SEO for Dermatologists
Doctor Rank gets your practice named when a patient asks Google, ChatGPT or Gemini about a rash, a mole, hair loss or their jowls. We run four dermatology locations today. Their numbers are below.
Reviewed by Artem Saribekyan, Founder of DoctorRank | Veteran SEO Specialist, 20+ Years of Experience | SEO for 50+ Healthcare & Legal Practices | Last Updated: April 2026
Two kinds of dermatology patient, one practice
The two dermatology patients, and why one page cannot serve both
The medical patient has a rash that is spreading, a mole that changed, or hair coming out in the shower. They have insurance, they want to be seen the same week, and they type the symptom into Google or describe it to ChatGPT at midnight. The cosmetic patient has been looking at their jowls in the mirror for a year. They pay cash, they research for weeks, they compare three practices, and they ask the AI what works at their age before they ever call anyone.
A three-location dermatology group we run answers both. Its biggest pages in the last 90 days were questions patients actually typed: whether an adult can use diaper rash cream, 1,185 clicks; how to get rid of jowls without surgery, 1,091; how to prevent hair loss on a medication, 953; what Sofwave does by decade, 809. Each one was written from the dermatologists' own answers. Together with the location pages they brought the group 11,321 clicks in 90 days.
What happened to four dermatology locations we run, July 19 to October 16
Every figure is from that practice's own Google Search Console, Google Analytics or Google Business Profile, for the dates named. No names, because their numbers are theirs.
A three-location dermatology group we run
11,321
organic clicks in 90 days
Up from 10,751 in the 90 days before. The growth is question pages written from the dermatologists' answers, medical and cosmetic, each one answering what a patient typed.
The same group
49
visits from ChatGPT in 28 days
More AI referrals than any medical practice we run, measured in Google Analytics. Those visitors land on condition pages and read.
A long-standing dermatology practice we run
7,978 to 2,223
organic clicks, a year apart
October to December 2025 against July to October 2026. A Google quality update hit it in December. The story is below, because you should hear the hard one too.
The same practice
1,405
calls from its Google listing in 90 days
Against 1,639 the quarter before and 1,682 a year ago. The listing held while the website took the hit, which is why we run both.
Not every practice moves up, and we will not pretend otherwise. One of the four is still recovering. What we can promise is that you see the same Search Console screen we do.
What a Google quality update did to one dermatology practice
A dermatology practice we run had been publishing for years. A previous agency had filled its blog with lifestyle articles that had nothing to do with skin, because they brought traffic. In December 2025 Google re-ran its quality judgement on health sites, and the practice's organic clicks fell from roughly 4,400 a month to about 550. Every page still loaded, every page stayed indexed. The bar had moved.
The proof it was Google and nothing on the site: over the same weeks, Bing traffic to the identical pages tripled. We removed what should never have been published, put a named dermatologist behind what remained, and rebuilt the condition pages from the doctors' answers. Recovery arrives on Google's schedule. Ten months later the practice is at about a quarter of its old click volume and its listing calls are flat, which is the honest state of a quality recovery. If your traffic fell and someone told you to publish more, ask for the Bing comparison first.
What Doctor Rank's dermatology SEO includes
Medical condition pages in the dermatologist's words
Acne, eczema, psoriasis, moles, hair loss, rashes. Each page answers what the condition might be, what a visit involves and when to come in now, written from the doctor's answers and checked against the standard health content is held to.
Cosmetic treatment pages by concern and age
Botox, fillers, laser, Sofwave, body contouring, organized the way a cosmetic patient thinks: jowls at 50, dark spots after summer, what works for a neck. Prices only where the practice publishes them.
A Google listing per location, run every week
Categories that match the services, hours, photos, posts, review replies, and the Google listing of each dermatologist attached to the right office. Three locations means three listings that have to agree.
Provider schema with the credential on the name
Board-certified dermatologist next to the dermatologist's name, with a bio page the models can verify, on every page that carries their words.
The weekly question engine
Each week the dermatologists answer a few patient questions in one sentence each. They become the pages that brought the group above 11,000 clicks in a quarter.
Reviews, directories and citations
Healthgrades, Vitals, Zocdoc, WebMD and the Google listing all saying the same name, address, phone and hours, plus reviews that name the condition or treatment. AI reads these before it names you.
The hundred questions, dermatology edition
Every month we ask the dermatologists questions about what their patients ask: how long a Sofwave result lasts, what a mole check involves, whether hair loss on a medication comes back. One sentence per answer is enough. The sentences become the pages, so the site sounds like the doctors and the model has something specific to stand behind. If the practice cannot give us the answers, we say so before you sign.
"Ninety nine percent of how AI picks a provider has to come from the website. Go read your own website. If it sounds generic and there is no specificity about the practice, that is your answer."
Artem Saribekyan, Founder, Doctor Rank
Which dermatology practices this is built for
- Solo medical dermatologists who want new patients beyond referrals.
- Practices with a medical side and a cosmetic side that need two kinds of pages and one listing strategy.
- Multi-location groups, each office surfacing for its own neighborhood with its own listing.
- Cosmetic-only skin clinics competing with med spas for Botox and laser searches.
How you will know it is working
Most agencies send reports, and the reports are the nonsense part. You will know because you will see patients, and when you ask how they found you, more of them will say Google or ChatGPT. You get the Search Console screen we look at, the call count from your Google listing, and a straight monthly note. The first two months you get the report. After that you will not need it.
Questions dermatologists ask us before signing
Why does ChatGPT recommend another dermatology practice?
Because that practice's website answered the question the patient asked, in a form the model could verify: a named dermatologist, the condition, what a visit involves, and consistent details across Healthgrades, Vitals and the Google listing. We wrote a whole article on this; the short version is that the model picks the practice it can stand behind, and generic pages give it nothing.
Should medical and cosmetic dermatology have separate pages?
Yes. A patient with a suspicious mole and a patient researching Sofwave at 55 are asking different questions in different moods, and one page cannot answer both. We build medical condition pages and cosmetic treatment pages separately, and the listing categories match.
Can you write medical dermatology content without the dermatologist?
No, and we will tell you that before you sign. Every month the dermatologists answer our questions in one sentence each, and those sentences become the pages. Skin content is health content, so a named clinician has to stand behind it.
Who owns my website?
You do, every bit: the site, the content and the domain. If we part ways, you take it all and nothing breaks.
Is there a contract or lock-in?
No multi-year contract and no cancellation fee locking your site up. Give reasonable notice and you can walk.
Will you work with a competing dermatologist in my area?
No. We take one dermatology practice per market, so we will never build up the practice across town that you compete against.
How long until new patients start calling?
Google reads a real page within days, and the AI platforms follow the same signals. Most practices feel the shift in thirty to sixty days, and the question pages keep compounding for a year or more. The group above built its 11,000-click quarter page by page.
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Disclaimer: SEO results vary by market, competition, and implementation. The strategies discussed on this page reflect our direct experience managing campaigns for healthcare and legal practices. No specific ranking position or traffic outcome is guaranteed. For a personalized assessment, contact our team.