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Comprehensive Guide to Earning Backlinks

In SEO, backlinks are an essential component for achieving organic growth. To help our readers understand more about the role of backlinks, we hosted a two-part webinar series. Our founder Jessica provides insightful information on the importance of backlinks, and how many should be aimed for. She also goes over techniques to build strong-quality links, and how to determine if a link is of good quality. We hope this blog offers readers an in-depth look into backlinks and their importance for SEO success.

The readers digest version of building backlinks

You’re probably thinking, “Yikes, I missed it.” Have no fear! In this blog, I’ll provide the Reader’s Digest of important takeaways and how you can apply them to your work.  Prepare yourself. This is your invitation to the SEO journey of a lifetime. “This is the (SEO journey and educational opportunity) for those who seek to find…a way to leave their (previous low SEO rankings) behind.”

What is a backlink?

A woman sits with her head on a desk holding a sign that reads, "help!' She is regretting not setting up SEO services with Simplified SEO Consulting.

Let’s break it down to get a better understanding of backlinks. In simple terms, Google describes them as links from one website to another. These links are usually related in some way, for instance, based on topics discussed, target audience, or purpose. If you’ve ever browsed the web before, chances are you’ve already encountered a backlink. Every time you click on a link to get more information, you’re essentially connecting two web pages together. The goal of a backlink is to establish trust and reliability in the source by providing additional details or perspectives. It’s like getting a recommendation from someone we know and trust – it gives us assurance that the website is trustworthy and reliable.

To make it easier to grasp, here’s an example:

Let’s say you’re looking for a good restaurant recommendation. You might ask your friend or family member who lives in the same city as you do. They can provide you with firsthand information about the best restaurants because they’ve tried them out themselves. Just like this, backlinks work to provide additional information from a trustworthy source. They give viewers assurance that the content is credible and reliable. Ultimately, backlinks are seen as a form of endorsement for the website in question.

Another way to see it is like shopping for a car online

We’re on a local car dealership’s website and find a car that we like: Subaru Forester (I’m in the market, so this is a real-life example).  We click on the image to check out the specs and price. Considering the condition, the price listed doesn’t seem appropriate.
On the page of the beloved Forester is a link to Kelly Blue Book (if you’re unfamiliar, it’s a reliable online source for pricing vehicles). So, we click the link. KBB’s website pops up, bringing us to a separate tab. KBB confirms that the listed price is accurate given the condition of the car.  
As KBB has a reputation for being a reliable source of information for cars, we accept the price. Additionally, we trust that the information we got from the car dealership is correct. Now, we don’t second guess the dealer and feel like we can trust them.

So, KBB takes notice of this.

KBB sees that the cars listed on the local dealership’s website are fair and appropriate. KBB is so pleased that they make a blog post talking about how much they trust this car dealership. Further, they encourage everyone to shop there.
At the end of the post, they provide a link to the car dealership’s website so people can easily access this dealership. Because of this post and the link provided, the local car dealership gets a flood of new shoppers, and their business booms. Overall, the dealership’s reputation is favorable “and they all live happily ever after.”
In this example, KBB linking back to the local car dealership’s website is the backlink. Backlink is the prize.  Again, this is because KBB is considered a trusted source and is widely known. Make sense?

Why are backlinks important?

Backlinks = trustworthiness = higher ranking on Google. Backlinks are important for SEO because it shows Google that the information on your website is reliable and trustworthy. Google really likes when both of these qualities are part of your website. In return, Google will rank your website higher if your website has those qualities. I often think of Google as a moral compass. If you are into Freud, think of the superego. Google likes to be helpful to its users by giving them accurate and trusted information. One way Google measures that are by how many backlinks your website has. Google sees these backlinks and thinks, “Wow, lots of other websites are linking to this person’s website. That must mean they’re a great source of information. I’m going to put this website on the first page.”

The More Backlinks, The Higher You’ll be on Google

Overall, this is why we’re all here. In the end, isn’t it the goal to have a high ranking on Google? Being on the first page of Google means that you’re visible and accessible to future clients. This can lead to more clients and becoming well-known in your professional community.
So, we should all be on the same page with our understanding of backlinks. At the very least, you should be able to identify the correct definition if prompted on a multiple-choice test. We can all agree that backlinks are helpful for SEO because it shows Google that our website is trustworthy and reliable.  Level one: complete.

How Many Backlinks Should I Have as a Health Care Professional?

keyboard, coffee, mouse, and a notebook. Learn SEO tips for private practice owners from Simplified SEO consulting

Ok, so backlinks are important. But how many do I need?
When building backlinks, it’s important to consider how many you should aim for. The truth is that the number of backlinks you need is different depending on your unique niche and market.  Some experts say that for low-competition keywords you need 0-25, and for highly competitive keywords, you need 50-100. However, this is not an exact science. For some businesses, they need to literally build thousands of backlinks!

How do I know how many I need?

The only way to really know how many backlinks you need is to look at how many backlinks your competitors have. Google search console is a must for analyzing data just like Google Analytics 4. GSC allows you to see your data without needing a paid tool.

Backlink resources and trackers.

There are various tools out there you can use to assess their backlinks. We’ve used our own data dashboard, Linkody & SEMrush all regularly in the past. But it’s also important to know that none of these tools are perfect. So, just because one of these tools says someone has 104 backlinks doesn’t mean they have exactly 104. There are probably others out there that this tool is missing because it just doesn’t have as many “bots” as Google does.
Simplified SEO Consulting has a dash of our own and we use tools like Majestic in order to track client backlinks.

Where do I even start building backlinks?

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we recommend aiming for at least 100 backlinks to start with.
You can pick up your jaw off the floor. Initially, that sounds intimating and might seem unattainable, right? 100 is a lot of backlinks. And the truth is, many of you reading this will actually need significantly more than 100. However, 100 backlinks are actually very attainable for most websites and a great place to start! If you have no clue where, to begin with, backlinks and this sounds overwhelming, our backlinking course can be a great place to start. Additionally, we have other blogs that can provide guidance, or even you can schedule a strategy session with one of our skilled specialists. 

Come Up With A Plan To Build Backlinks

While we encourage you to reach 100 backlinks, we also recognize how overwhelming that sounds. To be transparent, there is a time commitment that goes into getting backlinks. We recommend creating a plan that works for you and your practice.
A helpful tip is to start by setting SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-specific). Look at your schedule and see where you can dedicate time to building backlinks. Next, set a backlink goal for your website. For example, you can set a goal to build 1 backlink every week for a month.
Then, put your feet on the pavement and hit the ground running with backlink building!
Now, we all know what a backlink is and how many backlinks we should aim for. 100 may seem far-reaching right now, but it’s possible once you come up with a strategic plan. Level two: complete. 

How Do I Know If I Have Backlinks?

There are a few different sources you can use.  In SEO land, we recommend using Google Search Console. It’s the most reliable tool we have come across. However, it’s important to note that Google Search Console doesn’t always show your backlink quantity in real-time.  There can be a delay with backlinks accounted for on Google Search Console. This doesn’t mean that the backlink doesn’t exist, just that it takes Google a bit to take notice. If the delay feels excessive, it’s a good idea to double-check the backlink. This includes making sure the link provided to your website is active and accessible for the content you provided. If you notice that it isn’t, don’t hesitate to reach out to the source and bring it to their attention. It’s typically an easy fix for the person using your content.  

Are you still with me? Feel free to get up and stretch. We’ve covered a lot of content so far. As a refresher, we know:

  • that a backlink is a link created when one website links to a different website.
  • to aim for 100 backlinks, and it’s helpful to come up with a strategic plan that is realistic for you.
  • we can check our current backlinks through Google Search Console.
Level three: complete.

How Do I Get Backlinks?

I’m glad you asked! This is probably the burning question on everyone’s mind, aside from ‘What is a backlink.’ There are many ways you can build backlinks. A good place to start is writing blog posts that are valuable and relevant.
Consider some common themes you’ve seen within the population you serve. If your clients talk about how their anxiety is higher because of the pandemic, take that into consideration. It could be beneficial to write a blog about “helpful coping skills you can implement at home or on the go.”
From there, optimize it with the terms you’re wanting to rank for and share it on as many platforms as you have access to.  Here are a few other ways to build backlinks:

Directories for Therapists

Some common directories are therapy tribe, good therapy, network therapy, and Find a Therapist. If you are trained in a specialty, it’s worthwhile to be in that directory. A few examples are the IFS directory, DBT directory, EMDRIA directory, and HulaFrog.  In fact, we have a whole blog post specifically on therapist directories.

Resource Lists

Think of anywhere in your area that could have a resource list. Usually, anywhere large groups of people will gather. Consider schools, college campuses, churches, or gyms. Additional places that could be worthwhile are law firms, spas, salons, or psychiatrist offices.

Be a Source for Reporters & Media

Be a source of information for reporters that are covering a topic within your scope. You can do this in a few different ways. You can reach out to your local news or radio station and offer to write a monthly column. Take creative liberty with this! Contribute to a press release about a topic you are familiar with. In addition, you can respond to a prompt to help a reporter out. Note that you typically have to respond quickly to these prompts. Oftentimes, many people are looking at the same listings.

Write Guest Blog Posts

Yay, blogs! Everyone’s favorite! I know many of you aren’t jumping for joy at the recommendation of writing more blogs. However, two things can be true at the same time. You can dislike writing blogs and you can do it to boost your SEO. A great way to boost your SEO is to write a blog post for someone else’s website.

Who Should I Write A Guest Blog Post For?

This ‘someone’ could be a colleague who does similar or complementary work to you. In addition, consider writing a guest blog post for other related businesses. If you see a lot of families, consider reaching out to your local family law firm. Offering to write a guest blog post about the benefits of family therapy could be helpful to you and the law firm.

What Should My Blog Be About?

If you offer to write a guest blog post for someone else, it should be about something you are well-versed in. Additionally, it should be a blog post you haven’t posted in other places. Posting the same blog post on multiple different websites is considered duplicate content. Plot twist: Google does not like that. Overall, the content should be new, but it can be about similar topics you’ve written about previously.

Job Postings

I bet you didn’t consider this one, did you? Take into consideration where you post this job listing. If there is a college or university in your town that has a job site, give it a shot! This means you’ll have a backlink from an educational institution. Which, in return, is great for boosting SEO.

Speaking at a Community Event

If you like public speaking, this could be great for you! If public speaking isn’t your cup of tea, still consider it. You can often get a backlink from the organization that is hosting the event. Overall, this can be a great opportunity.

Sponsoring or Donating

If you have the resources available to sponsor or donate, it could be worthwhile for your SEO. Additionally, it’s also a beneficial way to become more involved and well-known in your community.

Set a Google Alert

The purpose of Google Alert is to track your online presence. Putting a Google Alert on your name and business can help you gauge how ‘present’ you are online. For more helpful tips on Google Alert, check out this article that can help you improve your business and backlink quantity.

Be a Guest on a Podcast

Nowadays, most people have a collection of podcasts they listen to. So, this is a great market to get involved with. Getting a backlink from a podcast is a great way to boost your SEO. Make sure your website is linked to the podcast’s website so people can easily find your site.
Unrelated note: did anyone else start to sing “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, or was that just me?

Quick Backlink & SEO Check In

So, you now have 4,000 different strategies to get a backlink. On top of that, we know how to check them and how many to aim for. For my list of people, I’ve got your back:
  • Directories for therapists
  • Resource lists
  • Being an informational source for reporters
  • Blog posts
    • Either write one for your website or another website
  • Job postings
  • Speaking at a community event
  • Sponsoring/donating
  • Google Alert
  • Get on a podcast
Level four: complete.

Quality of Backlinks

In the wise words of Jessica Tappana, “Not all backlinks are created equal.” There are evil forces in SEO land. Think of the Little Mermaid but with an SEO twist. Instead of Ariel wanting to be part of the human world, she wants her website to be on the first page of Google. Ursula sees this desire and capitalizes on it. Instead of making a deal to trade Ariel’s voice to be on land, Ursula offers Ariel backlinks in exchange for $50 each.
Feeling ecstatic, Ariel takes Ursula up on this offer. At first, everything is fine. She gets new clients because her website is ranking higher (this would be when she meets Prince Eric in the movie). 
However, Google realizes these backlinks are paid for and drops Ariel’s ranking. She doesn’t get any more clients (this is when she loses her legs and becomes a mermaid again).  Her dreams are shattered. Things are no longer going swimmingly for Ariel. 

Consequences of Buying Bad Backlinks

As explained in the example, paying for backlinks is not good for SEO. We see many issues with paid backlinks. Most often, the biggest issue is that it drops your website ranking so low that no one can find your website. Altogether, we do know that paying for backlinks is bad and is the evil force in SEO land. Level five: complete.

How Do I Get Rid of Bad Backlinks?

Yes, bad backlinks are a problem for your SEO. If you’re in this situation, your ears are probably burning as you read this. While this situation isn’t great, there are steps you can take to fix it!

Ask For The Link to be Removed

This is when the phrase, “closed mouths don’t get fed” comes into play. Truly, it doesn’t hurt to email the source you got the bad backlink from and ask them to remove it.

Disavowing the Backlinks

So, let’s say you ask for the link to be removed and nothing happens. The next option is to disavow the link yourself. To disavow a backlink means to remove the link, often with the use of a disavow tool. To learn more about the process of disavowing backlinks, check out this source. The source, Linkody, is a source we use frequently for our work and have great outcomes with it.

Coming to the End of our Backlink Journey

We learned a lot on our backlink journey in SEO Land. I realize that was a lot of information covered. So we’re all on the same sheet of music, here’s a reminder of what we’ve covered. We know what a backlink is and how many we should aim for. Additionally, we know how to get backlinks and how to check how many backlinks we have. We’ve also met the villain in SEO land: bad backlinks. Now, we know where bad backlinks can come from and how to get rid of them. If you find yourself wanting to learn more about backlinks, take a look at this helpful blog that takes a deeper dive into the quality of backlinks. 

Beginning SEO Services with Simplified

As much as it pains me to say this, there’s a chance that you read this post and felt like you read a bunch of gobbledygook. Perhaps you read this post (enjoying my jokes and analogies) and were intrigued with SEO land. Or, you scrolled to the bottom looking for a way to get started. Regardless, we’re here to help and we’re excited that you’re here! When you’re ready to begin your improving your SEO with our help, follow these steps:
1. Sign up for our free 7-day SEO course.
3. Get on the first page of Google!

About the Author

Alyssa Kohne is in the process of obtaining her Master’s in Social Work with a clinical concentration from the University of Missouri- Columbia. She has been doing SEO with Simplified for the last few months. Alyssa loves the unique intersection of ‘data and therapy’ that Simplified dabbles in. Recently, she participated in the two-part backlink webinar through Simplified.  She 10 10 recommends the webinar to a friend.

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Tips for Improving SEO on a Private Practice Homepage

I wanted to take a moment to talk about homepages and SEO strategy. As a client your initial inclination may be to optimize your homepage first, right? Your homepage is the glue that holds your website together and directs traffic. Naturally, it seems very important to work on right away. But, did you know that home pages are generally one of the last pages our SEO team works on during our Done-For-You or Overhaul SEO packages?

You might be wondering why? Your homepage is important, so isn’t their SEO important as well? The answer is, it is important, but there’s a better way to strategize to maximize your return on investment.

When We Work on SEO, We’re Trying to Boost Organic Search Results

therapist works on her private practice website's SEO. She wants to know more information about optimizing her homepage so she works with an SEO specialist at Simplified SEO consultingLet me begin by explaining what an organic search is and how it relates to SEO. An organic search occurs when a search engine user types in a word or phrase in google and a list of websites that rank for that term are provided. In comparison, a direct search occurs when a search engine user types in the name of your practice and finds your website. When we do SEO work we want to see your clicks, or the number of times someone visits your site from a search engine list, increase for organic searches. We do this by identifying keywords and optimizing for those terms on your service pages. So, if your ideal client is someone seeking couples therapy, we want to target our SEO efforts on boosting a page for that, and linking that page to your homepage.

Tips for Your Homepage to Maximize SEO Potential

While this information is good, you may still be concerned with your homepage, it’s content, and it’s SEO. So I want to finish this article by providing some general insight into the things we encourage our clients to include in their homepages. 

  1. Begin with a headline that finishes this sentence: I am (name) and I help (these people) overcome (this challenge) so they can (achieve this desired result).
    • The goal of this section is to make it clear to your reader who you are, who you help, what issues you treat, and instill confidence that you can help them heal.
    • This sentence should be above the fold. In other words, someone shouldn’t have to scroll down to find this sentence.
  2. Discuss your clients’ common pain points
    • For example, if you see mostly couples, you would discuss common issues many couples face using statements such as “You and your partner are arguing all the time” or “you can’t seem to connect with your partner in the way you once did.”
      • We suggest using YOU statements because people are likely to type questions into a search engine and Google (or bing) likes to provide them with answers.
  3. Showcase the services you provide organized in a logical way. 
    • Many of our clients use buttons to organize their services and direct clients to specific service groups such as individual therapy, couples therapy services, family therapy services, etc.
  4. A section that instills hope for healing
    • Tell your clients how you can help them feel better after therapy.

Things that are not necessary to include in a homepage:

  1. A welcome note
  2. Thanking them for visiting
  3. Telling them they are brave or strong.

Final SEO Tips and Suggestions for your Homepage. 

private practice owner works on his website's SEO after learning homepage tips from SImplified SEO consulting

Readability matters on your homepage.

First, please remember to consider your readability when writing your homepage. You want your clients, who are likely experiencing distress when they visit your page, to see themselves in your examples. Write simply and clearly. So, if you work with a lot of people experiencing extreme anxiety, consider rather they would understand what you’re saying at 2 am when they’re experiencing a panic attack and can’t sleep. Another suggestion, send your page to a friend or family member who IS NOT a mental health professional and ask them if they understand what you’re saying. 

Next, please use short sentences and paragraphs. Your homepage doesn’t need to be the place where you discuss everything you do in your practice. Instead, you should provide your potential clients with links to your service pages where they can read more information about the services you provide.

Be Authentic

Lastly, please be authentic to yourself and your brand. Quickly communicate who you are.  Make sure you write as you’d talk to a client (or a client’s parents). Show them that you know your stuff and can truly understand what they’re going through. Also, choose photos that represent your ideal client and your ideals.

Still Looking for More Support?

If you’d like more support to boost the SEO on your homepage, our team is happy to help. One of the best ways to do this is by writing a meta description. If you’re the do-it-yourself type please consider taking our online course to learn more about writing meta descriptions and all other aspects of SEO. If you’d like our help, contact an SEO specialist to learn more about our Done-for-You SEO packages and A La Carte SEO services. You can also book an SEO strategy call with one of our team members.

Begin Working On Your SEO with Simplified SEO Consulting

female therapist smiles at the camera after working on her private practice website's SEO and working with Simplified SEO consultingThank you for reading my blog and learning more about SEO strategy. I know all this information can be overwhelming, so if you have questions, please reach out to the Simplified SEO Consulting Staff. We would be happy to discuss SEO strategy and our services with you during a free consultation call. To begin working on your SEO and get your website to the top of Google, please follow these steps:

  1. Schedule a free 15-minute video consultation with a Simplified SEO team member
  2. Talk  to an SEO specialist and learn more about our SEO services
  3. Start optimizing your webpage and see it rank better on Google!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting offers a variety of SEO services for mental health professionals and private practice owners. We offer comprehensive SEO services in our Done for You SEO Service packages.  Also, we offer alumni packages and al la carte SEO services. If you are interested in learning SEO, we provide 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.

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

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SEO Services: Who We Serve

The truth is that our SEO practices would work well for a variety of businesses.  However, we choose to limit ourselves to optimizing websites for very service based businesses. Why? Because they’re more in our wheelhouse.  They’re issues we know a lot about….or at least enough to be able to ask questions and make sense of the answers.  And knowing the questions to ask so we get the right information is key to us getting you the best possible return on investment.

That’s an important thing to think about when choosing an SEO company.  You want people who understand your ideal client/patient/consumer.  Someone who “gets” the pain your audience is facing.  When we understand your ideal client, we can do better keyword research.  But we also do better optimizing.  We can write headings that balance using keywords with truly answering questions.  Our meta descriptions are more likely to convince people to click on your site.

In short, we want you to get the best possible return on investment when you choose us for SEO by helping you not only get to the top of Google but really reach your ideal clients!

Where we got our start as an SEO Company

I joke that Simplified SEO Consulting is the business I accidentally started.  I was already very busy running a growing counseling practice myself and still seeing a full time caseload of my own clients.  However, I’d taught myself SEO and found myself helping friends out. The next thing I knew, they were encouraging me to offer my services for a fee to other therapists.  So, I did.  And gave as much attention and care to other therapy websites as I did my own.  That meant I got results, kept learning more ways I could help and the business started growing primarily by word of mouth.

In other words, we started by helping other psychotherapy private practice owners like myself.  But even early on there were others as well. In fact, one of the first people I taught SEO to was an author creating a website to showcase a book.  Even early on there were therapists wanting to get websites ranking for their side hustles.  And I was able to quickly see that our approach to SEO works well for any health and wellness website as well as other helping type businesses.

Now, I still often speak directly to therapists, counselors, psychologists and others who offer psychotherapy services since that’s my own background.  But we can actually offer SEO Services to a wider range of small businesses.

Businesses Who May Benefit From Our SEO Services

Some of the types of clients who may really benefit from our SEO services include:

  • Psychologists, therapists & counselors
  • Psychiatrists in Private Practice
  • Chiropractors
  • Tutoring Programs, Advocates or Other Educational Supports
  • Doulas or Midwives
  • Speech Language Pathologists (SLP)
  • Physical Therapists (PT)
  • Personal TrainersSEO Tips & Tricks

Below I’m going to offer a specific tip for each of the sample businesses I mentioned above that might really benefit from our services.  But the thing is that most of the tips are pretty interchangeable.  So, you probably want to read through these categories regardless of which category you fall into.

Young man having a conversation with his therapist about depression or anxiety representing how our SEO Services help psychologists and others offering psychotherapy services.Quick Tip About SEO for Psychologists, Therapists & Counselors

Through ranking on Google, a psychotherapy practice can reach potential clients 24/7.  In general, I encourage you to target specific keywords like “trauma therapy in Atlanta, GA” first and then more general keywords like “Psychologist” or “therapist.” The most motivated clients are often looking for their specific issue and it’s easier to rank for more specific terms anyway.

Quick Tip About SEO for Psychiatrists in Private PracticePhoto of a psychiatrist or doctor speaking to a client. It represents how SEO can help psychiatrists reach more potential patients.

Psychiatrists in private practice, often who are also private pay, benefit from getting their website ranking well on Google. Clients looking for the help your services provide are often looking online. Try writing blog posts explaining various diagnoses, the benefits of a private pay psychiatrist or answering common questions.

Essentially, the goal is to provide education in addition to just explaining your services on the website. People often understand they need medication. But they may not understand the benefit of seeing you when it may cost a lot more. After all, they’ve gotten medication from other systems in the past (primary care doctor, a large agency, etc) and been left frustrated. Perhaps they’re even wondering if medication can truly help.  By writing really good content on your site that answers the questions they’re asking, you’ll rank better on Google. More importantly, you’ll convert the clients who do land on your site.

Chiropractic spine and hands logo. Represents how SEO can help a chiropractor attract more patients.Quick Tip about SEO for Chiropractors

SEO helps you reach a wide range of patients.  Consider creating a specific service page for the top few issues you see. For instance, “Chiropractic Care for Back Pain,” “Help for Migraines & Headaches” and a page for “Chiropractic Treatment for Kids.”

Quick Tip about SEO for Tutoring Photo of an anxious teen student. It represents how SEO can help education providers like tutors and advocates serve more of the students they can help.Programs, Advocates or Other Educational Supports

A big part of SEO is creating high quality content that is easy to understand. Even the most educated parent struggles to concentrate if stressed if they’re worried about a child’s education. Therefore, keep the language on your site (also called readability) very simple.

Photo of baby sleeping close to mother. Represents how our SEO Services for midwives and doulas allow them to help more new moms.Quick Tip about SEO for Birth Workers (Doulas, Midwives, Lactation Consultations & Birth Educators)

SEO for birth workers is a particular passion of Simplified SEO Consulting, because our Director of SEO Services has worked as a doula for years. She’s passionate about helping others get the visibility they need to reach more new parents looking for support throughout their child birthing and parenting journey.

One quick tip for birth workers looking to improve SEO is to create a couple of FAQ pages & related blogs. For instance, a FAQ page with questions parents ask about pregnancy, another about birth and then postpartum. Next, write a blog post that answers each question in more depth. Now, link FAQ pages to the blog posts. Parents appreciate this information and you’ll show up when they search for these questions!

Looking for SEO help as a midwife, doula, lactation consultant or birth educator?

Because this is a world Danica knows well, she’d love to chat with you personally about SEO for birth workers.  You can always book a consultation with any of our staff members, or feel free to reach out to her directly at Danica@simplifiedseoconsulting.com.  While we generally only offer copywriting to therapists, this is one other area where our copywriting services may be useful! Danica oversees copywriting for birth and postpartum related website pages several times a month.

Quick Tip about SEO for OTs & PTs Athlete with a shoulder injury working with a PT or OT. Photo represents how SEO can help occupational therapists and physical therapists reach more patients.

An important tip for occupational therapists and physical therapists looking to improve your SEO is simply this: Explain everything. I’ve found that people often confuse OTs and PT’s and that’s why I’m grouping you together here. Because I think you all can benefit from this tip. Don’t assume people understand your services or what they need. Write a lot of great content (service pages, FAQ, blog posts) that explains how you help patients in depth and you’ll naturally include the right keywords.

SLP uses emotion emoticons with a young boy.Quick Tip about SEO for SLPs

Include plenty of photos on your website.  You can use alt text, photo file names and captions to optimize the photos for keywords.  This will help with SEO. It can also help communicate to your clients what your page is about. Notice the photos on this page as an example. They’ll both help with my SEO and also help speak to each profession I’m writing about.

Quick Tip about SEO for Personal Trainers

A man does push ups on a gym floor. As a personal trainer, he recently started working with Simplified SEO Consulting to get his website ranking higher.

Think about when you first became passionate about fitness. Do you remember how intimidating it was? Learning how to track macros and how to create the perfect training split was at one time an overwhelming task. Additionally, consider how unsure your clients might feel about themselves, their abilities, or starting their fitness journey. Speak to that. Make it clear that you get it and that you’re here to support their journey. Furthermore, articulate what separates you from other personal trainers.

What types of businesses benefit from SEO?

In summary, most businesses benefit from SEO. Why? Because people look to the internet for answers to questions, things to buy and also service providers.  So, search engine optimization allows you to meet your potential clients/patients/customers where they are.

However, Simplified SEO Consulting specializes primarily in those in service based business.  Particularly those in the health and wellness industry.  Even if you’re specific profession isn’t listed above, we’d love to help.  We offer DIY online SEO courses for self motivated business owners with plenty of time, personalized 1:1 SEO Training for those looking for support learning to do SEO right from the beginning and our most popular service, our Done for You monthly SEO packages for business owners ready to outsource!

Getting Started with SEO Services

You do your best work when you have a steady stream of your ideal clients.  We’d love to help! Starting SEO Services with us is easy.  Here’s how:

  1. Schedule a 30 minute pre-consulting call
  2. Develop a plan to use our service that’s the best fit for you
  3. Get started & rank better on Google!
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4 of My Most Surprising Backlinks

Preparing for our upcoming Building Backlinks Masterclass means I’ve been thinking a lot about the various places my own backlinks have come from.  Honestly, my backlinks have come from all over but I thought it would be fun to share a few places that might be less common. You might be familiar with more common backlink opportunities such as guest blogging, news interviews and therapist directories. But the truth is there are many, many different ways to get backlinks. So, here are a few of my more “out of the box” backlinks!

Job Listings

Honestly, some of my highest quality (.edu and .gov) backlinks have come from job listings!  My undergraduate degree was from the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri.  As a graduate, I’ve always known they have an online job board for job openings that are relevant to our field.  So, when I’ve had local openings I always make sure to ask it be added to that site.  One day when I was looking at my own backlinks I realized that this thing I’ve just kind of automatically done is actually getting us great backlinks!  Recently, I realized our state (Missouri) also has a state wide job board I can post openings which gives me a .gov backlinks!

*Quick Tip: .edu and .gov backlinks are considered some of the best, because search engines assume those websites are only going to link to other high quality sites!

Podcasts

I have discovered that I love being interviewed on podcasts! I have no intention of ever starting my own because they sound like a ton of work, but it’s so much fun to just chat with someone for awhile and call it work.  The other great benefit is that podcasts always publish show notes where they can link to your website.  Best of all, their websites usually have great SEO themselves so they can be really powerful backlinks!

Many of my current or former SEO clients have managed to get interviewed on podcasts after we work together and I always love listening when they send me the link.  They’ve gotten interviewed on business building podcasts, local ones where they serve as a mental health professional or podcasts from other therapists created such as my friend Veronica’s podcast for moms.

*Quick Tip: No matter what stage of practice you are in, you can probably find a podcast to reach out to. If you haven’t been on a podcast before, just think of it as talking to a friend on the phone. They’re generally pretty casual conversations.

Comment Boards

Pretty often I’ll be looking at my Google Search Console and realize that I have a backlink to my site from somewhere I’ve never heard of.  Interestingly, when I follow those links I’ll occasionally find one of my blog posts was given as a resource in answer to a question on a comment board somewhere else on the web.  This has actually happened a couple of times with a blog post I wrote on basic sleep hygiene and another I wrote about how I like to explain leaning in to anxiety.

In other words, if you write blog posts on subjects people want to hear about they will naturally share your posts! This is how Google really likes to see your website being shared.

People often make the mistake of thinking they’re only writing blog posts for SEO. The truth is that you’ll get the best results if you write truly helpful information with the intent of helping people similar to your ideal client.

Quick Tip: If you focus on writing truly helpful blog posts, people will want to share them! I caution you against assuming blog posts are just for SEO.  They serve many other purposes as well and really great ones will get you future backlinks if they’re shared!

A Paleo Meal Prep Business

One of my favorite local businesses is Paleo meal prep shop called Back 2 Basics Cooking.  I’ve gotten to know the owner over the years and we’ve become friends.  She teaches meal prep classes for people who want to learn to prep their meals ahead of time and eat healthy all week. And the last couple years she’s also offered premade frozen paleo meals that people can purchase and heat up when they’re ready to eat.  It’s such a cool business!  But since many of her clients are interested in a healthy, wholistic lifestyle she created a “Local Resources” page and was kind enough to link to my private practice website.

Quick Tip: Think outside the box when building backlinks.  What other local businesses might have clients who could also benefit from your services?  See if they have a resource page on their website they could list you on or if you could write a guest blog post!  A friend of mine even wrote a guest blog post about travel anxiety for our local airport’s website!

Image of a city with the words" Building Backlinks Simplified SEO Consulting" to promote our upcoming Building Backlinks training for private practice owners.

Upcoming Masterclass

Are you interested in learning more ways you can build backlinks for your website?  I’m giving a very low cost ($59) two part training on Building Backlinks July 2 & 9th from 1-2:15 Central time.  I’ll go over everything you know to develop your own ethical and effective backlink building strategy.  Then, I’ll send you the replay a couple days later so you have the video to refer to later!

 

 

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Help Your Ideal Client & Boost Your SEO During COVID-19

It’s a wild time in our country right now. You may be seeing fewer clients right now. And you’re probably having to adjust to seeing clients online. It can be so stressful. 

You’re managing all of this while wondering what your ideal clients are struggling with. If you’re blogging (which we really hope you are!) you may be curious to know what people are searching for. 

Choosing SEO Keywords to Attract Your Ideal Clients

 

middle age man sits at his computer wondering what SEO keywords to use to reach his ideal clients on Google. He gets help from a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting team.

I wanted to take a moment and address this question. Oftentimes what we assume our clients are searching for, isn’t actually true. Remember, your client may not know all the clinical mental health language you do. Therefore, you really want to put on your thinking cap and think about what your clients are saying to you in your current or previous counseling sessions. What are they struggling with and what is the language they use when they talk to you. For example, it’s less likely that a client would look for something like How CBT can help with anxiety during COVID-19. It’s more likely that they would google: At home help for anxiety. 

The Effect Readability Has on Keywords and SEO

In my last blog, I talked about the importance of readability. While we’re writing we want to imagine we’re talking to our 13-year-old nephew at a barbeque about what we do. Basically, we want to remove the big technical terms and replace them with more approachable language. We do this because our clients, although they may be well educated, wouldn’t be searching google for complicated mental health language, especially if they are in crisis. This concept applies to choosing blog or service page topics as well. 

Tips for Choosing Topics to Write About

 

female therapist works in her at home office writing blogs after researching seo keywords that her ideal clients are looking for. She learns tips from members of the Simplified SEO consulting staffNow more than ever, it’s important to not only reach our ideal clients but speak to the needs of the populations we help. So many people are struggling to cope with the changes that social distancing or stay-at-home orders have caused. Their lives are not the same as they were just three or four weeks ago. So, I want you to think of 3 clients you have seen in the past month. What are their pain points? How has the Coronavirus affected their lives? For example, we know lots of people are struggling with social isolation and depression right now. But they don’t typically say “social isolation” instead they use more colloquial terms such as “cabin fever” or “stuck at home.” Go ahead and write these things down in the language that they would use to tell you about their problems. This is a great starting place for a blog topic or service page.

If you’re struggling to come up with these pain points I have an idea. Look at social media or news outlets and see what people are saying about COVID-19. When I did this I found that some of my friends were worried about their jobs, others were concerned for elderly family members, and my Mom friends were worried about their children’s education while homeschooling. Another good place to get ideas is on news shows. I watch the Today Show and their entire 2-hour show is dedicated to COVID-19 right now. 

Researching the Needs of Your Ideal Client Will Make Writing Easier

I encourage you to take the time to do this research before writing a page or a blog. Give yourself time to get some great ideas about the state of mind your ideal client is currently in. After you do this, I think you will find you have a ton of great material to write about. 

Also, if you haven’t seen it already, Jessica posted a wonderful video to our Facebook page giving even more suggestions about things to write about. In her video she shares more places you can look for ideas! To visit this Facebook live post, click here. 

Lastly, please remember that the Simplified SEO staff are always here to help you. Our goal is to help connect you with your ideal clients so more people have access to quality mental health care! We believe that this is even more important during this national emergency. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and ask questions. We would love to hear from you!

Begin SEO services and rank better on Google

 

male therapist hold an online therapy session with his ideal client. He learned how to optimize his webpage with help from a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting Team who helped him rank better on googleIf you’re interested in our SEO services, we’d love to connect with you. At Simplified SEO Consulting we have a variety of options to help get you ranking better. To begin optimizing your private practice webpage, please follow these simple steps:

  1. Book a free 15-minute video consultation with a member of the Simplified SEO Consulting team,
  2. Speak to an SEO specialist. During your free consultation call, we will answer your questions and determine which SEO package would best serve your needs.
  3. Begin optimizing your webpage and see it rank better on Google!

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is proud to offer a variety of SEO services designed for mental health professionals and private practice owners. We know you’re busy, so you may not want to optimize your own website. Therefore, we offer the Done for You SEO Service package. With this package, our team of SEO specialists will do the SEO work for you. Also, we offer alumni packages and al la carte SEO services. If you are interested in learning to do it yourself, we can help you learn the tools you need to rank better. We offer SEO training packages including our “Top of Google” online course and 12 weeks of online video training. Or, if you are just beginning your website journey (or considering a redesign), we offer an SEO Strategy package as well.

Reach out to us to ask any questions, or book a free SEO Consultation to decide which option is best for your private practice. We look forward to hearing from you!

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The First Three Things You Should do for SEO

You’ve heard that in the modern area, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be part of your marketing strategy. And you know it’s true that most of your potential clients are looking for your services online. But the truth is, it just feels overwhelming to even think about working on your own website SEO.

Most of what you read about SEO feels like it was written in a foreign language and sounds really complicated.  Sometimes, you even see conflicting advice.  With over 200 factors that Google considers when deciding how to rank a website, where should you even start?!?

SEO First Steps

I’ve talked to way too many small business owners in the helping professions who knew they needed to work on SEO but just felt overwhelmed.  So, I’m going to give you the first three steps I want you to take.  Now, these three steps alone probably won’t get you to the top of Google.  But they’ll give you what you need to work with down the road to get that first page ranking.

So, if you’re considering working on your SEO, here are the three things I recommend you start with:

Keyword Research

I highly recommend doing keyword research early on in your SEO journey.  It’s important to know what people are searching for so you target the keywords that will get you the best return on investment.  Often, as professionals the words we use to describe what our clients are going through are different than the words they might be searching for on Google. For this reason, it’s important to at least have a few specific keywords in mind you are targeting when working on your site.  Here are a couple of blog posts we’ve written that might help:

Content Strategy

Most therapist websites I look at simply don’t have enough content on their website.  Google doesn’t have the information it needs to realize it needs to rank your website for the search terms your clients are searching for.  The joke is that every time one of our SEO clients talks to me, I end up telling them to add a new service page, blog post or section of a page to their website.

So, before you even start working too much on SEO you’re probably going to want to add some content.  I recommend adding the following pages to your website:

Each of these key pages should have enough information on the page to help paint a complete picture for Google of what your site has to offer visitors.

Set up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is where you can give Google a list of every page on your website, tell Google when you’ve made changes to a page and get a TON of really important data to track your SEO.  So, setting it up early on is important.  Once Google Search Console is set up, you’ll want to make sure you submit a sitemap so Google is aware of all the content on your site.  We wrote a blog post on how to setup Google Search Console & submit a sitemap. I highly recommend following that process as early as possible when you’re working on SEO.

Does the order of these three things matter?

Not so much.  It’s just important that all three of these things happen really early in your SEO journey. These all lay the groundwork for additional search engine optimization you’ll be doing down the road.  So…they’re a starting place.  But they don’t have to go in this specific order.

What if I don’t know how to do these things?

If you’re ready to get started with these three things but aren’t sure you know how, we can help!  I created (with some help from Danica) a course that goes over everything you need to know about keyword research, what content to add to your website & how to connect your website to Google Search Console.  Actually, I did more than create a video going over each of those topics.  We also created demo videos.  So, I show you some of the keyword research tools I use and videos of us adding a website to Google & submitting a sitemap (both a WordPress & Squarespace demo). Lastly, each module comes with a text summary.

So, what’s holding you back?  

SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re here to help break it down step by step so you can get ranking better and in front of your ideal clients!

Enroll in “SEO First Steps” Now

Don’t want to mess with optimizing your own site? Or perhaps you’re past these first 3 steps?

We want to help small business owners at all phases in the SEO process!  Therefore, we have a wide range of services.  Don’t want to optimize your own site? Check out our “Done for You” services.  Already past this point and want to know what else you can do to optimize your business website? Take a look at our “Top of Search Engines” online course with 10+ hours of video that goes over a wide range of things you can do to really optimize your site!

Not sure what the next step is?

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

Book a Consult to Learn About our Services

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How to Write a “Long Enough” Blog Post

“What I really want to tell you is…”

I’m an avid listener of the Being Boss podcast, and this statement is one of the most impactful things I’ve learned over the years of learning from Emily and Kathleen.

Sometimes, the idea of writing a blog post is overwhelming or intimidating. Does anyone else feel that way? Before writing, I go back and forth about topics, (check out the post about Timely Blog Post Topics if this is your top issue!), then, I take forever to think about all the different ways I could start and structure the post. You’re calling me out with the core issue right now, aren’t you? 

Go ahead, let’s say it together: PROCRASTINATION. 

Yeah, I know. It’s not that I don’t want to do it. I want to write a blog post. Then the second-guessing creeps right in. Maybe even some imposter syndrome, depending on the topic. I want to share what’s going on in this wild brain of mine I just don’t always know how to put it into coherent, readable posts. However, once I get started, the words just flow. That’s where the above quote comes in. Start there. Quit overthinking it. If you don’t know where to start, find yourself second-guessing or just overthinking the whole thing, start typing. Start with, “What I really want to tell you is…” and just go for it.

Shows a serious young man reading on his laptop. Represents how seo consulting can support therapists in learning how long their content needs to be on their website.But, Danica, what in the world does this have to do with blog post length?

Oh, thank you! I’m so glad you asked. One of the big things we hear on consult and planning calls is that you have trouble paring down your message. You’ve got a lot to say, and just don’t think people will read the whole thing. So, is it better to write everything in one post, or to break it up into a series of posts? What is the cost/benefit analysis for SEO? Is there a perfect blog post length? Let’s break it down. 

Blog Post Length: Step #1

Ask yourself, what are you REALLY trying to say? What does your reader need to know in order to use the information you are taking the time to write about? This is where the quote above can help. Write that down. If you have at least 500 words to say about it, then you have the makings of a blog post! Congratulations. IF your thoughts can’t fill that much space, consider sharing on social media instead? There’s a time and place for both, right? 

Bonus tip: Later, you can compile some of your best, bite-sized advice into a longer blog post! What a great way to grab content you’ve already taken time to write and re-purpose it for a different audience or type of learner!

Blog Post Length: Step #2

I’m going to assume that if you have made it to this part of the post, you are clear about the fact that you have something worth sharing and have determined that a blog post is the best way to do it! Thanks for sticking with me here…this is a process. Now that you have written out your thoughts, about how long would that post end up being? Somewhere between 500-1,500 words? Excellent. That’s where I’m going to put the “optimal” stamp of approval. 1,600 words? Great. That’s fine too. This is not a bright-line rule! If you are closer to 3000 words, we should probably consider breaking that into at least two different posts, or finding another outlet for that brilliance. (Book chapter, perhaps?) A single blog post is just not going to be the best use of that wisdom. 

That said….our fearless leader Jessica is a huge fan of long blog posts.  Consider this quote from her,

“No such thing as too long of a blog post! My longest blog posts have not only ranked the best but are the ones new clients are most likely to reference! We have a couple of blog posts that people have specifically said were the reason they reached out and they’re longer posts…so, my personal opinion is longer is better.”

However, I’m going to go out on a limb and slightly disagree with her here…I think if it’s 3,000 words you’re totally ok breaking it into two posts! Now you have two 1,500 word blog posts which are both long enough to get ranking well!

Blog Post Length: Step #3

You’ve got your core genius written for this topic. You’re in that sweet spot of 500-1500(ish) words. You. Are. Awesome. 

Now, let’s make sure it’s readable! At the time of writing this post, I’m currently at 801 words. So, when all is said and done on this post, I’ll be right in that 1200-ish, safe place. That’s a LOT to read through on a quick break between clients if I don’t make it interesting. So, please take a quick glance back up the page.

3D illustration with the words "You are Here" on a map. Represents how private practice seo will help therapists and their private practices use SEO to boost their rankings and write content that is relevant to their services and clients.

See what I did at the beginning of the post? Blogging for SEO is all about readability.

Here are some reasons why:

  • Lowers bounce rates and raises your search engine rankings.
  • Improve the user experience with clear and concise writing.
  • Makes it easier for visitors to find the information they need.
  • Your content is easier to scan, which is important for readers who are in a hurry.
  • Content is more engaging due to including images, videos, and other multimedia elements.
  • Makes your content accessible to a wider audience.
  • Attracts more visitors to your website.

Readability makes you consider engagement. You’ve got pull quotes to read. A short, personal story to get semi-invested in. Interesting photos to help you make a point and break up space without distracting from your content.  An easy-to-follow, three-step framework to work through, without it feeling like work. Then, I’m going to wrap it all up, remind you how simple it was to do, and give you a clear call-to-action if you want to learn more or get some help from us with this.

Again, it doesn’t matter exactly how you write a blog post. You don’t have to use the same components I used, but for SEO, be sure to break up your text with visual elements (photos, subheadings, pull quotes, bulleted lists, etc.) and write at least 500 words. Even better if you’re making those keywords flow right in with the rest of your writing. That’s what I’m about to do, from an optimization standpoint.

Now, it’s YOUR turn to share

Young Muslim businesswomen sitting in a cafe, writing blog posts and using tablet for SEO on therapy websites. Represents how seo consulting supports private practice owners learning how to write quality content for their private practice website.Leave a comment, or connect with us to share your thoughts! 

What do you think? Does this make sense? What questions do you still have?

Do you feel like you have a better sense of how to plan your blog posts in a way that you can get the information out to your audience, with the quality and scope we know search engines are looking for? You can have the best blog post in the world, but if your ideal reader never sees it, it’s not doing you any good. That’s where we come in. 

What Can Simplified SEO Do For Your Therapy Practice or Other Small Business?

Whether you have a whole library of blog posts or are just considering sharing your wisdom with the world, we can help your information get seen. Our Done for You SEO services are a great place to start, with options ranging from optimizing 1-4 posts each month. If you’ve already had us optimize your site, consider getting a boost with an alumni blogging package! We can write them, or not, and will optimize them in a way that will not only get your posts read by more eyes but will also help get those eyes looking onto other pages around your site! This is key for turning casual readers into clients. Finally, if you’d rather just do all of this yourself, we’d love to teach you. We have online and in-person SEO training options for the DIY therapist who is ready to learn. 

Let’s Get Your Website Ranking!

To get started, apply to work with us! You can talk with me or Jessica about your goals, fears, and desired level of involvement in your blog or website. This will help us both determine where to start and how to get your site working for you! All this, without the never-ending investment of paying per click to get to the top of those search engines. We look forward to talking with you, soon!

Shows a picture of Danica Wolf, MSW. Represents how the team at Simplified SEO Consulting using SEO consulting to support private practice owners in learning how to write quality content and how to make sure it's "long enough".About the Author

Danica Wolf is an MSW who has years of experience in the mental health field herself first providing advocacy and then directing our local relationship and sexual violence prevention center.  She spent years managing the website for that center as well as for her own business as a Doula.  Since joining the Simplified SEO Consulting team, Danica has quickly become a favorite among our clients!  She loves interacting with small business owners around the world and watching their businesses grow as they start ranking well on websites!  Seriously, she loves hearing client success stories! Danica takes a very client-centered approach to optimizing, making sure that websites not only rank well on Google but truly serve the needs of clients who visit the site.  She is our Chief Operating Officer and helps ensure everything at Simplified is running as smoothly as possible for our clients!

 

Updated on 4/30/2023 by Lynsey

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Website Tips for Group Practice Owners

Maybe you’re interested in optimizing your website because you are trying to grow a group practice.

That’s actually how I first got interested in SEO. I’d filled my solo practice pretty quickly with referrals from former colleagues and friends. However, when I started bringing on 1099s, everyone calling wanted to talk to me. After all, they’d heard about what a great clinician I was.  The problem? I was full and I really wanted to fill up my 1099s so they’d be able to make a living and stick with my new group practice!

Enter: SEO.  As I optimized my group practice, people began finding Aspire Counseling online. Thus, they began calling Aspire Counseling not Jessica Tappana.  Now, it was much easier to point them in the direction of the therapist who best met their needs (specialty area, open appointment times, etc).

If you find yourself in the place where you are trying to fill a group practice, I want to give you some specific suggestions on how to structure your team page, create specific pages for each therapist, and add pages for any new specialties.

“About” Pages for Therapists

Group of therapist sitting in a counseling office discussing their private practice | SEO for therapists | SEO Consulting | Simplified SEO Consulting

I recommend every group practice has an “our team” type page. On this page, include a photo of every practitioner in your group as well as a paragraph or two about that person. I usually write this for my therapists. On this page, I do my best to capture who they are as a therapist and their personality.

I also consider keywords when describing each therapist’s specialty. Basically, you want to give a quick summary of the clinician and what they treat but also try to help the page rank for their specialty. For instance, “Diana is a very active therapist, who gives you very specific skills you can use. She regularly works with the following: military members, military families, trauma survivors, clients with PTSD, depression and clients seeking DBT.” One note about this part, if you notice that a lot of your clients are coming in seeking a specific type of treatment here is the place to list it. I find that a lot of people will come in looking for DBT and EMDR.  I don’t mention a lot of treatment modalities by name on this page, but DBT and EMDR are the two I’ll directly mention since we have so many people searching for those.

 

The founders of the group practice should not be at the top of the drop-down list of providers

As a founder of a private practice, our instinct is to put ourselves at the top of the list. I see this with a lot of group practice websites I look at. However, it’s the opposite of what I generally recommend. You want to have the clinicians who are looking to fill their caseload at the top. The people at the top tend to get more calls because people looking for services tend to go down the list and stop when they find someone who sounds like the might be a good fit. And as a group practice owner, not only are you likely full already, but you’re wanting to fill up your other clinicians caseloads so you can generate a passive income source for yourself.  So, I recommend stalling your ego for a minute and putting your name at the bottom of the list instead of the top.
 

Create individual pages for each therapist in your group practice 

On the team page, I add a button that allows visitors to click and see each therapist’s personal page. I have my therapists write these but I do give them some specific guidelines to follow.

Here’s what I ask my clinicians to have on their page:

  • At least 500 words
  • They include some keywords and topics that I suggest. I base my suggestions on what people in our area are searching for.
  • 3 photos – We often include one more professional headshot, one more casual photo of the clinician and one photo of something important to them. Many of my clinicians choose a picture of a pet for the third picture, though some have also included their own artwork or a picture of a favorite saying.

Should I pay to have individual therapist pages optimized on my group practice website?

Frequently we have clients ask if they should pay Simplified to optimize these individual pages. I go back and forth on this. I do optimize my own therapists’ pages to some extent. Especially if they have a specialty that you don’t yet rank for. Then, I can optimize the page to include alt text, subheadings, and a meta description that will be keyword heavy and help you rank better for this new specialty. However, if I had to choose, I would prioritize optimizing your service pages over these individual therapist pages. I would also prefer to optimize your home page and blogs before these pages.  Basically, if I teach you to optimize your own website at an SEO training I’ll tell you to optimize these pages last. If you’re paying us for Done for You services, you may just want to pay us to do the alt text and the meta description on the individual pages versus doing comprehensive optimization.
 

Have all your new clinicians identify their niche and create service pages

Diverse group of therapists discussing their private practice and website | SEO for private practice owners | SEO Consulting | SEO for therapists | Simplified SEO Consulting

Even if a therapist thinks that they are a “generalist,” they still should be able to describe a few specialties that they are very effective in treating. Once they do this, you can identify what types of specialty pages you need on your site.

Let’s use my own counseling website as an example. I started by creating specialty pages for the main types of counseling I enjoy doing. Then, as I added clinicians, I added on specific service pages for their specialties. Most recently, I hired a new therapist in December. She has very different specialties than anyone else at our practice. She sees clients going through life transitions, clients who have chronic illness, caregivers, and mothers. Prior to hiring her, I did zero marketing for her specific specialties. So, we worked together to create a specific service page about her niche with the goal of getting her more clients. Then, I heavily optimized these pages.  A month later, we rank #1 (above Psychology Today!) for her specialty and are getting calls to fill her caseload.

Won’t I eventually have too many service pages?

 
If it looks like you’re getting too many service pages, I have a simple suggestion. The first is to create subpages. For example, I have a PTSD tab on my website. And when you hover over it three additional subpages pop up: sexual violence, EMDR, and our PTSD E-Course. This keeps my drop-down menu from being overwhelming.
 

Strongly encourage your therapists to write blog posts that will help you rank for their specialties and increase inquiries

I get it. Getting your employees to write blog posts is sometimes like pulling teeth. But, blog posts that have been optimized and are full of keywords pertaining to their specialties will boost your website’s SEO and get more clients for your therapists. In my experience, if a therapist writes a lot of blogs, it is easier for my VA to get clients to schedule with them. She will say things like “based on the services you are looking for I think you would be a good fit for Christi because this is her specialty. In fact, she has written several blog posts on this issue. May I send them to you?” Another great example, one of my therapists wrote an awesome blog post about her fear of escalators and how exposure therapy helped. Then, I optimized it and added keywords. Now, we’ve been getting a ton of calls with people wanting to see her because they found that post.
 

Internal Links from Service PagesTherapists creating their group practice website | Group practice SEO | SEO for private practice | SEO for therapists | SEO consulting | Simplified SEO consulting

In the past, I had links from my service pages to the pages for the therapist that provides that service. However, I don’t do
that anymore. I learned this lesson the hard way! What I learned is that when a therapist leaves, I then have to go and unlink a bunch of pages, or I have accidentally forgotten to update it.
Instead,  I now link all of my service pages back to the “Our Team” page. From there, a visitor can read through each clinician’s specialties and find the person who works for them.
This is the easiest way to add necessary internal links while keeping it simple to add or remove therapists from your group practice website as they come and go. It also becomes very, very clear to Google that the our team type page is about a bunch of therapists, because so many pages on your site are linking the words “our therapists” or “the counselors at…” back to that team page.

The one time I link to an individual therapist’s page

The one exception is blog posts. And, if they’ve written a blog post I will include an about the author section. From there I will add links to the therapist’s personal page and to the relevant service page(s).

Begin optimizing your website with Simplified SEO Consulting

Ranking well as a group practice doesn’t have to be complicated. We love working with group practice owners!  As a group practice owner myself, I have a real soft spot for working with everyone from therapists just expanding into the group practice arena to owners of large, multi-site practices. If you are ready for your private practice to get to the top of Google, we would love to help!  To use any of our SEO services, please follow the simple steps below to get started:

  1. Book a free 15-minute consultation,
  2. Speak to one of our SEO specialists to find what service or package is the best fit for your private practice,
  3. Start ranking better on Google and get more clients!

Other SEO Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is pleased to offer you a variety of SEO services designed to meet your needs as a private practice owner. If you’re too busy and don’t have time to optimize your website, we offer the popular Done for You SEO Services. With this package, our team of SEO specialists will optimize your page for you. If you are the do-it-yourself type, we can help you too. We have SEO training packages designed to teach you the skills you need to get your website ranking well. A great place to start is with our “Top of Google” online course! In 2020, we’re excited to begin offering “Top of Google” 2.5 Day SEO Workshops. These intensive trainings are held in various parts of the country.  Contact us with specific questions, or book a free SEO Consultation to decide which service is best for your practice.

photo of Jessica Tappana SEO specialist and founder of Simplified SEO Consulting

About the author:

Jessica Tappana is a therapist, group practice owner & an SEO expert.  Jessica is passionate about helping therapists and their ideal clients find one another. She believes quality mental health care can change the world.  Her group practice has grown primarily through great SEO. It now has seven clinicians and one virtual assistant and she still sees around 10 individual therapy clients a week herself. However, most of her focus has shifted to helping other therapists around the world rank better on Google.

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How To Use Links and Anchor Text To Boost Your SEO

 

Today I wanted to take the time to talk to you about the ways you can use links to boost your SEO. There are a few different kinds of links that you can add to your page – internal links and external links. We will talk about both, but today I want to focus primarily on internal links. 
 

Internal vs. external links. What’s the difference?

African American woman working on SEO at her computer | SEO consulting | SEO for private practice owners | SEO for therapists | Counseling keywords | Simplified SEO Services

An internal link happens when the person viewing your page clicks on the blue underlined text on your page and it takes them to another page on your website. The key here is that the link keeps the person on your site. An external link is the opposite. It takes the person viewing your page off your website and onto a different site.
For example, if a potential client is reading my blog about anxiety treatment and they click on the word “anxiety,” it takes them to my therapy for anxiety page. That’s an internal link. Or, they were reading a blog about couples therapy and they clicked on the word “Gottman trained” and it took them to the Gottman website. That’s an external link. 
 

How to use links to boost your SEO

Let’s talk about the things you need to do to make the links beneficial in helping you rank higher on Google. 
 
The first thing you want to do is make sure you use good anchor text. Google assumes that your anchor text is the summary of what the page is about. If the anchor text is “feeling stressed” and it links to your Counseling for Anxiety page, then Google would assume that your service page is about feeling stressed. Doing this, it will help you rank better for the words “feeling stressed.” But, if the anchor text says “counseling for anxiety” and it goes to the anxiety service page, it is actually more helpful. Because this anchor text would help you rank better for counseling for anxiety. Which is probably a keyword you’re targeting and what people are searching for in your area. You want your anchor text to use keywords! We often see people use the phrase “click here” as anchor text. But, that really doesn’t help as much because it isn’t using keywords and doesn’t tell Google what your page is about. 
 

 Link to your home page

Serious therapist working on SEO on his laptop | SEO services | SEO for therapists | SEO consulting | Simplified SEO ConsultingOne very important internal link everyone should have on pretty much every page of their website is a link back to the home page. Let’s use my private practice: Aspire Counseling in Columbia, MO as an example. On any page of my website other than my home page, I could say “to begin seeing a therapist at Aspire Counseling you can call us at” and leave our phone number, highlighting Aspire Counseling as my anchor text to the home page. But, I don’t want to do that. Like most practices, I already rank for the name of my practice. 

 
Instead, the text that I want to highlight is going to be something along the lines of “Columbia, MO counseling practice” or “therapy clinic in Columbia, MO.” So, to re-write my example I would say something like “At my Columbia, MO counseling practice, you can receive depression counseling.” The part that would be linked back to my home page would be “Columbia, MO counseling practice.” I chose this text so that what I’m linking contains the keyword “counseling practice” which is something I want to rank for. 
 
Remember, most people rank for the name of their practice so try using other keywords as anchor text.
 

How the Simplified SEO Consulting team uses anchor texts and internal links:

A part of our Done for You package includes our staff creating internal links to and from the page we are working on. At the bottom of the page, there will be a “Call to Action” section. We will say something like “at my Atlanta area counseling office” and we will highlight that text and make it the anchor text for your home page. We do this on purpose, because that tells Google that your home page is about an Atlanta area counseling office.
 

Internal links need to open in the same tab or window

One thing that is really important to check is that internal links go to a page on your site and they don’t open in a new window/tab. So, that means that if I am on my page and someone clicks the words “Mid-Missouri practice” it redirects them to the home page. I don’t want it opening up a new window. The reason here is user experience.  It would be incredibly annoying if every time you tried to go to another page on the same website it opened up a new tab! The good news is that this is the “default” on most platforms.
 
In fact, if you look at the bottom of this blog post, you’ll see some examples of how we use internal links even within our own site.  ?
 

External links need to open in a new tab

We recommend external links open in a new window or tab. This allows someone to visit another site, but they also stay on your site in the previous tab. The hope is that they will then return to your site at some point. There’s a feature on WordPress, SquareSpace, Wix, and Weebly that you can push that says “open link in a new window” or something to that effect. We only enable this feature if we are using an external link and sending them off your site. 
 
We use external links to give your site just a little more credibility with Google. So, if you do Gottman and mention it on your page, you want to have an external link to their website. However, you don’t want to send them away from your page. Therefore, this link needs to open in a new tab or window. This is also important because Google looks at the “bounce rate” and knows when people leave your site. 
 
Current clients: Our SEO specialists would be happy to give you a list of credible external links to use on your pages if you are interested in creating some external links. 
 

Begin optimizing your website with Simplified SEO Consulting

Private practice owner getting to the top of Google searches | SEO for private practice | SEO for therapists | SEO consulting | Simplified SEO Consulting

I hope you have learned some useful information about internal and external links. They are a great tool for boosting your SEO. If you are ready to get to the top of Google, we would love to help!  To use any of our SEO services, please follow the simple steps below to get started:

  1. Book a free consultation with Simplified SEO Consulting,
  2. Speak to one of our SEO specialists to find what service or package is the best fit for your private practice,
  3. Start ranking better on Google and get more clients!

Other SEO Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is proud to offer you a variety of SEO services designed to meet your needs. For busy practice owners who don’t have time to optimize their websites, we offer the popular Done for You SEO Services. With this package, our team of SEO specialists will optimize your page for you. If you are the do-it-yourself type, we can help you as well with our SEO training packages. Our trainings are designed to teach you the skills you need to get your website ranking well. A great place to start is with our “Top of Google” online course!

photo of Jessica Tappana SEO specialist and founder of Simplified SEO Consulting

About the author:

Jessica Tappana is a therapist, group practice owner & an SEO expert.  Jessica is passionate about helping therapists and their ideal clients find one another. She believes quality mental health care can change the world.  Her group practice has grown primarily through great SEO. It now has seven clinicians and one virtual assistant while she still sees 7-10 individual therapy clients a week. However, most of her focus has shifted to helping other therapists around the world rank better on Google. 

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Writing Blog Posts to Serve Your Clients and Boost Your SEO

We’ve all been there, sitting at our computer trying to get the motivation to write that blog post that has been on your to-do list for weeks. But, an idea for what to write about just isn’t coming to mind.
Lately, I have had a lot of conversations with our clients about blogging. So, today I want to explain the purpose of a blog and how it helps your SEO. Additionally, I will give you some tips on how to choose a topic to write about.

What is the purpose of a blog post?

Many people think that blogging is simply another marketing tool to boost your SEO. This is true. But, thinking about blogs this way makes it really hard to motivate yourself to sit down and write. So, turn that thought around and think about it like this: blogging WILL help me get to the top of Google. AND it will help me help more people and share some good information.
 
Adding new content to your website on a regular basis is critical to your SEO rankings. Adding new content tells Google what to rank you for. Additionally, it tells Google that you’re still paying attention to your site. Therefore, they will move you up in the rankings. Ultimately, blogging serves a very important purpose.

Blogging is another way you can serve your clients.

smiling male therapist writing a blog post for his counseling clinic | SEO for therapists | Simplified SEO Consulting

As I mentioned above, blogging increases the likelihood that Google will rank you higher. So, you are getting the word out about the services you provide to potential clients looking for help.
 
But, you can also help your current clients, former clients, and the clients who rarely come into your office by blogging.
 
For example, it isn’t uncommon that I will give a current client the assignment of reading a blog that I wrote. Because the content in there is relevant to what they are working on in therapy. So, I will email them the blog post and then we will discuss it the next time I see them.
 
Frequently, I post about the blogs I have written on the Facebook page for my private practice. Many of my former clients or the clients that I have only seen once in-person follow me here. I have had clients reach out to me after seeing the post and reading the blog to ask for additional help.

Choosing a topic for blog posts

Using our Done for you services

For our clients taking advantage of our larger Done for You packages, your SEO specialist will send you a list of 5-7 blog post ideas at the end of every month. We review your data and your keyword rankings on Brighter Vision. Then, we generate a list based on keywords we think you need to target. For example, this month I noticed that a client’s keywords for anxiety were dropping. So, the ideas I sent largely focused on anxiety-related topics.

If you are not utilizing this package here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Look at is what keywords you want to rank well for but aren’t.

Private practice owner thinking about what to write a blog post about | SEO for private practice owners | Simplified SEO Consulting

Maybe these rankings have dropped or were never high to begin with. You can find all this information in your Brighter Visions data where we track your keywords. So, say you notice that the keyword “anxiety treatment in Los Angeles” has fallen from tenth place to twenty-second place on Brighter Vision. You may want to consider writing a blog post on what to expect with CBT anxiety therapy. Targeting anxiety and anxiety treatment in this blog is critical and will help you rank well.

 
This is why it is so important to track your data. If one keyword drops, it is pretty easy to target it in a blog post and start ranking better for that keyword.

2. Have you ever noticed that you have the same conversation with a couple of clients in your sessions? That’s a pretty good indicator that you should write a blog post about this topic.

If this is happening to you, sit down after a session and write some notes on what you are saying to your clients. That way, your words will sound authentic. And, you will be able to quickly write a blog post that will be helpful to your ideal client.

For example, you notice that you have several clients come to you with fears about social interactions during the holiday season. So you may want to consider writing a post on how to handle social anxiety during the holiday season. Or a post on self-care during the busy holiday season.

3. Check out your intake paperwork.

Why are your clients coming in? If several clients come in with concerns about a certain symptom and you do not have a blog post about it, write one. For example, several people come in saying that they have trouble falling asleep. So, I would write a blog post on the importance of sleep hygiene.
 

4. If you have read a good book, saw a great quote on social media, or read an article and want to share it, consider writing a blog post about it.

One thing Google notices is duplicate content. So, switching it up is important. Describe your reaction to the content and what advice you’d add.
If you’re writing a blog post that you feel good about and has at least 500 words, then you are most likely getting some keywords in it. As long as you do that it is pretty easy to go back in and optimize it yourself or have our SEO specialists do it for you.

Begin optimizing your website with Simplified SEO Consulting

Therapist blogging for her private practice | Online SEO services | Simplified SEO Consulting

I hope you found this information on blogging useful. It is something we feel strongly about at Simplified SEO Consulting. If you are ready to get to the top of Google, follow the simple steps below to get started:

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

Other SEO Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting is proud to offer you a variety of SEO services designed to meet your needs. For busy practice owners, we offer the popular Done for You SEO Services. With this package, our team of SEO specialists will optimize your page for you. But, if you are the do-it-yourself type we offer SEO training packages. These are designed to teach you the skills you need to get your website ranking well. We also offer the opportunity for you to learn SEO in a weekend at one of our intensive training sessions for private practice owners. This is for clients who want to learn how to do SEO themselves. Additionally, we offer Simplified SEO alumni packages and maintenance packages to keep you ranking well. And we offer à la carte SEO services for those of you who just need a little guidance.  Contact us with specific questions or book a free SEO Consultation to decide which service is best for your practice.

photo of Jessica Tappana SEO specialist and founder of Simplified SEO Consulting

About the author:

Jessica Tappana is a therapist, group practice owner & an SEO expert.  Jessica is passionate about helping therapists and their ideal clients find one another. She believes quality mental health care can change the world.  Her group practice has grown primarily through great SEO and now has seven clinicians and one virtual assistant and she still sees around 10 individual therapy clients a week herself. However, most of her focus has shifted to helping other therapists around the world get in front of their ideal clients on Google.

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