The Ultimate Guide to Local SEO for Physical Therapy Private Practices

 

In today’s digital-first world, local SEO stands as a beacon for physical therapy private practices aiming to share their services for the local community. It’s not just about being seen; it’s about being found by the right people at the right time. Here’s how to harness the power of local SEO to elevate your practice.

Understanding Local SEO and Its Importance

Local SEO is the compass that guides potential patients to your Google Business Listing, your website, and ultimately your practice when they’re searching for the services you offer. For physical therapy clinics, this means appearing in search results for “your business name”, “physical therapy near me”, “physical therapy”, and “physical therapy city”.  But why is local SEO so critical?

Imagine a person recovering from knee surgery in need of a reputable physical therapist in their area. They turn to Google, typing in “physical therapy near me.” Your practice appears at the top of the search results, not by chance, but because you’ve mastered the art of local SEO.

The Path to Dominating the Local Search

The journey through local SEO is multi-faceted, involving meticulous optimization both on and off your website. Here’s how to embark on this path:

1. Optimizing for Google’s Map Pack

The Map Pack, a set of three local business listings highlighted at the top of Google’s search results, is prime digital real estate. To secure your spot here:

  • Ensure your Google Business Profile is impeccable. Fill out every detail: your practice’s name, address, phone number (NAP), services, and operating hours. Regular updates and high-quality photos of your clinic can enhance your profile’s appeal.
  • Solicit and manage reviews. Encourage happy patients to leave positive reviews and respond thoughtfully to each one, showcasing your practice’s commitment to patient satisfaction.  Doing so on a consistent basis can help establish your practice as a prominent business in the community.
  • Add content to your Google Business Profile.  Adding images and video can help differentiate your practice from others.  SEO companies that have done some statistical research have suggested that adding content may help improve your search rankings.

2. Diving Deep into Local Keyword Research

Understanding what potential patients are searching for is pivotal. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and Moz Local can uncover the terms and phrases your target audience uses. For instance, you might find that “post-surgery physical therapy in [City]” is a popular search query, signaling a valuable keyword to include on your website.

3. Voice Search Optimization

With the rise of voice search, optimizing for conversational queries is increasingly important. People often use longer, more natural sentences when using voice search. For example, instead of typing “physical therapy NYC,” they might ask, “Where can I find a physical therapist for ankle injury near me?” While you may choose to incorporate these conversational phrases into your content, the Google search algorithm is so good that it isn’t absolutely necessary for the very narrow niche of physical therapy.

4. Crafting Local Content

Your website should be a treasure trove of information not just about your services, but also about how they relate to your local area. Posts about the location and areas you serve within your city can position your practice as both an expert physical therapy provider and a community authority.

5. Harnessing the Power of Backlinks

Backlinks from reputable local websites can significantly boost your SEO efforts. Participate in local health fairs or sponsor a community sports team, and then share these stories online. Local news outlets or community websites might cover the event and link back to your website, enhancing your local SEO.

6. Leveraging Social Media

While not a direct ranking factor for SEO, social media can amplify your local visibility. Regular posts about your services, team, and happy patient testimonials, especially when tagged with your location, can drive local engagement and traffic to your website.

In Conclusion

Local SEO for physical therapy private practices is an ongoing journey, requiring consistent effort and adaptation to changing search trends. By implementing the strategies outlined above, you can improve your online visibility, attract more local patients, and establish your practice as a pillar of the community.

Remember, the goal of local SEO is not just to lead the search engine rankings but to connect your practice with individuals in need of your expertise and care. By focusing on these strategies, you’re not just optimizing for algorithms; you’re paving the way for healthier, happier communities.

Looking For A Physical Therapy Marketing Company That Can Do All Of This For You?

For over 20 years we’ve been helping physical therapy private practices efficiently, effectively, and affordably marketing their practices online.   If you’d like to connect with us, simply request a time on David Straight, DPT’s calendar https://davidstraight.youcanbook.me

Physical Therapy SEO for Your PT Private Practice Website

 

In today’s competitive online world, finding a reliable and effective physical therapy SEO company can be hard. Unfortunately, many SEO companies just aren’t good enough, and their sub-standard methods can hurt your physical therapy clinic more than help it.

As an expert in the field, I’m here to tell you about the five clear signs of a bad SEO company that you should know about.

1. The “One-Size-Fits-All” Method

Be wary of SEO companies that say they can handle SEO for any business…in any market. SEO is a dynamic and complex process that has a lot of moving parts for different kinds of businesses (e.g. retail businesses, e-commerce, service area businesses, and bricks & mortar businesses [like outpatient PT clinics]). Look for SEO companies that focus on certain areas, like website design, conversion optimization, and customer service. By focusing on these key areas, you can ensure that your SEO efforts align with your general business goals.

2. Using Old and Outdated Physical Therapy SEO Strategies

Meta tags is a great example of an SEO ranking factor that used to be very important, but their value has decreased over time. If an SEO company talks to you a lot about meta tags, that’s a clear sign that they may be using out-of-date methods. A good SEO company knows that meta tags are only one part of an overall SEO plan. Instead, they will stress how important it is to have good content, a good user experience, and keywords that patients use that will actually convert your website viewers into patient calls & digital appointment requests. Look for an SEO company that stays up-to-date on industry trends and puts modern optimization methods at the top of its list.

3. Promises that You will be on the 1st Page of Google (especially if it is in a short time period)

Stay away from SEO companies that promise to get you on the first page of Google. Most of the time, these claims are false and confusing. Remember that the true measure of SEO success is getting targeted traffic to your physical therapy business and making money from it (not where you rank). Look for companies that focus on long-term growth tactics like content marketing, building links, and showing up in the maps listings. Showing up in the natural listings for service-based searches (like vertigo treatment near me) can matter too. Information searches like “back pain treatment in (your city)” are a waste of money in most cases. A trustworthy SEO company knows that it takes time, work, and a plan to get results that matter.

Bottom line, Google is constantly changing their algorithm and your top rankings today can be gone tomorrow – it’s part of the SEO game, and Google knows it.

4. They Old PT SEO Audit Report (Translation = It’s a Sales Report to Make You Think Something is Wrong)

If an SEO company gives you a generic audit report with generic advice, it’s important to understand that these are primarily sales tools to peek your curiosity (and make you think something is wrong).  As an agency that works only with small PT private practices, there are lots of similarities between businesses; however, a good SEO company will take the time to learn about your subtle nuances, your practice’s goals, target audience, and the landscape of your competitors. They create a plan for you that features your particular service expertise and helps you stand out from your competitors. Look for an SEO company that does more than just the basics and gives a personalized service.

5. A Website that Hasn’t Been Update in Years

An SEO firm’s website can tell you a lot about their company. Explore their website, read what they have to offer and consider some of the following:

  • Do they appear to be knowledgable?
  • Do they have an up-to-date blog?
  • Are they ranking for common search phrases?
  • What’s their mission?
  • Do they have great social proof & examples of success?

You can learn a lot by checking out the website and seeing where they rank with common search phrases. There are a number of tools you can use to look at their organic traffic numbers and get a sense of how knowledgeable they are.

Bonus Tip: Look for an SEO company that has worked with other clients in the physical therapy business and done a good job.

If you want your PT practice to do well on the search engines (Google is the big one, and arguably the only one that matters), you need to find the right physical therapy SEO firm. Keep the above points in mind, make sure that the firm demonstrates expertise in the PT niche, provides PT specific strategies, and good communication.

Let’s Connect and See How We Can Help Your Physical Therapy Clinic SEO

If you’d like to learn more about how E-rehab.com is helping PT practices with their SEO, give us a call at (760) 585-9097 or click here to schedule a time with us. 

Google’s Vicinity and Physical Therapy Private Practice SEO

Physical Therapy SEO – A Big Hit for Some in December, 2021

Back in end of November/early December of 2021, Google made some significant changes to the Google Maps ranking algorithm. Search Engine Optimization companies (SEO’s) termed this Google algorithm change – Vicinity.  Sterling Sky was one of the first to write on this Google Vicinity update.

The update primarily impacted the proximity of the person searching for a particular business.  For example, if someone is searching for physical therapy clinic south San Diego, Google Maps results favor businesses that are within/closer to south San Diego.

In other words, the Vicinity algorithm update was engineered to not only make it harder for physical therapy practices to rank when searches took place far away from their office’s physical location, but was also designed to penalize practices that were blackhatting, keyword stuffing, or adding in keywords into their Google Business Profile’s name.

Here’s an example of a hypothetical clinic that has an office in South San Diego.  If your business name is Acme Physical Therapy and you entered the business name (in your Google Business Profile) Acme Physical Therapy South San Diego, chances are you would be penalized (i.e. your Google Maps ranking would drop down lower on the list).

In other words, Google has now given PT practices that are newer/less-established and closer to the searcher, a greater potential to rank higher than the older, more established physical therapy practices that are further away from the searcher.

How the Vicinity Algorithm Update May Have Impacted Your Business

Here are some examples reports of local SEO graphic reports.  Each place you see a pin on this map represents where the practice ranks on Google Maps for a physical therapy search.

Here’s how this practice ranked before the Vicinity algorithm update.

Here’s how this practice ranked after the Vicinity algorithm update.

You can see that the PT practice isn’t ranking as often in the top 5 spots on Google Maps.

Not All Physical Therapy Practices Were Negatively Impacted

Here’s how this practice ranked before the Vicinity algorithm update.

Here’s how the practice ranks after the algorithm update – this PT practice actually improved.

Interpreting These Graphics
Note, that the further away the searcher is from the practice (represented as a pin on the map), the lower the practice ranks on the Google Maps results page (represented by the number within the pin).  In other words, the closer the searcher is to the business (i.e. in the vicinity or proximity of the practice), the higher, in general, the practice ranks on Google Maps.

What Can be Done if You Were Impacted by Vicinity?

Right after major algorithm updates, many businesses (understandably so) end up in a panic.

Typically, you’ll see a flurry of ads and social posts from some SEO company(ies) advertising “the solution” to Google’s algorithm changes.  Often those SEO techniques  are blackhat methods. As Hubspot puts it:

Black hat SEO is a practice against search engine guidelines, used to get a site ranking higher in search results. These unethical tactics don’t solve for the searcher and often end in a penalty from search engines. Black hat techniques include keyword stuffing, cloaking, and using private link networks. ReferenceDebbie Millman

Try to Compose Yourself and Look at the Bigger Picture

There is always an element of uncertainty when it comes to search engine traffic and the numbers you find in your Google Business Profile Insights and your web analytics.  Here are six things you can do to combat the Vicinity update:

  1. Update your business name in your Google Business Profile – if you were one of the many that keyword stuffed your business listing, it’s probably a good idea to change it so it more accurately reflects your business name without the keywords.
  2. Give it some time – if you were negatively impacted by the Vicinity update, it may not have as big an impact as you may expect.  When searching for physical therapy, people use different search phases, different devices (mobile, tablet, desktop), and are searching from a variety of locations.  While you may have fallen on Google Maps, it may not change the number of new patients that come into your office.
  3. Take a look at your natural listings – even though you may have dropped in the Google Maps rankings, you may still rank well in the organic listings. If this is the case, you’ll still get some significant traffic from this search results page ranking. If you don’t rank well, consider hiring a company like us – E-rehab.com a physical therapy SEO company.
  4. Don’t forget your Google Business Profile Insights – even if you did drop in the rankings, take a look at your Google Business Profile rankings for a quick reminder of how many people still see your business listing each month.
  5. Stick to the core principles – no matter where you rank, you always want to continue to work on your Google ratings and reviews. Consistently obtaining Google ratings and reviews may help you recover your search rankings and will undoubtedly help convert some of those people that are already viewing your Google Maps listing.
  6. Consider running Google Ads – yes, this is ultimately what Google wants you to do.  If your maps listing has plummeted, there is always the option to run Google Ads.  Yes, it’s a new cost to the business buy for some, it can still be fruitful.

As Things Unfold, We’ll Provide More Information

Having been in the SEO business for over 15 years, we here at E-rehab.com can tell you that algorithms will continue to change, Google will make modifications to the algorithm that may be in your favor in the future, and you have to move on.

As we discover new insights and strategies, E-rehab.com will continue to follow these new and best practices to improve the search rankings of our clients.

Hang in there for updates.

Were You Even Aware of the Vicinity Update?

If you were not aware of the update, chances are the changes in your Google Maps rankings didn’t negatively impact your new patient volume and/or you were too busy to notice.

If you were negatively impacted, you need a PT private practice marketing company that’s keeping an eye on these kinds of things and can offer you insight and solutions.

Need Help with Physical Therapy Marketing?
Call (800) 468-5161 or Click here to book a time on my calendar Thanks for reading – David Straight, DPT, Co-owner, Marketing Consultant

 

Optimize Your Outdated Content for Higher Search Rankings

Being a content creator can feel like the Indy 500. The gas pedal is on the floor, but it’s just left turn after left turn. And every time you lift your head and look around, you’re on the same oval track, unable to punch through the pack of cars keeping pace around you.

In the world of content creation, that unending oval track is the hunt for higher Google rankings. It’s maddening to feel like you’ve done everything right, but still find yourself unable to punch through to the top three spots on the search engine results.

Today, we’re going to talk about how you can optimize your old content to improve your SEO and get onto that racetrack’s podium.

What Physical Therapy Content Should You Update?

“All of it” is definitely not the answer. You don’t have time for that.

Instead, look for content that is already ranking for a good keyword on the first page of search results — but not in the top three positions.

It may seem counterintuitive to focus on content that is already doing well, rather than on a blog post on page two or three.

Here’s why it’s not…

The jump in clicks that you’ll see by moving from position five to position three is significantly higher than the jump you’d see by moving from page three to page two.

The average click-through-rate (CTR) for a result in position one in search results is 34.2%. In position four, it’s 8.1%. By time you get to the second page of results, CTR is under 2%.

By moving from position 4 to position 1, you can quadruple your CTR. That’s how we get the biggest bang for our optimization buck.

To figure out which posts fit this criteria, use the free Google SEO Ranking Checker from The HOTH. Type in your website’s URL, and enter your email address to get your results. (Yes, this tool is a lead magnet for The HOTH, but it’s worth handing over your email address.)

You’ll get a report of your top traffic-driving keywords, as well as where your content ranks on Google. Hover over the blue keyword to see which piece of content is driving the traffic.

We’re going to pick a keyword that meets three criteria.

First, it should be ranking in the top 10 on Google.

Second, it should have good search volume. If you’re ranked #5 for a keyword that only gets 20 monthly searches, it’s probably not worth your time to shoot for position 1.

Finally, make sure the keyword has high value to your business. This means it should be something your potential customers are searching for. If you’re on the first page for the search term “best chocolate cake recipe” but you sell 1-on-1 coaching services, that’s not a keyword we want to focus on.

Next…

Recon Time

Time to do a little digital snooping.

Do a Google search for your target keyword to see which articles are beating you in the rankings. Audit their content. What do they have that you’re missing?

The purpose is not to copy…never. The purpose is to figure out what informational gaps your piece is missing, so you can figure out how to fill them.

In the world of search engine rankings, the most in-depth, helpful content usually reigns supreme. So you have to provide a more complete piece of work than the competition.

Next, read through your copy carefully. What has changed since you first wrote it? In the field of SEO, for example, best practices are changing all the time. An article from 2018 could be woefully outdated, and Google will prioritize fresher content.

Is any of your information old? Are there new policies or laws that need to be addressed? New studies you could cite?

Update Your Content

Fill in the gaps and update your article for the current climate. By answering the query more accurately and more completely, you’ll improve your chances of overtaking the competition.

Adding images and graphics can also help with your rankings. An infographic or a few handy charts can make your content more useful to the reader, and that’s something Google looks for.

Before you hit publish, check for broken links. Use a free plugin like SEO Minion or Broken Link Checker to verify that every link is still active.

And before you go live, update the publish date. Google will crawl the new content either way, but an updated publish date will also show readers that your info is current and cutting edge.

After You Publish

When your shiny new article is updated and re-published, promote the heck out of it!

Post it on your Facebook pave, Tweet it. Share it in a newsletter.

Treat it just like a brand new piece of content and push it all over your social media channels. Give it the best chance you can to climb up to Google’s coveted top three.

In a few weeks, check your keyword again to measure your results.

Now find another piece of content, and repeat!

Google likes established websites, but new content. This method lets you build on old work to keep your website fresh. With a steady routine of new and updated blog posts, you’ll keep your pieces accurate, useful, and Google-friendly.

That’s it for this post.  If you have questions about physical therapy online marketing or PT blogging, don’t hesitate to contact us.  Thanks for reading.

Use Storytelling for a Better Physical Therapy Blog

In ancient times, a powerful king oppressed his people. The citizens of the land feared the king and begged the gods for help. So the gods created a wild man that could equal the king and stop his misdeeds.

The wild man and the king fought a great battle, but the king showed superior strength. After it was all over, the two men became friends and began a grand journey together that would see triumph, heartbreak, and the search for eternal life.

This is the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest surviving work of literature, written around 1800 BC.

Human beings are natural storytellers. We’ve been sharing tales around the campfire since the invention of the campfire! Even ancient cave paintings from 30,000 years ago tell stories of the hunt.

So what does the Epic of Gilgamesh have to do with blogging?

Turns out, a lot!

How Do Stories Draw in Readers?

Stories help your writing to stand out. In the unending ocean of blogs (over 500 million of them!), interesting stories share personality and entertain the readers. While viewers may be searching for answers to their problems, they also want to have a little fun!

Clever storytelling also helps the writer to connect with the reader. It shares your unique voice and displays your personality. Telling stories is how you can get people to look forward to your content eagerly, instead of reading a blog once and never coming back to your site.

One study showed that a blog post that opened with a story saw nearly 300% more readers scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Since the call to action in a blog post is usually near the bottom, that’s 300% more people with a chance to convert!

One of the masters of blog storytelling is Laura Belgray of Talking Shrimp. She uses clever storytelling to draw in readers to her blogs and emails. She’s been featured in Business Insider, Fast Company, Money, and Forbes, and she uses the same storytelling techniques in these major publications.

Where Can You Find Physical Therapy Stories?

Everyday in your office!

Even simple, everyday events can be repurposed into interesting anecdotes that illustrate your point.

Laura Belgray once used a story of her search for basil for a recipe to demonstrate how important it is to build an online community. The story was funny and engaging. And while it wasn’t clear at first how it was going to relate to her final point, the eventual connection made perfect sense.

You may find that when you’re sitting down to write, you have a hard time coming up with a relevant anecdote. This is a common problem. That’s why it’s helpful to create a “story bank.”

Note the wins, failures, and funny events in your daily life. Then when you need a story for a new post, you can refer back to that bank to find an appropriate tale. These don’t have to be major, dramatic life events. A simple metaphor can be enough to draw in the reader.

Also — stories don’t have to be true!

Now, this doesn’t mean you should make up a case study or testimonial. Falsifying results is unethical marketing. But you could absolutely invent a story to illustrate a point.

For example, let’s say I wanted to write a post about a fictional patient that didn’t do their home exercises or modified their daily activities according to your recommendations.

This patient may end up back at the doctor having unnecessary tests, taking opioids, or even having unnecessary surgery.  You could certainly bolster this story with the plethora of research articles supporting the use of physical therapy first and how following through with PT care can save money, time, needless expenses, and risk.

Additionally, you might tell a story about a patient that chose physical therapy first over seeing their doctor. Elaborating on the fictional experience that one might have when making this choice.

Again, there’s good support for this story. A 2014 study suggests that patients who received physical therapy through direct access, i.e. directly from their PT (vs. physician referral) had a higher level of satisfaction and better outcomes at discharge.

Where Do Stories Fit In?

The best way to use storytelling in blogging is right at the top.

The purpose of your headline is to get people to start reading. And the purpose of your blog’s introduction is to get people to keep reading. So hook them with an introductory story.

The story should have a main character, a problem, an action, and a solution in order to be interesting for the reader. Remember that without a problem, there’s no story!

After you’ve told your story, you’ll need to transition into the rest of the blog post. A smooth transition will make it easier for the reader to flow from the introduction into the rest of the piece. Your transition should connect the two, making it clear why your story aligns with the article’s message.

You may want to use a transitional phrase like, “What does this have to do with ____?” or “Why does this matter? Because…”

You can also split your story between the introduction and the conclusion of the post. Introduce your main character and their problem at the top of the blog post. Then get into the “meat” of the article, explaining ways to resolve it.

In the conclusion, return to your story. Share the action the character took to solve their problem (using one of the methods you explained), and how that action led to a solution.

Practice the Craft and Share Your Passion for Treating Patients

Storytelling takes practice, and it will take some time before you have a robust story bank to pull from. But start putting one idea in the bank daily, and soon you’ll have a wide variety of options.

Try adding stories to some of your old blog posts to see if the reader’s time on page increases. You might be surprised by what you find!

Don’t Have Time to Write?

Need help with blogging?  We offer blogging services as part of our physical therapy marketing services.  Contact us for more information at 760-585-9097.

Keyword Research to Match the Patient’s Journey

Keyword research is as old as SEO itself. Search engines have always used keywords to provide a list of relevant results to the searcher, and as this SEO market expanded, Google brought in an advertising platform that gave businesses a chance to appear on search engine results pages for keywords like “physical therapy Los Angeles” or “physical therapy Midtown”.

From there, Google offered a tool that enabled businesses to see how many searches occurred for any keyword, eventually giving way to keyword research. This tool has been useful for businesses because it comes from Google itself and offers additional insights to gain leverage over the competition.

As practices began using more data for marketing, data comparisons revealed that the Google Keyword Tools wasn’t always accurate. More software tools emerged to provide additional keyword insights, giving marketers more opportunities than ever to use keywords to their advantage.

Unfortunately, historical keyword research has a few problems:

  • SEO is focused on the decision stage of the patient’s journey, and not the whole process.
  • SEO is focused on keywords alone, and not on categories or topics.

These two issues are being addressed as marketers focus on topics more than keywords, but that’s only part of the whole picture. Optimizing keywords to align with each stage of the patient’s journey is the key, which we’ll cover here.

What Is the Patient’s Journey?

The patient’s journey refers to a framework that acknowledges the patient’s progression through the research and decision process, which ultimately ends in the patient calling to schedule an initial evaluation. This concept isn’t new, but it has evolved over the years with new technology and marketing insights.

There are three stages of patient’s journey:

  • Awareness: The patient is experiencing and expressing a problem or pain and conducting research to understand, frame, and name the problem. This stage involves question-based searches that center around the problem.  Examples are “what causes back pain” or “the symptoms of a rotator cuff tear”.
  • Consideration: The patient has identified the problem and is investigating the available options to solve the problem.  Examples of these searches are: “Is physical therapy good for back pain?” or “best treatment for shoulder pain”.
  • Decision: The patient has developed a solution strategy and compiled a list of services to address the problem. They are narrowing down the possibilities to come to an ultimate purchase decision.  Example searches are “physical therapy New Orleans” or “physical therapy near me”.

Most marketers focus only on the decision stage, but there are opportunities at each stage of this process.

Patient Personas

A map of your ideal patient is vital, since it’s the only way to truly understand your patient’s journey. You should understand their needs and problems, which will ultimately drive them toward your solution.

This can be done a number of ways:

  • Website and social media data may be helpful if you have a large practice with a good number of clinics and website traffic: Your analytics should give you key data points about your audience. You can find everything from your audience’s demographics to the type of content they engage with most.
  • Surveys and feedback are usually the better choice: The best way to get insight into your ideal patient is by speaking with them directly. This can be done through polls, surveys, feedback requests, and other questions regarding their buying behavior at each stage of the buying journey.

This information allows you to connect the dots and create accurate patient personas and mapping of the patient’s journey.

Shifting From Keywords to Topics

Much of the SEO community has begun shifting from keywords to topics already. This comes in the form of long-form content that connects to other content across sections, providing a comprehensive overview of the broad topic. This approach addresses the new way that search engines are interpreting content.

For the purposes of this discussion, these long-form content pages typically target the short-tail keywords that have a higher search volume, ultimately addressing the awareness or consideration stages. Key decision-stage pages are narrow content.

These can be further subcategorized into pillar, target, and cluster pages:

  • Pillar page: This page covers the broad topic on a single page, with smaller cluster pages that link to it. This is focused on the awareness or consideration stage.
  • Target page: This page has a keyword or phrase linked to a specific condition or service page (think shoulder treatment or laser therapy).  This content is focused on the decision stage.
  • Cluster page: This page gives more detail about long-tail keywords related to the pillar page.

Putting It Together

The process to put all these pages together is simple. It begins like any other keyword research task, which is based on the keywords that a business is looking to rank for, and provides a starting point for what a prospective customer will search.

From there, you can begin to consider keywords outside of the obvious, such as synonyms and colloquial terms. This is the time to use keyword research tools, such as Google Ads, or consult customers about terms they may use to find your physical therapy practice.

Once this list is expanded, it can be narrowed down for better targeting. Irrelevant keywords can be filtered out, then relevant keywords can be sorted by topic and buying intent. For this part, be sure to put yourself in the shoes of the patient and consider what they would search to address a problem, as well as what keywords show intent to purchase.

This is when the stages of the patient’s journey come in. Keywords should be categorized to each stage, using your judgement about what you believe the patient is looking for. Categorizing is important, because it provides you with framework for what type of content is appropriate for certain phrases or keywords.

You’ll often distinguish patterns in the keywords along the patient’s journey. Words like “cost” or “price” are usually found in the decision stage, whereas “who should I see for” or “what causes” will be the awareness stage. These patterns will help you streamline your content planning.

Here are some examples of keywords at the awareness stage:

  • What is plantar fasciitis?
  • How do I know if I have a herniated disc?
  • Symptoms of arthritis
  • Bursitis vs tendonitis
  • Different types of hip pain
  • Is tingling in my hand carpal tunnel?

Here are some examples of keywords at the consideration stage:

  • Shoe orthotics for plantar fasciitis
  • Natural care for a herniated disc
  • How is arthritis treated
  • Home remedies for tendonitis
  • Exercises for hip pain
  • How to treat carpal tunnel syndrome

Here are some examples of keywords at the decision stage:

  • Physical therapy or podiatrist for plantar fasciitis
  • Physical therapy for a herniated disc
  • Best physical therapy in Los Angeles for arthritis
  • Tendonitis treatment physical therapy
  • Physical therapy for hip pain
  • Hand specialist for carpal tunnel in NYC

Once this is complete, you can group your keywords into pillar page, target page, and cluster page. This gives you insight into what type of content should be used, based on how competitive a term is, what the search volume is, what stage the patient is in, and how profitable a keyword might be.

This information not only informs your current content, but it also helps you fill gaps in existing content. Check that the topics haven’t been covered before, and look for gaps resulting from keyword searches that aren’t currently being targeted.

Moving Forward

Traditional keyword research isn’t successful because most marketers only consider volume and competition. They tend to go for the terms with the highest traffic, but traffic doesn’t necessarily indicate the patient is looking for care right now. In many cases, traffic indicates users looking for information about their problem, but are still trying to understand their problem or they are considering various solutions to their pain or condition.

Because of this, current keyword research is a nuanced process that considers the needs of the patient above all else. Used properly, keyword research can drive your content strategy to generate leads and convert customers, provided you address their needs throughout each stage.

 

 

Physical Therapy Business Directories – a Practice Information Checklist

The yellow pages are a thing of the past for most patients. Tens-of-millions of people now use online business directories each year and this applies to physical therapy business directories as well. These directories are designed to help online users locate the websites and information they are looking for. They are also a great way to help practices increase their Internet traffic and improve patient recognition. There are many reasons why a physical therapy practices will want to register with the top directories on the web. Directories serve many purposes, such as:
  • Categorizing websites so that they are easily found using search engines.
  • Linking websites to one another for easier access.
  • Increasing traffic to your PT practice website
  • Providing an easy way for patients to find out about specialized information about your practice.
  • Assisting with SEO or search engine optimization. Having accurate business listings increase the likelihood that your practice will rank higher in a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search engine results page.
  • Helping business websites stand out to potential consumers.
Here is a list of the top business directories you want to submit your practice to:
  • Google My Business
  • Bing Places for Business
  • Yelp
  • Facebook
  • Local.com
  • Foursquare
  • LinkedIn
  • Google My Business
  • Yahoo! Aabaco Small Business
  • MerchantCircle
  • Yellow Pages.com
  • Superpages.com
Each of these business directories requires specific information. Below is a checklist of the information that you need to gather to register your physical therapy practice on these business directories. Not all the information is required but best practice is to fill in as much information as possible.
  • A Google Account/Gmail address (make sure the practice owner has access)
  • Business name
  • User name for the directory
  • Business owner’s name
  • Salutation
  • Job title
  • Year established
  • Country/Region
  • Street address
  • City
  • Directions/landmarks/cross streets
  • State
  • ZIP code
  • Is the business inside another location, such as another business?
  • Main business phone number
  • Additional phone numbers
  • Fax number
  • Website address
  • Main email address
  • Preferred method for customers to contact the company
  • Payment information including credit card, account holder’s name, etc. (for sites that require it)
  • Accepted payment methods by the company
  • Business category (physical therapy clinic, physical therapist)
  • Business description
  • Featured message, such as a slogan, tagline, etc.
  • Number of locations
  • Working hours
  • Your logo
  • At least 10 pictures of your clinic
  • Do you serve customers at your business address?
  • Are you authorized to manage this business?
  • Specialties
  • Languages
  • Security questions and answers
  • A document or system like lastpass.com to store each directory’s log in information
It takes a lot of time and effort to register your practice at each of the recommended business directories. However, putting in the time to do this can certainly help drive more patients into your practice. If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, contact E-rehab.com for more information about how we can help. You can reach us at (760) 585-9097.

Physical Therapy Local SEO – The Keys to Ranking Well

physical therapy seo
For small businesses, showing up on the first page of Google is a must – showing up in the Google 3-pack, local stack, or snack pack can be the difference between significant new business and merely surviving.

For example, one client of mine Metro Physical Therapy, used to show up for the search physical therapy Garden City .  They reported that during some months a significant percentage of their business came from patients finding their listing on Google, seeing the great reviews, and then calling them.  Unfortunately, with recent changes to the Google algorithm, their rankings in the local stack have slipped.

SEO is a Fluid Process – Google is Always Changing

All Google services change as Google finds ways to make search better and, yes, to make more money.

As such, they are always updating their search algorithm that determines which position your website ranks at for a given search phrase.  Over the years, there have been names given to their algorithm updates – Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, and Opossum (hence the animals in the graphic above 🙂

There are a handful of factors that Google uses to decide which physical therapy websites to show when a person searches for “physical therapy town name” (e.g. physical therapy in Garden City).

While we have previously shared our thoughts on reviews, today I want to talk about the keystone of local search engine listings – a Google My Business Page (GMB page).

There’s a lot of recent news about the GMB page and its disassociation with Google+, but for now GMB page data is still vital information that feeds to Google Maps and even in some of the experimental versions of the results that people see in the on a live search results page.  Components of a GMB page, such as ratings and reviews, will continue to be important and a ranking factor.

The presence of the Google Maps data, also in mobile searches, makes GMB page data increasingly important for most local physical therapy practices. I have a client in 60% of their current traffic on mobile devices such as iPhones and Android phones.

Make no mistake about it.  The combination of Google My Business data and the number of patients that do mobile search can have a significant impact on your practice.  Survey companies like ComScore recently reported that 78 percent of local-mobile searches resulted in an immediate offline purchase.

There’s little chance of showing up for local searches unless you claim and optimize your GMB page first.

A little Google My Business housekeeping

There’s a pretty good chance that you have a Google My Business page that already exists in the Google My Business database of local businesses.

  • Last but not least, believe it or not, we’ve found that one way (sometimes only) way to interact with Google My Business is via Twitter – that’s right – put your questions and requests in here: https://twitter.com/GoogleSmallBiz

Now that we’ve discussed a few housekeeping points (some people do have a number of duplicates), let’s get to the optimization process.

Optimizing Your Physical Therapy Google My Business Page

So, you found your page and now you are ready to make it as good as possible to improve your chances of ranking as well as provide appropriate data for Google Maps and most important, for prospective patients that are looking for you.

Here are some things you should consider:

  • Are Name, Address, and Phone the same (exactly) as you have on your website?
  • Is the category precise – i.e., Physical Therapy Clinic, Physical Therapist, etc.
  • Have you written a keyword rich description?
  • Is your website listed in the profile?
  • Have you added relevant images of the outside of your business, inside, and some action photos?

Here are some cool ideas to set up your Google My Business page up the way they suggest.

Some more advanced options

Beyond the points stated above, there are some other specific ways that you can optimize your GMB page.  Before you dive into these, make sure that you have the basics in place as noted above.

  • Consider adding a Google Street View Tour of your business. Google is pushing this as it adds an incredible verification and trust element for them. Here’s an example of one we did for a local vet clinic – it’s on their home page.
  • Update images with fresh, hi-resolution images. Google will compress them as needed, but they will look much better. You can and should feature hi-res logo, exterior shots, interior shots, staff and behind the scenes work. Here’s a detailed guide to images from Google.

Are you too busy to take the time to figure all of this out yourself?

Do you have questions about your specific practice? If need some help fixing your online GMB page, you might consider one of our packages here.  For an extra fee, we can sort everything out for you.

The basics of SEO often aren’t that complex, but sometimes it makes sense to get a pro involved. After all, optimizing directory profiles over treating patients usually isn’t the best use of a PT’s time.

Either way, if you keep up your local SEO efforts and implement our tips along the way, pretty soon when someone searches for physical therapy in your neighborhood, they’ll find your practice.

 

Complete Beginner’s Guide to Physical Therapy Search Marketing

physical therapy search marketing

As a private practice owner, physical therapy search marketing is a channel that you cannot afford to neglect. Search engines account for an enormous percentage of all online traffic. They are constantly directing traffic to one website or another and the search giants of today have held strong percentages of market share since their origin. Google, Bing and Yahoo are unlikely to disappear for a while so long as the Internet relies on search engines to be navigated.

This also applies when it comes to potential patients looking for information on physical therapy or searching for a nearby practice online. In just about all cases, they’re using a search engine to accomplish this task. This is why businesses like yours need to capitalize on physical therapy search marketing and use it to your full advantage, as it remains the dominant source of traffic for all businesses, including physical therapy facilities. Below, we offer some relevant keywords and search marketing opportunities that your practice can start taking advantage of right away.

Use the Google Keyword Planner

Google’s Keyword Planner can help you find relevant physical therapy search marketing keywords. Once found, you can begin targeting them with your search marketing campaigns.

To begin driving traffic to your website immediately, you can use Google AdWords, also known as a PPC ad campaign. PPC stands for “pay-per-click” and it implies that every time your ad is clicked, there is a fee. Although it’s a modest one, these fees can add up to quickly consume a several hundreds dollar search marketing budget. Many businesses in other niches spend thousands to tens-of-thousands of dollars per month on PPC campaigns.

PPC ads are featured at the top of Google and the Keyword Planner is a very important tool for PPC campaigns. When creating your ads you enter targeted keywords that your ads will be displayed for. To get you started, below is a collection of some of the most effective keywords that you should be using on your website. By simply adding the city name in which your facility is located somewhere in the phrase, you’ll have a complete list of targeted keyword phrases to begin creating profitable PPC ads with:

  • physical therapy
  • neck physical therapy
  • back physical therapy
  • arm physical therapy
  • leg physical therapy
  • foot physical therapy
  • knee physical therapy
  • hip physical therapy
  • shoulder physical therapy
  • physical therapy programs
  • physical therapy association
  • physical therapy clinics
  • sports physical therapy
  • physical therapy clinic
  • pediatric physical therapy
  • outpatient physical therapy
  • doctor of physical therapy
  • physical therapy services
  • advanced physical therapy
  • orthopedic physical therapy
  • physical therapy offices
  • performance physical therapy
  • physical therapy rehabilitation
  • professional physical therapy
  • physical therapy program
  • physical therapy treatments
  • geriatric physical therapy
  • physical therapy centers
  • physical therapy center
  • dynamic physical therapy
  • hand physical therapy
  • physical therapy locations

Google’s Keyword Planner provides a competition rating and suggested bid amount for each keyword that you intend to target. These metrics are very important. The higher the suggested bid and competition rating, the more that keyword will cost to target with your PPC campaign. Costs can add up quickly when targeting keywords that are highly competitive.

Search Engine Optimization

Just as you can pay to be at the top of search engines, you can also rank there naturally. Using the same keywords that you are targeting through PPC with Google Adwords, you can begin to optimize your website to naturally overtake your competitors and be a top contender for Google’s top 10 search results for a given keyword.

[pullquote1 align=”right” textColor=”#000000″]Search engine optimization (SEO) is relatively straightforward and revolves around one simple concept: content is king[/pullquote1] Search engine optimization (SEO) is relatively straightforward and revolves around one simple concept: content is king. Google has been telling webmasters this for years and while some listen, many have not.

What this means is that the content of your website dictates your results through SEO. When you produce valuable content that your audience and readers will benefit from, you will see more promising results. One way to do this is to utilize your website’s blog and integrate targeted keywords into insightful and knowledgeable blog posts. You can write content such as “how-to” guides, tutorials for physical therapy, suggestions, and home-based treatments for patients, to name a few. Always keep in mind that quality content is better than high quantities of content and that your readers are much more likely to share an article that is worth reading.

To optimize your content for search engines, insert your targeted keywords into the following as possible:

  • Page Title
  • Meta Description
  • Meta Keywords
  • Tags
  • Categories
  • H1 Heading
  • H2 Heading
  • H3 Heading
  • Image ALT Text
  • URL Structure
  • Body of the Content

By following this basic structure, your content will be well optimized and ready for sharing. The more your content is shared, the more it will link back to your site, which will increase its search engine rankings. Remember to keep the content readable and not overuse the keywords. Your audience wants an article that flows well and doesn’t sound robotic.

Contact Us for Additional Physical Therapy Search Marketing Tips

[squeeze_box]If you still feel like you can use some help with your physical therapy search marketing, contact us at E-Rehab today. We can work together to establish a strategy that’s feasible for you, and soon enough, you’ll see as your website starts ascending in the search rankings.[/squeeze_box]

Make Your Physical Therapy Website Local SEO Friendly

physical therapy website

The phrase “location, location, location” doesn’t only apply to real estate. When you design your physical therapy website, focusing on your location with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind is an absolute must, whether you have one location or multiple offices spread across the state.

The thing is, you can’t just have your physical address posted on your website and call it a day. There are multiple strategies that you should use to help you promote and improve your local SEO. By utilizing all of these practices, you’ll improve your reach across the Internet and among local searchers that are in need of your physical therapy services. Read on to find out how to make your physical therapy website more “SEO-friendly.”

Make Your Location a Prominent SEO Keyword

Your address or location should not be listed only in the header or footer of your website. Instead, you should focus on integrating it into your SEO strategy by putting it in key elements of your website. For instance, title headings for your webpages can be SEO-optimized instead of just giving them generic titles. Here’s an example: instead of using “Our Office” for your location page, optimize it with your location to “Our Brooklyn Office.” Other elements you can optimize include headings, titles, tags, image tags and other HTML and metadata descriptions. The more you use the name of your location throughout your website, the more optimized it will become.

Make Separate Local Pages for Each Location

If you have multiple offices, it’s important to provide separate pages that are dedicated specifically to these locations instead of just publishing content for multiple locations on the same page.[pullquote4 bgColor=”#ea8400″ textColor=”#000000″]Having multiple local pages not only helps people find the right location for their needs, but also improves your searchability across different places.[/pullquote4] Having multiple local pages not only helps people find the right location for their needs, but also improves your searchability across different places.

On each separate page, also be sure to include location-specific descriptions and content, instead of copying and pasting the same generic description or your mission statement. A good practice is to include local events you’ve sponsored in that area or describe the location in relation to special features or physical landmarks to make the description rich with local SEO.

The same should be done with other location listings: have separate pages on Google+, Yelp, Yellow Pages and other sites for each of your locations, too.

Attempt Address Accuracy Across All Map Listings

Search engines prefer consistency, especially when it comes to contact information like telephone numbers and addresses. To reach the most people, make sure that your practice is listed with the same contact information in every listing. For example, if your physical therapy office is located on “43 Main Street,” decide whether or not you will spell out “Street” or abbreviate it to “St.,” and stick to this designation throughout all uses of your address. The same goes for your practice name. The more consistent your name, number and address are, the more likely your website will be cited correctly and found.

Collect Reviews

Reviews are also an important part of building your practice’s local reputation. Besides adding testimonials to your website, you should also try to gather reviews for your local listings, such as your Google+ local page.

One of the best ways to get a Google+ review from your patients is to kindly request that they add a review before leaving your office. Set up a laptop or tablet that they can log into, and give them a few guidelines to help them write a short review. Not only does this give you a better spotlight in Google rankings, but they can also be helpful for you and your office. A great tool to use is Whitespark’s Review Generator, which will print out instructions for computer or smartphone use based on your office’s information.

Improving Your Local SEO Can Better Establish Your Physical Therapy Website

[highlight1 bgColor=”#000000″ textColor=”#3391ff”]Overall, improving the local SEO of your physical therapy website can make a big difference in your online efforts and significantly draw in new visitors that may become patients. By establishing your local SEO presence, your potential patients will be able to find you and your current patients can lend their own experience and recommendations to your practice. To get more help with your physical therapy website, contact us at E-Rehab today, and we can show you how to elevate your SEO to the next level.[/highlight1]

 

Tips for Writing SEO Friendly Blog Posts to Boost Web Traffic

SEO friendly blog posts

Are you keeping your search engine optimization (SEO) in mind with each post on your website and making sure that all of your content is “SEO friendly?” If not, it’s time to make some changes: SEO friendly blog posts increase the chances of your posts being indexed and ranked by the search engines, which is essential for attracting new visitors.

To do this, you need to first focus on writing helpful and informative blog posts. However, it’s also important to write for the web crawlers used by the search engines. In order for readers to find your blog posts, your posts need to rank well in the search engine results. Even if you’re not an expert in SEO, there are some things you can do right away to optimize your blog.

Here are some useful tips on how to optimize your physical therapy blog for the search engines:

Include Keywords in Your Title

The title of your post is one of the first things that search engines will crawl on a page. It is also the first [pullquote1 align=”right” textColor=”#000000″]It’s important to include keywords that are commonly searched for in your blog titles. When coming up with your titles, consider what a user may type into the search engine. [/pullquote1] thing web users will read after typing in their search terms in a browser and receiving their search results. Therefore, it’s important to include keywords that are commonly searched for in your blog titles. When coming up with your titles, consider what a user may type into the search engine. A good example for physical therapy blogging would be a topic like chronic neck pain. Someone with chronic neck pain may search for information related to whiplash. A title such as “How to Treat Chronic Neck Pain From Whiplash” is an effective blog title in this case.

The key is to include the keywords without it reading awkward to human readers. Also avoid keyword-stuffing your titles. Stay on topic with one search term and try to make it sound natural.

Write Compelling Meta Descriptions

Another major component of creating SEO friendly blog posts is to focus on your meta descriptions. A meta description is an brief snippet that describes a web page’s content. When you read the search results page from a search engine, the preview text located underneath the titles are meta descriptions. Although it’s important to include keywords in your meta descriptions, their main purpose is to get the web user to click-through to your page. They serve as advertising copy to promote your page. By writing compelling descriptions, you can help improve the click-through rate to your page.

Optimize Your Post Content

It is also essential to include the keywords you wish to rank for within your post’s content. Search engines use keywords within each page of content as a ranking signal. However, it’s important to be cautious about how often you include them within the text. It’s better to write naturally for your blog audience and to avoid writing strictly for the search engines. Over-optimizing your content with multiple occurrences of keywords is known as keyword-stuffing. If a search engine detects keyword-stuffing, your page will likely be penalized and drop in ranking.

Optimize Post Images

Optimizing the images of your blog posts is something that’s often overlooked in making SEO friendly blog posts. It’s a good idea to include titles and descriptions in your images that feature keywords and are SEO-friendly. The use of image search has also increased in recent times, so it is yet another way for users to land on your website if they see something relevant to what they’re looking for.

URL Structure

Check that your blog’s URL structure is set-up to use your blog post titles. Avoid URL extensions that use the date of the post or the post’s ID number. Web users are more likely to click through to your page if they see that the URL extension is the same as the blog title.

[highlight2 bgColor=”#000000″ textColor=”#000000″]Optimizing your website so that you have SEO friendly blog posts takes some extra effort. But it’s well worth it in the long term for improving your search engine rankings. By writing regularly updated content that helps to inform the readers of your website, you increase the chances of gaining new patients for your practice. Remember to write for people first and search engines second.[/highlight2] [squeeze_box2]If you need more assistance with the process of optimizing your practice’s website and don’t know where to go, contact E-Rehab today. We specialize in physical therapy website development and online marketing, and we can help guide you every step of the way when it comes to mastering SEO and reaping the rewards of more new patients.[/squeeze_box2]

How the Future of Physical Therapy SEO Will Change (And Why You Need to Pay Attention)

physical therapy seo

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—the never-ending quest to fine-tune (or completely gut) your website so that it performs better in search rankings—can be a tiring race to run because the rule-makers (i.e. Google) are always changing the rules. This can be especially frustrating for your practice when it comes to physical therapy SEO.

But as we push further ahead into 2016, the picture of what the SEO rulebook will look like in the future—and what physical therapists will need to do to keep up—is now starting to come into focus.

Some marketers have predicted that there are three certainties in SEO that will affect all web traffic in the future. By understanding and addressing each of these now, you can prepare your practice for the changes ahead and be ahead of the game:

1. Mobile Searches Will Triumph

As Huyen Truong, the SEO Manager for the SEO Agency in Sydney, points out: “mobile search will soon reach the tipping point—the stage at which the majority of time spent, organic traffic and paid clicks comes from smartphones and tablets rather than the traditional medium of desktop and laptop search.”

Every decision you make, whether it’s web design or social media posting, should come from a mobile device mindset. Before you begin any project, big or small, get in the habit of asking: “How will this look on a mobile phone?” [pullquote3 align=”left” variation=”red” textColor=”#000000″]Before you begin any project, big or small, get in the habit of asking: “How will this look on a mobile phone?” [/pullquote3] In addition, having a website that uses scrolling more than clicking is gradually becoming the new standard for website design. The old system of pages, where your journey through the site’s content involves clicking through layer after layer of pages, is dying. Web designs now leverage the easy scrolling motions of smart phones to place all (or most) of the site’s most important content into a single page that unrolls before the mobile user with a swipe of the thumb. The other mobile-centric practice is, when clicking is necessary, make the buttons large and easy to hit. That helps users overcome the primary weakness of smartphone navigation: it’s hard to accurately click on small targets. And Google knows all of this. (It feels like it knows everything, doesn’t it?) One recent algorithm update specifically looks for mobile-friendly designs and gives them preference over others.

2. High Quality and Great Visuals

Some of the recent Google algorithm updates have also removed keyword optimization from the top of its priority list, and the search engine now looks at the quality of your content—especially whether it’s contextually relevant or not—when it assesses your website.

It also likes visual content, especially when paired with high quality, thorough, well-structured written content.

As the blog Keywords and Jargon explains: “Search engine results page (SERP) rankings show that images, infographics, video and other visual media are much more engaging and relevant than plain text. It’s assumed that a user is more likely to find information that is relevant to their search query.”

3. Voice Search Will Become More Important

With the entry of the oddly endearing (or not-so-endearing) computer personalities of Siri, Cortana from Windows, and Google Now, voice searches are now beginning to influence SEO.

Jason Tabeling of Search Engine Watch made some telling observations about the voice search trend:

  • 55% of teens use voice search daily
  • 56% of adults like using voice search because it makes them feel “tech-savvy”
  • Phrases that begin with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” increased by 61% year-over-year

This spike in these phrases correlates with the increased use of voice search. When people do a voice search, they tend to begin their question with these words. Keep this in mind for your physical therapy SEO keywords or even your FAQ pages.

And in case physical therapy SEO still makes you feel overwhelmed, let these parting words from Keywords and Jargon remind you why SEO is worth the trouble: [blockquote align=”right”]”[With SEO,] instead of disrupting a user’s schedule or activity, you’re paving the road for them to easily find you when they’re ready to buy what you’re selling. Instead of having to convince them to buy a product or service, you’re establishing in advance that you are the best option to buy it from.”[/blockquote]

If you’d like some more helpful information on physical therapy SEO, contact us at E-Rehab, where we can put you on the path of capitalizing on these upcoming changes so you can stay ahead of the curve and keep your website in top shape.