As specialists in SEO for therapists, we know just how saturated the market has become. Poor mental health is a real issue for a lot of people, and this has only been escalated by the pandemic. With so much uncertainty in the world, demand for wellbeing services is soaring. Like all industries, this trend is likely to encourage a huge influx of start-ups in your sector. For you, this means greater competition. Getting your digital marketing strategy in place now, will hold you in good stead for what is to come. It always pays to be proactive.
What is SEO?
If this is your first encounter with SEO, it is important that we first note how technical this area of marketing is. SEO for therapists isn’t something you can implement without extensive experience. Despite the indirect costs involved, SEO is arguably one of the most lucrative areas of marketing. For businesses in crowded markets, this is especially valuable.
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. This is a process carried out on your website that helps you rank better when individuals look online for your services. In other words, SEO helps you position higher than your competitors, bringing more organic traffic to your site.
SEO involves manipulating your website to better suit the likes of Google and their algorithm. Keeping things simple, this algorithm is essentially a list of characteristics that Google believe all ‘good’ websites should adopt. The more of these boxes you tick, the more favourable you become.
Let’s Look at the Numbers…
- 72% of all searches are made through Google.
- Only 7% of online experiences do not start with a search engine.
- 94% of all clicks go to organic results.
- SEO and PPC campaigns that run in tandem lead to 25% more clicks.
What Does an SEO Agency Do?
Where SEO becomes so tricky is in knowing what Google expect from you. This isn’t something they publish for all to see, hence the need for a team with experience.
As an agency specialising in SEO for therapists, we know all of the best ways to improve your visibility. It is our job to action these changes to your site and to keep up to date with the constantly changing algorithms. Essentially, your site health is delicate, and it is our job to protect it.
Search engine optimisation can be a lengthy process. Although this method requires more time than PPC, it always pays to stay organic in your approach to search engine marketing. This way, leads are of better quality and you have a better long-term strategy in place. With PPC, as soon as you stop paying, the potential new business stops too.
Below are a few SEO techniques to give you a better idea of how it all works:
Improving Your Site Speed
We all know how impatient today’s society can be. It is rare that someone will wait for your website to load for much more than a few seconds. With so much variety out there, people can and will click off and go elsewhere. As a business, Google need to be dedicated to providing the best service possible. Unless they withhold their positive reputation, this could end up making way for a competitor to take over.
Given the above, Google give preferential treatment to sites that have a fast loading speed. As part of our service, this is something we will look at improving and will action if needed. This is a vital step into achieving effective SEO.
Creating Optimised Blogs
Ever wondered why almost every business out there has suddenly started a blog? Blogging isn’t just being used as a creative outlet these days. More often than not, these companies are sharing blogs simply to boost their ranking. When it comes to SEO for therapists, this is the perfect chance for you to improve your discoverability.
In order to optimise a blog, keywords need to be used. These are usually phrases that someone may type into Google. In this case, ‘SEO for therapists.’ When you use these, they act as an indicator to Google. Using too many keywords, however, can be damaging. ‘Keyword stuffing’ is frowned upon by search engines and will make your content boring and unauthentic.
You should also be careful with your sentence length as long sentences can be difficult to understand. Your blogs should also be frequent and consistent and should include formatting to break up text. For example, photos, subheadings and bullet points.
Generating Backlinks and Building Your Following
In addition to the above, the rest of your marketing strategy can also have an impact on your SEO value. Public relations and social media, specifically.
Well-known publications, such as The Guardian, aren’t going to publish an article about your brand without doing their research. Sharing content on illegitimate businesses will naturally damage their reputation and the trust they have established with their readers. Google knows this. When these outlets share digitally, they will most likely include what is known as a back link. This is simply a link from one website to another and are tracked by search engines. If these links come from a credible source, Google will take this as a good indicator that they can trust you.
Similarly, if you are receiving a lot of engagement on your social media, this proves that people enjoy your content. This would suggest that they are most likely going to like your website too. Hence, you become more favourable and search engines will want to promote you.
Get in Touch with Our Specialists
Hopefully the above information gives you a deeper insight into the importance of SEO for therapists and how the process works. As we touched on before, SEO isn’t something you should try to attempt without experience. This could lead to long term damage that may be irreversible.
If you would like to know more about us, why not get in touch? We would be more than happy to chat! To contact us, click here!