How (and Why) to Keep Your Practice Website Updated

The age of your website might seem like nothing more than a random number. However, it has quite a bit of relevance when it comes to your success in areas such as SEO.

If you‘re running a website for your ophthalmic practice, you will want to make sure that it’s informative and appealing to potential patients and search engines alike. Whether you built your website 10 years ago or just finished a brand new site last month, what really counts is how old it looks.

Whatever the age of your site, there are certain actions you can take to make it more valuable over time. Let’s look at why it’s so crucial to have a website that looks young and up-to-date.

The Benefits of an Updated Website

In the old days of SEO, domain age was highly valued: the older your domain, the greater chance you’d have at ranking higher. More recently, however, Google has shifted its focus to other areas, such as the quality and relevance of content. Domain age still plays a part, but it’s not as important as it used to be.

Google uses many factors when it ranks websites. “Domain authority” depends on various elements, including backlinks and page loading speed. When older websites rank better than newer ones, however, it isn’t only because they’ve existed longer. It’s because they tend to have more content, backlinks, and traffic.

What really counts today is to have a website that is “young” in appearance, features, and relevance. By this, we mean that the website is constantly updated and new content is continually added on a regular basis. This is especially crucial in a field such as ophthalmology, where your visitors want to know that you’re up-to-date with the latest medical advancements in the field. Here are some features of an updated website:

Mobile-Friendliness

More and more people are accessing the internet via smaller devices like smartphones and tablets. Most website design today is responsive, meaning it automatically adjusts pages to fit all devices. But many older websites are non-responsive, which causes them to lose lots of potential visitors. Google is also actively penalizing those websites that are not responsive, as they deliver inferior experiences to visitors. If you want to rank higher, make sure your ophthalmic practice website is responsive.

Updated Content

Google favors websites that are frequently updated. Visitors also like to see relevant news, tips, and stories. If people see that your most recent post is from 3 years ago, they’ll look elsewhere for the latest news.

This doesn’t mean that you have to be continually changing the content found on your pages or blogging on a daily basis, but having new content to share at least a few times a month can do wonders for your SEO and online reputation.

Visually Interesting

People today like to absorb content in a variety of formats, including images and videos. It helps to mix things up and give visitors great written content along with visual stimulation. There are a variety of ways to  accomplish this, including educational videos, varied imagery, and immersive visual experiences.

Nobody likes to visit websites with pages upon pages of text with nothing visually interesting to break it up. After all, our brains process images up to 400x faster than we process words, so keeping your website updated with visually-interesting content can work wonders with user retention and engagement.

Your Website’s Age in Online Years

To find out your website’s literal age, you only need to consult your records. If you don’t remember when your domain was first registered, check with your domain registrar, website hosting provider, or Whois.

When Google ranks websites, it uses a proprietary formula that includes hundreds of factors. When you improve in any of these areas, you increase your website’s value and rank better. Two websites that are in the same niche and have the same content, but were built at different times will rank differently.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter as much how old your website is in actual days, months, or years. It’s never too soon or too late to remake it in a way that’s more visitor- and search engine-friendly.

The key is to provide a valuable user experience that promotes frequent and continual engagement over time. The most successful websites are responsive, updated, adaptable, and in touch with the needs of both customers and search engines.

If you’re serious about obtaining more traffic to your practice website, it’s important to show your visitors (and search engines) that you are investing in their experience and wants to provide value through new content, research, and a pleasant experience.

Need some help in updating your ophthalmic practice website? Contact on our of website specialists today for a Free Website Report.