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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

male therapist concentrates as he thinks about what to write about. He learned about copywriting for SEO and blogging for SEO from an SEO specialist.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.

Female blogger writes in a notebook at a coffee shop. She learned about copywriting for SEO from a simplified SEO specialistMy suggestion is, write as you would talk to a client.

  1. Address their pain points
  2. Emphasize
  3. Provide education on the subject
  4. Give them actionable tips
  5. 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

woman sits at her laptop next to her cat and smiles. She learned about blogging for SEO from a simplified seo specialist

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:

  1. Schedule your free 30-minute consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting team
  2. Learn more about our SEO services and training opportunities
  3. 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!

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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

Person writing in journal with "who am I" on page. Helping others understand you as a therapist matters. Learn how to write website about me pages and the best meet the team pages from our SEO specialists today!

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 

Woman standing against a blue background smiling and pointing. Learn about website SEO about pages today, and get some tips for creating the best meet the team pages that are authentic. Writing a genuine about page helps SEO for therapists.

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!  

Woman cleaning living room while singing and dancing. Begin your authentic self matters. Create genuine website about pages and the best meet the team pages with us. Learn how our strategies have helped SEO for therapists and SEO for mental health professionals.

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:   

  1. Schedule a consult with our Client Success Specialist and Team  
  2. Learn more about our talented team of SEO Specialists.   
  3. 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. 

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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.A tablet rests on a table with the word SEO and multiple graphics. Learn about our off page seo checklist, and how to we can help with off page optimization.

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

An array of pins are connected by multicolored string. This could represent the connections made through off page optimization. Learn more about on page and off page SEO, and our off page SEO checklist.

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:

A screenshot of the Google My Business app for Simplified SEO Consulting. Learn about on page and off page SEO, and how we can help with off page optimization.

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:

  1. Book a free consult 
  2. Meet with an SEO specialist 
  3. 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!

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

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Ranking for More Than One Location

Our search engine optimization (SEO) consulting business helps private practice therapists across the country (and even in other countries) get ranking on Google. And as we’ve worked with more and more therapists over the years, we’ve gained experience in helping all different types of practices. Many of our clients come to us as solo private practice owners. And they’re looking to get found on Google better and bring in new clients. On the other hand, some of our clients begin SEO work when their practice already has upwards of eight therapists and they want to expand even further.

SEO Strategy

While our mission at Simplified is the same for each client, the strategy we will use for each is unique. Our team of SEO Specialists takes pride in working with each practice individually to help them reach their business goals. One factor that comes into play when we discuss individualizing a long-term SEO strategy is location.

Location and SEO

Image of a person holding two puzzle pieces up. Therapists working on their private practice website can benefit from working with our company providing services for SEO for private pracitices.

Search engine optimization has a close relationship with geographic location. And it needs to be this way in order for Google to function properly. When SEO work is being done on a website, lots of energy gets put into connecting the website content with locations in order to be found by the right searchers.

With that said, if your practice has multiple locations, you may have some additional SEO work that needs to be done. And there are actually a few reasons you may decide to include multiple locations in your SEO strategy. But not all of them have to do with having two physical locations. In this blog post, I’ll share tips for optimizing your website when you are targeting more than one location.

Landing Pages for Each Location

Online Therapy

If you have been offering virtual services, as nearly all therapists have over the past year, you need an online therapy page. Let’s work with an example practice. We’ll say it’s located in Denver, Colorado, and has a few therapists also licensed in New Mexico and Utah. So the first step is to create an “online therapy in Colorado” page. This is pretty straightforward since the practice is located in Denver, CO.

The tricky part is that each location where you want to pull clients from needs its own online therapy page. So if we wanted to get clients from New Mexico and Utah to fill those therapists’ caseloads, we’ll need individual location pages for each. This would look like “online therapy in New Mexico” and “online therapy in Utah” pages. In our SEO work, we’ve found this to be the best practice in bringing in clients not residing in the practice’s physical location.

Opening a New Physical Office

Now let’s say this same practice decides to open a new physical office in Boulder, CO. Instead of just adding Boulder, CO to the website content, a new location page needs to be created. This communicates to Google and website viewers that this practice has multiple physical locations.

And we recommend including many references to locations on the new location page. This may look something like “Our counseling practice in Boulder, CO is right between the hot yoga studio (business name) and the doggy daycare (business name).”

This is great for helping your website viewers visualize where your office is. So it lessens the mental energy it takes to situate the location for them. And this strategy also helps Google understand exactly where you are located.

Location Indicators in the Footer

Image of a digital illustration of a green map with a large blue pin pointing to a location. Counselors hoping to gain more clients can work on their private practice website with an SEO services consultant.

Usually, when therapists start working on their website, they overlooked the footer. And this is a prime place to include location indicators! Using the above example, a practice opening a second office in Boulder, CO would need to include both locations in the footer. This may look something like “Offices located in Denver, CO and Boulder, CO and serving the entire states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah with online therapy.” Having a clear explanation like this helps get location information on every page, which is extremely useful in terms of showing Google where your business is.

Blog Posts and Call to Action Sections

Another tool you can use to help Google understand you have multiple locations is writing blog posts for each location. This may look like “5 date night spots from a couples therapist in Boulder, CO” or “our therapists share 4 hikes they love in Boulder, CO.” Incorporating locations into blog posts helps Google situate your business’s location.

In addition to blog posts, you can include location indicators in your call-to-action sections. An example of this may look like “We want to make it as easy as possible for you to begin family therapy! Therefore, our family therapists offer in-person counseling at our offices in Denver and Boulder as well as online family counseling sessions for anyone in the state of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.” This helps website viewers understand if your services are geographically accessible to them and further shows Google where your site should rank.

Focus on Ranking in One Location at a Time

When private practice owners first start working with us, we typically want to rank in one area first. It takes time for Google to trust your website and get you ranking. So for example, maybe your practice located in Denver, CO already ranks well, and you want to start ranking in Boulder, CO at your new location. Our approach is usually to focus on ranking in Denver first, then once we feel confident about your rankings, move on to the Boulder location.

Prioritizing where to rank first can be really helpful for your SEO strategy clearer in the beginning stages. We focus all of our effort gaining Google’s trust in one area. Then, as we see your SEO rankings steadily increasing or remaining stable, we will move onto the next location.  It’s easier to convince Google, “Hey since you already know we offer great information about therapy for depression in Denver, you can also now trust us to provide great information about depression to people in Boulder.”

Get Ranking and Expand Your Business

Image of a man holding his arms up in celebration. Therapists with a private practice website can celebrate after working with a SEO consulting service company.

Our hope for our clients is that by getting ranking on Google, you can reach all of your business dreams. Want to move from solo practice to group practice? Or do you want to open a second or third office? Whatever your hope is, we want to help you along the way. If you are interested in learning more about our SEO consulting services or are ready to get started, follow the easy steps below.

  1. Schedule a free 30-minute consult call.
  2. Chat with one of our SEO Specialists to learn more about our services.
  3. Start working on your site’s SEO and moving closer to reaching your dreams!

Services at Simplified SEO Consulting

For many therapists, SEO is a foreign concept. And when our founder, Jessica, started SEO work, she felt the same way! You’re not alone if you’re feeling like this marketing stuff is way over your head. And if you want to get started and take a more hands-off approach, check out our Done For You SEO Package. But if you’re more hands-on and want to learn the ins and outs, check out our DIY Online SEO Courses and Done With You Package.

About the Author

Olivia Bahr is an SEO Specialist and Content Writer here at Simplified. She received a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Missouri in 2020 and plans to begin working toward a Master’s of Social Work in the Fall of 2021. Olivia’s experience is centered around trauma work and domestic violence. And she is passionate about women’s and LGBTQ+ issues.

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Tips on SEO for Trauma Therapists

We are thrilled to offer guidance and insights to our trauma therapists on SEO and service pages. Our team of SEO specialists has firsthand experience working with abuse, trauma, and survivors of DV. This gives us a unique perspective when it comes to marketing for individuals dealing with trauma. We hope that our holistic approach to SEO will provide you with the confidence needed to successfully reach out and speak to this clientele. Let us help you make an impact with your SEO and service pages!

What pages should you build out?

Person typing on laptop in office on desk. Learning what content to build out helps seo for therapists. Learn how to find keywords to rank on a trauma page and what SEO for trauma therapists is all about here!

 

When building out your service pages, we typically recommend having a PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy page. This is because these are the most highly searched-for key terms. If you niche down with survivors of abuse, homicide, first responders, or DV survivors, then we would suggest making this the focus keyword, but still including PTSD treatment and trauma therapy on the page to draw in the people looking for this service. Additionally, as trauma therapists, we know that trauma doesn’t usually show up alone, in fact, many people dealing with trauma also deal with anxiety and depression. Therefore, creating service pages based on this focus will not only enhance your SEO because we can link back to these pages but your clients are not entirely sure if trauma is the issue. They can at least get a brief overview of how co-occurring disorders show up. 

Use of Language on a PTSD and Trauma Page?

Sometimes when we are building out trauma pages for clients, we find that they struggle with using PTSD treatment on the page of the uncertainty that they will drive in a stream of more clinical diagnoses than they are ready to work with. However, in the SEO world, people are both searching for trauma therapy and PTSD treatment. If you’re worried about driving in the wrong clients, then realize that the keywords are what drive people to your website. The written content is what speaks to them as a person. If you don’t work with intense trauma clients, mention that in your copy. Or if your focus is on co-occurring disorders, say that too. Simply adding a subheading saying “ Who Do I Work Within Trauma Therapy” will help people to know whether or not you’re the right trauma therapist for them. 

Additional Tips on Trauma Language and SEO for Trauma Therapists.

When it comes to trauma, it can be difficult to know what language is appropriate. However, it is essential to use natural language in your sessions and copy that resonates with the individual survivor’s experience. It may take many attempts before they are able to accept that the abuse or assault was not their fault – so reiterating this message demonstrates genuine empathy and understanding. Additionally, remember that each individual survivor is just that – an individual. Acknowledge the person first and foremost, not the problem or issue they are facing. Using a person’s preferred language can go a long way in providing comfort and assurance during difficult times. Doing so will help to foster trust and create a safe space for recovery.

Keywords for a Trauma Therapy Page

Here is a compilation of important keywords related to PTSD treatment and trauma therapy that people strive to rank for in SEO efforts:

  • PTSD treatment
  • Trauma Therapy
  • Intergeneration Trauma
  • EMDR Therapy
  • TF-CBT
  • Cognitive Processing Therapy
  • Brainspotting
  • Somatic Experiencing
  • Trauma-Informed Care
  • Supportive Trauma Counseling
  • Emotional Trauma Treatment
  • Complex Trauma
  • Trauma and Anxiety
  • Trauma and Depression
  • Feeling stuck
  • Trauma Therapist
  • Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
  • PTSD therapy near me
  • Trauma therapy near me 
  • Healing Childhood Trauma
  • Childhood Emotional Neglect
  • Attachment-Based Therapy
  • EMDR Therapist

These are just a few examples of keywords you could rank for, but the list goes on. That is why we have specialists who can help with SEO for trauma therapists, who are here to help you break down what makes sense to rank for and what doesn’t. 

If you specialize in trauma and you have a certain modality you approach most often, it would be helpful for your rankings to create a modalities page, breaking down in client language what they can expect being in that setting with you. Additionally, creating blog posts where you answer commonly asked questions or give a resource guide will help to better connect with the client. 

Resources to link to?

Web of connecting multicolored string showing internal links connection. Internal and external linking matters. If you're wondering what is the difference between an internal link versus an external link? And how this helps SEO for trauma therapists read more!

As many of you know, linking is a big piece of the puzzle to rank for SEO for trauma therapists. We add internal links, so for example, if you have a PTSD treatment page, then we may link to your anxiety, depression, or modality page to provide more movement in your site but also to show Google there is a connection between the topics. This also shows your clients that there is a connection. So if you connect to your anxiety page from a trauma page and have a subheading in each discussing the connection, your client and Google will begin to recognize the connection between the topics.

Additionally, we also suggest having at least one external link on your site. This is meant to help build up your trust flow with Google. When you connect to an already well-ranked site, this will build your site’s credibility. 

Great SEO External Links for Trauma Therapists:

Make sure if you’re using these as external links, it is essential to bear in mind that while their great resources, copying content from other websites is not advisable. Google identifies duplicate content and will recognize the source, so it’s best to stick to the original ideas and rephrase them in your own language.

Blogging Helps SEO for Trauma Therapists Because You’re Able to Communicate Your Voice!

Blogging. The infamous and necessary next steps in your journey ranking for SEO for trauma therapists. Blogging is a powerful tool to connect to your ideal audience. Even if you’re a group practice that offers everything, blogging can help your particular mission and perspective be seen better. 

What should therapists blog about?

We encourage you to write intentional and carefully crafted blog posts to answer common questions you hear in your practice.

  • For example, you could write an open letter to moms recovering from birth trauma. What do I say to my daughter who was raped?
  • Or simple things first responders can say to calm a person down in a crisis situation.
  • Resource guides and tips are useful for your client and it gives them a glimpse into the kind of care they can expect from you as a therapist.

Remember, blogging is your passion piece, so don’t be afraid to be real and talk about the tough issues. 

Picture of animated content. The connection between SEO and quality content is huge for conversion. So the more honest you're with your audience the better SEO for trauma therapists you will get. Learning what the best keywords for a trauma therapy page and writing good cornerstone content matter to rank and convert.

Write blogs for their loved ones too.

Blogs are also a great resource for the family and loved ones of people dealing with trauma. They may struggle to know how to help their child, partner, friend, or family member. By giving them some helpful tips, you can help them to process what is going on in their loved ones’ lives. They may not fully understand, but when people don’t understand a loved one’s pain, they often want answers and guidance, but by providing blogs for the whole unit, they will feel better supported and even feel like they can help their loved ones better. 

Get in Touch With Our Talented Team to Learn More About SEO for Trauma Therapists!

As trauma therapists and mental health professionals, we have the power to make a tremendous impact on how people live their lives. By utilizing SEO-driven person-centered service pages and blogs, we can create an online presence that helps those stuck in trauma find freedom and feel heard. Asking for help is a process, so be patient with clients who may visit your website multiple times before seeking help. Together, we can make a difference by providing the resources, support, and guidance they need to heal from their trauma.

If you could use some support, then reach out to us for help. Our skilled and passionate team of SEO specialists who are mental health nerds at Simplified SEO Consulting would be excited to help you on your SEO journey. To get started with our service follow these simple steps: 

  1. Apply to Work with us and schedule your consultation
  2. Learn more about our talented team of SEO Specialists. 
  3. Begin putting your unique voice out there and continue making the impact you desire on those around you.

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

Jasmine has a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University and is a trauma therapist who specializes in Cognitive Processing Therapy at Aspire Counseling in Columbia, MO. She is also our consult lead and our SEO Training Coordinator at Simplified. Jasmine has experience hosting SEO webinars, consults, training through strategy sessions, using data to inform strategy, and she regularly works to provide support for alumni. If you are looking to get expert SEO support, Jasmine is one of many individuals on our team with excellent insight. Jasmine specializes in supporting clients who are looking to rank nationally and internationally and works often with our eating disorder therapists and coaches.

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SEO & URLS: 4 things to know for the best ROI

In SEO land, URLs have been a hot topic. There’s a lot of information that has been circulated around URLs. On top of that, URLs are more of a ‘techy’ component of SEO. URLs have a role in SEO. There are factors that contribute to having an ‘SEO-worthy‘ URL. Below are 4 things to keep in mind to achieve this.

1. URL Anatomy

To ensure that we’re all starting at the same point, let’s talk through the anatomy of a URL. To demonstrate this, the URL for one of Simplified’s blog is shown below.

https://– protocol

simplifiedseoconsulting– domain

.com- top-level domain

-signs-of-an-seo-scam- slug

As we can see, each component of the URL has a title. If we were missing any piece, we wouldn’t have a functioning URL. Instead, we would get our favorite thing: 404 error.

With that in mind,  the slug is often considered to have a larger impact on SEO than the other components. This is because you have to select the slug each time you create a new page (or post, etc).  So, take advantage of that!  Next, we’ll cover how to do this.

2.Creating an SEO-worthy URL slug

A cartoon slug is shown. This reflect optimizing your URL for SEO. Learn more about our SEO services.

 

When creating a URL slug, it’s important to keep SEO in mind by incorporating as many keywords and location indicators as possible. Keywords are vital in URLs for two reasons.

  1. Keywords are the words that people are searching for. If they are included in our slug, our page is more likely to show up.
  2. Google knows that users are searching for these terms. So, there’s a better chance that Google will boost your site higher than other sites that have ‘irrelevant’ words in the slug.

You’re probably wondering what this looks like in real life.

Let’s think about an online therapy page for a clinical practice in Texas. After doing some keyword research, here are the results that I found.

The results indicate that “online therapy” has the highest search volume (5,300 searches over the last 30 days). ‘Online counseling’ is the second highest (1,900 searches in the last 30 days).

Another option is ‘teletherapy.’ However, the keyword research shows that significantly fewer people are searching for ‘teletherapy.’ According to the tool we use for keyword research, approximately 900 people in all of Texas have searched for ‘teletherapy’ over the last 30 days.

So. . .

With all of this in mind, it would make the most sense for us to include ‘online therapy in Texas’ in the slug for our page. This is because it has the highest search volume compared to all of the other keywords we could have included. Again, keywords are vital to SEO as they are the words that are searched the most by our ideal clients.

3. Make sure to remove special characters and numbers

A cartoon trash can is shown. This reflects concepts of URL SEO. Learn more about our SEO services.

Special characters include backlashes, square brackets, space, exclamation, double quote, number sign, and other characters. The Internet Engineering Task Force refers to these characters as unsafe characters if they are in a URL. These characters are considered unsafe for a variety of reasons. These are considered unsafe because these characters have other “jobs” for coding. If they are used incorrectly, it can result in your URL not operating correctly. This can result in a critical error on your site. And, unfortunately, critical errors can have a significantly negative impact on SEO.

Overall, the big takeaway is that it’s best not to add anything besides letters (and maybe numbers- if it makes sense).

4. Changing existing URLs.

So, there’s a good chance that you’re reading this blog and panicking a little bit. You’re probably thinking about some of the URLs on your site that don’t follow the rules discussed in this blog. So, you might as well change them and fix the problem, right?

Eh, not exactly.

Changing URLs is tricky and it has to be done correctly.  Unfortunately, changing a URL can so easily be done incorrectly. To change a URL correctly requires a few things so you avoid having a bunch of 404 errors on your website.

One of those things is 301-redirect. A 301 redirect permanent redirect that passes full ranking power to the redirected page. This way, users are still able to access all of the pages on your site. Think of this as moving to a different address. When you move, you should provide your new address to the post office so your mail is sent to you. Because if it isn’t,  you could miss something really important.

An additional consideration to be mindful of is the impact that this can have on your SEO.

Graphs are shown. This relates to concepts of URL SEO. Learn more about how we boost SEO for therapists.

It is not uncommon for SEO to drop after this change happens. This is because Google will likely take a little while to ‘readjust’ to your URL for that page. Essentially, to give you the SEO credit for your page. It may take a little while for Google to associate and adjust to the new URL. So, we often advise our clients that their SEO may bounce around for a while. However, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom! Changing your URL properly can be beneficial in the end. Of course, if all the things are done the way they should be. If you’re considering this, we encourage you to seek out a professional who can point you in the right direction.

I hope you learned a thing or two about URLs!

At Simplified, our goal is to help you establish SEO in the manner that fits your goals the best. For some, that will be getting to know all things URLs! With that in mind, our SEO Specialists would love to help you dream and scheme of where your SEO journey is heading. Our SEO Specialists have a variety of different experiences and can bring this to the table! We offer a variety of different services, including Done For You and Done With You services. If you’d like to get the SEO party started, follow these steps:

  1. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us. 
  2. Get to know our team of highly skilled and experienced SEO specialists.
  3. Add the skill of URL optimization to your toolbelt!

Other Helpful SEO Blogs

404 Errors and 301/302 Redirects

3 signs of an SEO scam

Psychology and SEO

Who should optimize their own websites?

3 reasons to track data related to SEO

Why SEO is a great long-term business investment 

How long does SEO take?

6 ways to maintain SEO for therapists when you already rank well

SEO for therapists: a comprehensive guide

Guide to blogging to improve SEO for therapists

Ethical SEO for mental health professionals

About the Author

Alyssa has been a member of the Simplified family for the past year. And, is now stepping into a role providing training and additional support for folks learning SEO. A recent MSW graduate, Alyssa loves the world of mental health and technology. In addition, Alyssa has a growing interest in using social media to grow a practice, the importance of live feed, and building backlinks. She wrote a two-part blog post series about the importance of blogging for SEO. This series addressed the importance of blogging and original content. In addition, she is co-hosting a blogging masterclass that will soon be available for purchase. Stick around for some more hands-on opportunities!

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3 Signs of An SEO Scam

Let’s Face It, No One Likes ScamsThe word "scam" is spelled out on a keyboard for Simplified SEO Consulting. We offer support for

I’m pretty certain we’ve all experienced cold calls, random emails, and scam artists that try to hurt your business or take your hard-earned money. In fact, something like this occurred recently with a client of mine! In this case, the email they received was a fairly obvious example of an SEO scammer. However, it caused me to think about the various methods scammers use, and what some of the warning signs might be that an SEO consulting service isn’t as reputable as they seem. So, I decided that it would be a good idea to blog about some of the most common signs to better understand what to look out for when researching SEO consulting services.

But, it should be known that this is not meant to accuse or call out any specific organization or group as scammers. The goal of this blog is to help anyone with a private practice website stay secure. Even if you aren’t currently a client of our SEO services, this info can help you and your practice stay safe in our online world. 

Related: Read about a “professional photographers” phishing scam affecting therapists and private practice owners here.

Of course, some of these are more obvious than others! So let’s get started with a more obvious sign.

Sign 1: Guarantee First Place Rankings 

Google has become so complex that the promise of being the first place is just not realistic. Algorithm changes have made it more difficult to keep up with the constantly changing nature of Google. As a result, beware of anyone who claims to have a surefire way to reach the top of Google. In truth, there isn’t any easy way to guarantee how you will rank in the search results. The quality of optimization that goes into the site is the best determining factor. 

Some other factors that may influence rankings:

  • Local competition
  • How long your site has been around 
  • The difficulty of targeted keywords
  • Other marketing efforts (such as google ads)

Graphic of SEO data for Simplified SEO Consulting. We offer SEO consulting services for private practice owners across the country. Contact us today!Additionally, it is important to also remember that keywords are not the only thing that is going to help your site succeed. Hearing an offer to help your site rank for 100’s of keywords might sound like a no-brainer in terms of getting your site out there. But, if none of those terms are helping your ideal client find your site, you likely won’t be any closer to receiving the results you want.  

Sign 2: Unsolicited Emails

Now there’s nothing wrong with being confident in life or in business. However, a professional SEO consulting company will not likely email you out of the blue. Oftentimes, these scam messages may begin or include issues with your site in order to warrant some kind of response.

Hypothetical examples of these issues may look like:

  • “I‘ve analyzed your website often and noticed your rankings were still a bit low. We can help you reach the top 10 search results guaranteed!”
  • “Google’s most recent update has been negatively affecting your site. Our company can help fix it!”
  • “We can sell you premium, high-quality backlinks to hundreds of sites to help you compete!”

While some scammers will tell you how they can help fix vague issues with your site, others may throw in confusing SEO jargon without explaining anything in hopes to confuse you. It is always best to delete these messages. Working relationships like these are generally initiated by you, the client! 

Ironically….the better your SEO the more often you will get these unsolicited emails claiming your SEO isn’t any good.

3d human stands thinking in front of a red question mark. Simplified SEO consulting offers monthly seo consulting services for private practice owners across the country. Contact us today for support! Sign 3: Secrecy Surrounding Methods 

In the world of SEO, there are many ways to gain rankings. Some of these are ethical, client-focused ways you can optimize a site known as “White Hat” SEO. On the other hand, it is also possible to rank well using tricks and tactics that are against Google’s guidelines. These can come in many forms, but they often result in your site being penalized. This is “Black Hat” SEO. 

A telltale sign that an SEO consulting service might be engaging in less ethical SEO tactics is by keeping you in the dark about what exactly they are doing to help boost your site. When deciding to work with an SEO consulting service, it’s important to understand the how behind their methods. Do they promise to build you backlinks? Great! How are they going to get you those links, and what kind of links are they? Do you understand how their services work? 

These are good questions to ask, but it is still worth mentioning that companies will not be able to disclose everything they do behind the scenes. Working with an SEO consulting service should involve clear transparent communication between the client and company to achieve the best results. 

In Conclusion

As with any other important investment or decision, it is essential to conduct proper research. Not doing your due diligence could result in a less than reputable company working on your site, and potentially doing more harm than good in the long run.

Begin SEO Consulting Services with Simplified SEO Consulting

Our team of trained SEO specialists would be honored to support you in ethically ranking on Google! We have experience working with clients across the country and would love to work alongside you in optimizing your site. For support with improving the SEO of your site, follow these steps:

  1. Book a free consultation
  2. Speak to one of our SEO specialists
  3. Start climbing the rankings of Google!

Other Services Offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting offers multiple SEO services to help meet the needs of your private practice website. We offer a variety of services including DIY Online SEO Courses, Done For You SEO services, and our Done With You 12-week SEO intensive program. For more helpful info, feel free to read more from our blog!

About the Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage is a member of the 2020 graduating class from the University of Missouri. He is intent on using his B.A. in Psychology to help provide the best results as an SEO specialist.  Sterling prides himself on helping 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 alumni have everything they need to continue ranking well!

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What I Learned My First Month of SEO That Graduate School Never Taught Me

 

The Beauty of Graduate School

A cartoon brain is shown. This reflects concepts of boosting SEO for therapists. Simplified offers consultant SEO services.

When pursuing a graduate degree to provide mental health services, you learn a crazy amount of information. Often, so much information that retaining it initially seems like an impossible task.  We learn how to diagnose mental disorders to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. We cover and practice appropriate clinical interventions to provide clients, given their experiences and goals.

We’re taught what research design to implement depending on the purpose of the study and when to reject the null hypothesis. We’re encouraged to advocate for vulnerable populations at the local, state, and national levels. We push ourselves to critically assess the consequences of policy implementation on the people who are pushed to the margins of society. We internalize that our client, whoever they might be, is the expert of their story.

What we didn’t learn, however, is how to write for Google.

Perhaps I’m speaking from my own experience, but I have a strong feeling that I’m not alone. Actually, I know I’m not alone. My academic writing skills are not complimentary for SEO. In my academic writing, I feel the pressure to use big SAT words. Of course, that come along with an obnoxious number of syllables.  When explaining a concept related to my profession or coursework, I use a definition that requires subsequent internet searches to decipher what I’m saying. The worst part? I beam at the content I have created feeling as proud as a parent feels after their kiddo wins their first t-ball game.

And guess what? Google does not share my level of satisfaction. Rather, Google feels as disappointed as that same parent after they find out that their child slipped the umpire $10 to make calls in their favor.

What does Google like?

 

An animated brain with question marks is shown. This demonstrates concepts of boosting counselor SEO. Simplified offers consultant SEO services.

Instead, Google likes when you create content that your clients will actually understand. In SEO land, we call this readability. At first, this concept was really difficult for me and was completely foreign. I’m paying for higher education; it should be clear in everything I create. Right?

Yes, AND….

I need to consider my role. I need to relate to the people for who I am trying to get help. SO, I have to put content on a page of a website for anxiety treatment in a way that someone who just had the worst anxiety attack to date can read and understand. The content I put on a depression counseling page should reassure someone that despite feeling isolated and unhappy, they’re not alone. My goal should be to make it clear that healing is not linear. Sometimes, life is really tough and we don’t always have the tools we need to get through it.  After my reading what I put on a trauma page, someone should know there is no timeline of when they “shouldn’t” be affected by their previous trauma.

Optimizing a website for SEO, working on readability.…these things are in line with our values.

This is why we do what we do: to provide our services to someone who really needs it. Our clients want to feel understood by the person they’re sharing the most intimate details of their life with. At this time, they’re probably not worried about understanding the intricate ins and outs of your approach when treating eating disorders. They aren’t preoccupied with your uncanny ability to include every academic term you can pull out of your memory.

Because, in reality, do your clients care about how academic and convoluted your website sounds? Not really. Instead, they want to know that you know what you’re doing, you care, and that you’re here to help.

Bringing It All Together

To be clear, I think higher education is a wonderful investment and an absolute necessity to provide quality services to your clients. Without it, you likely wouldn’t be half the practitioner you are today.  There is tremendous value in being an educated, well-informed service provider. AND, we don’t have to flex our intellectual bicep when the opportunity presents itself.

Moving Forward

A brain with a lightbulb is shown. This relates to concepts of boosting counselor SEO. Simplified offers consultant SEO services to help therapists boost SEO.

This important lesson has shaped the way that I perceive my role in getting my SEO client’s website to the first page of Google. Additionally, this has uncovered a deeper level of empathy and validation I didn’t know that I could reach. I challenge you to consider this the next time you put something on your website with the hopes of getting new clients. Consider what could be going on in their life in that moment. Think about where they are, not where you would like them to be. Talk to them, not at them.

Our SEO Specialists would love to work with you!

At Simplified, our goal is to help you find your ideal clients and rank for everything you want to be found for. Our SEO Specialists have a variety of different experiences and can bring this to the table! We offer a variety of different services, including Done For You and Done With You services. If you’d like to get the SEO party started, follow these steps:

  1. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us. 
  2. Get to know our team of highly skilled and experienced SEO specialists.
  3. Brag to your other therapist friends that you can optimize your website optimization

Other Helpful SEO Blogs

Who should optimize their own websites?

3 reasons to track data related to SEO

Why SEO is a great long-term business investment 

How long does SEO take?

6 ways to maintain SEO for therapists when you already rank well

SEO for therapists: a comprehensive guide

Guide to blogging to improve SEO for therapists

Ethical SEO for mental health professionals

About the Author

Alyssa has been a member of the Simplified family for the past year. And, is now stepping into a role providing training and additional support for folks learning SEO. As a current graduate student in the Advanced Placement MSW Program at Mizzou, Alyssa loves the world of mental health and technology. In addition, Alyssa has a growing interest in using social media to grow a practice, the importance of live feed, and building backlinks. She wrote a two-part blog post series about the importance of blogging for SEO. This series addressed the importance of blogging and original content. In addition, she is co-hosting a blogging masterclass that will soon be available for purchase. Stick around for some more hands-on opportunities!

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Video and SEO

For some people, writing blogs is the last thing they want to do. You have already graduated from a master’s or Ph.D. program and you’re doing additional training to specialize. Blogging couldn’t be further from your mind as you build out your website. However, it is a significant next step in our process to get you ranking well with Google. Blogging gives voice to your therapy approach, your ideal clients, and how you can help.  

Sometimes people wonder whether video blogging has the same effect on SEO as writing blogs. At times, it can be more helpful to speak what you mean to say than write. So, let’s explore where video blogging can be helpful and how to go about doing it if you want to add it as an additional SEO strategy. 

What is a Video Blog?

Asian women doing tutorial on youtube. These individuals understand video and SEO which is how this person found their video. Youtube SEO can be a big boost for therapists looking to write blogs and vlog. Learn more about video seo from our seo specialists today!

Video blogging is essentially the same as writing a blog on Google. You’re trying to convey information and get a point across. Rather than writing the blog in 750-2000 words, you’re speaking for an allotted amount of time on a topic.

What Do Video and SEO Look Like? 

With Google’s search engine and blogging, we optimize for meta descriptions, alt text, readability, internal and external links, keywords, and subheadings. Google is the number one search engine, with YouTube being the second biggest search engine. YouTube and Google are connected. Therefore, if you want to optimize videos, you’re going to have better luck with video SEO using YouTube than you would with Vimeo or another hosting site.

Components for YouTube SEO that the Youtube Search Engine is Looking for. 

YouTube SEO Clicks 

YouTube cares to know that people are clicking on your video. It is not enough to post relevant information; Google wants to know that people care about what is enough to click.  

People are Engaging with Your Content. 

YouTube takes note that people are not only clicking and watching your content, but it cares to know that people are commenting, asking questions, liking, subscribing, and sharing your content. Additionally, this means that not only are people engaged, but you continue to put out content that provides continuous value. For example, if you’re doing a self-care series, you may allude to catching parts two and three for more information. This strategy further draws people to your site and increases video and SEO.

You’re Embedding You Videos into Your Website 

This is where choosing a YouTube platform over Vimeo is better for your video SEO. Being able to provide another platform to host your video, affects your rankings. This is another stream of people coming to your website and, you can then index your video on your website, and show up more often for those looking for similar content on the Google search engine side.

Watch Time for Videos Increases 

 YouTube checks to see how much time people spend watching your content. Therefore, if you don’t go into your videos with a clear plan and outline for your message, it is likely to reduce your watch time. Therefore, you may want to mix up how you do videos because static videos are not interesting to viewers.  

Using keywords in Your Video 

For you to show up in the right searches, YouTube, will take note of video tags, focus keywords, video descriptions, and titles.  Therefore, just with blog posts and service pages, keyword research is a must.

 

Youtube analytics close up. Keeping track of your data in the Youtube study to help you find SEO keywords. Video and SEO works similar to blogging. In order to rank well on youtube, you need to lear youtube seo. Learn more about video seo today!

Here is how you can get ranking for Video and SEO today!

 Do appropriate Keyword research. 

Always do keyword research first and make sure to rank for some harder tags and easier tags. If you’re ranking only with the most popular video tags, you’re less likely to show up because your views and clicks will be much lower. You can use Tube Buddy to figure out what tags and keywords make sense to rank your video for. Also, use your YouTube studio to look up tags and keywords that people are finding you for. You may show up for a keyword you are not aware of. By optimizing for it, you can gain more traffic. This will guide your planning and help your message to be clearer.  Additionally,  focusing on your niche helps Google see you as an expert, more likely to show up for keywords. 

Place keywords appropriately 

Make sure you have keywords in your tags, titles, video descriptions, and throughout your video. We recommend saying some of the keywords in your video. Just like Google reads every part of your website, it too watches and listens to every part of your video. Optimize your video description (make a description at least 100 words, include the target keyword in the first 2 to 3 sentences, promote the video on social media).

Use appropriate video tags.  

Rank in suggested videos ( in order to rank focus on recent video you watch and current video). Plus make sure to use a few tags in popular videos.

Upload consistently 

The more often you upload to YouTube, the more often you will rank on YouTube SEO. However, if you’re looking to develop consistency make sure you’re specific in your focus. If you plan to focus on depression, anxiety, mental health, trauma, or something like this, don’t then add videos also on food or lifestyle content. You will essentially be watering down your tags making it difficult for Youtube to know what to do.

Engagement is huge for staying relevant. 

This is like how we focus on your service pages for website optimization and then encourage you to write up cornerstones on your focus niches. 

YouTube SEO FAQ’s 

Are there are downsides for SEO and Video? 

Simplifies SEO Consulting Advice on how to use blogs and vlogs for SEO. 

Video Blogging Pros and Cons 

Pros 
  • User friendly for beginners 
  •  YouTube picks up content faster than Google. 
Cons 

What if I’d Rather Vlog than Blog for SEO?

Woman in pink on laptop smiling. If you're wondering how video can improve your SEO strategy, you've come to the right place. Video and Seo can give you an additonal stream of people to your website with the right therapy keywords. Learn more about Youtube SEO today!

If you take nothing else from this blog, take this, while video blogging is a great visual aspect to add to your site and can enhance your SEO strategy, it Is not a substitute for writing high-quality blogs and having them optimized. With the way, Google’s search engine is built, writing quality content continues to be a higher priority for Google than video blogging. Videos can add a better visual component to your site and better accessibility for sound and closed captioning, but from the standpoint of how we optimize your site, it is not a complete substitute for blogging. So, if you have considered writing and video blogging together, this could be a great approach to boost your SEO even more. People are more likely to link to you and as mentioned above there are several ways we can add in keywords and optimize for your focus. Don’t let this deter you from using a high-quality video with your blog, but at the end of the day, Google prefers written content over videos.  So we would recommend a hybrid of the two.

Here’s our example of including video for SEO in your blog post:

Ready to Begin Your SEO Journey? 

What other questions come up for you when you consider whether blogging makes sense for your SEO strategy?  Reach out to the Simplified Team if you have further questions on how we can help you. Blogging is a big component of our strategy, but to those who want to add a video strategy, we are happy to guide you with more information. If you’re looking for someone to guide you in that process, get in touch with Simplified SEO Consulting. You will work with skilled mental health SEO specialists who are passionate about the field. To get started follow these simple steps:  

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 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: 

 Jasmine, an SEO Specialist, and Client Success Specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting. You may be wondering where to start with your SEO journey. You’ve come to the right place. Learn how cornerstone content can help.  

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University. She has been doing SEO with Simplified for the last few months. Currently, she serves as the Client Success Specialist in new client consultation with Simplified SEO Consulting and is an SEO specialist. She specializes in platforms such as Squarespace and Wix but has learned to love WordPress sites as well. She really enjoys hearing the clients’ goals for their businesses and helping them achieve them. 

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SEO Tips for Psychiatrists in Private Practice

There are many, many benefits to being in private practice as a psychiatrist. Certainly, a huge benefit is that you’ll likely make more money. And, in private practice, you have the ability to take the time to get to know your patients. Additionally, there will be fewer patients who really don’t want to be there. In private practice, there is time and space for continuing education, collaboration, and, well, everything.

But you’re also a business owner now. Therefore, you have new responsibilities you haven’t had to worry about before. Among the many new tasks you’ll have as a business owner, you have to think about marketing. Because you can’t help patients if they can’t find you.

A Website is a Powerful Marketing Tool for Private Practice Psychiatrists

It’s important to meet patients where they are. And in today’s day in age, that’s often online. Because most of your patients are probably looking for help online, you need to have a presence there.

But the truth is that as a private pay psychiatrist, your website needs to do more than just show up. It needs to have the right design to attract your clients’ attention. And then, it needs the right content to help them understand the value you offer.

SEO Helps You Reach The Patients Who Need You

In private practice, you have more choice in who you take on as patients and who you refer elsewhere. You know your skillset better than anyone else. And you know the populations you not only work best with but also find joy in serving. You got into this field to help people and to make an impact on the world of mental health. And your ability to practice most effectively is impacted by the fulfillment you find in your work.

So no, it is not unethical to target populations you’d like to work with. In fact, it is most ethical to cater to a population you feel skilled to serve. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to target your ideal clients online, which is why SEO should be an essential part of your marketing strategy.

SEO Tips for Psychiatrists

Do Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of good SEO for most websites. But psychiatrists face a unique challenge. Most likely, you have two audiences: referral sources and potential patients. Both may be searching for different keywords. Therefore, it’s important to consider each audience when doing keyword research.

Image of a large magnifying glass against a yellow background with the word "keywords" spelled out around the magnifying glass. When building a website and thinking about SEO for psychiatrists in private practice, you must think about keywords.

A good first step is to ask referral sources what they would search on Google when looking for a referral for a patient. Another good resource for keyword research is your existing patients. Take a look at your intake paperwork. Why are your clients coming to you for services? What are the trends among your patients’ concerns? This information can give great insight as to how your patients see themselves and their needs. In turn, indicating which keywords they would most likely search for online when looking for a psychiatrist, much like your potential clients you’ll be targeting on your website. The final keyword research opportunity is to use a keyword research tool. These can be extremely helpful, as they can help you find additional keywords you may not have even thought to track, but are frequently searched for in your area.

Popular Keywords for Psychiatrists

As a starting place, I’ll share some general keyword trends in the United States. However, know that it’s important to do your own keyword research for your specific area. As of April 1st, 2021, one of our keyword research tools, KWFinder, says the following keywords are searched for this number of times each month in the United States:

  • Psychiatrist – 439,000
  • Psychiatry Services – 2,200
  • Psychiatric Medication – 2,500
  • Medication for Depression – 8,5000
  • Medication for Anxiety – 165,000

Once you’ve done your research, start to use keywords throughout your website.

Build Backlinks

Building backlinks is an essential part of a healthy SEO strategy. Backlinks refer to when someone sends a website user off of their website and onto yours using a link. When you work with other professionals in your community like therapists, primary care doctors, community nonprofits, or schools, you become a known and trusted name. Brainstorm entities and organizations that work with your ideal clients. These would be great relationships to form if they do not already exist.

Image of five hands holding a "thumbs up" against a blue sky background. This image represents the good SEO for psychiatrists that happens when they work on getting backlinks.

Many large organizations have resource pages or directories on their websites. Here, you will find lists of businesses or professionals that a credible community organization supports. Typically, you can request to be put on a resource page or directory by emailing the organization or filling out a form. When your business gets listed on one of these pages, it shows both Google and website viewers that you are a quality resource to be trusted. However, there are many ways to build backlinks.

Create Individual Service Pages

Consider writing a service page for the specific types of psychiatry you really enjoy doing. Do you have specialized training in eating disorders? Then make sure you have a page on “Psychiatry for Eating Disorders.” Enjoy treating postpartum depression, anxiety, or OCD? It would make sense to have a service page on “Psychiatry for Moms.” Are many of your patients depressed? If so, create a “Medication for Depression” service page. We recommend that each of these pages have at least 500 words (2,000 is better if you’re up for writing that much!) of original content. Make great use of subheadings, include a direct call to action (Speak to a Psychiatrist About Your Depression in ______) and make sure to link to other pages of your site!

Blogging as a Psychiatrist

Blogging is an important part of a good SEO strategy. And there are many reasons to blog! Yes, search engine optimization is a key reason to blog because Google notices and likes consistently published fresh content. However, blogging also gives potential patients a sense of who you are, how you help people, and what being your patient would be like.

You may be thinking… “what do I write about?” Our SEO specialists recommend writing blog posts that answer typical questions your patients ask. You may also want to write blog posts talking about typical diagnoses you treat, but make it clear that a blog post can’t diagnose. Blogs can provide a wealth of information to patients about if you will be the best fit for their care.

Consider a Specific Page for Local Therapists & Primary Care Doctors

As a psychiatrist, the truth is that you have two audiences: potential referral sources and potential clients. Local therapists and primary care doctors who think their patients could benefit from your specialized knowledge about psychiatric medications will be looking for your services online. However, they are a very different audience than potential patients. These potential referral partners can handle a bit more technical jargon and will be asking specific questions. Therefore, we recommend you have a page on your site dedicated to these referral sources.

On the other hand, most of your content on your website needs to be targeted at your larger audience: potential patients. When these folks are finding your site, it’s probably not while they are at peak brain performance. Rather, it is most likely when they just had a panic attack, a breakdown, or at their wit’s end with their symptoms. They are probably scrambling to find help when they don’t know where else to turn. Likely, they’re looking for a psychiatrist during a quick lunch break or late at night when they can’t deal with insomnia any longer.

With that being said, as a psychiatrist, it’s essential that you have a page speaking directly to your hopeful professional referral sources. This page can be technical and you can speak as a professional. In regards to the rest of your website content, take into account what a “3 AM trauma brain” would be able to digest. Write for that state of mind. Your patients will appreciate it and likely find you very relatable.

Answer Common New Patient Questions

Image of a large "Q & A" against a hardwood background. An FAQ or Q & A page is helpful for SEO for psychiatrists in private pay.

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we’ve found that FAQ pages are great for both your website viewers AND your SEO. Make a list of the questions new patients are likely to ask.  If you have someone who answers new patient inquiries for you, check in with them about those questions. Then, add a few more you get during that first session. Now, write a 1-2 paragraph response to each of those questions.

I encourage you not to base the questions you use off what questions someone else answered on their page or some stock FAQ page. Instead, think about what pages your ideal clients are asking. Remember, we care about SEO, but we also want your website to help your clients. We want them to see that you would be a great resource for them. That you get them, relate to them. These are the things that will bring them through your doors.

Are you a Private Pay Psychiatrist?

We strongly recommend private pay psychiatrists have content on their website directly addressing their status as private pay. Maybe write a series of blog posts on the top advantages of working with a psychiatrist who is private pay. It’s ok to get slightly personal about how much you value face-to-face time with clients. Or about how you want to work for clients instead of insurance companies.

It’s also important to have a fees page on your website. Now, it’s up to you if you publish your specific fees. We’ve seen many private pay psychiatrists who do. However, this page is also a great place to address your reasons for being private pay. And, you can do so in a way that highlights the benefits for clients.

Ready to get Serious About Your Website SEO?

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we specialize in helping private practice therapists get their websites ranking on Google. Not only that, we help them stay at the top of Google too. Our SEO Specialists are passionate about getting your site in front of the clients you enjoy working with because we know that a solid therapeutic relationship makes all the difference in the world of mental health. To learn more about Simplified SEO Consulting and how we can help you get ranking, follow the steps below.

  1. Schedule a free 30-minute consultation call with us.
  2. Meet with one of our SEO Specialists to learn more about our packages and process.
  3. Get your website in front of your ideal patients!

SEO Services at Simplified

We offer a variety of services to help you along on your SEO journey. One of our most popular services is the Done For You SEO package. With this, you get to take a backseat while a skilled SEO Specialist takes point on your website’s SEO. On the other hand, we have DIY Online SEO Courses and a Done With You package if you’d like to become an SEO wizard yourself!

About the Author

Simplified’s founder, Jessica, and one of Simplified’s Mental Health SEO Specialists, Olivia, wrote this blog together. Both team members enjoy educating our clients about search engine optimization and how it can help private practices bring in clients that professionals are excited to work with!

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