Your Year-End Digital Update from Practice Promotions
As we wrap up the year, our teams have been hard at work making sure your practice heads into January with strong visibility, consistent patient engagement, and fully optimized digital performance.
December is a powerful month for preparation, patients are online more, Google is rolling out important updates, and it’s the perfect time to position your clinic for a busy start to the new year.
In this issue, we’re sharing the key improvements we’ve made across SEO, PPC, and PES this month, along with tips you can use to boost reactivation and strengthen your online presence heading into 2026.
Here’s what’s inside:
- SEO Year-End Update – A look back at the improvements and optimizations we’ve made all year to keep your practice more visible and easier to find.
- PPC Update – Ensuring your ads stay compliant, calls keep connecting, and campaigns keep performing, moving into the new year.
- PES Update – Holiday engagement strategies to reactivate past patients and start January strong.
A Year of Innovation, Expansion & Smarter Visibility
As we wrap up the year, our SEO team is proud to share a quick look at how we’ve been leveling up your search visibility all year long. 2025 has been a year of innovation, new tools, and smarter strategies, all aimed at helping your practice get found more often and chosen more confidently by patients in your community.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve built for you this year:
1. A Smarter Way to Diagnose SEO Performance
We’ve developed and refined an internal scoring system that gives us a clearer, more predictive view of your website’s health.
This system allows us to:
- Evaluate technical performance, SEO foundations, content quality, and schema
- Prioritize the optimizations that will create the biggest lifts
- Spot potential issues early—before they affect rankings or patient conversions
This means your strategy is no longer reactive but proactively guided by data.
2. Stronger Local Visibility With New Tools (Moz Local + GeoRank Grid)
Local search continues to be crucial for medical practices, and this year we strengthened that foundation even more.
By adding Moz Local to our toolkit, we now have:
- More accurate listing management across key directories
- Better monitoring of local search health
- Real-time insights on how your clinic appears across the web
One standout addition is the GeoRank Grid, which helps our team map your exact Google ranking performance across your neighborhood; street by street. This allows us to:
- Identify your strongest visibility zones
- Spot weaker pockets outside the top 3 map pack results
- Target opportunities for improvement, like local backlinks and hyper-local reviews
It’s the closest thing to having a heatmap of your clinic’s search power.
3. Launching the Practice Search Visibility Blueprint™
This year we also introduced a brand-new, holistic approach to SEO designed specifically for how patients search today.
The Practice Search Visibility Blueprint™ ensures your clinic shows up across all major discovery channels, not just Google. That includes:
- Google Search & Maps
- AI platforms like ChatGPT
- Social platforms like Instagram & Facebook
- Voice search
- Featured answers and emerging AI-driven results
We’re now optimizing your content to be visible everywhere patients look, creating a wider, more unified digital presence that goes far beyond traditional SEO.
Looking Ahead to 2026
This year was all about strengthening your foundation and expanding your visibility. In 2026, we’ll continue building on these advancements with even more automation, smarter insights, and new strategies to keep your practice ahead of the curve in an evolving search landscape.
Thank you for partnering with us this year. We’re excited for what’s next—and we’re even more excited to continue helping your practice grow.
Keeping Your Campaigns Compliant & Performing Smoothly
As we close out the year, there are two important Google policy updates affecting clinics that use phone-based ads and display campaigns. Here’s what changed and how we’re staying ahead of it for you.
1. Google’s New Phone Number Enforcement (Effective December 10)
Google has tightened its rules around phone numbers used in ads. If a number is linked to past fraud or policy violations—even outside your clinic—it can now be blocked across call extensions, message extensions, and click-to-call ads.
What this could mean for your clinic:
If a number gets flagged, your call extensions may stop showing, which can reduce new patient calls.
What we’re doing on our end:
- Double-checking and re-verifying every phone number used in your ads, landing pages, and extensions
- Replacing old tracking numbers or third-party numbers that might trigger a flag
- Making sure your number is consistent everywhere—Google Ads, your website, and your Google Business Profile
What you can do:
If your main phone line has changed recently, just let us know so we can update everything on our side.
2. Personalized Ads Policy Update: Custom Segments Expansion (Effective December 12)
Google expanded the availability of Custom Segments for Display ads.
How this affects medical practices:
It doesn’t change our approach. Because your campaigns are HIPAA-sensitive, we never target audiences based on health conditions, diagnoses, or inferred medical interests—and that remains the case.
How we’re keeping your campaigns compliant and effective:
- Continuing to use contextual, geographic, and intent-based targeting instead of sensitive audience segments
- Keeping all ad copy HIPAA-safe and condition-neutral
- Ensuring landing pages remain privacy-friendly with SSL, simple forms, and no unnecessary data collection
- Including clear terms on any promotional pricing to keep ads transparent and compliant
Our Compliance Approach (Reinforced, Not New)
We’re maintaining the same strict standards that protect your clinic and your patients:
- HIPAA-safe creative with educational, non-diagnostic language
- Privacy-first pages with minimal form fields and no PHI collection
- Clear pricing and transparent promotional terms
Your campaigns remain active, compliant, and optimized. We’re proactively verifying every phone number and continuing to use privacy-first targeting to keep your clinic protected and visible. If you’ve updated your main phone number—or if you’re planning any new promotions—send them our way and we’ll review everything for compliance right away.
Use the Holiday Season to Boost Patient Reactivation
As the year winds down, patient schedules shift, routines pause, and clinic traffic can feel a bit unpredictable. But December is actually one of the best months to re-engage past patients. People spend more time online, read more content, and start thinking seriously about their health and goals for the new year. It’s the perfect moment to reconnect and set the stage for a strong start in January.
Your Practice Promotions PES Team
How Your Patient Engagement Team Is Supporting You This Month
✔ Monthly Digital Newsletter
Your December issue keeps your clinic top-of-mind and encourages patients to restart care in January.
✔ Social Media Presence
While many clinics go quiet this month, your scheduled posts ensure you stay active, consistent, and visible in your community.
✔ Custom Email Campaigns
Holiday greetings, birthdays, and automated review requests land especially well during this season and help strengthen patient relationships with little effort from your team.
Why December Matters for January Success
January’s surge in evals starts with consistent touchpoints now. By staying present during the holiday slowdown, you:
- Increase reactivation
- Build stronger engagement
- Make it easier for patients to return once routines resume
Preparing for the New Year
We’re preparing your clinic for the trends shaping patient engagement next year, including:
- Social platforms doubling as search engines
- Better list segmentation for stronger email performance
- Community-focused content that earns higher engagement
- Consistent branding across all platforms
Our goal: keep your practice visible, trusted, and easy to find.
If you want to strengthen your social media, expand your newsletter presence, and add custom email automation for 2026, our team is ready to support you.
Let’s close the year strong and set your practice up for an even more successful January!
SEO Tip of the Month: Refresh Your Google Business Profile for Year-End Patient Searches
December is a high-intent month for medical searches, especially as patients try to use remaining insurance benefits or meet deductibles before they reset. A quick refresh of your Google Business Profile can help capture those last-minute appointments.
Here’s what to do:
- Post a Year-End Benefits Update: Add a short Google Business Profile Update reminding patients they may still have covered visits available. Include a call-to-action like “Schedule before Dec. 31”.
- Confirm Holiday & Special Hours: Make sure your holiday schedule is accurate—many patients rely on Google for this info first.
- Add Helpful Q&A: Use the GBP Q&A section to answer common questions such as accepted insurance plans, scheduling timelines, or whether remaining benefits can be used for physical therapy or other treatments.
These small updates help keep your listing active, accurate, and more likely to convert searchers into scheduled patients during the busiest time of year.
Quick Links
To login to your Marketing Analytics Dashboard, visit https://practicepromotions.clientseoreport.com/.
This is where you’ll find your Total Leads Summary, Website Performance, and ROI information.
Engage… remind me where that is again? We’ve got you. Login to your dashboard at https://practicepromotions.email/app/user. If you need help, reach out to your Digital team on Basecamp.