Has the trend of online doctor consultations ended?

This post tells you about what people are searching for online when it comes to doctor consultations. It also talks about how the industry is changing and how that affects doctor consultations.

Now that 2020 is over, it is time to look back at the biggest change in the healthcare space. This change is more specifically related to online healthcare and virtual consultations, which is a direct result of the Coronavirus pandemic. This post covers the overall search trends as well as industry updates which relate to the topic.

Google Search Trends

At the start of the pandemic, there were a lot of people searching for information about it online. Some keywords increased more than 400% in just one month! Websites that had been optimized or quickly created content related to these keywords before the spike took advantage of this trend.

Generic related searches increased the quickest and decreased the quickest.

However, keywords relating to more specific doctors have stayed elevated. Upon more research, it seems that people are also interested in skin care and dermatology.

Google My Business Updates

Google made a lot of changes to the local GMB platform throughout the last year. These changes were necessary and appreciated in many cases because Google wants to give its users the most relevant and useful information.

In the past, Google Maps has made updates like changing hours, marking businesses as closed, and stopping the generation of reviews. Recently, they have started to add video conferencing tools to their services which could have a big impact on performance reports.

Some people who use video conferencing may not go to the website or fill out a form, making it harder to track how well the video conferencing is working. We will continue to study its impact over the next few months.

The Future of Online Doctor Consultation

Even though the search volume for these keywords has returned to normal, it is still a good idea to have some kind of online consultation feature. The search trends could spike again or the overall search landscape could change quickly, making these types of searches more important.

Having a website is a good way to get new patients. You can do this by putting your site on the internet so people can see it. You can also do this by having an open house. This will let people know that you have a website and they can come and look at it.