Fix your Google Business Profile and build a page for each service and location. Answer patients' questions plainly, with named clinicians. Ask every patient for a review the same way. Build referral relationships. Make booking fast. Keep tracking off pages where patients share health details unless the vendor signs a BAA.
Count new patients booked and seen, by source and service.
Local search: the first place patients look
Most patients choose a practice they can reach. Google's local ranking tips say local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence, and that reviews add to prominence. Give each location a complete Business Profile (services, hours, accessibility, insurance accepted, real photos) and a matching location page on your site. Then build a page for each service you want to grow, explaining who it is for, what happens at the visit, and how to book. Our local SEO service runs this work.
Content that answers patients, with no promises
Patients search for symptoms, procedures, costs and what to expect. Answer those questions plainly, under the name of the clinician who wrote or reviewed the page, with a date. Never promise an outcome: describe what a treatment involves and who it may suit, and tell readers to discuss their own case with a clinician. If you use patient stories, the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR 255.2) say an ad that relays a patient's experience will likely be read as typical, so you need substantiation that it is, or a clear statement of what patients generally experience.
Reviews, collected fairly
Reviews carry weight: in BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US adults, reported by PinMeTo, 85% said positive reviews made them more likely to use a business, and 41% always read reviews, up from 29% a year before. Ask every patient the same way after a visit. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews (16 CFR part 465) bars fake reviews, paying or rewarding reviews of a particular sentiment, and suppressing negative reviews by threats or false accusations. When you reply to a review, never confirm that the reviewer is a patient or mention their care.
Tracking and HIPAA: the limits on measurement
The HHS Office for Civil Rights bulletin on online tracking says a tracking vendor that receives protected health information, for example when a patient books an appointment through a page with a third-party tracker, is a business associate and needs a business associate agreement. On 20 June 2024 a federal court in Texas vacated the part of the bulletin covering an IP address combined with a visit to a public page about health conditions or providers; the rest stands, and HHS says it is evaluating next steps. In practice: keep ad pixels, session recording and third-party chat off booking forms, symptom checkers and portals unless the vendor has signed a BAA, and measure bookings in your scheduling system instead. A BAA is not enough on its own: the same bulletin says disclosing PHI to tracking vendors for marketing without the patient's HIPAA authorization is an impermissible disclosure.
Marketing to existing patients needs care
Using patient information to market other products or services is regulated. Under 45 CFR 164.508, a covered entity needs the patient's written authorization to use or disclose PHI for marketing, with narrow exceptions such as face-to-face communication and promotional gifts of nominal value; the marketing definition in 164.501 excludes certain treatment and care communications. Keep newsletters general, send them only to people who asked for them, follow the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide, and check any patient-list campaign with your privacy officer first.
Referrals and booking
Referral relationships with other providers often bring the best-fit patients. Make referring easy: a referral page with what to send and how, fast confirmation to the referring office, and a report back after the visit within what the rules allow. For every patient, make booking take a minute: online booking where your system supports it, a phone number that is answered, and a confirmation that says what to bring.
How to measure patient acquisition
Count new patients booked and seen by source (search, profile calls, referrals, reviews, campaigns) and by service, using your practice management system. Track the cost per new patient by channel, no-show rates, and how many new patients return. Clicks and form fills are context, and keep any tracking within the limits above.
What we do and do not do
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. We build healthcare search, content, reviews programs and booking pages through our healthcare SEO and local SEO services. We sign HIPAA business associate agreements where our work touches protected health information; we never call ourselves HIPAA compliant or certified, and we promise no outcomes. Our healthcare marketing page describes the work. This guide is general information, not legal advice; your privacy officer and counsel decide what applies.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.