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A healthcare SEO agency improves how a practice ranks in Google and appears in AI answers through technical fixes, content and local SEO, and you should hire one by asking the questions Google itself recommends, checking its healthcare results, and confirming how its analytics, forms and call tracking handle patient data. Curve Compliance helps with that last check: it tracks form, call and booking conversions under a business associate agreement (BAA) and strips protected health information (PHI) before data reaches an ad platform, so SEO and ads can be judged on booked patients.
Book a call. Hiring an SEO agency and wondering what its tracking will send? Curve Compliance replaces browser ad pixels with one script, reports organic and paid visits from your own site under a BAA, and strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform. Curve's team does the setup, typically live in about a week. Book a call with Curve.
What a healthcare SEO agency does
Google lists the services SEOs and agencies commonly provide (Google). Here is what each means for a practice.
| Service (Google's words) | What it means for a practice | Ask the agency |
|---|---|---|
| “Review of your site content or structure” (Google) | An audit of service pages, locations, provider pages and internal links | What will you change first, and why? |
| “Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript” (Google) | Fixes so Google can crawl and index every page | Will you need access to our hosting or tag manager? |
| “Content development” (Google) | Service, condition and FAQ pages that answer patients | Who reviews medical accuracy? |
| “Keyword research” (Google) | The searches patients use for your services and areas | Which searches lead to bookings, not just visits? |
| “Expertise in specific markets and geographies” (Google) | Local SEO for each location you serve | How do you handle Business Profiles for each location? |
| “Optimizing for generative AI” (Google) | Showing up in AI Overviews, AI Mode and assistants | Is your advice aligned with Google's guidance? |
Google also says: “If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself” (Google). Hire when you lack the time, are redesigning the site, or serve several locations.
The questions Google says to ask an SEO
Google's page on hiring an SEO suggests asking “Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?”, “What's your experience in my industry?”, “What's your experience in my country/city?” and “What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?” It also suggests: “How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?” (Google).
- Access. If the agency offers an audit, Google says to “only grant read access to Search Console (at this stage, don't grant them write access)” (Google).
- Promises. Google says no one can promise a #1 ranking on Google, and that you should be wary of an SEO claiming a special relationship with Google (Google).
- Links. In Google's words: “You should never have to link to an SEO” (Google).
- Accountability. Google adds: “Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire” (Google).
- Evidence. Google suggests asking: “Do they cite official Google documentation as supporting evidence for their recommendations?” (Google).
For questions that apply to any agency, including ads and web, see how to choose a healthcare marketing agency.
Healthcare checks: medical content, reviews, local SEO
Medical content. Google calls health a “Your Money or Your Life” topic and says: “For topics that could significantly impact people's lives or well-being (YMYL topics), the content must be highly accurate and consistent with established expert consensus.” It adds: “We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it” (Google). Ask who writes and who clinically reviews each page, and how claims are sourced. A plain medical disclaimer helps too.
Local SEO. Google says: “If your business either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are, you can create a Business Profile on Google,” and “There should only be one profile per business” (Google). An agency should set up one accurate profile per location and never create duplicates.
Reviews. The FTC's consumer reviews rule “went into effect on October 21, 2024.” Asked whether a business can pay incentives for 5-star reviews if reviewers disclose them, the FTC answers: “No. That conduct would violate Section 465.4” (FTC). Replies to reviews should never confirm that the reviewer is a patient; see where the PHI line sits on reviews.
HIPAA checks: analytics, forms and call tracking
SEO agencies often add tools to measure their work. HHS says “Websites commonly use tracking technologies such as cookies, web beacons or tracking pixels, session replay scripts, and fingerprinting scripts,” and that disclosures of PHI to tracking vendors need a signed BAA and an applicable permission (HHS). Ask about each tool before it goes on your site.
| Tool an SEO agency may add | What to check | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Google says it does not offer Business Associate Agreements for Google Analytics (Directory entry) | Is Google Analytics HIPAA compliant? |
| Call tracking | CallRail signs a BAA for customers on its Healthcare plans (Directory entry); check the plan you are on | HIPAA compliant call tracking |
| Forms | Where submissions are stored and whether that vendor signs a BAA | Form builders that sign a BAA |
| Tag manager and pixels | What each tag sends from service and booking pages | HIPAA compliant website checklist |
An SEO agency that reads your form submissions or call recordings may itself be a business associate: 45 CFR 160.103 covers a person who “creates, receives, maintains, or transmits protected health information” on a covered entity's behalf (eCFR). Whether that applies depends on the agency's exact work, so talk to your counsel.
Reporting SEO by booked patients
Rankings and traffic are leading signs, not results. Ask for a monthly report that shows organic visits, calls, form submissions and booked appointments by page, next to the work done. Google says sites shown in AI features are “included in the overall search traffic in Search Console,” and that you could also track conversions in other tools (Google). Whatever tool counts those conversions has to keep PHI out of anything it shares with ad platforms. See event tracking for healthcare websites.
Want booked-patient reporting in place before the agency starts? Book a call with Curve's team.
Showing up in AI answers
Patients now ask AI Overviews, AI Mode and chat assistants about symptoms, services and providers. Google says “You can apply the same foundational SEO best practices for AI features as you do for Google Search overall,” and for its AI features adds: “There are no additional technical requirements” (Google). So an agency selling a separate AI program should explain how its advice lines up with Google's guidance, which Google itself suggests asking (Google). Pages that answer the question in the first sentence, cite primary sources and name the reviewing clinician serve search and AI answers alike. See AI Overviews and healthcare SEO.
How Curve Compliance helps
Curve Compliance gives a practice and its SEO agency booked-patient reporting without the PHI risk. Curve's analytics, in its own words, “count organic and other unpaid visits as well as ad clicks,” and “The Sources breakdown lists Google Ads (paid Google clicks) apart from Google (organic search and other unpaid Google traffic)” (Curve web analytics). Curve keeps ad attribution when a visitor leaves to book in IntakeQ, Calendly, Acuity, Jane App and other schedulers, and takes outcomes from booking systems, CRMs and call tracking through incoming webhooks.
When a conversion needs to reach Meta, Google Ads or TikTok, Curve sends it server-side, each platform receives only a fixed list of fields, and Curve strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform. Curve is SOC 2 Type II and signs a BAA on every plan (Directory entry). Curve's team does the setup, typically live in about a week. Start with Curve's free website scan to see which trackers are on a page today.
Sources, checked November 2, 2026: Google, Do you need an SEO?; Google, Creating helpful content; Google, AI features and your website; Google Business Profile guidelines; FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A; HHS, Use of Online Tracking Technologies; eCFR, 45 CFR 160.103.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you choose a healthcare SEO agency?
Ask the questions Google recommends, check its results with healthcare clients, and confirm how its analytics, forms and call tracking handle patient data. Get a BAA if it will handle PHI for you.
What does a medical SEO agency do?
It reviews your site's content and structure, fixes technical issues, researches the searches patients use, writes service and condition pages, and manages local SEO, the services Google lists for SEOs (Google). Good ones also have a clinician review medical content.
Is SEO or paid ads better for a clinic?
Many clinics use both: ads can book patients this month, while SEO builds visits that keep coming without paying per click. See healthcare SEO vs paid ads and healthcare digital marketing.
Does an SEO agency need to sign a BAA?
Only if it creates, receives, maintains or transmits PHI for you, such as reading form submissions or call recordings (45 CFR 160.103). An agency that works only on content, technical fixes and aggregate reports usually does not handle PHI.
How should SEO results be reported?
By booked patients and calls from organic search, by page and location, next to rankings and the work done that month. Google says sites shown in AI features count in Search Console's overall search traffic (Google).
What should I ask an SEO before hiring?
Google suggests asking for examples of previous work, experience in your industry and city, expected results and timeframe, how success is measured, and how the SEO will communicate changes (Google). Add who reviews medical content and what tools will go on your site.
Can an SEO agency promise first place on Google?
No. Google says no one can promise a #1 ranking on Google, and to find someone else if an SEO says its changes will put you in first place (Google).
Talk to Curve Compliance
Book a call. Want your SEO agency judged on booked patients? Curve Compliance reports organic and paid visits from your own site under a BAA, tracks bookings and calls, and strips PHI before data reaches an ad platform. Curve's team does the setup, typically live in about a week. Book a call with Curve.