Common Blogging Mistakes We See Private Practice Owners Make

I want you to think about your favorite artist. Maybe this is an actor, a comedian, or someone you follow on a social media platform. Essentially, think of someone whose media you consume. Today, these artists are often referred to as “influencers.” We naturally gravitate toward media content we personally connect with. This connection can be founded on a shared lifestyle, a common struggle, or simply humor. Further, peoples’ connection to media and the “influencers” who produce it can become a part of their daily lives.

You probably are asking yourself what all this has to do with blogging. So, I want you to take a second to think of yourself, a mental health professional, as an influencer. While you may not naturally identify with this term, the truth is, you are an expert in your field! You have extensive education and training. That means you have a ton of amazing thoughts and ideas to share with the world. And, how do we connect with the world today? The internet.

What’s the point of blogging?

Simple answer: connection.

Blogging allows you connect with your clients outside of counseling sessions. Furthermore, you can connect with people from all over the globe! You have the opportunity to share your education, your experience, and your ideas with people who are searching. All you’ve got to do is put pen to paper! (Well, more like fingers to keypad… but you get it.)

With all this being said, it’s important to know how to effectively use blogging to connect with your website viewers. At Simplified, we see private practice owners make a lot of the same mistakes when it comes to blogging. Today, I’ll walk you through what those mistakes are and how to ensure you don’t make them.

Not Blogging

Now, imagine that your favorite content creator never put out new media. No new movies, no new comedy specials on Netflix, and no more cute dog photos. What?! Most likely, you’d feel disconnected from your favorite influencer and a little disappointed. On the other hand, imagine that they put out new content twice a month. Or, even more frequently than that. Whoa! I assume you’d check their website or social media platforms pretty regularly. And, most importantly, you’d feel pretty connected to that creator.

Similarly, when you do not blog, your clients miss out on additional connection with you. As mental health professionals, we understand the importance of connection. Maybe they’re having a hard day and don’t have a session scheduled for awhile. They could be comforted by reading something from their therapist in the meantime. When you don’t blog, your clients don’t even have the opportunity to learn from you. Yes, clients should not be relying on blogs for mental health support instead of their scheduled sessions. But, wouldn’t it be something if your words connected with them on a day when they really needed it?

Blogging for SEO

On a different note, blogging is an essential part of a quality long-term SEO strategy. Creating and publishing fresh, original content tells Google that you are active on your website. Being active on your site makes Google happy! It wants to show searchers the most relevant information out there. Further, when you publish blogs on a particular topic, Google takes that as a sign that you are an expert on it. (Which we know that you are!) Consistently blogging helps you interact with Google in positive ways, thus improving your SEO. Furthermore, regularly blogging helps you connect with your current clients. And, it shows potential clients that you care about creating connection.

There are many reasons to blog. Here at Simplified SEO Consulting, we believe it to be an essential part of private practice owners’ SEO strategy. Now that we’ve covered the importance of blogging, let’s dive into blog content and mistakes to avoid.

Overthinking Blog Posts

Keep blog content helpful, relatable, and relevant.

Let’s go back to the “therapist as an influencer” idea. Typically, the media we choose to consume is helpful, relatable, and relevant. So, why shouldn’t blogs be this way, too? Whether someone is specifically searching for your blog, or they stumble upon it, they don’t want to read a graduate school essay. Even though your master’s program instructors programmed high quality, technical writing into your DNA during grad school, your clients don’t want it. And, neither does Google. In fact, Google likes simple writing, around the level of a fifth grader’s.

I commonly hear from private practice owners “what am I supposed to write about?” My answer to that is: anything! Obviously, it is important that your content is relevant to mental health, counseling, etc. Bottom line, your clients want to connect with you.

So, since Google wants simple writing and you want to connect with your clients, make it easy on yourself by writing for fun. Did she just say, “writing for fun”?! Yes, yes, I did. I encourage private practice owners to think of blogging as a time for reflection.

Blogging Content Ideas

What is going on in the world right now that connects to the population you serve? Listen to the common themes your clients are sharing. How are current events impacting their mental health right now? Or, how could something happening in the world impact their mental health in the short-term or long-term?

Did you read a new book that could be helpful to your clients? Here’s an idea: write a review of the book and call it a “blog.”

Our founder, Jessica Tappana, always brings up “if you had a conversation about the same issue with three different clients in the same week, it’s time to blog about it!” Sometimes, as mental health professionals, we notice trends among our clients’ experiences. If you’re picking up on a trend, it’s worth blogging about and connecting with your clients. And, once you’ve written an excellent blog, you can send it to your future clients who are struggling with the same issues you are writing about today.

Your clients want to hear from you. So does Google. Consistently blogging can help you positively impact your long-term SEO by proving to Google’s bots that you care about regularly providing your site visitors with high-quality content.

Prioritize Quality over Quantity

In terms of blogging strategy, it must be emphasized that best practice is quality over quantity. Unfortunately, we see many private practice owners do the opposite, and prioritize quantity over quality.

Think about if you went to another private practice owner’s site. You scroll to the blog tab. Once you get there, you see twenty blogs posted over the past six months. You see one you’re interested in, but when you click on it, there are only two paragraphs of text. Hmm… as a site visitor, you probably lose trust in the website. And, maybe even the practice owner who posted the blog. This content wasn’t helpful, relatable, or relevant. Maybe it was actually frustrating to view. You got excited to read something interesting, and felt let down when there wasn’t much information there. (Gen Z refers to this as “click bait.” Try using that term with your teen clients and see what they think!) It’s pretty clear that the blog was posted for SEO purposes only.

Let’s not give your website visitors the same experience. Give them content that is impactful and applicable to their lives. Likewise, blogging for quantity of blogs versus quality negatively impacts Google’s view of your site, too. Google’s bots are pretty dang smart. They know that blogging is intended for creating robust, informative material, not bits and pieces to feign expertise. It’s important to build that trust and connection not only with your clients, but also with Google.

Content Promotion

The next mistake we often see is practice owners not promoting their blog content. Wouldn’t you want to know if Netflix put out a show with your favorite comedian? Of course! So, your clients should know when there is fresh content on your site. There are a few ways to promote your blogs:

Create an email list so all of your clients are notified when a blog has been published
Post a link on your practice’s Facebook for each new blog
Share your blog on your personal Facebook account so friends and family can read and share

There are so many people out there who want to read your content. You just have to give them the chance! And, promoting your blogs can get more hits to your site. This helps new visitors view your blog, then maybe they’ll move over to your services tab. At this point, blogging, in a sense, is a form of marketing.

Keywords in the Titles

If you’ve been with Simplified for a while now, or even if you just started with us, you know that we are all about the keywords. Tracking keywords for your website is one of the most important pieces of SEO strategy. Especially important is ensuring you implement those keywords throughout your website to increase SEO rankings.

Keep in mind that when blogging, the priority is to create helpful, relatable, and relevant content. However, it is important that you use keywords in the headings and copy of your blogs. Google places more weight on words in the headings and subheadings of copy. So, make sure you strategically place keywords in the headings. Not only will this help you get more SEO juice for the blog post, but it will help your readers.

Remember, we are writing content that is easy to read and informative. A huge piece of easy reading is skimming. Yes, some people will read your blog in its entirety. But, most likely readers will skim using the headings and subheadings. This helps them identify the parts of the copy that are applicable to them and worth reading.

The reward for using keywords in headings is twofold. Your site gets an SEO boost by ranking well on Google, and your readers have a more pleasant experience. In an earlier blog, Jessica discusses more about keywords and their strategic placement.

Videos in Blogs

We have seen many private practice owners use videos as a part of their blogs. This is great SEO strategy! A great thing about using videos as part of blogging is the increased accessibility for site visitors. On the other hand, when using videos as part of blogging, it is imperative that there be a video transcript or closed captioning available. Likewise, if you are including video in your blog, you must include a body of text. Your blog needs to have copy supporting the information in the video. Google loves videos, specifically YouTube videos. But, a video does not have the functionality of indicating keywords or phrases your site should be ranking for. So, you must pair videos on blogs with text.

Are You Ready to Get Your Site Ranking?

If you are looking to increase calls at your private practice, then it’s time to consider working with an SEO Specialist. Yes, we geek out over blogging. But, you haven’t even heard the rest of the geeky stuff we love! Follow the steps below to connect with an SEO Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting and start ranking on Google:

Schedule a 15-minute consultation call with to discuss your practice’s goals.
Meet with an SEO Specialist and discuss package options.
Begin optimizing your website and meeting with the clients you want!

Other Services at Simplified SEO Consulting

At Simplified, we are passionate about meeting your business’s needs in whatever way fits you best. If you’re looking to outsource SEO work while you run your practice, our Done For You services may be a nice fit. If you want to become an SEO master yourself, we suggest you check out our DIY Online SEO Courses. Or, the 12 Week SEO Intensive program, called the Done With You package, may fit you best. However you decide to take on Search Engine Optimization, our team of SEO Specialists is looking forward to geeking out with you.

February 12, 2021/0 Comments/by Olivia Ferguson

SEO Tips

How to optimize for a podcast & build podcast SEO

“Have you listened to this podcast before?”

I think it’s fair to say that most of us have a favorite podcast, whether it be an episode or a series that you listen to every week. Podcasts can be a great source of entertainment, education, and all things murder mystery. What’s more, podcasts are a great way for mental health service providers to get their name out there! Podcasting can be a great way to grow your practice, as it’s another way to share your content. In addition, having podcast episodes give you another opportunity to show up in web searches. What’s more, podcasts can be great for accessibility since they can accommodate other learning styles and preferences. So, with this in mind, creating a podcast for your practice could be a great idea for therapists!

Why Would a Therapist Have a Podcast?

Fun fact: in 2019, Google made it public that podcasts that they had started including podcasts in search results. This means that podcasts have the same potential to show up in searches the way that websites, videos, and blog posts do. Pretty cool, huh?

When thinking about podcasting to help grow your practice, you might not know where to start.

There are a lot different paths to take. But, for our purposes, we’re going to focus on how to optimize SEO for podcasts. In addition to all of the wonderful knowledge you’ll get from this blog, Practice of the Practice offers great resources to start and grow a podcast. Creating a podcast can help grow your practice if you’re choosing the right topic and targeting the right audience. With the right approach, you can build podcast SEO and reach a bigger audience.

Yep, podcast SEO a thing. Here’s what you need to know.

First things first: what is podcast SEO?

Podcast SEO is, quite literally, “podcast search engine optimization.” When building podcast SEO, we’re focusing on getting your podcast to the first page of Google. Much like your website and blogs, you want your podcasts to show up to your ideal clients.

Second thing’s second: why should I worry about it?

If you’re producing podcasts in the hopes of attracting more clients and becoming more well-known, there’s really only one way to do that: having good SEO. If you don’t have good SEO, you don’t show up. Which, in the days of everything being online, this is imperative to the success of your practice. As a service provider in private practice, your time is limited. So, if you’re going to dedicate some time and energy to creating a podcast to attract a new audience, don’t you want the best ROI?

We know all of the things about the “why” behind podcast SEO, now we’ll switch gears to the “how” piece of the puzzle. Below are a few tips on building your podcast SEO.

Steps to building your podcast SEO

We’ll go into more detail below, but the basic steps for building podcast SEO include:

Claim your podcast on Google Podcast Manager.
Make a website for your podcast.
Use Keywords in Your Podcast Title
Pick the name of your podcast very carefully.
Help Google build trust with your podcast.
Optimize your SEO Title and Meta Description.
Tie in social media.

Step 1 to building podcast SEO: Claim your podcast on Google Podcast Manager

Claiming your podcast on Google Podcast Manager is the same process that you follow when creating an account for Google My Business. This process allows you to “index” your podcast. Google indexing is paramount in SEO Land because it gives us an opportunity to get “credit” for what we do. I’ve provided a few links to other resources that explain what Google Indexing is and why it’s important, so feel free to check them out. The process below details how you set up this account. To remain transparent, these instructions came from Captivate’s blog about optimizing for podcasts.

Steps to Claim Your Podcast on Google Podcast Manager

1. Access Google Podcasts Manager through the Distribution page of your Captivate dashboard.
Log in with your Google Account (or create one).
Enter your podcast RSS feed URL.
Preview your feed to make sure the episodes and artwork are pulling through correctly.
Google will then send you a code to the email address associated with your RSS feed.
Enter the code and verify ownership!

Step 2 to building podcast SEO: Make a website for your podcast

Some of you probably aren’t thrilled about this. Yes, you need to make a new website for your podcast. Ultimately, this is the best for SEO. In Google’s eyes, your practice and your podcast are two separate entities. Which, isn’t wrong. And, these two entities acquire SEO. Think of two siblings that play different sports. One plays soccer and the other plays basketball. While both children play sports, they can’t share equipment (no one wears shin guards in basketball and a soccer player would look silly wearing a basket jersey). It just won’t work. It’s the same for your practice and podcast. They need different equipment (i.e., websites) to both be successful.

Step 3 to building podcast SEO: Incorporating Keywords in Your Podcast Title

Just like service pages or blogs, it’s imperative that we include words and phrases that our ideal clients use. We’ve written many blogs about finding the right keywords for your ideal client. But, as a reminder, we want to use the words and phrases are clients are using. A way to incorporate this into a podcast would be to have a title full of keywords. While podcast SEO is a bit of a new concept for us, there are some transferable SEO skills to use when optimizing these podcasts. The best way to do this is to think about what your ideal client would search for. For example, it could be “podcasts about dealing with anxiety during the pandemic.” Or, “podcasts about setting boundaries.” Really think about what your ideal client would want to listen to.

Step 4 to building podcast SEO: Pick the name of your podcast very carefully.

This is your biggest opportunity to get keywords in. The name of your podcast does not have to be the same as your practice. Unless, of course, your practice name is full of keywords that you want to rank for. Even still, it will be more beneficial to have a different name for your podcast so you can build SEO for different sources: your website and your podcast. So, choose wisely!

Step 5 to building podcast SEO: Help Google build trust with your podcast

So, turns out Google does some pretty cool things with podcasts. When a podcast episode is posted, Google automatically transcribes the content. Google does this so it knows what the podcast episode is about and helps it to categorize the podcast appropriately. In return, this helps to have your podcast reach it’s intended audience.

However. And this is an important however.

Your podcast must have structure. I’ll say it again for the people in the back: Your podcast must have structure. Google needs to be able to follow a clear structure of your podcast. This means the content needs to be about the same topic or category. As we all know, Google’s top concern is giving the user a good experience. In Google land, that means providing the user with information that is relevant and trustworthy. And, that makes sense given the information that exists about the topic. It’s important to remember that Google will make this determination based on the transcription it creates from the episode. So, the content should be easily understood.

So, with this in mind, do what you need to.

Come prepared to class. Create an outline. If you’re featuring a guest on your show, give them questions to prepare ahead of time. Research the topics you’re covering. And, when you can, verbally site the sources (this way, Google will transcribe that source) so Google can determine that you know of other reputable sources.

Step 6 to building podcast SEO: Optimize your SEO Title and Meta Description

This is an example of crossover for SEO concepts. Much like optimizing a service page or blog post, you’ll need to optimize the meta title and meta description. For our friends that are new around here, here’s a brief rundown: a meta title is the title of the page that pops up on Google. If one of our amazing SEO specialists optimized your page, your meta title likely reads “The Service | Your Practice Name (sometimes) | Online Therapy/Counseling in Your Location.” The logic is that the title is full of keywords and location indicators.

A meta description is the blurb that shows up Google under your website title. It’s best to personalize this, otherwise Google will throw two random sentences on the meta description. The problem with that? Those two sentences don’t always make sense together. So, it’s much better if we have control over it and make it very compelling.

Step 7 to building podcast SEO: Tie in social media

We want to pull out all of the big guns when getting a podcast up and running. To make you’re reaching as many listeners as possible, it needs to be “seen” by users. A great way to do this is through social media. For those who aren’t familiar with the role of social media and SEO, social media can be a great way to get more eyeballs on your site. However, keep in mind that social media itself cannot directly “boost” your SEO. But, it can help get more people to your site when used effectively. Which, has the possibility of helping build SEO.

This relationship is a correlation, not causation.

So, with this in mind, a good tip is to share your podcast episodes on your practice’s social media page. Make a post about your podcast and provide a link to your page. This way, users can easily get to your site and start listening. Remember: we want to make this process as easy as possible for the user. The easier it is, the more accessible it is. And, the more likely they’ll return to your site.

Step 8 to building podcast SEO: Build Tons of Backlinks to Your Podcast Websites

You might be wondering why this step wasn’t after step 2 of making a website. This is on purpose. Backlinks are vital to building long-term SEO. Backlinks help to show Google that your website is trustworthy and reputable. For those of you that are new around here, a backlink is when another website links to your site. Essentially, this means that another website sees the content on your site to be valuable and useful. So much so, that they are willing to send their users to your site. There are many ways to build backlinks; some of which will surprise you!

However, building backlinks will take time.

Let me say that again. Building backlinks will take time. Building quality backlinks will require intentionality and dedication. But, it will be worth it. You can do this with your podcast website by linking to your practice’s website. However, do so sparingly. If this seems too “on purpose”, Google will catch on and be very upset. So upset that your website will be put on page farther back.

Hot tip for building backlinks & podcast SEO

When an episode goes live, send your guest a link to the episode with a badge or logo they can put on their website. This can be put on your social media pages, too. The goal is for them to link back. This way, you’ll get the “credit” for the backlink.

Begin SEO Services With Us!

Thanks for checking out this blog! At Simplified, we’re here to help with all of your SEO needs! We offer many different services to help you reach your SEO goals. We offer Done For You Services where do the optimization for your site. If you’re the hands-on type, we can teach you how to do the optimization in our 12-Week Intensive Program. In addition, we offer a variety of helpful courses and ala carte services. When you’re ready to begin services with us, follow these steps:

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us.
Get to know our team of highly skilled SEO specialists.
Build your podcast SEO!

About the Author

Alyssa has been a member of the Simplified family for the past few months. 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 also 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.

February 9, 2021/0 Comments/by Alyssa Kohne

Business Tips, SEO Tips

The Importance of a Holistic SEO Approach

What is Holistic SEO

Holistic SEO is a strategy that looks at all factors of optimization, and not just one aspect of it. The focus is based on user experience, content, and technical SEO. This is such a beneficial and necessary approach to SEO because it looks at the full picture rather than one aspect. Think about it this way, when you start a business, you may begin with an idea, but the idea itself doesn’t make the vision happen. You must address the marketing side, the website, clients, and creating client experience. You must also manage people and money. It takes a full picture to get your business thriving. In the same way, SEO focuses on the whole rather than a particular part.

Important Factors to Consider with Holistic SEO?

As with everything, we will start from the beginning. Focus on the client. The client is the person we are looking for. They are the reason we are in the business. We want to help our clients, but how do we begin? Let’s go through and address various aspects of the holistic SEO approach.

User Experience and SEO (UX SEO)

Here are some other important focus points for user experience. When it comes to keyword research, there are two focus points: what language is your client searching for, and what is the intent. It’s important to know your niche well and understand why people are searching for your therapy, coaching, or consultation services.

Part of writing content is making sure we are addressing the why and the reason someone would come into your practice. Content extends past service pages and blogs. Even in the Google search, we are giving people bit size pieces of what we offer. Therefore, optimizing for meta descriptions with pain points and keywords is important. A well-written meta description and title can bring people to your site. Another part of your meta description that needs to be optimized is your meta title. One way to go about doing this is to add the title, location, and zip codes, and maybe practice name if necessary. You can get great keywords into this and increase your traffic this way. An example would be: EMDR therapy | Location and Zip | Practice Name. This varies based on what is best for your site.

It’s also important to make sure your URL matches the page. Sometimes when creating new pages on your website, you may forget to look at what the URL states. In order to optimize for this, you must optimize the slug of your website. This may not seem important, but if your website says (simplifiedseoconsulting/new-page) this isn’t appealing from a user experience standpoint.

In terms of on-page immediate user experience, we also want people to keep coming back to your site and see how your services can help them. One way is to create a memorable logo and make it evident that this is your brand. Then on the page, create quality content and making sure you have one H1 per page. As well as sections of text broken up into H2’s. Lastly, you will want to have a clear call to action which directs your clients to begin services.

Keyword Research (what are they using)

User experience is all about focusing on the user. It’s kind of like how you are greeted in a restaurant or the experience your clients have in your office. First impressions are matter. This is not simply about appeasing the Google bots, but about acknowledging how your client gets from point A to point B. First, consider keyword research and searcher language. We want to know what your clients are searching for, what is most commonly searched, and the language your clients typically use.

For example, if you’re expecting clients to type in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, it’s highly unlikely, however, it’s still a good key term to rank for. It is more likely clients are searching for EMDR. Such as what is EMDR? Does it work online?

Likewise, someone is less likely to search for dealing with trauma, and more likely to talk about feeling stuck, or experiencing recurring memories that don’t go away. Just as in therapy, you don’t always say what is really going on directly, the same principle applies as you consider what your clients are searching for to get to you. So as you build out content. If you can answer these questions in blogs, service pages, or FAQ’s, Google is going to see that you have the answer and ranking you up higher when someone is searching for this query. So listen to your current clients and let that lead you toward potentially keyword searches.

Technical SEO (broken links, slow loading, scrolling, or cluttered content)

Technical SEO is a big part of on-page optimization. In order for Google to crawl a site and increase your Google rankings, there are both on and off-page optimization elements that need to be addressed. The Google bots, who are designed to check for any changes on your page are the functions we are trying to optimize for. These bots check out your site either naturally every few weeks or by indexing using Google Search Console.

Our goal with technical SEO is to make it easier for Google to see our changes and give us credit. The better SEO factors are optimized for the more Google rankings you will see on your end. Likewise, there are some factors we need to avoid in order for Google to rank us higher because slow and cluttered websites can be penalized as well. So to all of you with old pages on your backend that are not being used or overly stuffed media galleries. This is hurting your SEO.

Some factors of technical SEO to consider:

The loading speed of your page and scrolling
The structure of your site ( Builder)
Host for your website (Domain)
Avoid any duplicate content on the site
Sitemaps & Indexing
Reduce broken links (errors)
Avoid slow loading by running audits
Load small to medium-sized photos
Remove content or pages no longer used

These are some important factors we consider when optimizing your website. If you’re experiencing slow loading speeds, consider if you have downloaded big files, or if there are some areas you can declutter your website.

Original Quality Content

Writing copy is key to reaching your ideal audience. In order to connect with your clients, content needs to speak to your ideal client. A key factor in creating quality content that will help you rank better is to make sure it is relevant. This may be intuitive, but sometimes writing content to your clients can be hard. We understand this. It can be easier to generalize your content, but be warned and steer clear of this. Listen to your clients and write about what is really going on. Most importantly, tell them what you can do to help. Put your heart into the content and this will help to reach your audience. Good content design leads your clients to understand how your approach will help them best. Which ultimately leads you to more calls and conversions.

Social Media Strategy

Working with social media isn’t something we work with specifically, however, it is a great way to round out your holistic SEO approach. Here are some key takeaways about social media and SEO. If you want to read more about adding social media to your holistic marketing approach, then read our unofficial SEO guide.

If you plan to use social media for SEO, you must engage often. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, these social media outlets have their own algorithm that requires you to be involved in order to consistently come up with search results and hashtags.
Social media on its own does not supplement SEO. These are great ways to provide external links to your website by linking your website in bios and via links. It is simply another stream of traffic to your website.
There is a certain culture that follows social media and SEO. So if you plan to engage, know your people well.

Social media on its own isn’t meant to supplement SEO. However, it is a great way to add an additional stream to your website. Check out our SEO specialist, Alyssa, who wrote two blog posts on social media which plays into holistic SEO.

Mobile Optimization

Have you ever been to a non-mobile-friendly website? These are frustrating! Typically we bounce off those websites because they are more of a hassle than helpful. Here are a few tips for making sure your website is mobile-friendly.

First, when creating your site choose a template that is consistent across platforms. Check to see how users can perform basic tasks. If you check on your site data and you notice there is low traffic to your niche service, or to once high traffic pages, check out how your mobile site is looking. Make sure your site allows for your client to do the basic tasks you intend. Such as look at service pages, access resources, any forms you have are able to be sent properly, and so on.

Here are a few helpful tools from Google that can help you become more mobile-friendly.

Run a mobile-friendly test to see where you can improve your site health
You can also refer to the mobile usability report for a more detailed picture on your site

HTTPS (security)

Website security matters. Especially now with cyber crimes and confidentiality for online therapy. As therapists who may have client portals and deal with mental health, it’s important that on contact with your services, security is clear on your site. At the top of your website, there should be a lock that indicates that you have an HTTPS domain that is secure. Often if your website SSL certificate is not on a site when clients come onto your website, then you’re likely to get a security error and this will increase the bounce rate on your site. Likewise, this helps to prevent hackers from gaining personal information from you or individuals visiting your site. Therefore it’s important to purchase an SSL certificate.

Accessibility ( easy to access)

Making a website inclusive is not always a topic technology focuses on. SEO and accessibility go hand in hand. However, as mental health professionals, it’s crucial we set examples. Here are some ways to do this:

Provide multiple ways to contact your services. By not offering multiple avenues, you may cause someone to have to disclose information they may not be ready to disclose. Such as a disability.
Look at source code, screen readers can only do certain things on a website such as H1, H2, and alt text.
Make sure widgets and plugins make sense for screen readers
Break up and organize text for people with learning disabilities and ADHD
Include summaries of texts on newsletters for neurodiverse individuals

What not to do

There are some things that don’t help holistic SEO just as traditional technical SEO. First, do not keyword stuff in the meta description, alt text, or within the copy. Some ways this is seen is by adding alt text or keywords to copy and then adding in white text that hides it. Likewise, make sure you are adding relevant keywords to your pages. Next, don’t buy backlinks. Google will penalize you and you will see negative effects in your SEO, making it more difficult to rebuild. Lastly do not page swap. This is when you get a page ranking very well, then switch out content for a page not ranking as well. This is considered unethical on Google.

Benefits and Close Thoughts

To sum up Holistic SEO, by looking at the whole picture and figuring out what to do to make sure your website is accessible, mobile-friendly, has great content, and has all the components for Google’s bots, you should have a reduced bounce rate, and receive more views. Traditional technical SEO is still necessary for the process because it helps Google find your website, helps other search engines find you and allows Google to index your content. Plus it is how online apps, web crawlers, and search bots find you.

Both holistic and traditional SEO has their benefits, but these are great places to start for a whole picture on your website that calls on both methods for a better user experience. Likewise, as SEO specialists we strive to address the whole picture rather than parts in order to make sure your SEO is sustainable and up to par.

Begin SEO Services at Simplified SEO Consulting

Holistic SEO has many components, but once well optimized, your website and clients will appreciate the effort. This is meant to help you sustain rankings and make sure your clients are taken care of from the moment they land on your page. Simplified SEO Consulting in Columbia, MO offers DFY packages, courses, and training options. Our skilled team of SEO experts is excited to work with you and answer any questions you have. To get started follow these three steps to begin ranking better on Google.

Schedule an appointment for a free 30-minute consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting
staff
Learn more about our SEO packages and training opportunities
Start optimizing your website holistically for a better user experience and SEO!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is passionate about providing SEO services for mental health professionals and therapists. Our comprehensive SEO services are included in our Done for You SEO Service packages, and our online DIY courses. If you have questions about any of our other services please feel free to reach out or if you want to get in touch with Simplified SEO to learn more, book a free SEO Consultation with our Client Success Specialist or one of our SEO specialists to decide which option is best for your business. We look forward to working with you to build your technical SEO and Holistic SEO together!

About the Author:

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Masters 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.

February 2, 2021/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

SEO Tips, Training

A Very Special “Techy” SEO Workshop: Website Speed & SEO

Believe it or not, speed plays a bigger part in SEO than you think. You can have optimized content on your page that wows anyone who sees it. But, if the page takes too long to load, they won’t see it at all! I think everyone has been guilty of impatiently clicking away from a site at one point. So today I’ll be going over how you can improve your site speed. Warning, it might get a little technical.

What if I Don’t Know Much About the “Tech” Stuff?

Have no fear! One of the perks of living in these modern times is having no shortage of resources and tools for private practice owners to improve their site. Working with a website designer is a great option. They will be able to make the changes necessary to fix some of the slower moving parts of your site. The only catch, they still need data!

Great, How Do I Get my Data?

Thankfully, Google has made it even easier with tools like PageSpeed Insights (PSI) to find this data. It’s one of the most used page speed measurement tools. PSI will quickly show you a score of how fast your site is based on different points of data it collects. All you have to do is click here, and enter your website to PSI. In return, it will give you different important pieces of data, opportunities to help load your page faster, and diagnostics about the performance of your site.

What Other Things Can I Do To Help Speed up My Site?

While I could get in the weeds on some of the more technical things within PSI, here are some of the biggest things you can do NOW to improve your site’s speed.

Site Speed Tip #1: Optimize Those Photos!

You might think I’m talking about alt text and photo titles, but there is actually a lot more that can go into optimizing these! First up is the type of file you use. When it comes to what type of file to use, we suggest you go for a .png for your logo and .jpeg files for the other photos on your site.

When it comes to the file size, smaller equals better. Try to keep your photos under 1MB as a good rule of thumb. When it comes to our photo optimization process, our team likes to download “medium” sized photos from Bigstock. This way the image is just the right size. Not too big, but still large enough so that you can make out everything in the image.

Site Speed Tip #2: Word Press Users: Pick Purposeful Plugins

Having plenty of plugins can help you to accomplish a lot of different things on your site. But, having too many can weigh down your site. When choosing your plugins, make sure that you know what they are doing for your site, and how they are helping you! It might also be a good idea to occasionally look at the back-end of your site, and turn off any that you aren’t currently using.

While we’re on the topic of plugins, one great suggestion is Autoptimize. It’s a WordPress plugin that will help with caching, which is another important (but technical) part of SEO.

Site Speed Tip #3: Squarespace Users: Check Settings and Fonts

For Squarespace users, there is actually a quick fix you can make right now! From the back-end of your site, you can go to Settings -> Advanced ->SSL. Turning this SSL option on will make sure your site is delivered more quickly to Google, and turning on the “HSTS Secure” option can also help as well!

Another quick win is making sure your fonts will play nicely with Google. Squarespace has I lovely library of web fonts, but some can make your site run slower than others. Check to make sure you are using a web safe typeface. Furthermore, it also helps to only use one or two fonts on your site at a time. The more fonts the page has to load, the longer it will take to pop up for a potential client.

Site Speed Tip #4: External Scripts Can Slow Down Your Website

External scripts like a Facebook share button or a “schedule here” icon that goes to your personal calendar can be super helpful for things from a client-facing perspective. But, these scripts can also negatively impact the speed of your site. It’s important to think about the function of these scripts, and if they’re really worth the potential decrease in speed.

Begin Optimizing Your Website With Simplified SEO Consulting

Our trained SEO specialists would love to help you improve all aspects of your site. We feel strongly about providing the best service possible. If you are rank higher on Google, follow the simple steps below to get started:

Book a free consultation,
Speak to one of our SEO specialists to find what service is the best fit for your private practice,
Start ranking better on Google and get more clients!

Other SEO Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting offers a variety of SEO services designed to meet your needs. For practice owners, we offer Done for You SEO Services. We also offer alumni packages and al la carte SEO services. Our team provides several learning opportunities with our SEO training packages including our “Top of Google” online course and 12 weeks of online video training and SEO Strategy package if you’re interested in learning how to optimize your website on your own.

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.

January 26, 2021/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

SEO Tips

How headings and subheadings can help your SEO

If our SEO specialists have optimized your pages, there’s a good chance that the formatting looks a little different than it did previously. Is this because we think our “eye for design” is superior? Of course not! But, we do know that having certain things on a website’s page can help boost SEO. One of these ‘things’ is headings and subheadings. We commonly refer to a heading as an “H1.” In addition to the types of headings and subheadings, they both serve different purposes. What’s more, headings and subheadings can significantly help boost your SEO. And, make the user experience better.

There’s a decent chance that what you read sounds like a made-up language. And, understandably so. Below are all of the big takeaways for headings and subheadings.

What is an H1?

An H1, or the top level heading, is essentially the title of the page. A H1 heading is typically towards the top of the page. This heading is typically a few words, or a phrase, for what the page is about. For example, an H1 heading for a page about helping people with depression could be “Depression Counseling.”

Google interprets the heading to be the “title” of the page. With this in mind, it’s best practice to have one H1 per page. Why does this matter? Think back to when you had to write essays in high school. What was the purpose of the title? To tell the reader what the essay was about. How many did you have? Just one. Why did you have just one? Because having multiple titles would be confusing to the reader, and they probably wouldn’t know what your essay is about.

Google would have the same experience. We want to make it clear to Google what our page is about so we show up for the right terms. The easier we make it for Google to tell, the more likely Google will rank us accordingly. In addition, we can use subheadings to show Google the other terms we want to be found for.

What is a subheading?

Subheadings are smaller headings. They are used throughout your page and clue the reader into what the section is about. Smaller headings are used much more. A helpful way to conceptualize the different headings is to continue using the example of writing an essay in high school. You have the title (H1). Next, you have your main points in the essay (H2). Then, you have your supporting paragraphs that add more specific information for your main ideas (H3). Sometimes, you have even more specific and smaller paragraphs that add certain details to your supporting paragraphs (H4). Still, you can have smaller subsections that offer supporting details for previous “even more specific and smaller paragraphs” (H5).

Headings and subheadings follow the same format. Of course, our application looks a bit different since we’re not writing an essay for our high school teacher. With this in mind, here’s an example of the headings we would use for a depression counseling page.

H1: Depression Counseling in Boulder, CO
- H2: Common Symptoms of Depression
  - (Section with common symptoms of depression)
  - H3: Common Symptoms of Depression in Teens
    - (Section listing depression symptoms seen in teens)
    - H4: How to ask your teen if they’re ready to start depression counseling
      - (Section offering suggestions for parents to have this conversation with their teen)
  - H3: Common Symptoms of Depression in Adults
    - (Section with depression symptoms commonly seen in adults)
- H2: Depression Counseling Can Help
  - (Section giving them hope that they don’t have to continue suffering from depression!)
- H2: (Insert Name of Practice)’s Approach to Depression Counseling
  - (Section describing your overall approach to depression counseling)
  - H3: Using CBT in Depression Counseling
    - (Section about how you incorporate CBT)
  - H3: Using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Depression Counseling
    - (Section about using MBCT)
- H2: Begin Depression Counseling in Boulder, CO
  - (Section explaining how they can start depression counseling at your practice)
- H2: Other Mental Health Services Offered at (Insert Name of Practice)
  - (Section listing the other services your practice offers)

Why are headings and subheadings important for SEO?

One of the biggest reasons why headings and subheadings are important is because Google pays more attention to them. Google interrupts the words in your headings and subheadings as “more important” than the rest of the words in the paragraphs on your page. So, with this in mind, we use this as an opportunity to include as many keywords with location indicators as possible. . . while ensuring that it makes sense. With the example above, we want to rank for “depression counseling.” So, it’s included in as many headings as possible. In addition, we want to rank for depression counseling in Boulder, CO. With that in mind, including that location indicator where it makes sense is helpful for building SEO.

Readability

Headings help with improving the readability of your page. Headings and subheadings break up the content on your page, so it’s not one long paragraph of information. Additionally, subheadings help the user to find the information they’re looking for. Commonly searched inquiries and frequently asked questions are both helpful to include in subheadings. A few examples of this include, “what is anxiety?”, “what if my partner doesn’t want to marriage counseling?”, and “common symptoms of postpartum depression.” Since these are commonly searched questions, your ideal clients are likely searching this, too.

Accessibility

Headings and subheadings also promote accessibility. Specifically, subheadings are beneficial for screen readers. For those who aren’t familiar, a screen reader is an extension on electronic devices that reads aloud the content on the page. So, someone who needs this accommodation can get all of the information from the page. Screen readers follow the outline of headings and subheadings. So, going in “order” is the most helpful. That means following a similar outline to the example above. This will give the reader using a screen reader the best experience. And, will ensure that the information is portrayed.

Start SEO Services with us!

We’re here to help with all of your SEO needs! We offer many different services to help you reach your SEO goals. We offer Done For You Services where do the optimization for your site. If you’re the hands-on type, we can teach you how to do the optimization in our 12-Week Intensive Program. In addition, we offer a variety of helpful courses and ala carte services. When you’re ready to begin services with us, follow these steps:

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us.
Get to know our team of highly skilled SEO specialists.
Build SEO and continue to do what you love.

About the Author

Alyssa has been a member of the Simplified family for the past few months. 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 also 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 recently co-hosted a blogging masterclass that will soon be available for purchase.

January 19, 2021/0 Comments/by Alyssa Kohne

Business Tips, Local SEO, SEO Tips

Google My Business for Online-Only Private Practices

Whether or not online practices can have a Google My Business listing is quite a controversial subject right now. Many of our clients have attempted it, only to have their listing removed when Google realizes they don’t actually have a physical location. We know Google’s guidelines on the matter are ambiguous, and we realize online-only […]

January 12, 2021/0 Comments/by Cory Moss

Local SEO, SEO Tips

Google Business Profile: Optimizing Your Profile for Therapists and Counselors in Private Practice

We all like to get the hands-on tools that are going to better help us in life. A hidden gem that some business owners do not take advantage of is a Google Business Profile. It is more than just a simple verification tool for your business to have a spot on Google. It actually has many cool features that are just waiting to be discovered. Of course, in order to get started, we must start with the basics.

Claim your Google Business Profile listing

First things first, claim your business it’s free. Let Google know you’re here and you’re proud. In order to get started, go onto GBP and set up your account, and give them your information. Google will then send you a postcard via mail. The next step is to enter your verification code from the card. And there you go, it’s quick and easy.

Once you’re set up with a Google Business Profile…

When you’re creating information for you google my business in counseling, its key to make sure your information is comprehensive and up to date. For example, when you’re inputting your website on google my business, it needs to be the same on your website and on GBP, even if there is a slight variation, google may penalize you or not recognize your business.

Google Business Profile Basics

Here is what GBP absolutely needs:

Name
Address
Phone Number
Website
Description
Category
Attributes

Not only is it important to add this information, but it’s crucial to the success of your business, especially if you’re looking to find better ways on how to rank on google for therapists. The information needs to be detailed and most importantly accurate. For example, in your description use as many of the 750 words as possible adding in keywords and information about your niche. As we’ve said previously when we discuss content for service pages and blogs, remember that Google loves content. The more the better. Essentially, the same principle applies to your GBP.

*Pro-tip: The more information you have on GBP the cheaper google my ads will be. So if you’re going the SEO/ Google ads route, Google my business is key for you.

The relationship between Google Business Profile and SEO for Mental Health Professionals

The strategy of SEO is great for websites. You do the work and clients stream your way after a few months of intensive work. However, while SEO is great for websites, there are more ways to incorporate SEO from your website into Google to come up better. Think of it this way. If I type in therapy near me and your website pops up, I am going to click on this and see what you have to offer me. However, if your website pops up, but someone else does as well with a GBP box, I am more likely to choose their therapy website over yours. So the bottom line is to make a Google my business and make sure you’re ranking for therapy/counseling near me. This will help your local SEO and allow you to begin better engaging with your audience and potential clients.

How to build a solid profile for Google Business Profile

Build Credibility Through Google Reviews?

This is kind of a controversial topic for the mental health professionals out there reading this. A great way to build credibility with Google is to get some reviews. The more reviews you have the better. However, as mental health professionals, how does one do this? Ethically, most mental health professionals cannot ask our clients for reviews due to their own codes of ethics. So if you can’t get reviews from your clients, then who? Well, the controversial answer and solution are to ask people who know you. Find people who are familiar with your body of work, and who are also trusted mental health professionals, such as colleagues or a mentor who will give you honest reviews. The key is to find someone you trust and knows you well. Likewise, if someone is always referring clients to you, they are a good choice, because they trust you.

The reason we see this as ethical is that when someone knows you and your professional image and can speak highly of you so clients know you’re credible, that is the best review you can receive ethically.

What to do when you receive reviews?

Once you are able to get some reviews. Reply within 24 hours. More responses equal to more potential customers. Google will also see you as trustworthy and rank your business higher. If you have good reviews, respond and thank them. If you have neutral reviews, you may create a happier raving fan by responding.

Unfortunately, there is the possibility of receiving bad reviews as well. If you have bad reviews, it is crucial that you respond. This is an opportunity, not a punishment. You can try to offer an opportunity for feedback or a follow up for this individual. Sometimes, though you may receive bad reviews from clients who cannot be changed. It happens. While you may not be able to change their mind, you can respond, extend a hand to resolve the issue, and then move on. Focus on your raving fans knowing you’ve done all you can.

And, of course, when responding to reviews from a client be careful not to confirm or deny they were seen at your practice. For example saying something like, “Thank you so much for the feedback” acknowledges their response without confirming they were a client.

Additionally, know there will be times when clients feel inclined to leave a review on your GBP and that’s also ok, as long as it was done ethically. No one made them and it only builds your professional image.

Add Key Blog Posts

Here it is again. Blog, blog, blog. It is so good for your SEO. Not only does it lift your website, but it can also lift it through the use of Google my business. Did you know that you could add your blog posts to your GBP page? It is just another way to funnel more SEO traffic into your website. It also presents a good opportunity for potential clients to see your expertise. All you need to do is every time you publish your blog posts, go to GBP, and add new posts. Insert a picture and a description of the blog post, along with the URL of your blog. That’s it!

Build a Beautiful Photo Gallery

Adding photos is another great way to add value to your GBP. Not only are you providing a visual representation of your services, the people, and your business, but you’re also improving your SEO. Two things to consider, to begin with, is to first add photos to your business regularly. This could be one a week or once every few weeks, but keep it consistent. Second, make sure the quality of the photos is on point. Most people don’t want to see blurry unfocused photos, so if this is not your specialty, like a coworker or hire someone.

Best practices for photos on GBP

However, it is not as simple as adding any photo you feel like adding. First, make sure it is relevant to your business. If you’re a physical therapist and you’re showing information about a fast food restaurant google will see your content as non-relevant. It is also important to make sure you’re reviewing the pictures that customers post as well. Ultimately, the pro in this is that Google will see you engaging with your customers. Which is huge for SEO and relevance. However, note that there are times customers may upload unflattering pictures to your Google Business Profile page. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about this because Google does not allow you to take them down. The only way to get around this would be to reach out to the individual to take it down. Otherwise, checking in regularly will be the best way to safeguard this from repeatedly happening.

Lastly, the best way to use photos to help your SEO is to geotag them. This just means adding in your location so Google can find you. Likewise, before you add in any photos, rename them with keywords to help google coordinate the correct clients to you. For example, if you have a photo about EMDR and you’re demonstrating the technique, make sure you’re optimizing the title for EMDR therapy, EMDR therapy near me, EMDR therapist, EMDR therapy in (insert location), and so on.

Talk about who you are and what you do

Adding in quality and a detailed description of your business can also help you rank. Add information such as your niche and your services. Likewise, add in keywords. Yes, you can add keywords into GBP that helps you rank even higher on Google and will boost your SEO. See what keywords are best searched for in your area by using keywords associated with your niche. If you’re unsure where to start, there are a few free resources such as Uber suggest and Google trends.

Keep Google my business up to date

Especially now in midst of a pandemic, it is very important to add information on how people can access your services. If you have a physical location but are providing online services. Make sure this is evident on your website and on your GPB page. Likewise, this is a great time to add such keywords as online therapy, counseling, therapist, counselor, psychologist, and so on to the list of information on your website.

Additionally, if you add or remove services, make sure you’re updating your profile accordingly.

GBP has data updates

Kind of like google analytics, you can see insights on your customers via a section on your Google Business Profile. If you want to see how often people are visiting your website or page each month, and what they are viewing. You can also view a performance report that allows you to see insights about your information.

Publish your Google Business Profile page!

You’ve finally made it! It’s time to get in front of your potential clients and begin doing what you do best. Helping those overcome the barriers that prevent them from living life to the fullest. If you have any additional questions about your Google Business Profile, let us know. If you’re an online counseling practice, no worries. We’ve got a great blog specifically about using Google Business Profile for Online only practices.

Begin SEO Services at Simplified SEO Consulting

Are you looking to see how our services blend well with Google My Business? Simplified SEO Consulting in Columbia, MO offers DFY packages, courses, training options, and alumni services. If you have any questions or your question was not answered, please reach out. Our passionate team of SEO experts would be happy to answer your questions, just reach out today! We can also discuss potential services that may work for you including List Management support to improve your Local SEO presence, especially if you’re a busy practice owner. To get started follow these three steps to begin ranking better on Google.

Schedule an appointment for a free 30-minute consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting staff
Learn more about our SEO packages and training opportunities
Start doing better keyword research and get your ideal clients

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is passionate about providing SEO services for mental health professionals and therapists. Our comprehensive SEO services are included in our Done for You SEO Service packages. Also, we offer alumni packages and al la carte SEO services. Our SEO staff provides several SEO training opportunities. including our “Top of Google” online course and 12 weeks of online video training. We also offer an SEO Strategy package to learn more about SEO and what you can do to rank better on search engines.

Get in touch with Simplified SEO to learn more, or book a free SEO Consultation with our Client Success Specialist or one of our SEO specialists to decide which option is best for your business. We look forward to working with you and your business!

About the Author:

January 5, 2021/0 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

SEO Tips

The December 2020 Google Core Algorithm Update: What it Means for You

While Google makes changes to its algorithm all the time, less frequently (usually a couple times a year) they release a more comprehensive update called a “core algorithm update.” On December 3rd, Google confirmed via Twitter that they were releasing such an update. Danica, our Director of SEO Services, and I have spoken a couple of times about this update. We’ve checked our clients’ data, read some articles. Then discussed it a bit more. But we didn’t talk much about it publicly. Why? Because there was much (yet) to say. Now that we’ve had a couple of weeks to observe the changes, I figure it’s time to share what we’ve seen so far.

The cliff notes version? We haven’t seen anything yet that will dramatically change our recommendations or approach. In fact, it seems like Google is rewarding many of the things we’ve been doing for the last couple of years even more.

However, the changes have impacted some therapists and other helping professionals websites. It looks like less than 4% of the websites we manage saw a significant drop in rankings since the release. However, the changes are still worth noting and we may emphasize a couple of things a little more in our recommendations moving forward.

Again, these are all just preliminary observations as the roll out is less than a month old. Therefore, our recommendations may shift again as we gain a better picture of the impact of Google’s changes.

A few notes about the recent algorithm changes….

“Big” Websites May Be Impacted

One interesting thing I’ve read is that the initial data is showing some big sites such as Amazon, Pinterest, CDC, etc. took a hit and saw their organic visibility decline after the December 2020 update. Since many of our clients are psychotherapy practice owners (psychologists, counselors, LCSWs, etc) I was interested in the impact on the “big dog” in our industry from an SEO standpoint: Psychology Today. It’s too early to say for sure, but anecdotally it looks like there are times where more small, private practice websites are able to rank above Psychology today.

There Are Mixed Signals for Medical Terms

I’ve seen a few different contradictory messages from things I’ve read about the impact on medical terms. Specifically we’ve heard of some “alternative medicine” sites ranking better but then also heard of medical sites decreasing in ranking. I’m not 100% sure how that’ll impact our field yet since there’s a lot of overlap in our work.

We checked on a couple of our websites that might be targeting more “medical” type terms and again, we noticed mixed results. A client who had a lot of keywords related to medical professionals such as “counseling for nurses” had our most significant drops. However, several of our clients with keywords directly related to medical terms (ex: counseling for chronic illness or CBT for chronic pain or bulimia treatment) have actually had modest improvements in their SEO since the release.

So, while there’s a lot of chatter out there about the impact of this update on medical sites, I’m not confident enough to draw any conclusion about the impact on our typical client sites just yet.

Ultimately, Good Content Still Matters

With Google’s latest algorithm update, writing the content people are truly looking for matters. Honestly, it has always mattered. Google wants to show content that people actually want to read. So, the quality of content being important seems obvious but it’s still popping up in all of the chatter. Just keep in mind that you still want to be really focused on truly writing content that speaks to the needs of your ideal clients.

Most of our SEO Suggestions Stay the Same After the Update

E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness & Trustworthiness

Since August 2018, people in the SEO world have been talking about “E-A-T” was important. The update in the Spring 2020 had us talking even more and the discussion has continued with this update. Let’s dig a little more into this…

Expertise

Google needs to see that you are an expert in your field. When all else is equal, Google will try to give preferential treatment to information by people seen as “experts” in their field. For this reason, you want to make it clear that you have the education, qualifications and training to speak about the subject you’re discussing. Luckily…our staff have always recommended you find subtle ways to communicate to both readers and Google that you are an expert. For example, we talk to clients about placing an “About the Author” type section at the bottom of your blog posts which can help demonstrate in a succinct, clear way that you have some knowledge on the topic you are discussing. This doesn’t need to be lengthy, but a quick blurb stating your credentials and that you’ve received additional training and experience related to the topic is helpful.

Authoritativeness

This is about reputation. You need to show Google that other people trust you and that you have a good reputation online. Links from other relevant, authoritative sites make a difference. Again, our staff have long talked about the importance of getting backlinks, particularly high quality backlinks, to your site.

That said, it’s worth noting that even if you don’t get a direct “follow” backlink, just being mentioned on an authoritative website appears to be helpful. Therefore, even being mentioned on an authoritative website matters! So if you answer a HARO inquiry and are quoted but have a no follow (or even no) link, it’s still helpful for SEO.

Trustworthiness

Are you honest, transparent and clear on your website? Again, we’ve often made suggestions that our clients do things that will improve their trustworthiness. For example, we’ve recommended things like writing a call to action section that show sufficient contact information. Things like this or including the “About the author section” on blogs can show transparency about who is writing the content. Accuracy also matters, so citing other trustworthy sources on your website can be helpful. We recommend the occasional, carefully chosen external link to show this.

Content, Content & Content

Every article we’ve read is clear that it’s more important to have high quality, rich content with this latest Google algorithm update! This is the single biggest thing we talk to new clients about during consultations, onboarding meetings and truly throughout the time we’re optimizing a website. Google rewards websites that have rich, meaningful content.

Now, I’m not telling you to write a bunch of useless material on your website. Don’t go write a 3,000 word blog post where you just look for a thousand different ways to say the word “eating disorder.” But do try to think deeply about what information your ideal clients are seeking. Then, make sure you have enough content on your website to truly explain those things.

Many of our clients balk at the idea of writing 500 word service pages or blog posts. But we feel like it is really important that your website has high quality content on it that helps answering the questions bringing potential clients to your site. The simple truth is that content rich websites tend to rank better on Google. Don’t worry, we’ll give you lots of tips about what content to include and walk you through every step of the way.

Headings & Subheadings

Ok, now I could write a book on this one. In fact, I have a feeling you’ll see a blog post about this in the near future… But for now, let’s just say that having clear subheadings that describe what’s in the article and make it clear when you scan the article that you provide helpful information is more important than ever. I’ve long advocated for including subheadings on a website. I truly feel like it helps the reader, because they can quickly scan the page, get a feel for the content. Then, the reader can choose which sections give the exact information they’re looking for. Google understands this. So, Google looks at subheadings to get a feel for the structure of a page. But data is now suggesting that Google is really rewarding people like our clients who are writing those clear headings.

Reference Reputable Sources

I mentioned this one above but thought it needed its own bullet point as well. It looks like with the new update, it’s helpful to have references to really reputable sources on your own site. I think helping professionals can overdo this a bit when they start including long passages from research papers. But a quick reference to statistic or finding of that research article that links to it can be helpful. It shows Google that you know who the reputable people are on this topic. For example, a couples therapist might like to the Gottman page or an EMDR therapist might link to EMDRIA. And, since Google already trusts these reputable sites, it increases Google’s confidence that the information you’re providing is accurate. And, we’ve already established Google cares about accuracy.

User experience matters!

Google really cares about the user experience. There are a lot of different things they look at related to user experience that impact SEO. For example, Google has expressed disliking intrusive popups on websites for awhile now, so I have always recommended that website popups be carefully created to avoid being considered “intrusive.”

Now, this new update seems to be showing that now Google is favoring websites without a lot of ads on them. Honestly, most of the helping professionals we work with don’t have a lot of ads on their website. But, it sounds like a significant enough component of this update I wanted to mention.

An updated website design is better for user experience

The last thing I’ve seen some buzz about this month related to user experience is suggesting that websites that clearly haven’t updated their website design in a really long time may have taken a hit with this update. I have always made the general recommendation that you want to redesign your site or at least make updates (the longer you’ve had a site the more difficult an actual redesign becomes) at least every 2-3 years. I’ve made this suggestion from a user experience standpoint. Even if we increase traffic to your site, a really outdated design will have difficulty converting potential clients. Considering Google’s goal to give user’s the best possible experience, it makes sense that outdated designs may (remember, these are all preliminary observations) impact your SEO a bit.

We May Emphasize Some Things More in Our Approach to SEO

As I’ve said, I don’t think we’ll make any major updates to our SEO strategy based on what I’ve seen so far. However, our team may begin emphasizing a few things more than we have in the past:

Social Media

Over time, having some social media presence has seemed to correlate with better search engine rankings and I briefly read that may be even more of a factor with this roll out. Our team has been playing around more with social media for awhile and will continue to look at the relationship between social media and SEO. For now, let’s suffice it to say that having some social media accounts that you post on occasionally doesn’t hurt. And “social shares” of pages on your site seem particularly valuable. So, it’s worth having social media if for no other reason than to share your most recent blog posts and other pages of your site. 🙂

Reputation Management

Google sees all aspects of and mentions of your website across the web. So, reputation management matters. For many of our clients, particularly therapists, this can be a bit tricky. In a perfect world, your website would at least have 5-10 Google reviews with an average score of 4.5 stars or higher. Furthermore, you’d respond to all of those reviews within 24 hours. But for some of our clients, there are ethical limitations to what you can do to both solicit and respond to reviews. So, we talk about this with our paying clients frequently. We look for ethical ways to look at this idea of reputation management. Because at the end of the day, I personally believe (very strongly believe) that being an ethical professional is even more important than ranking well.

Directories

We’ve already established that backlinks are important. And I’ve often talked about directories being a pretty quick and easy way to get a backlink. But directories may do even more than just get you a good backlink. They include your NAP information. In other words, they list your name, address and phone number. This gives you more credibility in Google’s eyes, because they see that your information is consistent across listings. Therefore, I recommend you make sure your directory listings (Google Maps, Facebook, Yellow Pages, Hula Frog, etc) are accurate. If you have duplicate listings or ones with incorrect information I recommend updating those.

If you’re looking for more information, I do have a recent blog post about therapist specific directories.

Interested in Doing More for Your SEO?

Do you need help really applying all of this? Are you ready to get serious about your SEO and truly start to rank on Google? Are you looking for an SEO team that keeps up to date with the latest changes to SEO strategy when Google releases an update? The Simplified SEO Consulting team takes a unique approach to Search Engine Optimization for helping professionals like therapists, psychiatrists, birth professionals and others. We try to balance your unique brand, user experience and SEO to get you truly awesome results. And we have found a core set of ranking factors to focus on that work well and have stood the test of several rounds of Google updates.

So, if you’re ready to get ranking, schedule a free consultation to talk about the options. Our most popular services are our Done for You SEO services where we ask you to provide us the content and we do the optimizing! However, we also have really affordable SEO courses for the DIY type and a 12 week “Done with You” program for those with the time and motivation to optimize their own site!

So what’s stopping you? You don’t have to stay stuck on page 10. It IS possible to reach more of the clients you love to serve and we’re happy to help you get there.

About the Author

Jessica Tappana is the founder of both Simplified SEO Consulting and Aspire Counseling. Aspire Counseling is a private pay group psychotherapy practice in Columbia, MO. Jessica believes deeply in the power of high quality therapy to change lives. And she knows SEO is what has allowed her to grow the type of practice where she can focus on doing just that: connecting clients with the therapist who has the capacity (i.e. isn’t burned out, has the time, can do the trainings) to truly help. Furthermore, she believes when the Simplified Team helps other practice owners, they’re furthering that mission.

By helping YOU get your website to the top of Google, our team gives you the ability to be more focused in the clients you accept. And when you aren’t worrying about where the next client will come from or taking on people who aren’t truly a good fit just to keep the bills paid, you’ll be free to do your very best work.

December 30, 2020/0 Comments/by Jessica

SEO Tips

SEO for Mental Health: Understanding the Three Main Components to SEO

SEO for mental health professionals is one of those things that’s kind of hard to describe. Saying “I’m an SEO Specialist!” is a lot like saying “I play sports!”. While it’s great that you’re doing playing a sport, I still have no idea what you specialize in! This same idea goes for SEO. And, this can lead to a lot of confusion if you aren’t familiar with the different components involved. So, today I’m offering SEO help for therapists by clarifying each, and talk about how each can help your site!

So, What Goes Into SEO?

When it comes to search engine optimization, there are three main components. These are Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, and Off-Page SEO. Let’s start with the technical side of things.

Technical SEO

While the name sounds like it’d be something related to Off-Page SEO, it actually doesn’t! Technical SEO involves optimizing the infrastructure of your site. This relates to anything that helps Google with “web-crawling”. Crawling is what automated programs -or bots- do when scanning your website. They periodically visit the site and check for updates or other new information.

By optimizing the technical SEO elements of your site, you can help Google by making it easier for the bot to scan the page. The easier it is for Google to scan and figure out what your website is about, the more likely it will be pushed to that #1 spot on the front page.

Some of these technical elements include:

The loading speed of your page
The structure of your site
Removing any duplicate content on the site
Sitemaps & Indexing

There are a lot of other ways to improve technical SEO. But, as search engines grow more sophisticated, so do the methods for optimizing.

On-Page SEO

This one isn’t as tricky as Technical SEO. On-page SEO involves optimizing the different aspects of a page itself. This includes pretty much everything our SEO specialists might reference during page optimization. Some of the most important parts of the page are the title, subheadings, photos, meta descriptions, and of course, the content itself.

Ensuring your pages are optimized also helps boost your ranking for many of the same reasons as technical SEO. Having an optimized page makes it easier for Google to understand what your page is about. But, it also makes for a better user experience for whoever may be reading through your site. This could arguably be even more important, since making sure users can navigate your site will lead to a better chance they will make use of your services.

Off-Page SEO

Finally, we have off-page SEO. This involves things like external links to other reputable sites, internal links connecting each of your pages, and backlinks. Having quality links will help your site gain creditability with Google. And, having links from other reputable sites will inform Google that you’re reputable as well.

This also includes marketing efforts such as your social media presence, word of mouth, and brand building. By improving your off-page SEO, you are making sure your practice is being seen by the world! You can also improve this by receiving favorable reviews, doing a guest blog on another site, or even having your own podcast.

There are many ways you can improve your off-page SEO, but the one I’d like to revisit for a second time are backlinks. These are the links connecting one website to another. And, it’s helpful to know that it is against Google’s policy to pay for backlinks. These links will often show up on spam sites. And getting caught with them can result in penalties from Google.

Some ways of getting reputable backlinks are:

Getting on a resource list for recommended mental health service providers
Being part of a directory, such as Therapy Den
HARO (Help Out A Journalist)
Guest writing an original blog post

Do I Need to Learn All Three of These Components for SEO?

Well no, but also yes. The beauty of SEO for mental health professionals is that you can practice optimizing all of these by tweaking your own site in different ways. By making changes you can better understand how to spark more movement in the Google rankings.

On the other hand, this is exactly what we at Simplified SEO were born to do! We specialize in high-quality on-page and off-page SEO for mental health professionals. Additionally, we also provide support with many aspects of technical SEO such as indexing, managing redirects, submitting sitemaps, and more.

Begin Working with an SEO Specialist

Hopefully, this crash course helped you to better understand what goes into quality SEO optimization. At Simplified SEO Consulting, we offer a variety of on-page, off-page, and technical services to help boost your SEO. We offer Done For You services as well as a 12-week training option. If you’d like to learn more, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us.

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

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

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

About The Author

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

December 22, 2020/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

SEO Tips

5 tips to build SEO during the slow season

It’s no secret that the end of the year is a slow season for the counseling world.

You’ve likely noticed that you probably have more canceled appointments than you usually do. In addition, you might notice that fewer people are reaching out for your services. If you know a thing or two about SEO, you’ll probably see that your website is receiving less traffic than it was previously. In addition, some of your rankings could be dropping. Does this mean that you’re no longer a quality clinician? No. Does this mean that investing in SEO from November to January is a waste of time and money? No. Actually, it’s quite the opposite.

This time of year is the perfect time to build SEO.

Why is this the case? Well, for a few different reasons. First, you likely have more free time this month than most of the other months of the year. This is because you’ll likely have more canceled appointments. Sometimes, even the clients that swore they would still come end up canceling their appointments. This time of year can be really busy for folks and they need something to take off their to-do list. Unfortunately, that’s often their appointment with their counselor. So, this means that you’ll have more time in your workday to focus your energy on other aspects of your practice. And, to finally get to the other tasks on your to-do list.

Second, using this time to focus on boosting your SEO will help you promote your practice’s results later on. SEO is a long-term strategy. And, it can take a few months to see the fruit of your labor. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense to focus on your SEO in the slow season so your “busy” season is even more successful! In addition, this can help you to finetune your approach in reaching your ideal clients. Overall, focusing your efforts to build SEO during this time of year will help to promote the longevity of your results.

Okay, but how do we build SEO during the slow season?

Great question! There are many different avenues that you can use if you decide to venture down this path. From our experience of optimizing therapists’ websites, we have found a few options that will likely be the best ROI for your practice. Below are 5 ways to build SEO during this season.

1. Write the blogs that you previously didn’t have time for.

I know, I know. You’ve heard this 1,000 times. But, as an additional reminder, blogging is very important for SEO. Blogging can help you to build backlinks, which essentially serves as an SEO “savings account.” Backlinks come in handy when you make big changes to your site, as these changes often result in loss of SEO. So, the more backlinks you have, the better. Ultimately, backlinks assist you to build SEO.

When you start blogging during this time, there are many different paths you can go down. One option is to finally articulate the amazing ideas you’ve kept on a sticky note or a word doc. A second option, and possibly a more timely option, is to think about your current clients. What would be helpful for them to read right now? Would it be tips on assertive communication? Could it be grounding skills that they can pull out when they need them? Or how to ask what they need from those around them? Consider what would make sense for your ideal clients. Regardless of the approach you take to this blog, aim for it to a resource. The more helpful your blog is, the more eyeballs see it.

2. Respond to HARO listings.

HARO (help a reporter out) is a website that reporters use to obtain sources for their stories. HARO is a widely used website by reporters all over the country. After you sign up, you’ll receive listings for upcoming stories for which a reporter needs a reliable source. You can respond to the inquiry (doesn’t need to be longer than 2 to 3 paragraphs) including your name, the name of your practice, and your practice’s website. It’s important to keep in mind that you should respond to these inquiries as quickly as you can. Many people use HARO, so good inquiries typically go quickly!

3. Beef up your about page.

Your practice’s about page can help build the know, like, and trust factor. This page can be a deciding factor for some of your clients if they use your services. So, you’ll want to make your about page as unique as possible. Challenge yourself to include other components aside from your credentials. Yes, they are important. And, your ideal client seeing that you’re certified in EMDR will not separate from the other EMDR therapists in your town.

In addition to your certifications and credentials, include some things about you as a human. Do you have a favorite snack? What was your favorite book growing up? What made you want to be a therapist? If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Do you have pets? (10 bonus points if you include pictures!) These tidbits will help your future clients get to know you. And, will separate you from the competition.

Don’t forget about your location!

On top of including things about your life as a human, it’s also a good idea to provide a very detailed description of your office location. Feel free to include landmarks, street names, parks, large districts (shopping, business, etc.), schools, popular restaurants and/or coffee shops. Or, anything else that will give the user a very clear image of where you are. What’s more, this is also helpful for Google. This detailed description “shows” Google where you and what other locations are near. In addition, this lets Google know the other searches you’re wanting to show up for.

4. Use free resources to do some keyword research.

Doing a little keyword research during this time could be exponentially beneficial for your practice. The purpose of keyword research is to see what your ideal clients are searching for to find a therapist. Keyword research can inform what words and verbiage you use on your site. Using the keywords that your clients are searching for = more of your ideal clients seeing your site. Overall, using the right keywords helps to build SEO. A great free tool to use is Google Trends. Google Trends works by allowing you to compare the search volume for different terms in an area. In addition, it offers suggestions of other terms that are related to the words that you’re searching for.

Here’s an example of how you can use Google Trends to build SEO

Let’s say that you’re an LMFT in Atlanta, GA and you really enjoy working with couples. Your ideal clients are couples that need counseling to work on their communication to navigate the aftermath of an affair. You also prefer to work with couples that are married as opposed to unmarried couples. On your website, you include the term “marriage therapy.” When searching “marriage therapy in Atlanta, GA” in Google Trends, you see that 0 people have searched that term from November 1st, 2020 to December 5th, 2020. Google suggests that you search “marriage counseling,” as it’s a related term. When you search “marriage counseling” in Google Trends, you see that 183 people have searched it in the same timeframe. So, with this in mind, it would make more sense to include “marriage counseling” significantly more than “marriage therapy.”

Now that you have this information, apply it to build SEO!

After you do some keyword research, apply what you learned. Switch out the terms that people don’t search for with the terms that people do search for. Often, it’s a small price to pay to build SEO and reach out to new future clients.

5. Do some “housekeeping” on your website.

This might be the least exciting suggestion that we have. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s not important! Doing “housekeeping” tasks on your site essentially means making sure that the information on your site is still accurate. In addition to SEO benefits, this also benefits the user. The user is more likely to stay on your site (and hopefully convert to becoming a client) if it is updated and accurate. This can include a lot of different areas, so here’s a quick list of some things to look out for:

Hours of operation/location are updated
You have service pages for each service you offer
Your “meet the team” page is updated
- If a clinician left, remove them from the listing; add any new clinicians
- Update any certifications anyone in the practice received
  - Awards, certificates, public speaking events, etc.
You have a footer at the bottom of each page
- This should include your location
- If you’re strictly online, it will likely read “Providing Online Therapy in (insert state name)”
Service modality
- If you’re online, in person, or a hybrid, make sure that’s clearly stated on your site

Wrapping on ways to build SEO during the slow season

Overall, there isn’t a “bad” time to build SEO. However, being intentional to build SEO during a slower season will likely result in a higher ROI. Working to build SEO during this season will help you make the most out of your “busy” season. And, will help you reach your ideal clients. Incorporating these tips can get you started on a great foot for the upcoming year!

Begin working with Simplified SEO Consulting

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us.
Get to know our team of highly skilled SEO specialists.
Build SEO and continue to do what you love.

About the Author

December 8, 2020/0 Comments/by Alyssa Kohne