When it comes to creating content about plastic surgery, writing blog posts (i.e., articles) is the easiest way. But visual content is just as important, if not more so. In addition to written content marketing, visual content marketing is a critical component to a medical aesthetic professional’s online success.
Any content is important. As a plastic surgeon, you’re an expert in your field, and prospective patients want to make an informed decision. When it comes to SEO, as it should be with the content itself, the fundamental goal of written content is to help the people you’re targeting.
However, most plastic surgeons or their staff create visual content, such as videos, photos, and graphics. And they should. Most of them post these on visual channels (like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.) instead of their own blogs.
So how do can you do SEO when your content is not text-based and it’s published outside your blog or website?
1. Metadata is Your Friend
Every piece of non-textual content you create (or better said, capture) has metadata attached to it, such as time, date, location, equipment used, etc. Most digital recording devices nowadays automatically add metadata to your captures, whether it’s a $3,000 camera or a $500 smartphone.
But many recordings today can have additional metadata added. Most of the time, it’s done when the recordings are added to another medium — such as when it’s uploaded to Google Photos or YouTube, for example.
Incidentally, if you turned off metadata (such as location) for privacy purposes, you should turn it back on. Some people hate being tracked, and I understand that. But this information is ideal for SEO.
For example, when uploading it to Google My Business or Facebook (Business), it adds more pseudo-content for local SEO purposes. When people type “plastic surgeon near me” into Google, your photos may appear (or your listing with a lot of geotagged photos may appear) more often as a result.
Nevertheless, you can add more metadata. On a blog, those things include alternate text (called “alt-tags”), titles (or “title tags”), captions, and even the filename itself. For instance, when adding content to a website, rather than uploading it directly, save it, rename it, and upload it with its new filename.
It’s not about stuffing keywords in either the metatags or filenames. It’s about including descriptive information for accessibility so that search engines know what the file is all about. So include keywords in the graphic, photo, or video, both in their filenames and tag data.
But don’t force them. Just be descriptive. Be helpful, not robotic.
Like all forms of SEO, metadata comes down to helping your audience and giving them what they’re looking for. You want to describe your visuals in order to help — not outsmart the search engines.
Remember, metadata is about the user and aims to make the visuals better understood by users. Yes, they’re for search engines, too. But search engines aim to help users (your users) by giving them better information — and therefore, a better experience. Stuffed text will only work against you.
2. Channel-Based SEO
The second-largest search engine in the world is YouTube. Just like Google, YouTube has its own search queries, topics, keywords, rankings, velocity (i.e, based on how much traffic, engagements, and likes a video gets), and of course, audiences. So it needs its own SEO, too.
In fact, almost every content sharing platform is a search engine itself. So whether you’re uploading photos, videos, clips, graphics, or stories (like Reels, LinkedIn Stories, Twitter Fleets, TikTok, or any visual asset you upload to the web), you will also need to optimize those, too.
Optimize their descriptions, tags, labels, comments, and more. So be descriptive, add keywords, insert links, use hashtags, and so on.
Every channel needs its own form of SEO, from Twitter to Google My Business. Pay attention to the content you add, from the bio of your channel’s profile to each asset you upload. Include keywords and links (especially links back to the website) to double your amplification (I’ll come back to this).
Create new content with SEO in mind, whether it’s the title, the description, the filename, or the surrounding content (including headers, copy, links, additional keywords, etc). In fact, there are three things to keep in mind:
- Keywords don’t have to be broad or popular with high search volumes. They can be long-tail, indirectly related, or ultra-specific keywords.
- Focus on the user, not the search engines. Don’t stuff your content with keywords. Focus on topics and what users want, and describe it to them.
- Include your name and brand names (such as proprietary names of your services, products, or processes, which is my number-one SEO tip).
Incidentally, content in proximity is just as important as metadata or descriptive data. For example, when uploading content to a visual platform, remember that you have the ability to add descriptions, comments, even tags and related content — such as linking suggested videos or other related posts.
This information also helps to expand your visibility, too.
On YouTube, your videos will show up as related videos on other people’s videos. On Instagram, it will be recommended as part of the “Explore” page. On Google, your Web Stories will be suggested in “Discover” (i.e., the personalized content feed on Android devices, Google pages, and Google apps).
For videos, one tool I recommend is TubeBuddy, which allows you to do keyword and tag research, on the fly, as you upload your videos. On Instagram, make sure your photos are properly described, tagged, and captioned with keywords — and don’t forget the advanced settings (hidden alt text), too.
3. Bring it Back Home
Finally, remember that your goal is to get people back to your website (or at least to come forward and book an appointment with you). But for SEO purposes, it’s to attract qualified patients to your practice or clinic.
While your goal is to use other platforms as a way to share and amplify content from your website in order to increase signals back to your website (and hopefully earn authoritative backlinks), you can also do the converse — i.e., amplify your third-party platform content through your website.
In other words, you can bring content back to your website. You don’t need to duplicate everything. Many of these websites allow you to embed their content, which allows you to add a piece of code and incorporate content from their platform back on your website.
However, some may offer you the ability to embed carousels or galleries. That’s not what I mean. Embed either one or a few select pieces on a blog post, but add surrounding, descriptive content. Offer deeper, richer content — perhaps a story behind the visuals. Above all, include links to other pages.
For example, one plastic surgeon often posts on Instagram. He uploads videos that are either before-and-after clips, patient testimonials, or videos of actual surgical procedures. He then takes a video from IG, embeds it on his website, and describes the procedure in depth with additional content around it.
He turns it into a case study to describe that specific patient’s situation (e.g., what was their issue, what makes them a candidate, what results to expect, etc). He also links anchor texts back to his main service page — the one that describes the procedure (like “breast augmentation,” for example).
This process creates strategic internal links, signals to his key procedure pages, and topical clusters, which all help SEO — including the social media signals.
If you do this with videos, transcribe your videos (using a tool like Descript, Otter, or Screechpad), which will then fill your blog post (and therefore, your website) with keyword-rich and/or topic-focused content that will add SEO as well as bring more context to the visuals (and vice versa).
Ultimately, these are some ideas that will help use non-text-based content and third-party content for SEO purposes that will enhance your visibility, drive traffic, and increase traction with ideal patients.
So with visuals and third-party platforms, don’t forget metadata, keywords, and links to each other for bilateral amplification and stronger SEO signals.
