Create a Content-Rich Bio
For Providers/Faculty, Providers, & Staff
Crafting a bio is an art form. When you write, think about who you are writing to. What do these people want to accomplish? How can you help them do that?
Be Clear & Conversational
Write like you are speaking to your reader. How would you talk to your patient? Is that different than how you would talk to a colleague?
Specialties
State your patient treatment specialties and title/what you do in the first two sentences. This will help Google (or an AI interface) easily scan the page and surface the most important/heavily weighted information.
Note—Google generates its own profiles and location information. While we make efforts to review our locations (local search/GMB) on Google, it's difficult to manage an additional ~7,000 generated profiles.*
Patients/Scheduling
Are you taking new patients? Add a sentence about this if you are. (We don't yet have an approved method of adding this in another profile field, so you must add it here.)
Bio Length
Write a bio that is long enough but not too long. (I recommend two to three paragraphs—chances are good your audience will have moved on to something else by then.)
Consider adding subtitles in your bio if it's longer. Web readers scan information online to find exactly what they are looking for.
Recent Work
Include your most recent work/volunteer projects/collaboration, probably in the second/third paragraphs. (Being born was cool, but it's probably not an important fact your readers want to know about.)
Below is an example outline written for a patient audiences and structured for SEO.
Bio Template
First/second paragraph
An expert in [specialties—two at least but no more than four], Dr. [last name] sees patients with multiple types of [conditions].
If you have [condition], it's critical that you consider all your options and potentially get [treatment]. Because Dr. [last name] specializes in this area, they can provide you with the best treatment.
Dr. [last name] is currently taking new patients. Please call to schedule an appointment. Dr [last name] also travels to states outside of Utah to provide specialty care to patients like you. Call us for more information.
Second/third paragraph
Dr [last name]'s interest in [condition/treatment] means they have done special training in this area. (They are fellowship-trained.) They conduct research into this [condition/treatment] as part of their commitment to providing the best care for their patients.
Recently, Dr. [last name] has [traveled/presented/published/seen]. [Add sentence about potential on patient care or other]. This is just one aspect of Dr. [last name]'s commitment to providing expert health care.
Third/fourth paragraph
As the [title/department], Dr. [last name] provides direction and leadership to the nation's experts in [specialty]. They hold an [specialty/award/endowed chair]. This award recognizes their expertise in [expertise]. Originally Dr. [last name] attended [university/education institute] and received [degree name].
To make an appointment, please call us. As a patient, you are the most important factor in keeping yourself healthy. Dr [last name] can help you do that and live your best life.
NOTE—While it seems like there is some marketing fluff in this bio, including words and phrases like “best", “quality", “expert", “treatment near you", will optimize your profile for searches that users regularly conduct on Google and other search engines.
If you would like some data around particular keywords and phrases to determine specific keywords/phrases to target, please send a request through hscwebmaster@hsc.utah.edu and we will pull some data for you.
Notes on Standards
You must review AI-written text. You are responsible to make sure the text is as accurate as you can make it. If you use an AI interface (such as ChatGPT) to generate the text, please review it for accuracy before posting it.
Example Bios
A well-crafted profile defines the first exposure a patient, colleague, or staff member could have of you. It's wise to spend a little time on your bio to manage your online reputation.
*Right now, Google publishes what we call zero-click search results. This means Google surfaces information for a user right on the search results page so a user doesn't have to click through to another webpage.
Unless we intervene to manage this information, zero-click search results are often out-of-date or inaccurate. While we cannot directly claim all GMB (Google My Business) profiles, you can contact us to get either advice or assistance on how to work with it.
Clinical Vs. Academic Bios
Clinicians who are faculty members have profiles with two tabs: clinical bio and academic bio. Faculty members who do not see patients only have one tab on their profile.
This is a strategic decision to put the user/audience first. If your audience is searching for a provider to give them treatment, their needs are very different from a potential fellow or resident reviewing your scholarly work.
This way, all bio information still lives in one place but can be viewed in context.
Profiles for patients (or profiles in the clinical template) show on healthcare.utah.edu but are accessible from the academic subdomains (and open to the academic profile if accessed from the academic subdomains).