This is How Practice Owners Get Mommy Makeovers Naturally in Google
William Edlund- Apr 3
- 13 min read
Updated: Apr 18
So, you want fewer empty schedule slots? Not just more leads to your practice like lip filler jobs that pretty much cover overhead costs? But well-paying ones that bring greater profit, like mommy makeovers? Then this post is your guide to get just that.
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Why Some Plastic Surgeons Spend up to ten Thousand per month on SEO in 2025
You’ve probably heard a million and one online freelancers pitching you SEO, maybe you’ve tried some and it didn’t bring you any profit (the whole point of marketing that some agencies forget at times…) But if it’s done right, with the intent to make real profit, then it can be a game-changer for your practice. Here’s why:
Patients start online: Over 70% of people research health services on the internet before making a decision. If your website isn’t showing up, you’re invisible to most of your potential patients.
It helps your brand reputation: If Google trusts your website, then your patients will also trust you.
Competition is fierce: Plastic surgery is a crowded field, especially in big cities. SEO helps you stand out when patients search for terms like “best plastic surgeon near me.”
It’s cost-effective: Unlike ads that drain your budget every month, SEO is a long-term investment. Once your site ranks well, it keeps bringing in patients without extra spending.
Top rankings build trust: People trust Google’s top results. Studies show the first result gets about 30% of clicks, the second gets 15%, and it drops fast from there. Being on page one signals credibility.
The goal? Profit and an increase in your annual bottom line by getting your website in front of the right people who are in the decision-making process of booking a consultation. Now, let’s break down the steps to make that happen for you.
#1: Make Damn Sure You Target The Right Keywords From The Beginning!
Keyword research is essential to get right for one simple reason. SEO takes time and money to begin to see profitable gains. And you do not want to spend 6 - 12 months only to find out that you targeted the wrong keywords all along that brought many visitors but no real buyers!!
But what are keywords exactly? Keywords are the phrases people type into Google to find what they need. For you, that might be “breast augmentation” or “plastic surgeon in Dallas.” Keyword research is about figuring out what your potential patients are searching for and building a website that is the best answer to their specific search query.
Different types of keywords and the importance of search intent behind them
There are different types of keywords and intentions behind them that are essential to know, or else all is wasted effort. There are:
Informational keywords: Think about the keyword “surgeon”. It could be someone in need of surgery or someone looking to know what salary a surgeon has. Not a worthy keyword to target for your business!
Commercial keywords: Here is where all the money is at for your business. It’s CRUCIAL to get this right. Didn’t target commercial keywords? Then you’ll get a whole bunch of visitors but no actual bookings and profit.
Branded keywords: Branded keywords are directly associated with your brand. It’s whenever a patient is directly searching for you. You’ll rank for these naturally over time. In some highly competitive cases, it could be worthwhile to target other businesses' branded keywords if they’re immensely valuable to you. You could, for example, make a 2000-word blog post comparing competitors (and yourself) and try to rank it.
Keyword Examples
General: “plastic surgery in Dallas,” “cosmetic procedures”
Procedure-Specific: “rhinoplasty,” “liposuction,” “Lip fillers near me”
Local: “plastic surgeon in [your city],” “best cosmetic surgery in [your state]”
Questions: “How long is facelift recovery?” “is breast augmentation safe?”
How do I know if I can make any money with these keywords?
One easy way to know how much money any given keyword is worth every month is by using a tool like Ahrefs.com.
You will select a keyword and look at CPC or cost per click. CPC is what advertisers are spending per click for a given keyword. Good value ranges from $2,5 up to $250. These keywords have commercial value and will likely bring you a good deal of revenue and profit, assuming you can reach the top 3 spots.
Once you’ve got a list (aim for 10-20 solid keywords to start), you’ll weave them into your website naturally. Don’t force it—more on that later.
How to Do It
Use Tools: Start with free tools like Google Keyword Planner (you’ll need a Google Ads account) or paid options like SEMrush or Ahrefs. These show your search volume (how many people search a term) and competition (how hard it is to rank).
Target Long-Tail Keywords: These are specific phrases like “how much does a tummy tuck cost in Miami” or “best facelift surgeon in Chicago.” They have lower search volume but less competition, making them easier to rank for and more likely to attract serious inquiries.
Go Local: Since your patients are likely nearby, include your city or region in keywords—like “plastic surgeon in Seattle” or “Houston liposuction.”
Check Competitors: Look at the websites of other local plastic surgeons. What terms are they targeting? Tools like Ahrefs can reveal this, but even a manual search can give you ideas.
Last but not least: Use a small Google Ads budget of maybe $500/month to test these keywords to know immediately wether or not they have any commercial value.
That’s step 1. You’d want to pay close attention to this part since, again, it will underlie your entire campaign efforts. Now, let’s move on to step number to which is making sure you have a good On-Page SEO.
#2: Optimize Your Website’s On-Page SEO
In short, it’s what’s related to your website and whatever is on the pages. This includes technical optimization, but also the content, internal linking (more on that later) to make sure Google search algorithms can read the content easily and give the site its appropriate rankings.
It should be clear to the visitors and the algorithm what the site is about. The nuts and bolts of your site's pages.
Key Elements to Tackle
Title Tags: This is the clickable headline in search results. Keep it under 60 characters and include your keyword, like “Rhinoplasty in Atlanta | Dr. Jane Doe.”
Meta Descriptions: The short blurb under the title in search results. Aim for 150-160 characters, use your keyword, and make it enticing—e.g., “Learn about rhinoplasty in Atlanta with Dr. Jane Doe. Expert care, stunning results.”
Headings: Use H1 for your main page title (e.g., “Rhinoplasty Services”), then H2 and H3 for sub-sections like “What to Expect” or “Recovery Tips.” Sprinkle keywords naturally.
Content: Write detailed, helpful pages for each service you offer. A page on “Breast Augmentation” could cover the procedure, risks, benefits, and recovery—aim for 500-1000 words per page. Use your keywords a few times, but keep it readable.
Images: Rename files to something descriptive (e.g., “breast-augmentation-before-after.jpg”) and add alt text like “Before and after photo of breast augmentation by Dr. Doe.”
Internal Links: Link to other pages on your site—like from “Breast Augmentation” to “Patient Testimonials”—to keep visitors exploring and help Google understand your site.
Writing Tips
The whole point is to be the best answer to the searcher's query. Write and make content with the genuine aim to be helpful to the end user, your patient. If you can succeed in that alone, you can stop reading here because Google will definitely reward you with profitable rankings. Here are some tips to help you write good content:
Be Helpful: Answer patient questions. What do they want to know before booking?
Use an FAQ: A patient might very well have more than one question in mind before surgery. If you can answer more of them, then Google will rank you for more keywords related to those questions.
Stay Human: Write like you’re explaining things to a friend, not a robot. Avoid jargon overload.
Showcase Expertise: Add before-and-after photos or testimonials to build trust.
#3: Get The Technical SEO Right
A way to imagine SEO is that no ONE trick will do it for you. What will bring you rankings and ultimately profit is understanding that the more you optimize, the lighter you make the website for Google to lift into the top 3 positions.
This may all sound boring, like making sure the text has its appropriate title tag and so on… And you’re right, it totally is! But dominating your industry isn’t! So, make a checklist and tick off the boxes one day at a time. Each step in this guide could be the goal for the week.
Okay, so what is technical SEO? It ensures your website works smoothly behind the scenes. It’s correct, clear structure and order of the nuts and bolts of the site. If Google can’t read your site correctly or index your site, the site isn’t searchable through Google. Then all your efforts are wasted.
Must-Do Checklist
Speed: Slow sites lose visitors and rank lower. Test with Google PageSpeed Insights and fix issues like large images or clunky code. Aim for a load time under 3 seconds. Use PageSpeed Insights to audit your site speed.
Mobile-Friendliness: Over half of searches are on phones. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to confirm your site looks good on small screens. You can test this in Google Search Console.
Security: Switch to HTTPS if you haven’t—it’s a ranking factor and keeps patient data safe. Your web host can help with this. To solve this you buy an SSL from your domain provider.
URLs: Keep them clean and keyword-rich—like “yoursite.com/liposuction” instead of “yoursite.com/page_id=123.”
Sitemap: Create an XML sitemap (most website platforms do this automatically) and submit it to Google Search Console. It’s like a map for search engines.
Broken Links: Use a tool like Screaming Frog to find and fix dead links or 404 errors.
If this sounds overwhelming, break it down in steps, one weeks or months goal could be to do one of these steps.
You could also get a web developer or an SEO person on the job—but knowing what to ask for keeps you in control.
#4: How to Attract Patients Living Near You Using Local SEO
If you have a physical location, small efforts can give you a huge gain ever since an algorithm update came out that focused specifically on helping local businesses stand out more easily in search results.
Most of your patients live within driving distance, so local SEO is your secret weapon. It’s about ranking for searches like “plastic surgeon near me” and showing up on Google Maps.
Add to the checklist
Google My Business (GMB): Claim your free listing at google.com/business. Add your name, address, phone number (NAP), hours, photos, and services. Update it regularly.
Reviews: Ask happy patients to leave 5-star reviews on Google. Respond to all reviews—positive or negative—to show you care. More reviews = better rankings.
Local Keywords: Use them in your site’s content, titles, and meta tags—like “Plastic Surgery in Denver” on your homepage.
NAP Consistency: Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) is identical everywhere online—your site, GMB, Yelp, etc. Inconsistencies confuse Google. 123-456 and 123 456 are not the same, according to Google. Just write everything the same way.
Directories: List your practice on sites like Healthgrades, RealSelf, or local business directories. Each listing boosts your local credibility.
Why It Works
When someone searches “plastic surgeon in [your city],” an optimized GMB puts you in the “map pack”—those top 3 results with a map. That’s gold for visibility.
#5: Content Marketing: Leverage Your 14 Years of Expertise and Gain a Tremendous Edge
Google values, above all, your expertise and we want to put as much of that expertise on your site as possible, and Google will reward you WELL with quality rankings. And with some extra work—the exact patient you want more of. It’s a big part of SEO nowadays.
If you're new to the concept of content marketing. In short, it’s the information on your website. Your text and blog posts or recorded videos or guides that people want to read or watch are of good quality. Think about trying to give the best possible answer to a patient's question.
Some Ideas to Try Are
Blogs: Write about “Top 5 Questions Before a Facelift” or “Recovery Tips for Liposuction.” Aim for 1000-1500 words and use your keywords.
Videos: Film a quick explainer on “What Happens During a Tummy Tuck” or a clinic tour. Post on YouTube and embed on your site.
Infographics: Create visuals like “before and after: What’s the Difference?”—great for sharing.
Patient Stories: Share success stories (with permission) to connect emotionally with readers.
SEO Benefits
Fresh content keeps your site active, which Google loves.
Great content earns backlinks (backlinks earns rankings, rankings earns patients).
It targets niche keywords that bring in curious patients.
A great book on content marketing that I highly recommend is Content Marketing by Dan Norris. He solely used content marketing to build a $50,000/month WordPress support business. It’s powerful stuff!
#6: Build Quality Backlinks
First of all, why even bother with building links to your site? How does that help? Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They’re like approval ratings that tell Google your site is legit. The more high-quality backlinks, the better your rankings.
The only way to acquire links these days is to do it the way Google wants you to do it. Which is having links built naturally, organically, over time. You’re strategy is just to hurry up the process by posting your content in communities, sharing them with people who you think could benefit from them.
And, of course, writing content so amazing that people reading it likes and shares it of their own accord.
Good Ideas Worth Trying to Get Links
Guest Posts: Write for medical blogs or local sites, linking back to your practice.
Media Features: Pitch a story to local news—like “How Plastic Surgery Trends Are Changing in [Your City].”
Directories: Beyond local listings, join reputable healthcare directories like the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Shareable Content: That infographic or guide? If it’s good, others will link to it.
Watch Out For Bad Link-Building Advice
Why? Because they can kill your rankings overnight.
Back in the earlier days of Google, you could pay a guy from India to get you 100 links from his site network. These days, Google will notice these kinds of bad behavior, and you’re site will very likely be penalized, and you could lose all your progress overnight… So avoid that!
A list of things to avoid:
PBN: This is a public blog network where you pay someone to link to your site. These dirty links can kill your rankings overnight. By know Google is sophisticated enough to tell the difference between 1000 links from India and one quality link from a university or .gov address.
Avoid the “link-for-link” strategy: It’s not that it will hurt your site; it’s just wasted effort since Google knows your links to each other and will cancel out the power of those links.
Avoid shady link-buying schemes—they can tank your rankings. Focus on earning links naturally through quality and relationships.
#7: Nail User Experience (UX)
This is a big one. A clunky website drives people away—and Google notices. Good UX keeps visitors around and boosts your SEO. Don’t get overly creative with your menus, for example. Visitors are used to a certain layout, and your content should follow standard guidelines for website design.
If you’re website design gives off a certain feeling that subconsciously communicates “hey…somethings off here…” then they bounce-and so too your rankings.
UX Essentials
Navigation: Make it easy to find services, contact info, and booking options.
Speed: We covered this in technical SEO—keep it fast.
Mobile: Double-check that buttons and text work on phones.
CTAs: Add clear calls-to-action like “Schedule a Consultation” on every page.
Accessibility: Use alt text, readable fonts, and contrast for all users.
Try the user experience of your site yourself. Click around and you'll notice what's good and what's not.
#8: Leverage Social Media
Each time you post, make sure to add links on your posts that point to the service pages you want to drive more traffic to. This adds “ranking juice” to your site, for lack of better words.
Tip
Instagram: Post before-and-afters (with consent) and behind-the-scenes shots.
Facebook: Share blog posts or patient Q&As.
Engage: Reply to comments and messages fast.
Hashtags: Use #plasticsurgery, #[yourcity]surgeon, etc., to get discovered.
Pro tip: Use a tool like postplanner.com to schedule all your posts. The posts in general, don’t need to be the best quality, in my opinion, so long as the quality isn’t so poor that it hurts your practice and brand image. The important part is a tiny bit of engagement and naturally acquired, quality links over long periods of time.
#9: Track Results And Improve With Analytics
SEO isn’t “set it and forget it.” You need to monitor what’s working and adjust. It’s like a game of capture the flag. You need to fight for it.
Tools and Metrics
Google Analytics: Set it up to track organic traffic, bounce rate (people leaving fast), and conversions (consultation requests).
Google Search Console: See which keywords you’re ranking for and how many clicks you’re getting.
Rank Tracking: Use Ahrefs.com or SerpFox to monitor keyword positions.
Check monthly. If a page isn’t performing, tweak the content or technical setup.
Pro Tip: Monitor competitor rankings to spot potential threats coming your way.
Final thoughts: Start Today and Be Concictent
Think of each step as a weekly checklist. You won’t get overwhelmed with tasks, and in 9 weeks, you’ll be at greater odds of driving more patients organically to your practice.
Also, I would like to add that there aren’t really any “tricks” anymore to rank your site using SEO. I hate to admit it, but the Google engineers have won the battle between them and the SEO specialists at last. The only way to rank a website in these times is to actually produce great content that answers a searcher's question and to let the social engagement build up over time.
That said, SEO can transform your plastic surgery practice, but not overnight. It’s a marathon. Expect to see real movement in 3-6 months with consistent effort. Start with a website audit: Check your speed, mobile setup, and current rankings. Then tackle one step at a time—hunt keywords today, content next week.
The payoff? More patients will find you naturally, book consultations, and you’ll be growing your practice.
Other resources
Get a deeper understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Moz.com: This is the SEO blog of the internet. But don’t get overwhelmed by everything. The blog has its fluff of content, and not everything is relevant.
3 months to nr #1 - By Will Coombe - The best practical guide for the do-it-yourself person.
Content marketing by Dan Norris - Owner of WP masters, a WordPress business built solely on his content marketing strategy.
Tools:
Ahrefs.com: Website analytics and keyword research tool.
Serpfox.com: An acurate keyword tracker tool.
Google analytics: Website stats to track progress.
screamingfrog.co.uk. Free technical SEO audit tool.
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