Part 2 of the Blogging Webinar Series: Why does blog content have to be original?

Blogging. Round 2.

Welcome back! This week, we’ll be discussing the second factor that is important for blogging. If you read the previous blog in this series, you know that blogging is important for SEO. In addition, you know that how often you blog depends on your goals. Understanding both of these components is imperative to ensure the best ROI. So, now that our bases are covered, on to the next piece of our blogging puzzle: content. In part 2 of this blog series, we’ll be looking a little bit closer at the role content plays in blogging for SEO. When focusing on content, there are two components to consider: how helpful and original the content is.

Helpful Content

The content in your blog is incredibly important. Thinking about what your ideal clients will read can help gauge what you incorporate in your blog. The more interesting your content is, the more likely readers will stick around. And, come back for more. In addition to a blog being interesting, your blog should be helpful for your ideal clients. Helpful as in offering some kind of resource to navigate issues or situations that many of your clients are currently navigating. For example, “8 tips to navigate anxiety to get through the rest of the semester” if you work with college students. If college students are your ideal clients, it’s easy to see that dealing with anxiety might be a common experience among your clients. So, this would likely be a blog that is helpful for them.

Why does this matter? Because reaching your ideal clients in as many different ways as possible is the best way to make sure that they “see” you. In addition, this is a good way to show your ideal client how valuable you are as a resource. If they can see that you know your stuff and can help them out, they’re more likely to reach out to you for your services.

Original Content

Content that is original is imperative for SEO. What does “original” content mean? In SEO land, “original” content is content that is not duplicate. This means that this content is not on another site or even another page of your own site. So, this means that you can’t copy a great blog you read on Pinterest and post on our site. Essentially, this is like “cheating.” Except you’re probably going to get caught. Google will notice two pages with the same content and won’t know which is better to rank. So, it will likely hurt the rankings of both pages. Therefore, having duplicate content on your site will likely drop your rankings.

This is an important factor to keep in mind when someone outside of your practice is creating your blog content, because you want to make sure they aren’t giving you a blog post that’s been posted on another website somewhere else.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t post multiple blogs about a similar topic. This also doesn’t mean that you can’t create a blog post series. However, this means that the content needs to be different from the other content on your site. . . and other sites. Most of the time, Google catches this and essentially “flags” your website. Overall, this often means that your rankings can drop. And, unfortunately, fewer people will see you.

Wrapping up Part 2 for Blogging

So, there you have it! A short and sweet explanation about the role that content plays in blogging. Overall, the content that’s included in your blog is extremely important for SEO. And, it’s extremely important to your ideal clients. Content that is relevant and helpful to your ideal clients is paramount when creating these blogs. In addition to helpful content, the content needs to be original. Having duplicate content can lead to a significant drop in rankings. So, this means that fewer people will see your site.

Because this was a quick overview, you probably have more questions. How do you know what topics are helpful to your clients? What can you do to make sure that your content isn’t duplicated? Is there some way to check what would make sense to write about? Is there an SEO company that’s hosting a masterclass about all things related to blogging?? Yes!

These Questions Can Be Answered In Our Upcoming Masterclass!

We’re excited to announce that we’re hosting a two-part masterclass on December 4th and December 11th! In this two-part masterclass series, we’ll discuss all things blogging and SEO. In addition, we’ll give you some practical tips to kickstart your blog. I will be the cohost, along with Jessica Tappana. Click here to register for our webinar. We look forward to seeing you there!

Other Services With Simplified SEO Consulting

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we’re pretty resourceful people. And,we can help you with all things SEO! We offer Done For You Services where do the optimization. Or, 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.
Reach your SEO goals with blogging!

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 intersection of mental health and technology. In addition, Alyssa has a growing interest in using social media to grow a practice, the importance of live feed, and building backlinks. She wrote part 1 for this blogging series that covers more SEO blogging basics. Alyssa will be cohosting the blogging webinar and would love to see you there!

December 2, 2020/0 Comments/by Alyssa Kohne

Keyword Research, SEO Basics, SEO Tips

Why Keywords Research is the Foundation of SEO

As we know, stories, papers, and treatments come from a great foundation. There is an art to telling a great story and presenting information. Your approach doesn’t need to be the same as others, but there is a similar formula. If you want to convince someone that a treatment modality works, the base of your argument needs to be well-researched. Likewise, if I am trying to tell a creative story, I need to set the storyline up well. Ultimately, a successful delivery begins with a firm foundation. Otherwise, you have no hope of convincing your audience you’re knowledgeable or that you’re someone credible to listen to. And we know you’re intelligent mental health professionals!

So why is this so important to keyword research? Well, Google is essentially the buffer between you and your ideal client. If Google’s algorithm isn’t impressed by your foundation, then there is no way it will reach your audience. So where do we begin to connect with Google so you can reach your ideal client? Let’s talk about some strategies involved in keyword research.

Optimizing Keywords with Locations

Ideally, when page optimization occurs we want to optimize with the intention of adding in long tail keywords. What this means is that a keyword with 3 or more words is considered a long tail. We may add a keyword phrase such as addressing mental health or anxiety treatment in Tulsa, OK. When you add a location indicator, Google is more likely to find you. Location indicators are better for people to find you on Google than keywords without locations and short tail phrases. So in the case of long vs. short, anxiety treatment in Tulsa will rank faster, than just anxiety treatment. If you ever wonder why your SEO specialist takes this approach to your subheadings and copy, this is a strategy to help you rank better. Once you are ranking very well in your area, then your SEO specialist will branch out to more short-tail keywords because you will likely rank for them better after the initial long-tail optimization.

Optimizing for Keywords in Common Searches

When your SEO specialist meets with you, their goal is to draw out common pain points your clients are talking about. What do you commonly hear in your practice and what are the questions you commonly answer? We are trying to see what your ideal client may be looking for. Therefore, when we do our initial keyword research, it’s based on what a client would search for and not what a clinician would be looking for. It’s key to keep in mind that what we think and what a client thinks, especially with the 2 am trauma brain, are not the same. In other words “speak the same language as your ideal client.” Therefore, we encourage you as we talk strategy to really think back to what is happening in your sessions and bring this feedback into your SEO planning calls. Likewise, if you’re doing SEO training on your own with us, take some time to brainstorm common pain points and questions for your own keyword research.

What You Need to Know About Researching Keywords

So as a client or a future client, what do you need to know when it comes to keywords? First, know that when you work with us we will add keywords to alt text, copy, meta descriptions, and subheadings. It’s part of our strategy and it’s meant to help you rank. We understand that there is a dance between good SEO and addressing your clients authentically. If you’re someone who doesn’t like your copy being messed with, then let your specialist know and you together, can find a healthy balance so you can keep your voice and get proper ROI. Ultimately, know you’re in good hands with us and we will get you a ranking.

What Research for Keywords is not

A tip for the future is to remember that keyword research is not about ranking for the most technical terms. We want you to rank for specializations such as perinatal mental health and DBT. These are important components of what makes you a good and effective therapist or counselor, however, you do need to be mindful of your audience. If you’re working with high-functioning medical professionals, then this may be perfectly fine to reach your ideal audience.

However, we commonly talk about the 2 am stress brain. If a parent is looking for therapy for teens and you’re talking about the technical side of CBT, then this isn’t going to turn into a client most likely. Ultimately, we want to find a healthy balance between what keywords are important for you to rank for. Plus we want to find keywords that are what your client is actually searching for. Now that you know the importance of keyword research, check out Jessica’s blog post on where you put keywords.

Keyword Pro tip:

You can use Google Trends if you want to do your own research for your blogs before we go into our optimization. Likewise, using the Google search engine for a topic you want to provide an answer for is very useful.

Begin SEO Services at Simplified SEO Consulting

Whether you’re trying SEO on your own or using our Done for You services, we also offer packages for SEO alumni as you want to do maintenance for your site. 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 question and talk about what services might work well for your business. Follow these three steps to begin ranking better on Google.

Apply to work with us and schedule a free 45-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 helping 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.

Contact Simplified SEO to learn more, or book a free SEO Consultation to decide which option is best for your business. We hope to hear from you soon!

About the Author:

Jasmine is the SEO Training Coordinator and offers free consultations for Simplified’s SEO Consulting on our services. Jasmine is a Clinical Mental Health Counselor and recently earned her degree from Northwestern University. She works to help people with a strategy with national rankings, eating disorder specialties, trauma, sports psychology, postpartum/pregnancy/parenting, high achievers, and much more. Schedule a consult soon!

December 1, 2020/2 Comments/by Jasmine Jaquess

Content, SEO Tips

What to say on your website: Counseling, Therapy or Psychotherapy

Which word should I use, and does it even matter?

This is a question that runs through my head on an almost daily basis. Searching for the best keywords for mental health practices can be challenging at first. When it comes to these three terms, I often find myself using them interchangeably. However, I know practitioners can have a preference over one or the other, and have a good reason behind it.

The super-short answer is, yes, it does indeed matter. However, understanding WHY choosing the right keyword matters is another important part of the process. Today, I’m going to be covering how to tell which specific word will give you the most bang for your SEO buck. So, let’s get into it!

What Are People Searching For?

When it comes to what specific terms people search for on Google, we’ve found that it’s kind of all over the place. You could rank really well for a simple phrase like “couples counseling” in your city, but the same search for “couples therapy” could be getting zero results. This is because people of different regions, cities, or even counties will be searching for one of these words, but probably not both. While there can be some similarities in what people search based on geographic location, it can be hard to guess which word to go with.

Soda vs. Pop: Why one-word matters

I like to compare the difference in search patterns to the age-old question of “Do you call it soda, or pop?” While the two different terms generally refer to the same thing, some people in one part of the country might be more likely to use the word “soda” instead of “pop.” This also rings true for what I call The Big Three.

The three words that private practice owners use most often, and what the title of this blog happens to be, are “counseling”, “therapy” “, and “psychotherapy”. While it’s great to know that these are the three words people like to choose between, it’s also super important to know how to tell which word is being searched the most in your area.

Should I center around counseling keywords, therapy keywords, or psychotherapy?

Since search trends are different for just about every city in the US, it can be worth it to use a keyword search tool. These allow you to type in the keyword of your choice and will give you the stats on how many people are searching for it. They can also show you how difficult it is to rank for the word, current trends, and other really helpful features! Some free ones are Google Trends, Ubersuggest, and Goole Search Console. However, if you’d like a paid service, I recommend something like KWFinder.com or SEMRush. There are numerous alternatives that have their own set of features, so it may take some time to find the one you like best.

But, no matter what tool you use, the most important thing is having the ability to hone in on the specific locations you’re wanting to rank for. By seeing how much search traffic the term is generating, you’ll be able to know which term is most popular in your area. With this info in mind, you can make better-informed decisions on what the best keywords are to focus on for your site.

So, keyword research tools will give me the best keywords for mental health

The super-short answer to this question is no, you are! While knowing which keywords are most searched for in your area is important, going with language that stays true to your desired brand is always a top priority. While something may look good when looking solely at the numbers, it may not go well with your brand, and we here at Simplified SEO Consulting get that. That’s why our team of SEO specialists always tries to keep clients informed on the decisions we make on websites.

Closing Thoughts

While understanding the best keywords for mental health services is important, knowing where these terms are most popular is the other half the battle. I could go on about the ways we like to do keyword research at Simplified, but that is another topic for another time. For this topic, know that choosing which keyword to use does matter in terms of SEO. However, it is up to you to decide what you think is best for you and your brand! Optimization can be tricky at times, but having a site you love is most important!

Begin Working With an SEO Specialist

I hope this was informative enough to get you started on some of your keyword research. But, if you don’t have the time or interest, our SEO specialists would love to take this off your plate. At Simplified SEO Consulting, we offer a variety of 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.

November 24, 2020/0 Comments/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

SEO Tips

Part 1 of the Blogging Webinar Series: Do I have to blog for SEO?

Blogging.

There are some strong feelings associated with blogging. For some, it’s the bane of their existence. For others, they seize the opportunity to spew all of their wisdom into a digital format. Blogging can be done in many different ways. And, as of late, we’ve seen folks get pretty creative with blogs. Some people have started incorporating video in their blogging, often referred to as “vlogging.” In addition, others have started blog post series about a topic that’s relevant to their work.

Aside from the style of blogging, blogging looks different for each discipline. In the land of mental health services, we often focus on incorporating content that’s relevant and helpful to our ideal clients. Sometimes our blogs offer tips about navigating anxiety. Other times, our blogs help instill courage in our clients to fully embrace their identity. And, to live fearlessly.

Now that all of the fun and feel-good stuff is out of the way, let’s get down to business. You’re here for a reason. I know the burning question that’s been keeping you awake at night.

Do I have to blog for SEO?

Ah, the million-dollar question. You can get a variety of different answers depending on who you ask. The short answer? Yes. The longer answer? Still yes. In terms of building SEO, “blog posts are a quintessential component of maintaining the longevity of results.”

So, what does that mean in human (non-SEO) language?

For the folks that aren’t engulfed in the underworld of SEO land, this means that blog posts help your website rank towards the top of Google. This is good. This means that more people are seeing your website because you’re on the first page. As a search engine, Google strives to provide the user with relevant, reputable, and fresh content. When ranking websites, Google takes this into consideration, along with over 200 other factors. A way to show Google that your website is relevant, reputable, and fresh is by posting new content on it fairly often. This “new content” can be original blog posts that you create for your ideal clients.

How Often Do I Need To Blog?

The second million-dollar question! The short answer? Consistently. The long answer? Consistently and it depends. Blogging consistently helps to show Google that you’re staying ‘hip’ with the times. And, Google loves that. Consistently blogging looks different for each person. For some people, this means they post an original and stellar blog every Monday. For others, the second and the fourth week of the month are when they create original blogs.

The longer answer, how often you blog depends on the SEO goals for your practice. There’s no magic number for how many blogs you should create. And, for each practice, it will be different.

New Practices

Let’s say your practice is brand new. It’s so new that it doesn’t show up when you search the name. In this case, heavily focusing on blogging might not be the best use of time. Yes, you should still be consistent. But, you should focus your efforts on optimizing services pages. Service pages are important because they lay the groundwork for SEO.

Established Practices

What if your practice is established, but you want to boost your SEO so you’re on the first page? With this goal, you can expect to blog on a weekly basis. In addition to optimizing the service pages, too. How often you create original blogs depends on how competitive your specialty is. If you’re an anxiety therapist on the coast, you probably should be blogging about twice a week. But, if you’re a sex therapist in the midwest, blogging once a week will likely boost your rankings. Again, a large factor that contributes to this is how competitive your area is.

Maintenance Mode

What if you’re satisfied with your rankings and just want to maintain your SEO? In this case, your SEO is likely established and relatively consistent. To maintain your rankings, blogging twice a month can be the “sweet spot” for your practice. Again, your specialty and geographic area decides if blogging once or twice a month is a better fit. A suggestion for practices in the maintenance stage is to create original blog series. Original blog post series typically have blogs that build off of each other. In a blog post series, you can use suspense and curiosity to your benefit. Use phrases like, “next week, we’ll take a closer look at (super cool topic that you wrote an entire blog post about).”

But is it possible to rank without blogging?

Absolutely it’s possible. It’s just harder. If you want to rank well on Google as part of the marketing strategy for your health and wellness business and absolutely 110% are committed to NOT blogging you still can. It just might be a harder path.

Blogging is the “easier” path to great ranking so to speak. So, we recommend blogging to all of our clients. Whether that’s you writing blog posts, encouraging other professionals in your group practice to write a blog post, having an intern do a little writing or even outsourcing your blog posts. We truly do think it’s worth it.

But if you REALLY aren’t going to blog, please make sure you’re focusing your energy on other factors. For example, make sure you have some superbly optimized service pages. Then, work heavily on backlink building.

Some Burning Questions

So, we covered quite a bit this week! We all know that blogging is very important for SEO. We also know that consistency is key in terms of creating original blog posts. In addition, we know that how many original blogs you should post depends on your SEO goals. However, you might be curious about a few other things. I frequently specify “original blog posts.” I also reference that these blog posts should be “relevant” to your practice or your ideal client. Why is it important that blog posts are original? Does relevance actually play an important role in blog posts? Stick around, because next week we’ll dive into these questions in part 2 of our blogging webinar posts!

Curious to Learn More About All Things Blogging? Sign Up For Our Upcoming Webinar!

We’re excited to announce that we’re hosting a two-part webinar on December 4th and December 11th! In this two-part webinar series, we’ll discuss all things blogging and SEO. In addition, we’ll give you some practical tips to kickstart your blog. I will be the cohost, along with Jessica Tappana. We look forward to seeing you there!

Other Services With Simplified SEO Consulting

At Simplified SEO Consulting, we’re pretty smart cookies. We can help you with all things SEO! We offer Done For You Services where do the optimization. Or, 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.
Reach your SEO goals!

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 intersect 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. Alyssa will be cohosting the blogging webinar and would love to see you there!

November 23, 2020/1 Comment/by Alyssa Kohne

SEO Tips

Therapist Directories: Which ones should you be listed on?

You’ve heard that getting listed on therapists directories is a really great way to grow your private practice. And, on our blog you’ve read about how listing yourself on therapist directories can be a quick way to build backlinks to your website and help with your SEO. But, which therapist directories should you be on?

In the last few years, our SEO team has talked to lots of private practice owners from around the world about the importance of building backlinks to their site. And, we’ve learned about at least a few of the directories out there for mental health professionals. These are often a GREAT, quick way to get high quality backlinks for a therapist website to help gain trust with search engines. So, we thought we’d pull some of those together in a single place for you to at least begin your directory/backlink search.

Some of these directories are free and some are rather costly. Some also have specific requirements in order for you to be listed. My goal here was to just get you a list of as many directories as possible so you as a business owner can go through and see which fit your budget, brand and goals.

General Therapist Directories

Therapy Den – I have to be honest…this is my favorite. It’s created with a social justice mindset which I really, really appreciate. AND you can create a free listing. So, pretty much every therapist should be on this one. 🙂
Therapy Tribe
Good Therapy
Inclusive Therapists
Theravive
Mental Health Match
ZenCare
Being Seen
The TeleWellness Hub
Right Fit Client – Newer directory really focused on matching clients & therapists who will have a great therapeutic fit
My Private Practice Collective – a newer directory (though their FB group has been around for several years) that I predict will grow really quickly.

More Specific Therapist Directories

Therapy for Black Girls – Awesome directory meant to encourage Black women to take the next step and get connected with a therapist
A Therapist Like Me – Connecting minority-identified clients with minority-identified therapists
Pandemic Therapists – This is a cool, free directory for therapists offering services online during the pandemic.
OnlineTherapy.com – This is a directory for therapists offering online therapy. You can get a free listing by including their badge on your site.
MyWellbeing
AAMFT for Marriage & Family Therapists
Christian Counseling Directory – For Christian Therapists
Christian Care Connect – Another directory for Christian Therapists
His Heart Foundation – Christian directory with a comprehensive vetting process
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective – For therapists offering reduced rate
Thriving Campus – For practices that frequently see college students

Directories Based on Your Methodology

Many times you can get listed on a directory when you have been fully trained in a specific treatment modality. If you are trained in another treatment modality, I encourage you to look that up and see if they have a similar directory.

The great news about these is that anyone who finds you on these sites is truly looking for the type of service you provide. Therefore, you’re more likely to be a match. One thing that’s unique about these directories is that it may be another professional of some sort looking on the directory to provide a referral.

Local Directories Specific to Your Geographic Area

HulaFrog – This is specific for children, so if you serve children or families you can get listed in your local area.
Nashville Psychotherapy Institute – This looks great for those of you in the Nashville area.
Denver Therapy Match – A directory for therapists in the Denver area.

These are just a few therapists have talked to me about. However, there are many, many more out there. So, I encourage you to look for local directories. These are often free, still have a high quality backlink and are relatively likely to (over time…it may take a bit) yield paying clients.

This is not a complete list. Are we missing a therapist directory?

We know we haven’t captured all of the great therapist directories out there! Do you own a directory for therapists that you want listed OR you are a therapist who is on another directory you find useful? If so, please let us know and we’d love to add that one! You can e-mail me directly (Jessica@simplifiedseoconsulting) any suggestions about directories to add.

What about that really popular one…..

The only thing is that since we are an SEO company, we are most interested in directories that provide the therapist a backlink to help build their SEO. That is why Psychology Today isn’t listed. You don’t technically get a backlink from PT so we’ve decided not to include it on this directory list. I know many people fill up their practice by listing on that directory. In fact, I used to list on there too. I stopped after my practice was full for a variety of reasons and therefore decided not to include it on this list.

Do Directories Lead to Paying Clients?

Sometimes. While all of these (to our knowledge) will give you backlinks and most are pretty high quality backlinks, there are a lot of factors that determine if a specific directory will directly lead to more clients. Sometimes it varies based on geographic region or who your ideal client is.

I’ve had mixed results personally with getting actual paying clients from directories. Some of the directories I’ve been listed on in the past rarely yield paying clients, but when they do, they’re top notch clients (i.e. my ideal client) so I stayed on for awhile. So, when choosing which directories to list on and how many to list on, I recommend balancing cost, the number of clients you hear from,

and the quality of those clients. When you do decide to list on a directory, make sure to give it at least 3 months (preferably 6) before you decide it’s not worth it. You need plenty of time to truly see how your website falls in the algorithm.

For the free directories, I recommend staying on even if you’re not getting paying clients. Why? Because you’re generally getting a high quality backlink. For paid directories, it’s not always worth it to pay the cost just for the backlink if you’re not getting actual paying clients. But again, give it several months before calling it quits.

Looking for more information about building backlinks to your website?

If you’re interested in learning more about building backlinks to your website make sure to check out our building backlinks online course for therapists and/or some of the blog posts our SEO specialists have written:

November 12, 2020/0 Comments/by Jessica

SEO Tips

Unofficial Part 2 In The Social Media Series: Live Feed

A fun fact about me: I’m a geek for blog post series.

I think that when they’re done well, they can be super informative. I appreciate that the information builds throughout the series and incorporates a multifaceted approach. And, that the end result is practically a novel of all of the things you didn’t know before spending 3 hours reading blog posts. Really, it’s so fun. Or, it’s just fun for me.

A second fun fact about me: I have a growing fascination with the algorithms of social media.

I can spend hours reading blog posts, listening to podcasts, and searching the interweb (old reference there, I hope someone gets it) to learn more about how social media works. “Works” as in how to utilize it as a tool for marketing. I’m by no means an expert, but I have learned a thing or two.

So why am I telling you this?

Well, friends, this blog post will combine my two fun facts. Previously, I wrote an unofficial part 1 blog post about how social media affects SEO. In this post, I talk about the correlation between social media use and SEO. The reader’s digest version is that social media, in and of itself, cannot “boost” your SEO. It can help you get in front of more users, but that connection has to be established.

Based on context clues, you may have guessed where this is heading: this blog is the unofficial part 2 in the social media series. I’ll share some tidbits of information I’ve learned about how to utilize social media in a way that is beneficial for your practice.

Live Feed

In social media land, the buzz has been live feed. This means going “live” on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and other social media platforms. It’s been found that live feed has higher retention of viewers and platforms prioritize live feed. I’ll break these concepts down a bit more.

Higher Retention of Viewers

Live feed has a similar marketing strategy as flash sales: it creates the idea that the product (in this case, your video) is first come first serve. Viewers often stick around longer to watch live feed versus prerecorded content. There are many different factors that contribute to this phenomenon. It often generates curiosity among consumers. Live feed produces excitement among viewers. In addition, studies show that 80% of viewers prefer live feed over previously recorded. Live feed has an aspect of authenticity and vulnerability that viewers are seeking. Which, makes sense in our current climate of experiencing a global pandemic. It’s fair to say that some people are engaging in less social interaction than they were previously. Because of this, many viewers crave that human connection. And, live feed captures that better than prerecorded feed.

Interaction Through Live Feed

Additionally, live feed can turn into a conversation. Viewers can post comments or “react” to the video. This aspect ties into the connection piece that often attracts viewers. Interacting through comments and live responses often encourage viewers to watch the video longer.

Social Media Platforms Prioritize Live Feed

Yep, they sure do. You know how you get notifications when a Facebook friend or Instagram follow goes live? This is why. Social media platforms prioritize live feed, as it’s seen as more “urgent” than other content. This way, you won’t have to engage in the social media battle of viewers seeing your content. An example of this is Facebook Live. On average, Facebook Live videos receive six times more interactions than prerecorded feed. The more reactions we get, the more people see our videos. Make sense?

So, How Can You Use This Information For Your Practice?

Well, a lot of ways. You can use live feed on social media as a marketing tool to reach potential clients in a different way. Maybe you have an amazing idea for a blog post, but you can’t stand writing blog posts. An alternative is to share your thoughts by streaming live feed! You may have better results capturing the authenticity you feel about a topic in an organic way. Additionally, it can be used as a networking tool. You can invite someone in your community to join you on live feed and discuss topics that are relevant to your climate. Of course, these are only a few options you can explore with live feed. The possibilities are endless!

Moving Forward

Channel your creativity and reach your ideal client through an avenue you might not have considered before. Navigating the waters of social media can feel overwhelming. So, come up with a plan you can stick to that’s realistic for you and your practice. Don’t have expectations of yourself to go viral after week 1. And, challenge yourself put some effort into establishing your social media presence.

Begin Working With One Of Our SEO Specialists

So, I hope you like what you read! Granted, our SEO specialists are not experts. But, we do have a few helpful tricks. You know what we are experts in? All things SEO and we’d love to work with you! At Simplified, we offer many different 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.

About The Author

Alyssa is one of the SEO specialists with Simplified. She has been part of the team for the last few months and has loved every minute of it. She is currently in the Advanced Placement MSW Program at Mizzou. So, this provides a unique opportunity to apply the concepts she’s learning in class in real practice! She’s written a few blogs about Google Ads and SEO, a guide to building backlinks, and the unofficial part 1 of incorporating social media with SEO.

November 10, 2020/0 Comments/by Alyssa Kohne

SEO Tips

SEO Workshop: The Dance of Branding and SEO

Our team hears a lot about the conflict clients have between staying true to your brand and making good SEO choices on your site. So, here I am today with a new SEO Workshop! We know that we may make some changes to your site that you aren’t too crazy about, but there is often a good reason as to why the change was made. So, for today’s SEO workshop, I’m going to be identifying some of the places branding and SEO are at odds.

Hopefully, this quick crash course will help better explain how these things help SEO, and what to do if you don’t like something we’ve done to your site. Let’s get started with one of the biggest concerns we get…

Heading Headaches: What’s the Deal with H1’s, H2’s, and H3’s?

One of the best ways to help improve SEO is by properly including those big bold headings on each of your pages. H1’s and H2’s, and H3’s each have different specific uses on your page.

Any given page going for that SEO boost should have:

H1’s: Your title for the page (just one H1 is enough for most pages)
H2’s: Use these for your main points
H3’s: Your subheadings for sub-points, like when you have a bulleted list with a word or few sentences, like what I’m typing right now!

These help your page in three big ways. The first is that you’re doing what’s best in terms of accessibility for things like screen readers! These make the page easier to scan, which is also what makes the headings so important for Google. By including these, you are also helping boost your SEO by including keywords you want to rank for when possible, while still helping Google better understand what the page is about. The third and final way is that these headings can be edited. If you don’t like the particular vibe they’re giving off on your page, it’s possible to change it! However, we probably don’t have access to do so.

This may be something you bring up to your website designer, and if you ever see a change made on your page that you don’t like, just let your SEO specialist know! We can explain if something is there for a good reason, such as a heading. Our team is always happy to change things to your liking, but we want to ensure you are making an informed decision. We can help give you the information you need so that your designer can make changes to the font/color/etc.

Text, Design, and Space

Something else that comes up is the issue of text. Although we usually go for around 500-1000 words on a page depending on the area, having a lot of text may not be true to what you’re going for, and that’s fine! So, what do you do if a ton of text doesn’t go with your brand?

The first option is to have more space between sections of text. The less busy the page looks, the better. You can space out the words more, or add in a photo to help space out your text, this dog is helping me do!

A good principle to follow is making the page as “scannable” as possible. Let’s be honest, not everybody is going to read through an entire page. Turning short summaries of your main content into engaging sub-headings makes it easy for those who might be just scrolling through the page to understand what services you offer, leading to a better chance of them reading more of the page.

The next option is including a “read more” button. Having one under your content helps hide all the text unless they click on it. Having these also allows you to link to other pages of your site if given a proper link, but this is another setting you’ll likely have to talk to your website designer about.

The third option is having less content, but also having more blog posts! Since having less content to work with on service pages can make optimization harder, writing posts that are longer and more specific can really help to balance out your SEO and design needs.

Photos

Having some photos that go with your brand is important. However, we also know that having three photos on every page may not be the layout you want your site. The reason photos can be at odds with the design is because of the optimization we do on them.

We generally suggest three so that the proper alt text and title can be included. This helps not only screen readers, but also lets us include more keywords! However, we understand that this may not be what you’re going for when it comes to design. If so, then we will happily make any changes you might want. We always make sure you are making an informed decision knowing that it may result in a slight disadvantage in SEO performance.

Internal Links

It’s important to have pages link back to your homepage with good anchor text. This also goes for linking to as many key pages of your site as possible. Our team often groups them up towards the bottom of the page. However, there are other ways to add in internal links throughout your page if you so wish! There are multiple alternatives to this, so talk to your SEO specialist about what they might be!

Takeaways from this SEO Workshop

When new clients arrive on your site, you want them to feel comfortable and familiar with your brand. We want to get you ranking well, and covert your ideal clients once they decide you can provide support. To do so, we want to help your get the right balance in the dance of SEO, and design. If you think we’re stepping on your toes, feel free to let us know! We are always happy to follow your lead, and inform you of the why behind our decisions.

Want To Start SEO Services?

At Simplified SEO Consulting, our goal is for your practice to be on the first page of Google. We want to help you get there in many different ways. We offer Done For You Services and take care of the optimization while still taking your design wishes into account. If you would like to learn how to do it yourself, we have training available through a 12-week program or individual courses. In addition, we offer al a carte services to fill in the gaps. If you aren’t sure which service will get the best return on investment for your business, one of our SEO specialists will help during your consultation. So what’s holding you back? You do your best work when you’re not worried about where the next call will come from. So, let’s start the process to get your site in front of more of the right clients so they can start calling! Take the next step and schedule a free consultation to learn more!

About The Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage is a member of 2020’s 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.

October 27, 2020/1 Comment/by Sterling Humburg-Cage

SEO Tips

4 Tips for Improving SEO for Online Therapy Services

Wow has your business ever had to pivot this year! You went from providing most of your services in person to most of them online. Now, it’s session after session of Zoom calls. The benefit? You can now work with people who couldn’t see you before because your office was too far away. The challenge? You’re not sure how to market to this new, more spread out audience.

SEO can be a great way for online therapists to market their services. At Simplified SEO Consulting, we’ve been helping psychologists, counselors and therapists optimize their online counseling sites through SEO for a couple of years now. In fact, I worked with one of my amazing SEO Specialists, Cory, to write a blog post with some basic tips for marketing telehealth services back in November 2019 when a global pandemic was just something in Sci-Fi novels or movies.

We’re helping more online therapists than ever before….

But now, we’re seeing more and more therapists using online services. Think about it. We’re now consuming all kinds of services online that used to be in person! I’ve been attending personal training online, my mom’s participated in virtual physical therapy and even our local psychiatrists are meeting via phone or Zoom with patients.

As a group psychotherapy practice owner myself, I now know what it’s like to run a mostly online practice. In fact, my group practice transitioned online pretty much over a weekend. And even we had to pivot our marketing strategy and update our SEO a bit. What a world.

So…this is the updated guide to ranking well on Google for your online therapy services.

The Big Picture: How to tell Google You’re an Online Counseling Practice

When you want to rank well on Google for online therapy services, you have to make sure Google clearly understands that you are a source of knowledge about online therapy AND understands what geographic areas you serve. Therefore, most of the strategies I’m going to describe are what we call content strategy. In other words, I’m going to encourage you to strategically create content on your website that will communicate to Google both the type of services you provide and all of the areas your potential clients might be located.

Online Therapy SEO Tip #1: Include the areas you serve on the footer of your site

Basically, you want Google to know all of the areas that you serve. So, my private practice now has a small statement on the footer that reads, “Our counseling office is physically located in Columbia, MO but we are able to see clients anywhere in Missouri with our online therapy services.” Another private practice that has clinicians licensed in multiple states and is 100% online might have a statement that reads “Providing online counseling services in North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia.”

Online Therapy SEO Tip #2: Create Specialty Pages

I know I talk about the importance of creating specialty pages on your website frequently. That is because it’s one of the most valuable things you can do for SEO. Yet, most therapy websites I look at have a single “individual therapy” page and a single “couples counseling” page. So, this truly is the starting place when you’re working on SEO. Create separate pages for each of your favorite counseling services. If you’re in a solo practice, I recommend around 3-4 specialty pages. For example, “Anxiety Counseling, Therapy for Depression & Grief Counseling.” If you are in a group practice, you may need more specialty pages as you’ll want each person’s niche represented.

On each of these pages, I recommend you write at least 500 words. And, when you are marketing online services in particular there is an extra step you can take. Essentially, think “bonus points” if you are able to do this. That is to make mentions of the areas you serve on your service page. For example, if I was to share photos of landmarks throughout the state of Missouri on my service pages, I could reference various areas of Missouri in the captions of the photos.

Online Therapy SEO Tip #3: Create an Online Therapy Page

Next, you want to create an online therapy page. This is a page that explicitly describes your online services. A few things to consider including on this online therapy page:

Mention several areas of the state on the page.
Include links to your specialty pages.
Describe the benefits of online counseling services
Include a call to action that prompts them to contact your practice
Write at least 500 words…but closer to 1,000 is better, especially if you’re in a really competitive state

What if I’m licensed in more than one state?

If you or one of the clinicians in your practice are licensed in more than one state, you may consider creating a page specifically for each state you are licensed. This is especially useful if you have a group practice. For example, I might have a practice based out of Arizona and have therapists who specialize in Anxiety, Depression, Grief & Trauma. However, I have one therapist who is licensed in Minnesota and they specialize in Anxiety & Trauma specifically. Therefore, I might create an online therapy page for Arizona that links to all of our specialty page and states that all of our therapists are currently licensed in Arizona. Next, I would create a separate page about “Online Therapy in Minnesota” and on that page specifically state that anxiety treatment and trauma therapy are offered online to anyone in Minnesota and linking only to those two service pages.

Online Therapy SEO Tip #4: Blog About Online Therapy

I recommend starting with a 3 part blogging series that really highlight your online services. Here are couple ideas for blog series you could write depending on your niche:

1. Reasons Teens do Well with Online Counseling (1 post about the flexibility of scheduling, 1 about how they’re use to building relationships online, etc)
2. Your Top Questions About Online Therapy Answered (1 post answering each of 3 common questions)
3. Why Our Therapists Love Online Counseling (each therapist writes a post highlighting what they like about telehealth)

SEO Services for Online Therapists

Are you ready to get serious about optimizing your website? Our SEO Specialists can help you really implement all of these suggestions and then fully optimize your content. Our focus is always on getting you in front of the right clients. So, if you’re tired of taking on clients who exhaust you because you’re not sure when the next call will come in, please consider scheduling a free consultation with one of our team members and let’s talk about how we can improve your SEO! We’ve helped dozens of online practices increase their presence on Google and would love to help you next.

September 28, 2020/3 Comments/by Jessica

Backlinks, SEO Tips

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.

2. Apply to work with us ( book a free consult)

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.

August 4, 2020/1 Comment/by Alyssa Kohne

SEO Tips

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 consulting Let 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.

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.
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.
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.
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:

A welcome note
Thanking them for visiting
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 consulting Thank 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:

Schedule a free 15-minute video consultation with a Simplified SEO team member
Talk to an SEO specialist and learn more about our SEO services
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.

July 14, 2020/0 Comments/by Cory Moss