Boost your online presence: SEO masterclass for beginners

Online presence is becoming increasingly important to connect with and support your patient community. This is especially true for those who are newly diagnosed, their clinician may never have heard of their disease or have little knowledge of it, leaving patients feeling overwhelmed and alone. These patients are all likely to go straight to Google to search for further information. Advocacy groups provide the vital support, community, and accurate information that patients need at this time; however, this relies on patients being able to find them online. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in and is one of the key tools to boost your online presence to patients, families, and others who might be interested in the condition you represent.

However, we understand that for some individuals, especially those who are new to it, getting to grips with SEO may not come naturally. The aim of this online, one-off, masterclass is to equip patient group representatives who want to improve their skills with basic but efficient ways to understand and implement SEO to reach new audiences and be more findable online.

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of optimising your owned resources (e.g., your website) to rank in search engines and drive traffic, engagement, and conversions organically, without the need to pay for advertising.

SEO can be divided into these three areas: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO, and there are over 200 factors (‘ranking factors’) that will help your website rank higher on search engines (such as Google) for relevant keywords and search terms.

What will you learn?

This masterclass will teach you:

• The core skills of SEO
• What SEO is in simple and practical terms
• The latest developments in SEO
• How to employ quick wins and long-term activities to increase the visibility of your patient group and drive more traffic to your website

Why SEO is important:

• Raising awareness of your patient group
• Being more findable online to all stakeholders – patients, healthcare professionals, researchers, and industry representatives
• Enabling you to reach those who really need you

We were joined by expert trainer Sukh from Sookio who led the session.