We know that offering X-rays is a defining feature of urgent care, but do your patients? Online searches around this topic tell us that many do not. According to the SEO platform Semrush, the monthly search volume (MSV) for “does urgent care do x rays” is 4,400; “can urgent care do x rays” is 3,600; and “does urgent cares do x-rays” is 720. Those numbers are very high considering how specific it is. So how do you A) let patients know you offer this, and B) make sure your clinic appears in the search results for these types of queries?
We’ve pulled together a list of keywords and key phrases to use in your marketing, and then walk through the best way to use them in your digital marketing: local search, website, and paid ads.
If you’re doing your own marketing, you might not have access to an SEO tool to research the best keywords for your marketing. These are specific words and sentences that are being commonly typed into Google, and the number of average searches a month for each in the US. When you rank for a keyword, that means you’re showing up somewhere in the search results. You want to try to rank on page one, and ideally, in the first to third position on page one.
Here is a list from November 2024 of over 130 terms and phrases that can help you.
You’ll notice that many searches exclude the hyphen from the term. You should spell everything correctly in your copy; you can still rank in a top position for a search term that uses “x ray” when you’re using “X-ray.”
Now let’s look at how to use this list to your digital advantage.
Before you spend money on marketing, make sure you’re leveraging all of your free local listings to include X-rays where possible. This is how you’re going to ensure that your clinic comes up in all those local searches asking for a clinic or service “near me.”
Google My Business (GMB)
Your GMB account plays a major role in local online searches. As far as X-rays go, you should mention them in your business description — along with any concise, compelling facts, like “fast, accurate X-ray services,” or “X-ray services faster and less expensive than ER.”
Also be sure to check off X-ray, MRI, ultrasound, or any other radiology service you want to promote in the services section. If it is not available in the prepopulated list, you should be able to add it yourself using the “+ Add custom service” option. This helps GMB understand that you are a fit for these searches.
It’s extremely helpful if you can get positive patient reviews that mention X-rays. Here is a search result for “urgent care with x ray near me” where you can see why this is important.
Google wants to make the result as relevant to the user as possible, which, as you can see, is often done with the help of reviews.
Also note that Peachtree gives you the option to schedule right from the results. While it isn’t specific to radiology, it’s an advantage over your competitors who don’t have it. Peachtree partners with Experity for its patient engagement, which includes a Google Reservations integration. (Want to know what the schedule page looks like? Go here.) You can learn more about our patient engagement pre-registration, online queuing, and reputation management here.
Local Search
Google isn’t the only entity people turn to for advice, especially when it comes to local searches. And even if you think that most of your patients aren’t using other directories or applications, having consistent listings across the board will also strengthen your GMB authority. For example, Google analyzes reviews on other platforms like Facebook and Yelp to inform its overall rating of your business.
There are plenty of free accounts you can leverage by claiming your business similarly to doing so on Google. Once you verify that you own your business, you may be able to add a description that includes X-ray services, and potentially list it in a services section. This article talks about common local search platforms. We would also like to add to their list Facebook for Business and Apple Maps.
When someone is searching for X-ray services online, your collective digital efforts all work together, but your website is arguably the heart of your search engine optimization (SEO.)
That means that for any of those search terms you want to rank for, your strategic inclusion of those terms on your website is going to matter the most. But with SO many searches and variations of keywords and phrases, how do you decide which to address on your blogs and services pages?
For this example, we don’t recommend creating goals around ranking on page one for those first three searches topping 10K MSV. Urgent care is too specific a use for X-ray for Google to think it matches the user’s intent. Also, most of the other keywords include “x ray” in them, anyway, so you’re already using these terms.
You do want to target search terms that have a high MSV, though. What you’ll do is use the keywords, user intent, and the service(s) that you want to promote to tell a story. Here’s an overview of using your chosen keywords in a blog:
Primary keyword/phrase: This is usually a keyword with a higher MSV, and should appear in your title, URL, metadata, copy (as early as possible,) and — ideally — your section headings and subheadings.
Secondary keywords/phrases: Also appearing throughout the copy, these should go into section headings. If it makes sense, you can use them in the meta as well.
Define, explain, and answer questions: Google loves being able to answer a direct question or vague keyword with a definition, list, or how-to blurb. Use the section headings wisely.
Inline links: If you have a page with the primary keyword “does urgent care do x rays,” and you have another article that mentions X-rays, link it to the “does urgent care do…” page in the second article. Most importantly, link it to the exact keyword if possible.
Let’s look at this more closely. If you Google “what do patients research when they need an x ray,” (ie: user intent) AI responds with this:
“When patients need an X-ray, they typically research information about the potential reasons for needing the X-ray, like checking for bone fractures, identifying the cause of pain or swelling, looking for signs of infection in the lungs, potential risks associated with X-ray radiation, the procedure itself, and what to expect during and after the exam.” It also lists over 20 key points patients might search, including common uses, types of X-rays, procedure details, etc.
Based on this information, there are numerous blogs you could publish to your website. Think about why people are searching for X-rays, find keywords that fit within that story, and create from there.
Here is a nice example of what we mean. CityMD’s blog about urgent care X-rays looks like this:
If you skim the title, section headers, and bolded phrases, you will recognize keywords from our list. It looks like they’re targeting “urgent care x ray” and “does urgent care do x rays” as their primary keywords with a few other key terms sprinkled in. And it’s working for them. Here is how the page ranks for its top keywords:
What’s more, they have a link at the bottom that brings them to a list of locations, each with a “Book Now” option beneath it. What would be a little better for them is if they also had a “Book Now” button in the navigation because many readers don’t make it to the end of the page.
This is a terrific example of how SEO efforts work. If you need a more detailed explanation of how to choose and use keywords for a blog, our Urgent Care SEO for Non-marketers: What, Why and How article can help.
Extra Tips
Ensure that your messaging — especially on your X-ray services page — includes how you solve pain points. Urgent care is faster and less expensive than the ER; make sure you say that.
You should always promote your blogs on your social media pages, and include keywords in your post as best you can.
Be cognizant of what the reader’s next step might be. Are the keywords indicative of someone ready to come in, or someone who is researching options? You need a call to action (CTA) on your page, whether it is to book online, call or chat, read another related page/article.
You also need keywords for your paid ad campaigns. Walking through paid ad strategies and approaches is too big a topic to include in this book. If you aren’t familiar with this type of marketing, this Semrush article details seven steps to create a pay per click (PPC) strategy.
As for working keywords into a radiology campaign, here are a few tips:
Try to choose keywords for your ads that you are NOT already ranking for on page one. If your website is already organically showing up on page one of a search result, it probably doesn’t make sense to spend money to get in front of people for that same search with your ad. This may not always apply to a campaign, but it’s a best practice in most cases.
If you’re unsure how you rank for a keyword (typing search terms into your own computer is unreliable. Google remembers your preferences and delivers results based on those,) the “Performance” tab in your Google Search Console will show your average organic position for different search queries and pages on your site. Additionally, there are many free trials or limited free access opportunities out there, like with Semrush and Moz. Make sure your messaging including benefits that matter to the audience, like being faster and less expensive than the ED. “Need a chest x-ray? Get in and out faster than the ER AND spend less at XYZ urgent care. Book online now.”
Use geofencing to run your ads for separate services/visit types. If you don’t what that is, Semrush has this great article about it. Basically, you can set geographical boundaries for your ads. Meaning you could set up X-ray ads near senior living centers, athletic venues, and anywhere else a patient would be in more likely need of an X-ray (or any other radiology service.)
Are you able to provide fast, accurate reads consistently during all business hours? If not, Experity Teleradiology can fix that. More than 3,500 urgent care centers across the U.S. count on Experity’s AI-assisted thirty-minute or less standard overreads and STAT reads in fifteen minutes or less. Our board-certified radiologists maintain a 99 percent accuracy rate. In addition, we own our PACS, which has allowed us to add efficiencies, streamline workflow, and improve the end-user experience. This translates to the highest-quality reads and fastest turnaround times, far surpassing industry standards.
Plus, we have the ability to transmit results directly to your EMR, improving clinic administration workflow.
Learn more about Experity’s teleradiology services and request to speak with an expert by clicking the button below. Or learn more about the benefits of teleradiology in this blog.
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