SEO Tips Archives - Page 15 of 21 - Simplified SEO Consulting

A Guide to Copywriting for SEO: Part One

Have you ever sat down to write copy for your website and realized that it was a lot harder than he thought it would be? I know I have. In fact, I’m sitting here writing this blog thinking the same thing. But here’s the thing, having good website copy and blogging regularity is an important component in achieving good SEO. But don’t worry, I won’t leave you to figure this out on your own, today I’ll give you three tips to make copywriting for SEO just a little easier. After this, be sure to check out Copywriting for SEO: Part Two!

3 Tips for Writing Copy for SEO

Tip #1: Write Like You’d Speak to a Client

We can’t stress this enough, you have to write like you’d speak to a client. Writing too clinically is the number one mistake clients make when they write their own copy. They assume that this reassures The potential clients that they know their stuff and can help them. They assume all their clients care about the letters behind their names or the specific certifications they hold. Although this may be true for a small handful of clients, this is not true for every client. Especially clients who are in crisis.

We call this writing to the 2 AM trauma brain. Think about your potential client who is up in the middle of the night worried their marriage is falling apart, having a panic attack, or concerned about their child’s well-being. They’re not in a mental state to look up a bunch of clinical terms or dissect big words. They are keyed up and have Cortisol coursing through their bodies and. Ask yourself what do they want to hear? My opinion is that they want to hear something that will offer reassurance during this tough time. Something calming and easy to understand. If you’re too technical, this person may navigate off your website to get what they’re looking for. This won’t get you your ideal client and it can actually hurt your SEO.

The clients that do need technical and credentials can get it in other places of your website like your personal about page for example. So, I encourage you to prioritize readability.

Tip #2: Speak to Their Pain Points

As I said above, when your potential client is struggling, what they really want to know is that they are not alone and you can help them. So you have to speak to and address their pain points.

Ask yourself, what challenges are your ideal clients dealing with? How do these challenges make them feel? Check your intake notes too. Write these down.

We recommend addressing their pain points first and foremost in most of the copy for your website (especially on service pages and blogs). Then empathize with these challenges and let them know that they’re not alone.

You may find that when you address these first, it makes writing the rest of the text easier because you can talk through those pain points, you do it all the time! So you can totally tell them how you would help them through these challenges.

Tip 3: Create Service or Speciality Pages for Each Service You Want to Rank For.

Creating one individual therapy or counseling services page is another mistake we frequently see therapists make on their websites. But here’s the thing: having them mentioned here and there in passing on your site will not necessarily help you rank for those services.

When you mention it, Google may take notice or they may not. When you create a section on a page like an individual therapy page, for example, Google may say ok they know a little about that subject and take note. But when you have a whole page on it, that really gets their attention and makes them realize that you’re an expert in this area. This is what helps you rank better.

Another question I’m often asked is: do I really need a specific page for online therapy if it’s just something I offer but don’t specialize in? My answer is, typically yes. There are always things you can say about online therapy that will help you potential clients and get you ranking through the state where you offer services, thus potentially attracting clients from outside your physical location and expanding your client base.

Want to Learn More about SEO for Therapists?

If you’re intrigued and want to know more, then please stay tuned for part two of my copywriting guide next month and learn 3 more tips for writing copy for your private practice website.

If you’re looking for SEO help then you should check out this page on our Done-For-You SEO services. Or, if you prefer SEO instruction or training, we can help you too! We offer a variety of online SEO courses and SEO training opportunities to meet your needs.

Contact us and schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a member of our SEO team to learn the many ways we can support you and help you ethically reach your ideal client.

Get SEO services for your private practice website:

If you’re ready to optimize your website and improve your private practice website’s SEO, Then our SEO specialists can help! We would be honored to support you in your efforts to get in front of your ideal client on Google. To get started, follow these steps:

Schedule your free 30-minute consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting team
Learn more about our SEO services and training opportunities
Start optimizing your webpage and watch your site rank better on Google!

About the Author:

Photo of Cory, our Content Coordinator who helps you write blogs for SEO and also offers 1:1 SEO Training Cory Moss is a Simplified SEO specialist & our Content Specialist based in the Kansas City metro area. She specializes in working on readability for therapist websites. She really enjoys helping her clients get to the top of Google and attract their ideal clients. Cory is great at speaking to clients about their dream practice and figuring out exactly what content on their website will help them reach those goals. She enjoys helping people learn about SEO and watching how people can improve their optimizing over time!

October 13, 2021/0 Comments/by Cory Moss

Backlinks, Business Tips, Content, SEO Tips

SEO for Coaches: Tips to Get Ranking

Do online coaches and consultants need SEO?

Yes, you do! The field of online coaching is very broad. It is not enough to create a website and say that you’re a health and wellness coach, a life coach, or a coaching therapist. This may seem specific to you, but to your ideal client, this is very vague. It’s important that when you do SEO for life coaches, therapists, health coaches, and so on, that you’re getting specific with your niche. Not in a way that makes it too difficult to get clients, but by specifying and speaking to your ideal client or “avatar”.

Benefits of SEO for Coaches

First, you’re able to get in front of your ideal clients- The most visible you’re, the more likely people are to come in contact with your services.
Builds credibility- SEO is all about building client relationships and connecting with your ideal clients through Google. Therefore, the better optimized your site, the more likely clients and prospects will see your programs and content.
Raises your authority- When you’re a leader in your field, people follow suit, therefore, if you’re able to get backlinks and have reputable sites mention you on their site. The better you will rank.

Tips on SEO for Coaches to Get Ranking Better!

Content is King! Or Queen!

Something that I see on coaching websites very often is clear, concise, and straightforward reasons to begin coaching with them. They outline what your goals are and how they can help you. Plus they outline the packages and how to get started. So what is wrong with this strategy when it comes to SEO? Google likes content and sometimes the way coaches build out pages can be more vague than you realize.

We know as SEO specialists and you know as coaches that nobody is going to ready a built-out service page, but Google will. Google loves content and if you can lay out your client’s pain points, why they may need support, how you can help, and where to get started in 500 words, Google is going to see you as a more credible source, than someone with 100 words on their page. Google needs built-out content, but what does the client need as well. A straightforward message that says “ I can help you”. That means in our SEO strategy with content, we need to make sure our keywords are niched down, headings make it clear that you can help, and that you understand who you’re trying to reach. It’s a balancing game.

A great way to enhance your content is by creating pages on what is life coach, how can a health and wellness coach help you. Why do I need a business coach or consultant, and so on? Then creating resource guides, tips, and talking directly to your client’s needs, will help connect with your people, potential clients, and of course Google.

A Smart Keyword Strategy Will Get you on the map

What is considered a “smart” keyword strategy? Well if I told you what a health coach was, would you know what I do? Probably not, we often want to be ranking for the most highly searched for keywords, but forget that we also need to reach our ideal clients in the process. That doesn’t mean health coach, life coach, online coach, business consultant, and so on isn’t going to help you. It is just those search terms are being used by everyone and that makes them watered down. We need to be specific in who we are targeting. Online coaching for busy moms, coaching for side hustles, fitness coaching for busy women. Who are you targeting? Are they dealing with weight loss, time or stress management, building a business?

We must create a strategy that entails both a long tail ( online coaching for women in Texas) and a short tail ( online coaching) so you’re getting on the map for what you need and eventually moving up with the more challenging keywords.

So how do I know if my keywords are right?

My response to this is how long have you been working on your strategy, do you know your ideal clients, and are you adding in the right content that connects. If you’re doing all these things and still see no results, then consider restructuring your approach. Chances are something in your copy is connecting or you’re haven’t found the sweet spot in your niche. Likewise, know that for an effective SEO strategy, you need to give it 6 months minimum to work. So how can you support your business in the meantime? Get connected!

Begin Connecting with Like-minded and different professionals

Building connections matter to get the referrals you need to your practice. Many individuals network or create podcasts to get their names out there with other professionals in their field. As well as with individuals they can partner with and refer to in the future. Two ways we suggest building on this strategy is to one create cornerstone blogs that talk about coaching, what you do, and how you help. Talk about the individual issues you see clients facing and how you can help to empower them to create the reality they are seeking. Additionally, an ethically built-out backlinks strategy will help skyrocket your credibility with Google. The more often people link to you the more Google recognizes your influence in your industry. Therefore, if you can do guest blogging, an interview, Facebook lives, or be on a podcast episode, always ask for a backlink to your site.

Make sure your website design and appearance is professional and trustworthy

When it comes to your design and appearance, make sure you’re correctly reporting your qualifications and what you can help with. If you are not experienced in certain areas, get training so you can best support your clients. Make sure that your content and programs are original and are providing the results you expect for your clients. Additionally, make sure you have people you can refer out to such as counselors, dieticians, personal trainers, designers, life coaches, and more. Make sure when building your website that content is original and that you have a security tag on your website so it indicates that people who come to your site won’t be at risk of having their information exposed. The better care you take of your brand and content, the more trustworthy you will be to your clients and prospects.

Make sure your coaching identity is clear

Often when I see coaching websites, they are lacking in content and don’t explain their purpose. Take time to explain your expertise, who you’re, help people recognize you’re human and capable of helping. Write blog content that connects.

Is SEO for Coaches for You?

Whether you’re a body image coach, health coach, business consultant, coaching therapist, life coach, or anything in between, we can help you. Coaching is a necessary and complex business to get ranking, but our strategy can help. We strive to create individualized plans for each client so you’re bringing in the right people for you. If you’re ready for a strategy and support, see how we can help you!

Ready to Begin Working with Us?

Let’s work together to get you on the map for your niche. SEO is a great way to help you gain organic traffic as a coach. If you’re ready for support and an SEO strategy tailored to your needs, let us help you!. Our skilled and passionate team of SEO specialists is here to make sure your SEO journey is tailored to your brand and identity. Simplified SEO Consulting would be excited to help you on your SEO journey. To get started with our service follow these simple steps:

Schedule a consult with our Client Success Specialist or Consult Team
Learn more about our wonderful team of SEO Specialists.
Begin your ethical and holistic SEO Journey!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO consulting offers a wide range of services that can help you begin working with your people. We offer. Done for You SEO Service packages, online courses, and SEO training opportunities. Our most popular course includes our “Top of Google” Online course, and we have 12 weeks (about 3 months) of intensive SEO for those who want to learn with a guide. For those looking for a more specialized package, we also offer an SEO strategy package. To get started, schedule a consultation with our Client Success Specialist today!

About the Author:

As an SEO specialist at Simplified, Jasmine is an SEO services consultant and helps new clients become oriented to our services. If you are ready to begin SEO services then get in touch and schedule your free consultation today!

Jasmine, an SEO Specialist, and Client Success Specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting. You may be wondering where to start with your SEO for private practice or group practices. You have come to the right place.

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University and is actively seeing clients in practice as part of her practicum. Currently, she serves as the Client Success Specialist in new client consultations with Simplified SEO Consulting and is a Mental Health SEO Specialist. She specializes in platforms such as Squarespace and Wix but has learned to love WordPress sites as well. Her favorite part of the job is writing copy for clients and helping them find their voice to communicate with clients how they can best serve them.

October 5, 2021/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

SEO Tips

Search Engine Optimization for Counselors: 3 Lesser Known Facts

There are many important aspects of search engine optimization for counselors that get a lot of love because of their importance or prevalence. But, there are so many helpful facts about search engine optimization for counselors that many people actually don’t know about. That’s why today we are going over 3 lesser-known facts that can help improve your SEO efforts.

Fact 1: Finding Your Focus is Important to SEO

In our current day & age, counselors offer a variety of services to support their clients. In fact, having so many options can make it difficult at times to find exactly what you’re looking for. This is why focusing on creating a “niche” can make a difference in your SEO strategy.

Honing in on a specific focus can provide a variety of benefits from a business standpoint. One of the most notable things is how competitive it can help you be among the competition around you. Creating high-quality content centered around your focus specialty can help establish yourself as an authority on the topic. You can also achieve this by linking to and from sites that have a direct relation to your specialty. As a result of doing this, your site is seen as more trustworthy and knowledgeable about the topic. Thus, it will be more likely to rank higher in the search results.

How “niching down” is an Effective Approach

Alternatively, not having a specific focus, or “niche” isn’t impossible. But, it can make it harder to stay competitive. This is due in large part to the difficulty and popularity of some search terms over others. Popular counseling keywords that are more general, such as “depression therapy”, are often much harder to rank for. This is because of the vast number of people looking up the common term. But, often, this isn’t the most important term. Those are reserved for the terms that relate to the niche services your practice offers.

In truth, fewer people will be likely to search for a more specific phrase. For example, let’s use “depression therapy for tweens.” Deciding to focus only on an adolescent demographic can offer many benefits. Potential clients may be limited to that age range, but there is also less competition as a result!

By doing this, you don’t have to worry about ranking for a very competitive term like “depression therapy.” Instead, you can focus on a term like “depression therapy for tweens’.’ These more specific terms often have less competition. Optimizing for these more specific keywords will help your site to rank well. It will also allow you to better reach the audience you want to assist in the process! This is a clear example of how important keywords are to SEO.

Fact 2: Location and Local SEO are Vital

You may already have a presence on the internet. Thus, making your practice more familiar with Google. Or, you may be a newly established practice, working your way up the rankings. Regardless, the fact that having at least one location of focus in keyword research can help you establish or improve rankings. Choosing to focus your keyword efforts on one location is an approach that can help improve SEO. You first establish a strong local presence in one area. Once established, it becomes easier for your practice to expand by using the existing credibility of your centralized, established presence. By focusing on one area at a time, you can have an easier time expanding to nearby areas that are easier to rank for. Thus, helping you grow in the process.

This approach can be very helpful for practices that have many locations across a state. Or, practices that wish to provide online services in different cities, states, or countries.

Location and Why Local Search Engine Optimization for Counselors is Important

While mentioning locations, it’s also important to state the importance of local SEO. It deserves its own blog post. But, in short, local SEO involves the collective strategies carried out to improve the visibility of your site on the search engine. This is important because the more people in your area seeing your site will result in a better chance of reaching the clients that can benefit from your services. Yet, it can also be more difficult to rank for keywords that are important to your practice in more populated cities. Still, understanding the importance of local SEO will help you to remain competitive.

Fact 3: There is More to Mobile

With all the focus on understanding the Google algorithm and other aspects of SEO, it can be easy to overlook how important mobile platforms are. Year after year, more people use their smartphones to access the internet. As a result, it becomes more important to ensure your site operates well on a variety of platforms. Creating a unique site that only works on a computer won’t benefit your practice if no one can see it!

Knowing Your Platform

Even though you have put hours of work into your website designed for a traditional computer setup, there is almost always a chance this may not translate well to another format. That’s why it is very important to be familiar with the website editor/builder you are using. Learn how you can view a preview of what your site will look like on a computer, tablet, and smartphone. Then, make improvements if needed so potential clients won’t run into any issues while on your site. Some platforms give you more control over these layouts than others. So, it is important to be aware of the options you have at your disposal. We even have a helpful guide covering which platform is best for SEO!

Closing Thoughts on Search Engine Optimization for Counselors

These are only a few of the topics that may not receive as much coverage as they deserve. But, understanding how these facts can improve your SEO efforts is very much worth the time it takes. By focusing on your efforts and learning new strategies, you can help your practice thrive!

Search Engine Optimization for Counselors at Simplified SEO

At Simplified SEO Consulting, our caring team of SEO specialists is trained to support you in climbing the ranks of Google. For support through our Done for You or Alumni services, we would be happy to help you along your SEO journey. To start working with Simplified SEO consulting, follow these three steps:

Schedule an appointment for a free 30-minute consultation
Learn more about our team
Start rising the ranks, and reaching your ideal client!

Other Services Offered at Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting offers a variety of services to support search engine optimization for counselors. We offer a la carte and Done for You services, as well as alumni support. We also offer training workshops, and an SEO strategy package to help therapists find the right clients. For more helpful info, please visit our blog!

About the Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Psychology in 2020. He integrates what he learned in school into his work as an SEO Specialist with Simplified SEO Consulting. Sterling prides himself on helping current clients & alumni problems solve difficult SEO issues. He’s great at giving clients multiple options about how to approach a situation and responding quickly to client concerns. Since he started, Sterling has met frequently with our alumni and provided them extra problem-solving support, often going the extra mile to do outside research and make sure private practice owners have everything they need to rank well on search engines long term for the keywords their ideal clients are using!

Photo of Sterling, an SEO Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting that specializes in all things technical SEO!

September 28, 2021/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

SEO Tips

5 Quick Tips to Boost SEO for Counselors

As a busy clinician, you may only have a few moments to think about marketing and SEO. So, you may be wondering if there’s anything you can do in between counseling appointments to boost your SEO and reach your ideal clients on search engines. Good news! There are several things you can do in between sessions! In this blog, I will detail 5 things you can do to boost your SEO in ten minutes or less!

5 Quick SEO Tips:

1. Add Your Address or Identifying Location Information to Your Footer

Adding your location to your footer tells Google where you’re located. Having it visible on every page on your website is extremely important. If you have a physical address, use that. But if you’re also seeing clients online or have an online-only practice then include a statement such as “serving the entire state of (insert name) including (name of cities in that state) via online therapy. For example “Although our counseling practice is physically located in Kansas City, MO, we see clients throughout the state including Columbia, Jefferson City, and Saint Louis via online therapy.

2. Respond to Source Inquiries on HARO.

First of all, if you haven’t signed up for HARO (Help a Reporter Out) then I highly suggest you do this. It’s a great way to get a backlink. In fact, several of our clients including our founder, Jessica have been featured in major publications like The New York Times, Bustle, Huff Post, etc.

Some HARO tips:

Make sure you sign up as a source
Set filters to get inquiries on subjects you actually want to write about
Make sure to include your URL and request that they include your link in any digital reprint of their article.

3. Do Some Light Keyword Research

You don’t have to spend hours doing keyword research. Just taking a few minutes here and there to check and see what terms are ranking well in your area will make optimization easier down the road. If you’re not sure where to begin check out these blogs about keyword research:

4. Make a List of Blog Post Suggestions

Coming up with blog post topics can feel overwhelming. Especially if you’re pressed for time. So taking the time to create a list when ideas come to you can reduce your stress and simplify the blogging process.

If you’re struggling to come up with ideas here are some things you can try:

Reflect on your past sessions, is there a topic that comes up often? If the answer is yes, then add it to your list.
If you’ve recently read a good book that pertains to your counseling work, then add that to the list as well.
Do a search for a keyword you’re targeting on AnswerThePublic.
Pretend you’re a travel guide and come up with fun activities for your ideal client to do in your area. For example “5 fun fall activities for families in Kansas.”

Here are some great articles about blogging:

5. Update your Google My Business Listing

Have you double-checked that all the information on there is correct? Did you add new information about your practice’s COVID safety policies? Have you posted a blog recently that you could share there? If not, taking ten minutes to do so can boost your SEO and give valuable information to your clients looking at your listing on Google.

Want to learn more about Google My Business? Check out these blogs:

Final Thoughts on SEO for Counselors

Doing your own SEO is a large time commitment. But doing a little bit of work every day (or as often as possible) will have great long-term effects on your SEO. Google responds well to websites that are consistently making changes and improvements to better their user experience. So, doing these tips will increase your chances of ranking better in your area.

If you don’t have time to work on your SEO and make changes like these, don’t fret. Simplified SEO Consulting offers comprehensive Done-For-You SEO services. Our consultants are skilled at helping our clients create an SEO strategy that will thoroughly meet the needs of their private practice so they can get in front of their ideal client and grow their business.

Begin SEO Services with Simplified SEO Consulting

These are just some of the tips we share with clients when they work on their SEO with us. Our SEO specialists are ready to help you take your marketing to the next level and set yourself up for long-term success attracting your ideal client on Google.

To get started follow these simple steps:

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a Simplified SEO Consulting team member
Learn more about our SEO services and SEO training opportunities
Begin optimizing your webpage and watch your site rank better on Google!

About the Author:

Cory Moss is a Simplified SEO specialist & our Content Specialist based in the Kansas City metro area. She specializes in working on readability for therapist websites. She really enjoys helping her clients get to the top of Google and attract their ideal clients. Cory is great at speaking to clients about their dream practice and figuring out exactly what content on their website will help them reach those goals. She enjoys helping people learn about SEO and watching how people can improve their optimizing over time!

September 20, 2021/0 Comments/by Cory Moss

SEO Tips

Search Engine Optimization for Counselors: 10 Quick Tips

Search Engine Optimization or SEO can be tricky, especially when you don’t know what it entails, just that you were told you need it. Luckily, you’ve got me, an SEO specialist specifically for counselors, to give you some pointers. When trying to grow your business and your online presence, it is important to gain trust with Google and improve your SEO. Specifically, search engine optimization for counselors can help your ideal clients find your site and realize that your provide the help that they need.

Why Do I Need SEO?

Optimizing your website can help you show up in Google searches, be a site your ideal clients want to click on, and hopefully, get you the calls and consultations you are needing to really fill up your schedule. In other words, I am so glad you are here, because you are about to learn some quick tips to help you with your website’s SEO!

There are a million and one little things you can do that can add up to make a big difference on your site. Today, I’m going to share 10 things with you!

Now, before I start sharing the good stuff, I want to remind you that search engine optimization for counselors is not rocket science. Plus, you went through how many years of school for that degree? You certainly have a good head on your shoulders. You can do this. And if you read through this and decide it is still out of your wheelhouse, I totally get it. We’re humans and we simply can’t be good at everything.

Thankfully, you’re in the right place to get help. Whether you want to learn to do SEO yourself or would rather have it done for you, our staff at Simplified SEO Consulting is here to help!

Hopefully by now you realize that search engine optimization (SEO) is so important for your private practice! Because we care so much about helping you find your ideal clients, I wanted to share some tips with you to increase your website’s SEO!

10 Quick Tips: Search Engine Optimization For Counselors

1.Include Pictures

Pictures are extremely helpful for your SEO! The space it creates for more keywords is an extreme benefit to your ranking goals. Make sure your images have an image file name and an alt text that both include keywords. Further, your photos should be representative of your practice and your values.

Additionally having photos that are inclusive of different races, religions, body sizes, lifestyles, sexual orientations, and more can show potential clients that you are inclusive and accepting of all walks of life. Pictures are worth a thousand words… allow them to speak for you!

2. Break up the text!

Seeing a giant paragraph of text is overwhelming for everyone. It can turn people away from your page, because no one wants to sift through a big block of 400 words just to figure out what they need to know. Break up your text into sections. Make your pages more user friendly by having subheadings that hit the main points with the explanations in each section. Remember, you are a therapist, seeking clients who need help. Anyone in crisis is not going to process a large amount of information. Break it down and spread it out so they can easily navigate the page and find the information they need!

3. Speak to your ideal client

This one might seem like a no brainer, but I challenge you to really reflect on your content throughout your site. Does it speak directly to the pain points of your ideal client? Like the people you really want to see. There is no sense in speaking to all who are hurting when you don’t want to see everyone. You have a niche, so don’t be afraid to stick to it.

4. Use your real voice

When writing blog posts or service pages, you need to really think about the language you are using. Does the voice on each page sound like you and your therapists? The goal here is to sound just as you would in a therapy session. Speak to clients in a way they can trust and relate. Speak through your pages and posts just as you would want to talk to someone during the first therapy appointment! Make sure to always use authentic, original content!

5. Use blogs as “homework”

A personal favorite tip. Write with the idea in mind that you can use these blogs as assignments for your clients. Blog about things you want your clients to know. Think about what ideas and tools you would want them to think about and utilize outside of sessions, and recommend they read that before you meet again. For example, if you use DBT… write a blog post about DEARMAN for them to read and refer back to rather than giving a handout. What a way to boost views and view time!

6. The more content the better

Yes, I know I said to break up with bulky text. But that doesn’t mean less text. It just means you need to space it out. Google needs to trust that you are an expert on the content. In order to do that, you need to write about it… a lot. Write multiple blog posts that relate to your service pages to help google see that you really know what you are talking about. Build that trust! Don’t want to write it yourself? I get that completely! You can always hire us to write and have it done for you!

7. Simplify the language and improve readability

I know you are intelligent and I know you worked hard for that degree. Trust me, as a grad student, I understand that you are so used to APA format and using language that appeased your professors. But, this is not the world of academia. This is the world of SEO and having user friendly content. More importantly, your content needs to be crisis friendly. It’s no secret that it is harder to process information when trauma, anxiety, and other mental challenges are clouding your brain. Try to keep this perspective in mind when writing. If it isn’t easily understood by a middle schooler, it is probably too complex. Simplify it!

8. Connect Google my business

Make sure this is connected to your site so google knows who you are and where you are. Connecting your Google my business helps you show up in Maps and can benefit current and future clients!

9. Include internal links wherever possible

Keep people clicking around on your site! Provide internal links throughout the pages and posts and link to other relevant content on your site. Make it a game even– start on one page of your site and see if you can get to every other page on your site just by clicking through internal links. There’s a challenge for ya!

10. Build an “About Us” page

Use this page of your website to expand on the expertise of you and any other professionals on your team. An “about us” page is great for discussing strategies, theories, and preferred clientele. That also means that about pages are great for keywords! Create space and use it!

Search Engine Optimization for Counselors: We Can Help!

Again, SEO for counselors may seem intimidating at first, but you can do it! And, you don’t have to do it all alone. You can always reach out to us and gain a helping hand in boosting your rankings. We are here for you. Our services can support you in doing your SEO yourself through courses, help you through a strategy session, or we can do the hard stuff for you with our Done-For-You Services. Reach out today and start talking with us about your private practice goals!

Start SEO for Therapists today!

Our SEO Specialists are excited to help you build your practice and see you reach your ideal clients. All of our specialists have a background in the mental health field and understand the importance of hitting pain points, speaking to your ideal client, and sharing content that is relatable and helpful. To start SEO services with Simplified SEO Consulting, please follow these simple steps:

Book a free consult
Meet with an SEO specialist to discuss our services
Start improving your site’s SEO today!

Other Services Offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting was built to provide personalized services that fit your needs. Therefore, we offer a variety of services. For those with the desire to tackle SEO on their own, we offer DIY services. For those who already understand SEO but need a bit of help, we offer a strategy session or we can work with you through our Done With You services. Finally, we offer Done For You services, where you don’t have to spend time on the hard stuff. You can simply tell us your goals and allow us to get to work! Still not quite sure what you want yet? Read through our blog and learn more about SEO for your private practice site!

Happy Blogging 😉

About the author

Reagan is one of our newest Simplified SEO Specialists, but she has been diving right in to the work. As a new graduate student working towards her LPC, she understands the importance of reaching your ideal clients and building out your private practice. Reagan enjoys blogging, both for Simplified and in her free time. Reagan helps current clients through our Done-For-You services, but also speaks to potential clients through our FREE consults! Reagan is excited to be here and is ready to start helping you on your SEO journey!

September 14, 2021/0 Comments/by Jessica

Backlinks, Business Tips, SEO Tips

What is Black Hat SEO

Imagine this, you’re going into an ice cream shop. You’re told on Google that this is the best ice cream in the world. In fact, you notice a ton of comments on their Google my business page, Good ratings, and a ton of options. So you and your family choose to go into this ice cream shop because of the recommendations you received. You checked the web pages, skimmed it briefly, and have decided this is for you. So you and your family roll up to this shop.

Upon getting to the address you notice a run-down warehouse, no cars in the parking lot. There is a lone stand with an individual handing out, what appears to be ice cream. You notice that what is actually there isn’t ice cream, but t-shirt sales and nothing else. You realize very quickly that what you thought you were getting was in fact false advertising, the t-shirts are not even good quality and now you’re confused. All you wanted was ice cream?! Why are there t-shirts?

What is the point?

Now, this is a silly analogy, but you get the picture. Essentially when people invest in black hat SEO, this is what they are doing. They make their website seem like the optimal choice, develop false credibility, and ignore user experience. You don’t want to buy your “ice cream
From a sketchy warehouse selling mediocre t-shirts.

It’s false advertising and leaves the user disappointed. Even though the false individual gives the impression of success based on false comments, faked reviews, they are essentially lying to the user. Here is the thing, when we forgo user experience to appease the search engine for traffic and affiliate payments, we are forgetting the whole purpose of why we are mental health professionals. USER EXPERIENCE, and helping our ideal clients. This matters and trust is the number one key to establishing any type of therapeutic relationship with a client. So why would we use shady marketing tactics to draw people in?

What is Black Hat SEO?

In short, Black Hat SEO is a great way to get banned from Google’s search engine. This can heavily damage your SEO and deplete all the efforts you have made to get to the top. Essentially, as Google and the internet have started becoming more popular, people have used certain black hat SEO techniques to make sure they are at the top of the search engine in order to increase their rankings, traffic, and affiliate income. Now there used to be fewer restrictions on the internet, and people were able to work around this to achieve the marketing goals they were looking for.

Now…

Whether it’s Bing, Google, Yahoo, or anything in between. These search engines have established clear-cut guidelines on how to use and market their search engine ethically. If you violate these guidelines, your SEO rankings will be damaged. The recovery process will be tedious and time-consuming. So it’s best not to engage in the first place.

Differences in White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO

You may have heard the term white hat SEO and thought, is this a less risky version of the black hat SEO? Actually, white hat SEO is the right way to communicate with the Google search engine. White hat or holistic SEO takes longer but is worth it in the end. This includes creating high-quality content, such as blog posts about your therapy specialties, services, and issues your ideal clients struggle with. These include at least 500-2000 words of well-written content geared toward user experience.

You can also use manual backlinking. This means that someone is ethically helping you build backlinks. This involves guest posting. This means other therapists blog on your blog and you on theirs. Additionally, you can either hire or on your own create mini-blogs for your site. These need to be high-quality blogs but can help support your keywords and services. For example, if you’re a grief therapist. Create a blog series on anticipatory grief, disinhibited grief, and grief and loss. This will help to maintain credibility on your end.

What is Google’s Guidelines to Ethically Use Their Search Engine

If we take a look at the community guidelines put forth by Google, you will see the following.

Make pages for users, not search engines
Don’t deceive people
Avoid tricks intended for SEO rankings ( consider will this help my users?)
Make content engaging, valuable, and engaging

Google also outlines what is considered to be “unethical” according to their guidelines:

Google outlines that if you violate their guidelines using black hat SEO tactics, that the company will take manual action against your site. Once the issue is resolved, then you can follow up with Google to have your site reconsidered and no longer banned. However, know that your SEO will still take a while to recover.

Black Hat SEO Techniques That Will Get

You Banned from Google

Buying an expired well-ranking domain name, and then switching the content
Writing the same content over and over again ( reduces traffic)
Update content, make sure it’s not obsolete, revamp it, re-upload will increase traffic and rankings ( don’t recycle content)
Keyword Stuffing ( Placing too many keywords or irrelevant content to page)
Automatically Generated/Duplicate Content
Hidden Text (Adding hidden content in order to rank)
Doorway/Gateway Pages
Cloaking (showing google one page and then serving another)
Paid/Manipulative Links
Misused Structured Data and Rich Snippets
Misleading Redirects ( linking a page to a ranking page and then redirecting to an alternative page)
Trading products for links ( offering a product or money for links)
Negative SEO ( Building low-quality links to competitors websites)
Article spinning ( adding thin content just to get ranking)
Comment Spam ( Having comments generated on your site.)
Stealing content from the web
Auto-Generated Content
Social media scam ( buying shares and likes)
Rich snippet markup scam ( enhances listing on google with irrelevant content)
Automated queries ( false traffic to the website)
URL injection spam ( hacking a site like WP and injecting links into pages
Domain Squatting ( holding onto a trademark domain)

What is a link scheme?

Basically, with linking, there are ethical ways to build them and very sketchy ways. We want to encourage you to avoid the following:

Buying links
Exchanging links
Low-Quality Articles and Guest Posts ( needs to be high quality and relevant)
Automation ( building a bunch of links to others links)
Profile Links ( social media profiles that include links)
Link Network ( paying for links to other websites)

Essentially, if at any time when gaining a link or creating a link it isn’t done to enhance user experience, but to gain quick attention, that would be considered a link scheme and should be avoided immediately. Remember we are trying to build trust and that can take some time. Don’t shortcut this to gain attention, traffic, followers, or affiliate income.

Why You Should Avoid Black Hat SEO Tactics?

First It will affect your SEO once your Google finds out.
Results are always temporary, and the long-term payout is more harmful.
If you’re optimizing for the search engine, you’re ignoring the purpose which is user experience.

If you want to understand more about user experience. Then check out our blogs on writing content for clients and holistic SEO.

What Should I do if I have engaged in some of these Black Hat

Tactics?

This process will take time and can be done. For example, link scheming needs to be disavowed through the Google search console. Takedown and cancel automated programs and sponsors. Have your website be looked over by Google to be seen as credible again. If you have traded products for links, clean it up, undo keyword stuffing. If you have malicious content take it down. Remove pages you have done a bait and switch on. If your domain was hacked you will have to follow up with Google. This is a small portion of what you will need to do. It can be undone, but the process is tedious and will affect your SEO.

How do I report Black Hat SEO Techniques and Tactics?

File a scam report to Google. Even though reporting will not automatically result in action from Google, you’re improving algorithmic spam detection.

Need Support with Advanced and Technical SEO on Your Website?

If you have been subject to Black hat SEO tactics, our specialists can help you. An ethical SEO strategy is important to our SEO specialists. While the process can be tedious, our specialists can strategize with you long-term to gain credibility. Our skilled and passionate team of SEO specialists is here to make sure your SEO journey is tailored to your brand and identity. Simplified SEO Consulting would be excited to help you on your SEO journey. To get started with our service follow these simple steps:

Schedule a consult with our Client Success Specialist or Consult Team
Learn more about our wonderful team of SEO Specialists.
Begin your ethical and holistic SEO Journey!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO consulting offers a wide range of services that can help you begin working with your people. We offer. Done for You SEO Service packages, online courses, and SEO training opportunities. Our most popular course includes our “Top of Google” Online course, and we have 12 weeks (about 3 months) of intensive SEO for those who want to learn with a guide. For those looking for a more specialized package, we also offer an SEO strategy package. To get started, schedule a consultation with our Client Success Specialist today!

About the Author:

As an SEO specialist at Simplified, Jasmine is an SEO services consultant and helps new clients become oriented to our services. If you are ready to begin Seo service for therapists or Seo for trauma therapists, then get in touch and schedule your free consultation today!

Jasmine, an SEO Specialist, and Client Success Specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting. You may be wondering where to start with your SEO for private practice or group practices. You have come to the right place.

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University and is currently beginning per practicum work soon. Currently, she serves as the Client Success Specialist in new client consultations with Simplified SEO Consulting and is a Mental Health SEO Specialist. She specializes in platforms such as Squarespace and Wix but has learned to love WordPress sites as well. Her favorite part of the job is writing copy for clients and helping them find their voice to communicate with clients how they can best serve them.

September 1, 2021/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

SEO Tips

The Role of NAP in SEO

When you search for a product or service, it always helps to have clear, easy access to the results you need. How often have you looked elsewhere for services or given up when it was too difficult to find the info you needed? It’s never comforting to feel uncertain about the details of the business you’re working with. Or, to be unsure of what you’re spending money on. As a therapist, it’s very important to include consistent and available info about your practice for people to see. So, that’s why the topic of the day is a little something known as NAP!

What is NAP?

If there is one thing you remember from today, I hope it is that NAP is a very important acronym when it comes to a website’s SEO. You may not be familiar with this term since it would be considered an element of off-page SEO and our blog posts frequently focus on on-page SEO.

However, being familiar with it will help your practice stand out from the rest. Simply put, NAP stands for “name, address, and phone number.” This is a big focus for Google, as it helps to better identify your practice on a local level. Providing this info along with hours of operation, available parking, handicap accessibility, etc. consistently various places on the internet will make it easier for those in your area to learn more about your services.

Why is NAP important?

Having consistent NAP information that’s found on various sites on the website helps with your local SEO (helping you show up in search results when someone near your business is looking for your services). When the same name, address and phone number show up multiple places on the web for your practice, you build authority and trust with Google. The engine always aims to provide the best, most relevant results in the top search results. So, ensuring that you are making it as easy as possible for people to find the info they need is crucial to attaining and maintaining successful SEO. The easier it is to learn about your practice, the better.

Of course, the more information you can provide about your practice is great in the eyes of Google. But, NAP should be the gold standard for what gets included on your site. We recommend that you have this information in an accessible, visible location. Your NAP info might live right above your main navigation bar, or at the end of your page in the footer. Having this available will help visitors to your site see this info no matter the page they’re on.

Directories and Listings

It is worth mentioning that your NAP information shouldn’t only stay on your website. This is actually another reason why therapist directories can do wonders for SEO! Local and reputable directories provide a popular hub for others to discover your practice. This added visibility can make it easier for potential clients to find your practice. As an added benefit, having your NAP listed on a creditable directory also gives your site a backlink. This helps your site become recognized as another credible source. Thus, Google views your site as one that deserves to be seen, and is more likely to push it up in the rankings!

Yet, it is also worth stating there are a lot of “spammy” directories out there. If you find that your site has a listing on another site, it is always a good idea to look into it. Determine if it is creditable, or if it’s from another site that only cares about your link. It can be an uphill battle to keep your NAP info off of “spammy” directories. But, it is worth it in the end so Google doesn’t lump your site in with others that might be less than reputable. Earning the right backlinks can be difficult, so our team made a comprehensive guide just for that!

NAP Consistency is King

How confusing would it be to see the address of a business listed on a directory, only to see a different address for the same business listed elsewhere? This is exactly the type of situation we want to avoid. So, using a tool that detects these discrepancies among listings can be invaluable. Confirming that the right NAP info is consistent across Google is very important. If it isn’t, this doesn’t only confuse Google. It may also hurt your chances of ranking well and may drive away potential business as a result. It’s always best to be as crystal clear as possible!

Keeping NAP Current is Queen

In addition to having consistent info across Google, it is also important to ensure it stays up to date! If you plan on moving your practice to a new location, be sure to update your NAP info. This can be a pain to coordinate based on the number of sites your info is on. But, it is always worth it to keep this info as current as possible.

But Wait, What if My Practice is Online Only?

With the global pandemic, more therapists have begun offering online services. For many, they may have decided to ditch the office to cut back unnecessary costs. Or, they have found ways to provide support for clients from home with online therapy. In cases like this where your office is technically your home, your NAP info would have to include your actual home address.

For a vast majority of mental health private practice owners who have an online-only business, this is the info they don’t want to be posted for anyone to see. But, Google My Business isn’t meant to be available for online-only practices. It was created with physical, brick-and-mortar locations in mind. Since having an online practice often happens from home, therapists need to provide their personal information. In some instances, you may be able to “hide” your address and just choose your “service areas.” However, in some cases online business owners may choose to forgo listing their business on Google My Business (GMB) altogether. Although there may be other places your name and phone number can show up on directories, resource lists, etc.

However, online practice owners who really want to have a GMB profile do possible alternatives to listing their home address. These workarounds can provide online therapists with similar opportunities as in-person therapists. In fact, our team has written a helpful blog on the subject! Click here to learn more about these alternative options.

Closing Thoughts About NAP

With the popularity of online therapy, it isn’t wild to think that Google will change its guidelines. The rules that Google creates change as our world does. It is difficult for online therapists to navigate their business in some respects. But Google will be likely to better accommodate online therapists in the future. NAP is such an important part of SEO. In fact, it is all but a necessity to be competitive in the rankings.

If they do change these guidelines, you can be sure we will create a helpful guide! We love providing support and will be happy to support you in developing and maintaining your online presence.

Begin SEO Services with Simplified SEO Consulting

You don’t have to search directories and keep track of your info alone. Our team is happy to offer the tools you need to keep track of your NAP info. We also provide support in disavowing any links to “spammy” sites that may be benefiting from yours. We’re experienced in on-page SEO optimization. We offer a variety of services to help you climb the rankings on Google. To start SEO services with Simplified SEO Consulting, please follow these simple steps:

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation
Learn more about our team
Start becoming more visible, and helping your ideal clients!

Other Services Offered with Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting provides several services to help private practice owners thrive. We offer both Done for You SEO services and a la carte services. For those who have completed our program, we also provide alumni support. If you are curious about learning more about SEO, we also offer training opportunities as well. We also offer an SEO strategy package for support with reaching your ideal clients. Contact us today to learn more about our services, and start rising the ranks of Google!

About the Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Psychology in 2020. He integrates what he learned in school into his work as an SEO Specialist with Simplified SEO Consulting. Sterling prides himself on helping current clients & alumni problems solve difficult SEO issues. He’s great at giving clients multiple options about how to approach a situation and responding quickly to client concerns. Since he started, Sterling has met frequently with our alumni and provided them extra problem-solving support, often going the extra mile to do outside research and make sure private practice owners have everything they need to rank well on search engines long term for the keywords their ideal clients are using!

August 23, 2021/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

Content, SEO Tips, Websites

Simplifying Copywriting to Improve SEO for Counselors

When I bring up the subject of blogging with my SEO clients, I get a variety of different responses, but the most common responses are: overwhelm, anxiety, and annoyance. As a writer, I struggled to understand why my clients responded negatively to the idea of blogging. After all, blogging is a super important part of a well-rounded SEO strategy. It is a great way to serve your ideal client and get to the top of search engines like Google.

So, to satisfy my curiosity, I polled our clients.

Here was my question: What holds you back from blogging?

I want to… I just honestly don’t have the time
I’d much rather use my time to do literally anything else (I want it done for me)
I don’t know what information to include
I’m used to the world of academia… so writing in a less clinical way is challenging
I don’t know how to add content to my website

And… the results are in. The overwhelming majority of our clients said they just don’t have the time.

I get it. Blogging takes some time and as a busy clinician, that’s something that’s hard to come by. But, I want to make blogging feel easy and accessible, especially for those of you who have little free time to devote to it. So today, I want to simplify the blogging process. My hope is that this will make it seem less intimidating.

Write about Things You Enjoy

First things first, in order to make blogging pleasurable and easy to do, it’s critical that you choose a topic that you enjoy writing about. Nothing is more draining than pouring your resources into producing a blog that doesn’t interest you. When you’re not writing about something you’re passionate about, you’re far more likely to get distracted or spend hours researching this topic just to get some ideas. Furthermore, your lack of passion for the subject will come across in your writing and your readers may be able to pick up on it.

A therapist in Franklin, TN shared this antidote with me: “I kinda like copywriting. But I like it more than blogging for sure. I have to decide that “this is the time” and be in the mood to write and be creative. And, I was given a sort of structure outline when I updated my SEO with you all, which was super helpful.

I like writing copy where I can just be myself and realizing that’s the best way to get the best-fit clients. Also, I really hate blogging. Titling, meta descriptions, snippets. And then writing blogs so that the SEO words are in there – that makes it feel sterile in so many ways. So website copywriting is preferable.”

Perhaps, you can relate to his sentiments. Maybe, you’re wondering, how do I target specific keywords and channel my clinical passions? Here’s my answer, first write down a list of topics you’re passionate about, or a list of things you’ve frequently found yourself discussing with your clients. Then take this list, and a list of the keywords you want to target and see how you can tie them together.

Here’s an example:

You’ve been talking to your clients about the importance of sleep hygiene a lot. You’ve helped them understand how getting good sleep impacts their mental health and you’ve provided them with tips on how to solve their sleep-related issues. Great. Write this down.

Now, check out your keyword list. What keywords could you boost? Anxiety, anxiety therapist, anxiety treatment, depression, depression treatment, trauma..? The list goes on and on. Choose or two and think of a way to tie them into this subject. You could write a blog on how proper sleep hygiene lessens depression symptoms, or a Missouri therapist explains why sleep hygiene is important.

When you write about what you enjoy, the words will come and it will take less time.

My hope is that when you sit down to write a blog using this approach, you will find it easy to write about the things you’ve talked about with your clients time and time again. You will know how to explain the subject in a less clinical way and have tips to offer your reader because you’ve shared them with your clients already. When you know what you’re writing about, it’s easier and quicker to produce a high-quality blog.

Write About Timely Topics That Interest You

Another thing you can consider is writing about current events or timely topics. Recently, we discussed Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from certain Olympic events. My colleague was able to quickly write this blog because she was interested in the topic and had a lot to say because it was fresh on her mind. I encourage you to look for opportunities to do the same.

Perhaps, you read a recent article or news brief that you think your clients would be interested in. Talk about it in a blog post. The key here is to do it when you feel inspired, and that’s usually soon after you hear about a current event. If you don’t have time to sit down and write 500 words on the subject, make a list of talking points on a piece of post-it or on your phone. Then, come back to it later.

Finding the time to do some copywriting is doable, but knowing what to write is another story…

If time isn’t your issue and thinking about what to include and the structure of a blog post overwhelms you, I can help you with that too.

My suggestion is, write as you would talk to a client.

Address their pain points
Emphasize
Provide education on the subject
Give them actionable tips
Offer them hope (and tie it into your services)

If this isn’t your counseling style, that’s okay. You can still write like you would talk to a client. Then, follow the advice I gave earlier in this blog and look for keywords to target after you’ve written something that interests you. Don’t get too in your head about the structure or what to include, remember you talk to people for a living and you have the skills to communicate your message to your ideal clients.

Finding High-Quality Copywriting Services

Lastly, I have to acknowledge that some people truly do not have any extra time to write a blog. And, that is absolutely okay. If this is the case, I encourage you to consider outsourcing the work if possible. There are lots of copywriting options available at our company and elsewhere to help you blog and get in front of your ideal client. Consider the following:

Ask your clinicians if you have a group practice
Ask others to guest blog
Reach out to grad students or interns
Talk to a copywriter

A mental health consultant in Denver, CO said: “Copywriting for me feels like a luxury in my life these days. I generally enjoy it but only when I’ve had good sleep and exercise, my other work is caught up, and add that I have childcare…these stars don’t align often. I wish all my blogs could be in my voice or at least highlight more unique perspectives our practice works from. It seems I have to choose between not having it done or it being more generic.”

If you choose to hire a copywriter, it is best to find someone who is willing to work with you to learn about your practice, your ideal client, your brand, and most importantly your specific voice. Our team of SEO specialists would be happy to help you blog with the goal of attracting your ideal clients. We also have a resource list that includes other copywriters we know and trust.

Final Thoughts on SEO and Copywriting

I realize that as a private practice owner, you’re pulled in lots of different directions. So, the time commitment and mental energy that is needed to write copy and blog for your website may be one of the last things you want to do. I hope that approaching blogging in this way will help lessen your stress. It takes some time to get used to blogging and writing copy, but once you do, it will be easier and less time-consuming.

A therapist in North Carolina and Maryland says it best: “Copywriting is so different and it took me a bit to get the swing of things. Using your own voice, connecting with your client, and market yourself is not always easy but totally doable and worth it once you can find your flow!”

Want to know more about blogging, SEO, or copywriting, please reach out to us!

If you’re looking for SEO support, we would love to help you and be a part of your journey to get to the top of Google and reach your ideal client. We offer a variety of SEO options designed to meet the needs of private practice therapists. When you’re ready to begin optimizing your therapy website, please follow these steps:

Schedule your free 30-minute consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting team
Learn more about our SEO services and training opportunities
Start optimizing your webpage and watch your site rank better on Google!

About the Author:

Cory Moss is a Simplified SEO specialist & our Content Specialist based in the Kansas City metro area. She specializes in working on readability for therapist websites. She really enjoys helping her clients get to the top of Google and attract their ideal clients. Cory is great at speaking to clients about their dream practice and figuring out exactly what content on their website will help them reach those goals. She enjoys helping people learn about SEO and watching how people can improve their optimizing over time!

August 10, 2021/0 Comments/by Cory Moss

Content, SEO Tips

SEO Tips for Writing a Website About Page

Writing a Website About Page

Many of you are expanding, growing, and thriving. You are adding new clinicians, specialties, and services. As you grow your practice, your identity shifts, and changes. We have gotten many questions about team me pages and team pages. “How do you create one?” “Do you optimize website about pages for therapists?” “How much content do I write?” and so on. Here is a guide to creating a website about me page and the best meet the team pages, that should help you create personalized pages about your business and your team.

Tips for Constructing the Best Meet the Team Pages

As a group practice, you may end up adding and subtracting clinicians as you grow and change. When you offer certain specialties, it is important to explain who the experts in what areas are.

How do you create the best meet the team page?

Photos

As a group practice, you will want to have branded photos of your therapists. Create photos of either headshot or showing your full body. It is important to show photos that have neutral or brighter color backgrounds. This makes your therapists more approachable and friendly-looking. Consider photos outside in nature, in a brightly light office room, or against a neutral or bright wall. With a team page it is important to have a photo of all your therapists, not only does this help us optimize for more alt text, but also it gives your potential view of who they will be working with.

Who are your therapists, counselors, psychologists, or social workers?

Next around your photos, you will want to add in a summary of who they are. The team page is different from an individual about me page. The goal is to give a glimpse of who the clinician is. So, mention specialties, modalities, locations, and a fun fact or two. We want to assert expertise, focus, and a bit of personality. This is not a place to explain why you are qualified. Most people are not looking for all your certifications, they just want to see your humanity and that you can help them. It is important to also understand the SEO benefit of this. Our specialists can link to external pages on modalities or link to the service pages about your specialties. Additionally, we can add keywords such as therapist, counselor, online therapy, and so on. If a website about me page is optimized, our goal is to rank you for more difficult keywords, that are more general.

What else do I need on a team page?

The criteria for a team page are the same as any other service page, however, you may have closer to 500 words. You will need at least 3 photos, a well-optimized meta description, subheadings, including 1 heading one. This could be about our therapists, which helps with SEO, about our team, counselors, psychologists, and so on. Heading two and heading three are great for SEO rankings. Additionally, adding in a button especially on square space is a wonderful way to add internal links to an individual website about me page and to getting started forms. Lastly, you will want to add a simple call to action and other services. On every page, we want to ensure that you are adding a perfect way to begin your services and have access to other specialty pages.

The goal of a team page

With a team page, the goal is to still add components that allow us to go in and optimize your site, so linking to valuable information that your clients may need is necessary. Such as your individual therapists’ pages, online therapy page, FAQ/rates, and so on. Additionally, you could add in some links to some blog posts written by your therapists or that explain more about specialties and modalities. The choice is up to you. However, know there is no right way to do a team page. There are many ways you can expand your team page. If you want to go more in-depth with summaries please do, if you want summaries and more build our individual therapist’s pages that is great too. Here is an example of a team page from Jessica Tappana, Simplifier’s owner, and founder. Check out Aspire Counseling here.

One last note on team pages

One last piece of advice, while having pages about your therapists is great from a content standpoint, it is not worth the SEO benefit to having Simplified optimized individual therapists’ pages. Here is why. Therapists grow and chance. You may be at your private practice for a while, but therapists move, create their businesses, and so on. What matters Is that if you want to get traffic to your therapists because you are full or you do not want to be the face of the practice for referrals, then optimize a therapist’s page, AFTER, optimizing services pages, and some blogs. If you want to enhance traffic, have your therapists write blogs and link the author back to their website about me page, or place photos of the therapist’s specialties on the service pages. Then it is much easier to remove them from and from an SEO standpoint, you do not affect your rankings as much.

Website About Page for Solo Clinicians

Now many of our clinicians are solo practices, either because they do not want to expand, or they are newer. Regardless, letting people know who you are matters. Likewise, some group practice owners want to create individual pages to show off their clinician’s personalities a bit more. This is wonderful. With an individual website about me page, the opportunity to expand is on content matters.

Introduce yourself on your website about me page

Who are you? Introduce yourself to your potential clients. You can mention your specialties, title, goals, and even schooling. Know that your certifications are one part of who you are. We all have expertise in the mental health world. Distinguish your focus and who you are. You are more than a title and a certification. So let your clients know that.

Can I create a video about who I am?

Absolutely! This is a wonderful way to showcase who you are as a clinician. People can put a face to a name, a voice, and an approach. What matters from an SEO perspective is that you upload it through YouTube, so you can index the page through Google and that you still add content with the video. Give the basic highlights of the video below for accessibility purposes, but also because Google loves content more than video. If you want more information on SEO and Youtube, check out this blog.

Potential topics you can add to the website about page

How did you come to be a therapist?
What are your specialties?
Tell us your approach? Why do you love working with people?
What does a typical session with you look like?
Expand on your professional background
Add in professional certifications
Boards, you are a part of
Rates
What are your goals, philosophies, and beliefs?
If you accept insurance
Blog posts you have written
And so, on

Photos are important on a website about me page

Even though your website about me page is specific to you. Adding in three photos still matters. Even if it is three photos specific to you. Know there are some expectations. On an individual team page that will not be optimized, this may be found. However, if you are a solo practitioner add in the three photos, especially if you want this to be optimized in the future. This could be pictures of you, your office, the city you operate in. It is also important to have headings and subheadings. So, 1 heading 1, then break it down into heading 2 and heading 3.

Create a call to action

If people are specifically looking to get to work with you, it is necessary to have a contact form that leads the client to the clinician they want to work with. Here, if you are busy and need a waitlist, on the about me page, it would be appropriate to say, currently full, sign up for the waitlist. Additionally, you can link specific to your therapists’ specialties, so people know how you operate. With a solo practitioner, you would add in all your specialties to the other services section.

If you are looking for a reference to an individual therapist’s page, check out Jessica Tappana’s approach on Aspire Counseling.

About me Page Resources

Last Note

Know that with a website about me page and team pages, what matters is that you are showing the human side of yourself. Add in fun facts, your Starbucks order, favorite books, and music, and so on. This will help with the therapeutic relationship and humanize you before your clients walk in the door. With a website about me page, it can be done in many ways. There is no specific template. What matters is that you are displaying your photos, specialties, goals, and approaches. You can standardize your approach or let people create what feels authentic to them. Regardless, this is an important piece of SEO, as we link to this page on every service page and blog post. So, make sure it is real and well-built out for your ideal clients to see who you are. If you have any further questions or want some more ideas. Reach out to your SEO experts. We are always here to support you through your SEO journey.

Ready to show your authentic self? Work with our Mental Health SEO Specialists for Support!

Being authentic to who you are matters. There is not a formula to about me and team pages. Show your philosophy, goals, specialties, and a bit of your personality to help connect with your ideal clients. If you are unsure where to get started with this journey, then reach out to us for support. Our skilled and passionate team of SEO specialists is here to make sure your SEO journey is tailored to your brand and identity. Simplified SEO Consulting would be excited to help you on your SEO journey. To get started with our service follow these simple steps:

Schedule a consult with our Client Success Specialist and Team
Learn more about our talented team of SEO Specialists.
Begin showing who you and your amazing team are!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO consulting offers a wide range of services that can help you begin working with your people. We offer. Done for You SEO Service packages, online courses, and SEO training opportunities. Our most popular course includes our “Top of Google” Online course, and we have 12 weeks (about 3 months) of intensive SEO for those who want to learn with a guide. For those looking for a more specialized package, we also offer an SEO strategy package. To get started, schedule a consultation with our Client Success Specialist today!

About the Author:

As an SEO specialist at Simplified, Jasmine is a Seo services consultant and helps new clients become oriented to our services. If you are ready to begin Seo service for therapists or Seo for trauma therapists, then get in touch and schedule your free consultation today!

Jasmine, an SEO Specialist, and Client Success Specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting. You may be wondering where to start with your SEO for private practice or group practices. You have come to the right place.

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University and is currently beginning per practicum work soon. Currently, she serves as the Client Success Specialist in new client consults with Simplified SEO Consulting and is a Mental Health SEO Specialist. She specializes in platforms such as Squarespace and Wix but has learned to love WordPress sites as well. Her favorite part of the job is writing copy for clients and helping them find their voice to communicate with clients how they can best serve them.

August 3, 2021/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

Backlinks, SEO Basics, SEO Tips

On-Page Vs. Off-Page SEO

When it comes to the SEO of your site, there are many ranking factors that Google takes into account when determining how it’s ranking both on and off-page. Some of these on-page factors include the things visitors may see when they visit our site. This might include the content of the page itself, the photos used, or the targeted keywords.

Google puts a great deal of weight on these things since anyone visiting your site will see them. So, they want that content to be the highest quality possible! But, did you know that many important ranking factors hide behind the scenes? We refer to these factors as “off-page SEO.” Today, we are going to cover some of the main differences between on-page and off-page SEO.

Defining Off-Page SEO

Like how on-page SEO elements concern the pages themselves, the off-page elements are found elsewhere! Off-page SEO can be defined as the tactics you use to improve your rankings that don’t take place on your website. There are many ways to do this, some of which you might already be using right now!

We spend a lot of time talking about On-Page SEO which is all of the changes you can make on your website. We do this, because we think it’s really important to have great On-Page SEO so Google knows exactly what your website is about. But a solid Off-Page SEO strategy can take your SEO to the next level because it builds trust in your website. It helps search engines know that your website is the real deal, that it’s a worthwhile site.

So, in summary: On-Page SEO refers to changes you make on your site to help your page rank better and Off-Page SEO is anything that happens off your website that helps improve your rankings. On-Page SEO tells Google what to rank your site for and Off-Page SEO convinces people that your site is trustworthy.

Off-Page SEO & Technical SEO

Recognizing off-page SEO can be tricky at times. Especially when talking about technical SEO. Technical SEO involves other changes made behind the scenes. This might include improving the loading speed or security of your website. These things are not exactly “on” the page, so they must count as off-page SEO elements, right? Not exactly. These are still technical parts of SEO, which make up their own category. In truth, technical SEO deserves its own blog topic. So for now, let’s return to off-page SEO and some of the best ways to improve it!

Common Off-Page SEO Tactics

There are many strategies you can use depending on what your service offers, and your unique strengths. But, a common tactic used is guest blogging on another site or hosting/guest appearing on a podcast. By working with another site or site owner, you can help increase the traffic your site receives by showing your content to a brand new audience. This creates a chance to build quality backlinks to your site, helping improve the authority of your domain.

This is also true for social media posts! Using social media can help you cultivate an audience, potentially improve rankings (link to blog), and connect with potential clients. When used well, it can act as an extension of your site. It could serve as a place to post updates and create unique content for your target audience. Who knows, a post could even go viral on a nationwide scale and create new links! Using off-page SEO strategies such as these helps to build brand recognition, trust with Google, and high-quality backlinks.

The Importance Of Backlinks

Backlinks are often referenced in blogs, and I’m glad they are! Building a library of quality backlinks is not an easy feat. It is something that has to build over time. Due to this, finding the opportunities to link your content to other reputable sites can quickly become an important part of your long-term SEO strategy. The more links you gain from reputable sites, directories, and other listings, the more Google will recognize your practice as an authority figure. This isn’t something easily accomplished. So, we created a comprehensive guide to earning backlinks to help! Speaking of important parts, let’s also talk about Google My Business.

NAP Information & Consistent Mentions

Off-page SEO isn’t just about backlinks. Sometimes, it helps for your business to be mentioned or listed across the web even if you don’t get a backlink to your website. For example if a really credible, national newspaper interviews you and doesn’t link to your website you may feel disappointed you didn’t get a backlink. And your disappointment makes sense, because that would’ve been a great, high quality backlink. However, it still helps your SEO. Why? Because when Google scans that article it is probably smart enough to figure out they’re talking about your business and therefore it still gives you credibility!

One part of all this that’s especially important is your “NAP” information. “NAP” just means name, address and phone number. When Google sees this information showing up consistently various place on the web, it helps Google trust that you’re a real business and that really is your name, address and phone number. So, that information showing up with or without a backlink is helpful. Directories and other resource lists are common places for this information to appear.

Social Media as Off-Page SEO

While Google has gone back and forth in their guidance about how important Social Media is for SEO, there does appear to be a correlation between social media and great rankings. For this reason, it’s worth mentioning Social Media when we’re talking about Off-Page SEO. Having a strong social media presence means there is more information about your business out there on the web for people (and search engines!) to take note of. It also appears to be helpful to have “social shares” where your website content is shared on Social Media. Lastly, Social Media helps by sending people to your website and if they like what they see (measured by things like staying on your site for a while and looking at multiple pages), that can signal to search engines that your content is great even if they didn’t come directly from a search engine.

Google My Business & Bing Places for Business

Google My Business (GMB) is also an important part of Off-Page SEO if you want to rank well on Google…and you do want to rank well on Google. In fact, GMB is such a great way to support your SEO that we’ll get more in depth about that in a minute. But it’s good to know that Bing has a similar service with Bing Places for Business and we recommend checking that out as well.

The Importance Of Google My Business to Off-Page SEO

As you can imagine from the name, Google My Business (GMB) is another very important part of off-page SEO. It allows Google to provide helpful information about your practice for potential clients.

Some of this helpful info includes:

Location of your practice
Contact information
Directions
Areas you serve
Available Hours
Reviews

The only catch is you have to provide this information. A healthy, optimized profile can help you reach a wider audience, and help establish trust with Google. This free tool also provides useful analytics that can help you assess the health of your site. Some of these analytics include engagement, the number of clicks and calls you receive, and how many times you show up in the search results.

Improving your Google My Business profile can only help improve your off-page SEO. Creating an account helps improve your search rankings, depending on how well you optimize your business listing. Ensuring the name, address, and phone number of your practice are consistent on GMB and anywhere other than your site is also worth mentioning, but covering the importance of NAP deserves its own blog. Our team has taken a deep dive into GMB if you would like to learn more!

One last note, reviews

Another great part of Google My Business is how it can be used to read the reviews customers leave. While it may not be something that is focused on a great deal, reviews still carry weight with Google. We understand that due to the nature of work done in this field, asking for reviews may not be appropriate or ethical practice. As a result, we encourage you to use your own discretion and make the best ethical choice for the long-term health of your site.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see, there are many ways one can work to improve their SEO without even touching your website. But, the best SEO strategy will involve both online page and off-page SEO optimization, as well as aspects of technical SEO as they pertain to your site.

Need Support for On-Page SEO?

Our trained SEO specialists are skilled at on-page SEO and would love to help provide support to improve off-page elements as well. To start SEO services with Simplified SEO Consulting, please follow these simple steps:

Book a free consult
Meet with an SEO specialist
Start improving your site’s SEO!

Other Services Offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting offers multiple SEO services to help meet the unique needs of your website. Our services include DIY Online SEO Courses, Done For You SEO services, and our Done With You 12-week SEO intensive program. For more helpful info, please visit our blog!

About the Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Psychology in 2020. He integrates what he learned in school into his work as an SEO Specialist with Simplified SEO Consulting. Sterling prides himself on helping current clients & alumni problems solve difficult SEO issues. He’s great at giving clients multiple options about how to approach a situation and responding quickly to client concerns. Since he started, Sterling has met frequently with our alumni and provided them extra problem-solving support, often going the extra mile to do outside research and make sure private practice owners have everything they need to rank well on search engines long term for the keywords their ideal clients are using!

July 27, 2021/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage