Medical SEO for clinics and doctors' practices in Romania

Google's suggestions for Cluj show what patients want to know before they call. They search in Romanian, often without diacritics:

• specialty and place: “cardiolog cluj”, “dermatolog turda”, “clinica medicala marasti”
• how they pay: “cardiolog cluj cas”, “cardiolog cluj prin cas”, “cardiolog cluj cu bilet de trimitere”, “dermatologie cluj cu bilet de trimitere”
• how fast and how: “dermatologie cluj urgente” (urgent dermatology) and searches ending in “programari online” (online booking)

Google puts a map with three clinics first, then the websites; on the map, the order comes from relevance, distance and prominence. If your cardiology page doesn't say clearly whether you have a CAS contract, which documents the patient needs and how to book, they move on to the next result that does.

Health is also a topic where Google gives extra weight to experience, expertise and trust (E-E-A-T). Medical content has to be highly accurate, in line with professional consensus, and show who wrote it and what qualifications they have. An article with no author, no sources and no review date shows none of that.

In the SEO Foundation:

• a Google Business Profile for each location, with the right category
• a separate practitioner profile for doctors who see patients directly during their hours, and for departments with their own entrance and a different category, where Google's rules allow it
• a booking link in the profile, pointing to your booking system or the form on your site
• MedicalClinic or Physician structured data, with address, hours and phone identical to the profile
• a page structure with one page per specialty and per doctor: qualifications, competencies, hours, whether they work through CAS, which documents to bring, how to book and prices for private services
• the specialty searches worth tracking, Search Console and a sitemap; we carry out the technical fixes

In the Local package each location's profile is kept current, with holiday hours set in advance. For a clinic with several locations we also make sure no old addresses or phone numbers are left on other sites, and we reply to reviews without confirming that the person is a patient.

In the Growth package we write articles and improve existing pages around patients' real questions. We send medical texts to the responsible doctor for review and publish them with the doctor's name, the sources used and the date of the last review.

CMR Decision no. 20/2025 on medical advertising and the new Code of Medical Ethics apply to all practices and medical units. For the website, the Google profile and posts, that means:

• no “best cardiologist”, “leader” or comparisons with other clinics
• no promised or guaranteed results
• no discounts, freebies or other material advantages tied to a doctor's image
• no pseudoscientific claims, however well the topic searches
• doctors' names and statements appear only as professional information, not as advertising

Regional colleges can ask for non-compliant material to be withdrawn or changed within 30 days, so it pays to get it right from the start.

Patient testimonials are not explicitly allowed in the CMR texts we have reviewed, unlike the rules for dentists. So we don't use them without approval from the clinic's lawyer or the regional college. Health data is a special category under the GDPR and medical confidentiality applies online too: no cases or photos without consent, and a review reply never confirms that someone is a patient.

You ask every patient for a review, with no reward; filtered reviews, or reviews written by clinic staff, break Google's policy. Psychologists, physiotherapists and other professions have their own codes, which we check separately before writing for them.

In the first 2–4 weeks we make the technical fixes and sort out the Google profiles. Some things help from the day they go live: correct hours, a booking link that works, the same phone number everywhere.

Rankings usually move in 3–6 months, and a specialty searched with “prin cas” or “cu bilet de trimitere” usually has fewer competitors than “clinica medicala cluj”. We agree with you which specialties to work on first, based on where you have free slots: there is no point bringing new patients to a doctor who is booked up for months.