introducing new leads through multiple streams: Google Maps, YouTube, and social media.
Results
Because each step of the way was carefully executed, amazing results followed very soon.
New Website to Regain Google’s Trust
The client already had a website with some content, but it was not generating any significant traffic. In other words, the website and the business were nowhere to be seen on the first page of Google search results. Since the majority of users never actually search further than the first results page, it was practically invisible.
After examining the old website, it was clear that it had some major flaws, which were mainly a result of poor SEO practices implemented in the years before. This is why updating it would require far more time, effort, and resources than building a new one, and there was a real possibility that, despite the updates, the website would still not reach the desired rank. So the best course of action was to build a brand new website from scratch.
Increased Page Speed by 3x
The new website had a simple, direct, and easy-to-navigate interface. Because it was built with performance as a priority, the new site had significantly faster load times, additionally boosted with NitroPack, which made the user experience smoother.
To increase accessibility, all contact information was clearly available to all users as soon as they opened the website. They could contact the business through multiple channels, which included the phone number, WhatsApp, and SMS.
Special emphasis in the website design was put on the client’s patients and their experiences, so it included the patients’ before & after images and Google Reviews on the website’s front page.
Improved Mobile UX
The new website was also mobile-friendly. It kept a simple and straightforward mobile interface with contact channels and patient before & after images in the front, which improved the general accessibility, user experience, and interest in the business.
Improved Organic Traffic by Over 300%
After a thorough keyword research, business-related keywords were incorporated into the website’s content. Some content from the old website was also migrated and improved to fit the new structured data markup and increase overall website rank and user experience. The FAQ schema markup was applied as well to help the website appear in Google rich results.
And, as visible in the image below, the website’s organic traffic started rising.
Boosted Brand Trust with New Brand Image
All of the designs used on the website were brand new. This way, a recognizable brand image was created to catch the eye of the user when searching for these types of services.
Eventually, the efforts made an improvement in the number of leads the client got. They reported an increased number of calls and messages received through all channels of communication available on the website. In their words, phone calls were the number one way users used to contact the business, followed by WhatsApp messages, and SMS.
Doubled the Leads with Google Maps
Since the goals were not only directed at the website itself but at the business in general, local SEO practices were put in place, and Google Maps listings were introduced to ensure further improvement of the online presence.
A new business profile was created, with a new business description, enriched with business-related keywords and images of the facility and office.
This increased the business’s local ranking and landed the business at the top on the first page of results for the area of residence, as visible in the image below.
The client provided multiple in-office images and videos of his patients (who agreed to have them shared online), so those were uploaded to Google Maps to showcase the amazing results his expertise was achieving.
Overall, the number of users who viewed the business profile was successfully increased, as well as the number of searches that showed the business to users, as noticeable in the image below.
Boosted Social Media Presence
The YouTube strategy was implemented, and the business description was upgraded to include more business-related keywords. New brand content was uploaded, and multiple client testimonial videos were published, with SEO optimized descriptions aligned with YouTube standards (such as proper video and business descriptions, timestamps, and relevant links). FAQ videos were also incorporated into the production and editing process to enhance content quality and improve audience engagement.
Content was published on the client’s social media profiles: Facebook and Instagram, in particular.
So, to answer the question if starting from scratch is better for outdated websites again – yes, it is better to start from scratch, and this story is just one of the examples of how implementing a white hat SEO strategy can help medical professionals get online recognition they deserve.
