Today, I would like to explain how working with an SEO expert assists help professionals and private practice owners get to the top of Google and start attracting potential clients. 

Ultimately, the goal of SEO is to increase not only the quantity but also the quality of the organic traffic that is coming to your site. Organic traffic is the traffic that is directed to your website by typing in a phrase or term into Google. For example, an organic search occurs when a potential client searches for a term such as “anxiety counseling” on Google. Referrals may get you clients, but if you want to grow your business, then it is important for you to invest in your SEO. Below, I will explain why. 

An SEO expert will help you get to the TOP of Google

If you’re on our website, I would assume that you already know that the goal of SEO is to get you to the top of Google. You’ve worked so hard to get where you are and begin your business. Let us help you get in front of more clients. 

We help our full service Done for You clients move up in rankings by doing the following:

• Discuss SEO strategy with you during our monthly planning calls
• Identify, track, and target keywords relating to the services you provide and the clients you see
• Write high-quality and compelling meta descriptions 
• Improve your page or blog post’s readability
• Add photos and alt text 
• Incorporate beneficial internal links throughout the page or post 
• Write a compelling Call to Action Section and Other Services Section

An SEO expert helps you get in front of your IDEAL CLIENT on Google. 

Okay, I know what you might be thinking; Cory, I don’t have an ideal client, I just want clients! I get that, but by defining an ideal client is an important part of our SEO strategy at Simplified. When you start working with us, one of the first questions your SEO specialist will ask is, is who are your ideal clients? We want to know what kind of people need your services the most. For example, you may help workaholics, women with anxiety, or families needing sleep solutions for their young children.

Determining your ideal client allows you, and your SEO specialist, to tailor your SEO approach to get in front of these people versus someone who can’t afford to work with you or someone needing services you don’t provide. We don’t just want you to get calls, we want you to get the right calls. The calls that will convert into paying clients.

A Simplified SEO expert can help you attract your ideal client:

• The keywords we target are based on things we think these ideal clients would be searching for. For example, a workaholic may search for terms such as “burnout” or “overwhelmed lawyer.” Keywords affect every aspect of our SEO strategy. You can learn more about keyword research here. 
• We encourage you to write in a way that will resonate with your ideal clients. On your blog or service page, we’ll ask you to identify the things that would bring them into counseling (their pain points) and the symptoms they may be experiencing.
• Our team will work on your readability to make sure your page is easy to understand for someone who does not have mental health experience.
• Including photos and alt text that depict the ideal client.
• Adding a Call to Action section and an Other Services Section to make it easy for them to know how to begin services at your business. 

Working with an SEO expert can help compel your ideal client to CLICK on your site 

We don’t just want you to get to the top of Google, we want your ideal clients to convert into paying clients. Although we can’t force people to click on your website from a Google list, we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help you entice your ideal client to click on your URL and contact you. 

One of the most important parts of our SEO work comes in the form of writing a really good meta description. After we’ve identified your ideal clients and keywords they’d search for, we use these to draft a meta description for your website. This meta description should describe who you help and what the page is about in a clear way that makes sense to the reader. Then, we want to make sure that your meta communicates your worth as an expert in treating the issues your ideal client has. Lastly, whenever possible, we try and incorporate a call to action in your meta by adding a phrase such as “call now” or “learn more” at the end. 

Curious about how to write good meta descriptions? Check out these blogs:

• How Can Good Meta Descriptions Help My Counseling Website?
• 5 Tips for Writing a Perfect Meta Description

Common Questions About SEO services and Optimizing Your Website:

Can I optimize my own website for Google?

Of course you can! Optimizing your own website is totally doable. It just takes some time and effort on your end.

6 Steps to start optimizing your own website:

1. Look for an SEO training course to walk you through the process.
2. Start by identifying keywords you’d like your practice or services to rank well for
3. Write quality original content for your site and add photos to your pages
4. Write a meta description for every page and post
5. BLOG

What’s the difference between hiring an SEO expert vs optimizing my own website:

Great question. The difference between hiring an SEO expert vs. optimizing your own webpage is the amount of effort and time you’re willing to put in to get good SEO results. Learning SEO and optimizing your website is a time commitment. As SEO experts, we’re able to get your results faster. You don’t have to learn anything about optimizing your own website or interpreting data. That’s our job. We monitor your data constantly and we use this knowledge to create a comprehensive and unique SEO strategy that’s tailored to help you accomplish your goals and attract your ideal client. Every month we will meet with you to discuss this strategy with you and determine the next steps in the SEO process.

How long does it take to get results if I hire an SEO expert?

If you hire an SEO expert you should expect to move up in Google fairly quickly. The amount of movement you will see depends on a few factors: how competitive the SEO market is in your area, the aggressiveness of your SEO package, the content on your pages, and how much you blog.

In competitive SEO markets such as Houston, TX, Atlanta, GA, and New York City, we expect there to be more SEO competition. This doesn’t mean we can’t get you ranking well. It simply means we have to work harder. In terms of SEO packages the more aggressive the package you select the more movement you are likely to see. The content on you pages also affects the movement you will see. As SEO experts, we will help guide you in writing content on your page to maximize SEO potential. Lastly, you’ve probably heard us say it a million times by now, but BLOGGING MATTERS. The more you blog the better SEO results you’ll have.

In terms of a return on your investment and getting calls from your ideal clients, we typically want to hear that you’re getting calls around month three or four.

How much does working with an SEO expert cost?

Working with an SEO specialist is an investment. If you’re interested in beginning SEO services with Simplified SEO consulting, we’d love to speak with you and discuss the cost of investment.

Get to the Top of Google with Simplified SEO Consulting

At Simplified SEO Consulting, our SEO specialists are passionate about helping our clients get to the top of Google. We want our clients to be able to reach and help as many potential clients as possible because we recognize how awesome you are. If you’re curious about SEO, we would love to talk to you during a free 15-minute video consultation call. 

To begin SEO services, please follow these steps:

1. Make an appointment for a free 15-minute video consultation with a Simplified SEO team member
2. Learn more about our SEO opportunities
3. Start optimizing your webpage and see it rank better on Google!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is passionate about providing SEO services for helping professionals and private practice owners. Our comprehensive SEO services are included in our Done for You SEO Service packages.  We also offer alumni packages and al la carte SEO services. Our team provides several learning opportunities with our SEO training packages including our “Top of Google” online course and 12 weeks of online video training and SEO Strategy package if you’re interested in learning how to optimize your website on your own.

Contact Simplified SEO to ask further questions, or book a free SEO Consultation to decide which option is best for your business. We look forward to talking with you.

About the Author:

Cory Moss is a Simplified SEO specialist based in Kansas City. She specializes in working on readability. She really enjoys helping her clients get to the top of Google and attract their ideal clients.

I’ve heard from many therapists over the last 6 weeks during Covid-19 that they’ve noticed a significant drop off in their new client inquiries.  And, the truth is that across the board, my team and I have noticed a dip in organic search traffic for our clients in March and April.  Some of our clients started noticing the impact of Covid-19 earlier and some later, but most have been impacted.  However, it’s not just limited to our field.  One of my favorite sources for news related to SEO, Neil Patel’s site, noted that organic traffic (in other words, website visits from people finding you on search engines) is down in most areas.  I’ve certainly seen that looking at my own client’s data.

So…why isn’t the phone ringing?

Fewer people seem to be looking for mental health services.

Perhaps you’ve always had great SEO but have noticed the calls have dropped the past month. What’s up? Like this article says, we’ve noticed that Covid-19 is having a huge impact on search interest.  You can see from the Google Trends graph above that in the United States searches for the terms “counseling” and “therapy” have actually dropped below the level of searches we see even during our most challenging “normal” weeks of the year.  In other words, fewer people are searching for our services right now than do even the week of Christmas.  The silver lining here is that as a country, searches do seem to be on a slight trend back upward, so people may be starting to search for mental health services again. As I’ve looked at individual states for my clients, I’ve certainly seen more of an upward trend in some parts of the country compared to others this week.

My theory is that people are still in shock

In that moment of shock, people are essentially in survival mode.  There’s been a picture circulating on Facebook (I won’t share it here b/c I don’t have permission) with physiological needs and safety needs circled that says, “People are here.”  And I think that’s accurate.  People are worried about their own safety. They’re worried for their loved ones.  There are concerns about job losses and how bills will be paid.

Right now, those things are outweighing mental health needs in the minds of many, so people aren’t able to put too much focus (yet) on psychological needs.

BUT this pandemic clearly has an impact on psychological needs. Eventually, things level off, people move out of a state of shock and feel like their immediate basic needs are met. At that point, I imagine we’ll see people looking for our services in very large numbers.

So…what do we do about SEO right now?

SEO is a Long Term Marketing Strategy

First of all, I think SEO is more critical than ever for a few reasons, because SEO is a long term marketing strategy.  It’s not like pay per click advertising where the money you sink in right now won’t do much for you in the future.  Rather, focusing on improving your search engine rankings right NOW will help you rank well for months, or likely, years to come.  SEO takes time. Focusing on SEO now will set you up to be found by potential clients a few months from now.

Thinking Ahead

Essentially, focusing on SEO right now is looking ahead to the future.

Waiting to “Return to Normal” Versus Adapting

Now, when I talk about SEO as a long term strategy, I’m afraid you’ll think that means it’s a matter of just waiting until people’s behavior “returns to normal.”  But the truth is, I think it’s more about adapting.  None of us has a magic ball to predict the future.  But I think we can look at the impact we’re seeing right now (and check in frequently to see if data is changing) and then do our best to try to anticipate how Covid-19 will impact our clients for years to come.

How to Begin Adapting Your SEO Strategy Right Now

To be honest, I’ve waited so many weeks to write this blog, because I have been watching my own data and my clients’ data like a hawk. Google Trends has become my new best friend, which I’ll explain more below.  And, I’ve been scouring the internet for information about the changes in SEO strategy while evaluating the source of everything I read.  I wanted to make sure that the information I shared with you was high quality.  But the truth is that week by week I’m changing my strategy with my own clients.  My team and I are trying different things, talking to our clients and tweaking our strategy bit by bit.

And I think that’s how it’s going to be right now.  I certainly don’t want to scare you away from trying SEO right now.  The opposite actually. I want to encourage you to get on your site and start making changes NOW that will set your website up long term.  But I do want to be honest with you that this is the best advice I can give you right at this moment.  And most likely, next week on the closed Facebook group for my SEO clients I’ll be sharing a new tweak or change based on what I keep learning.  So, work hard now but please don’t hold it against me if I’m giving different advice a month from now.

My Approach to SEO for Therapists Right Now

Post Truly Useful Content Related to Mental Health & Covid-19

If you’ve been following me recently, you know I’ve been a big advocate from day one that we as mental health professionals need to have a voice right now. I’ve pointed out that publishing useful content on your website about Covid-19 and mental health will help your ideal clients cope right now and have the added benefit of helping with your SEO.

Will I sound like a salesperson?

I heard someone express concern today that maybe they’ll come across as sleazy.  However, I disagree.  I mean, you absolutely could come across that way. But I don’t think most therapists will.  The key is to write content that you truly believe will help your ideal client.  It should come from a genuine desire to help and to share the knowledge you have with people who are struggling during covid-19.  Because that’s the thing: people are struggling with anxiety, depression, relationship problems, feelings of isolation and trauma triggers right now.  If we are speaking to those pains and offering truly helpful tips, how is that a bad thing?

Of course, if you write a blog post with the pure motivation of exploiting the virus it will come across that way.  But I believe in you folx. I’ve seen the blog posts you all have written in the past. I’ve heard you talk about your clients.  You CARE.  So let that come across in your website copy. Show that you understand your clients’ pain.  And also, show them that they don’t have to suffer alone.

That’s why you need to invest more time in the content component of the SEO….people need the information you have.

Another post I read earlier this week talking about SEO recommended that businesses “Focus on a message of comfort and hope….Now, in a time of crisis, you want to move your content efforts toward educational content that establishes trust.”  I agree 100%. We can be providing education about mental health and about the impact we believe this crisis will have on our clients.  We can offer comfort and hope.  As a mental health provider, that is your specialty.  So, don’t hesitate to stand up and add content to your website talking about this whether it’s a new service page for a crisis focused service you want to offer, a small blurb on your FAQ or online therapy page or a series of blog posts.

Will Google get mad at me for talking about Covid-19?

I heard this theory as well today.  And I suppose I can’t say 100% that it won’t because I don’t own Google’s algorithm.  Obviously, if they think you are trying to exploit the virus, that would be a “no no” for Google.  But if you see my advice above, you’ll notice I’m not too worried about you doing that.  Your website is about mental health.  So, if you are writing a blog post about mental health and the coronavirus, Google will be able to see that the content is related to your site and legit, meaningful content. In fact, yet another article about SEO during Covid 19 gave the advice that pretty much every business should have a page on its site related to the coronavirus.

Now, I will add one word of caution here.  You don’t want to “keyword stuff.”  An example of keyword stuffing would be if I put the phrase “Covid-19” ALL over this page. If it was mentioned in pretty much every sentence, Google would see that clearly I was trying to rank well for that term and might actually be less likely to rank me for it.  So…mention the pandemic, the virus and talk about the impact, but don’t try to fit that keyword in 5,000 times.  Honestly, I see more therapists use keywords too infrequently than too often.

Secure Your Website

A couple years ago, Google acknowledged that it gives preferential treatment to websites that are “secure.”  This is always something you should do (again, google prefers it), but it seems especially important right now as I’ve read there may be an increase in people trying to hack your website.  Whether or not that’s true, it’s a pretty easy fix so I think everyone should look into doing this.

There’s an easy way to tell if your website is secure.  Just check to see if it begins with, “Https://”. If the “s” is missing, your site is not secure.  The good news is that it’s pretty easy to fix.  It’s different for different platforms, so I won’t get into specifics here. However, if you Google “how to add a security certificate to a (Wix/Wordpress/SquareSpace) website” you should find some step by step instructions.  Or, better yet, you can e-mail your website developer if you have one.

To learn more, check out this post.

Keep Up to Date with Keyword Research

The truth is that covid-19 IS having an impact on the words people are searching for.  So, it may be time to tweak the keywords you are targeting.  For instance, I’ve spent two years advising therapists not to target the keyword Telehealth, because nobody was searching for it.  Guess what?  There has been a HUGE spike in people searching for Telehealth the last couple of months.  Now, you might still not want to target Telehealth as it’s a pretty general term. In fact, many people using that search term might be looking for a primary care physician to get a COVID-19 test instead of mental health services. However, my point is to be purposeful in choosing which keywords you are targeting. Keep in mind that the keywords you target today may be different than the keywords you were targeting a few months ago.

More Information About SEO During COVID 19

Use these tips to start pivoting your own SEO strategy right away.  Then, check out Part 2 of this Comprehensive Guide to SEO during Covid 19 where I have SIX more strategies coming up on Wednesday, so stay tuned!

Want more SEO tips right away?

First of all, make sure you’ve checked out the second half of this SEO during the Coronavirus guide. Then, remember, you can always go through our online SEO courses to learn very specific things you can do to work on your SEO on your own!

Online SEO Courses

Not sure what the next step is?

I believe therapists can learn SEO. I also believe not every therapist wants to or that it’s really the best use of their time. If you’re just not sure what will get you the best return on investment right now, go ahead and schedule a free Zoom consultation with us and we’ll take a look at your site together and figure out what will help you the most!

Book a Consult to Learn About our Services

Happy Optimizing!