Have you ever received a random email out of the blue from someone telling you how bad your SEO is?
Emails like this are common, so you may get them before you have done any SEO. A large number of these are often SEO scams. But, many of our clients report these more frequently after doing some initial SEO work with us. While it can be equally surprising and worrying to receive cold call emails from SEO companies you don’t know, this can sometimes serve as a sign you are doing something right. Most of the time, it is best to just ignore requests such as these. But, you can still take events like these as opportunities to self-reflect on your SEO efforts. By doing so, you can learn more about what is and is not working for your site. Today, we are going to be addressing why being told your SEO is bad from unprovoked emails can actually be seen as a good thing.
They May Say Your SEO Sucks, But They Found You, Didn’t They?
It can be scary to get messages that tell you that your SEO isn’t where it needs to be. The SEO landscape is very competitive, and it can feel imperative to get any kind of edge you can to ensure you are found in Google’s search results. But, in order to even send this message to private practice owners in the first place, they must have been able to find your site or email in order to contact you. While this isn’t directly stating it, this is still an acknowledgment that your site is being noticed in the search results. Being noticed is a sign that you are in fact doing the right thing from an SEO perspective. Otherwise, how would SEO companies find your site to reach out to you in the first place?
The Importance of Self-Reflection in SEO
So you’ve received an email telling you what is wrong with your SEO. It’s best to ignore it, right? In most cases, yes. But, you can still use this as a chance to reflect on what elements of your SEO strategy are contributing to your success, and what can potentially be changed. Your improving SEO was how other companies found you in the first place, and the SEO advice offered in these emails may actually be beneficial when searching for the next ways to improve your SEO. These can often include tips on how to improve the speed of your site, different forms of content to create, or other technical improvements.
There are a number of tools that can help you better understand how your site is performing. Some of the most useful tools include the likes of the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, and Google Pagespeed Insights. Other tools can also show you how to improve the overall health of your site via a site audit. Making use of tools like these can reveal much more information about your site than what a single email can tell you. But, using cold emails as reminders can still offer occasional insight into what to address on your site.
Be sure to also ask yourself, is this worth the trouble?
It goes without saying that it is important to know how you can improve your site. But, it’s equally important to ask if the changes you’re making are actually worth the time you are putting into them. There are so many things that you can do to support your SEO on the client-facing and technical sides. Yet, not every change will affect your SEO in the same way, or have the same results. While something mentioned in a cold email may be made to sound like a high-priority situation, it may not actually be worth the time and effort put into fixing it.
Messages may include references to how low your rankings are and how they can support you to improve them. Emails may seem more urgent and warn of something you’re doing wrong. For example, you may receive an email that tells you how your SEO is suffering due to not having enough backlinks. In an event like this, they may suggest that you purchase links through them in order to help improve your SEO. However, the links you would likely receive from something like this are more than likely going to be scammy, and not the high-quality links that will help your practice. In a case like this, it is actually seen as an unethical SEO practice that can actually do more harm than good to your SEO.
In Conclusion
Receiving cold emails can be seen as unwelcome for a variety of reasons. But, these emails can occasionally provide insights into what you may be able to improve on your site. They can also serve as a jumping-off point for improvements you can capitalize on yourself. So, next time you receive an email like this, feel free to delete it but take a moment to reflect on your site as well.
Improving Private Practice SEO with List Management Services from Simplified SEO Consulting
Our team is happy to offer support with growing your SEO and supporting your practice. An SEO specialist would be happy to provide support across the country. You can start your SEO journey with Simplified SEO Consulting by following these simple steps:
- Apply to work with us to improve your SEO
- Meet with an SEO specialist
- Start improving your online presence and trust with Google!
Other Services Offered with Simplified SEO Consulting
Our team knows there are many aspects of SEO that you may need help addressing to improve your private practice website. This is why we offer a variety of SEO services including our Done For You SEO Services and DIY Online SEO Courses. We also offer a 12-week Done With You Intensive SEO Program. Visit our blog to learn more valuable SEO info today!
About the Author
Sterling Humburg-Cage graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Psychology in 2020. He has integrated what he learned in school into his work as an SEO Specialist with Simplified SEO Consulting. Sterling prides himself on helping current clients & alumni problems solve difficult SEO issues. He’s great at giving clients multiple options about how to approach a situation, finding solutions to some of the more technical aspects of SEO, and responding in a timely manner to client concerns. Since he started, Sterling has met frequently with our alumni and provided them with extra problem-solving support. He now provides additional support with a variety of local SEO services. He often goes the extra mile to do outside research. By doing so, he sure private practice owners have everything they need to rank well on search engines long term for the keywords their ideal clients are using!
Even though this tool is helpful and can be used to make a difference, it has some limitations. This is likely why they also offer SEO services as part of one of their packages. It is without saying that at Simplified SEO Consulting, we recommend hiring us if you need Search Engine Optimization services for your private practice. This is because we help mental health professionals focus on the clients they want to attract. In contrast, GoDaddy provides services in a generic manner that primarily targets getting website views rather than booking clients.
The Summary:
When connecting Google Analytics to a WordPress site, you will need to access the backend of your private practice website and navigate to the Tools section of the navigation bar on the left side of your screen.
If you decide to manually add this code to your WordPress site, you will need to navigate the backend of your site once again. Once here, you need to add the copied code to the header section on each page of your site. But, WordPress doesn’t automatically allow you to edit the header code of your site. Due to this, you will likely need to install a plugin that will allow you to make these additions. Thankfully, regardless of your choice of plugin, you will often find access to your site’s header code in the Theme settings of the website builder. Please ensure you are familiar with your site and the plugin you are using if you decide to manually add the necessary code since errors in the code of your site can have a wide variety of ramifications. 
For Squarespace users, the process for connecting to Google Analytics is fairly straightforward! Once you have your measurement ID, you will need to access the back end of your private practice website. Once on your home screen, click Settings, then Advanced. Click on External API Keys from here, and paste your measurement ID in the Google Analytics section. 
For service pages, the meta descriptions highlight that specific therapy technique or service page that you offer. 
Other Things To Consider
About The Author
References for Mental Health SEO Keywords
Winnie is a part of our caring team of 
Getting Started with Google Analytics
While these issues may be different, each involves becoming familiar with creating filters on Google Analytics. Creating filters will allow you to address each of these issues by changing what data you see in your reports. There are a 
Closing Thoughts
First things first, in order to make blogging pleasurable and easy to do, it’s critical that you choose a topic that you enjoy writing about. Nothing is more draining than pouring your resources into producing a blog that doesn’t interest you. When you’re not writing about something you’re passionate about, you’re far more likely to get distracted or spend hours researching this topic just to get some ideas. Furthermore, your lack of passion for the subject will come across in your writing and your readers may be able to pick up on it.
My suggestion is, write as you would talk to a client.
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