If you’re a mental health professional with your own private practice, then you know how important it is to get your website seen by potential clients. And if you want to attract local clients, then you need to focus on local SEO. In this blog post, we’ll explain what Local SEO is and how you can use specific techniques to improve your website’s visibility in search engines like Google. We’ll also provide some tips for getting started.
Local SEO is anything you do to help Google better understand where your business is located or is relevant so you show up more often in local search results. In other words, local SEO is a type of search engine optimization (SEO) that focuses on increasing visibility in local search results. Local businesses rank higher than non-locally based businesses when people search for products or services in their location.
The goal of local SEO is to attract more potential customers who are looking for you because they’re physically near your business or office location. For example, if someone searches “child therapy” in Seattle, WA they’ll likely see therapists who are local to Seattle ranked towards the top of their results page over therapists from other states or countries who don’t have an office in Seattle but want clients from there anyway.
Most mental health professionals are licensed in only one or two states. This means that our clients reside in those specific states. It does a therapist in New Hampshire no good if someone in Nevada finds their website. or Australia. Or Canada. Why? Because they can’t serve those clients even if they call.
Even if you’re able to see clients in many different states thanks to the Counseling Compact, people still often prefer to work with businesses located in their own state. Or, at least that’s what Google assumes. So, when all is equal, there’s a good chance Google will show a website that it has reason to believe is relevant to the area the searcher is located.
In short, if you want more psychiatry or counseling clients (or any service industry for that matter), you want Google to know you are relevant in the places your ideal clients live, play & work.
In the world of search engines, NAP refers to a business name, address, and phone number. And, when it comes to local SEO, consistency is key. Having a consistent NAP across all platforms tells Google that you are a legitimate business.
You want to use consistent nap information on:
Google My Business is a powerful tool for local SEO. It’s basically a digital business card that allows you to share your location, hours of operation, and other essential information with potential customers who are searching on Google Maps or Google search.
If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business (GMB for short) profile yet, now is the time to do it! But then there are a few things you can do to really optimize your GMB profile to really make sure you get the most out of it from an SEO perspective:
Another way that you can build local SEO is by getting listed on directories. There are both therapist-specific and general directories, and the key here is to make sure that your information is accurate (and consistent!) across all of them.
One great way to do this is by working with an SEO company that can help manage your directory listings for you. For example, Simplified SEO Consulting offers a Local SEO Package that includes getting you listed on 50+ directories across various platforms, as well as optimizing all of your NAP information (name, address, phone number) so that it’s the same across all platforms.
You also want to make sure that your website is clear about where you are located. This can include adding a map or link to Google Maps, as well as clearly stating your address and office hours in both the header and footer of your site. Additionally, I often advise people to include a specific description of how to get to their office from various areas of town. This could be as simple as sharing a few common routes, or including public transportation and walking directions.
It’s important to do some local keyword research to find out what people in your area are searching for when looking for mental health services. For example, in many areas of the country significantly more people search for “marriage counseling” compared to “couples therapy.” However, in California, there is a distinct preference for “couples therapy.” Knowing these regional differences can help you get in front of more local potential clients.
This can be a bit tricky. Here are three tips I like to use:
Finally, another way that you can improve your local SEO is by including local locations in your blog posts. This could mean mentioning landmarks or local events in your content or even sharing photos from around town to really help potential clients get a sense of the community where you are located.
For example, if I had a counseling practice in Madison, Wisconsin, I might make a blog post about coping with anxiety in crowds and use examples of how you might practice grounding even in a loud basketball game at Kohl Center or options for practicing simple breathing techniques that can be done even in the middle of watching a football game at Randall Stadium.
You’ll notice we’re doing that even on this blog post. We want our website to be seen as relevant for mental health professionals in any English speaking area. So, if you look through this post you’ll see references to Madison, Wisconsin (the paragraph above this one), Seattle, Nevada, New Hamshire, several other areas of the United States and even Canada (both Nova Scotia & British Columbia) & Australia.
It’s also important to track your progress over time. This can be done by using a tool like Google Search Console or a rank tracking tool such as SEMRush or Moz or (if you’re our client), our data dashboard. Typically, you’ll start ranking well before you actually start getting calls so it’s important to know you’re moving in the right direction so you don’t get discouraged. Google Analytics let you specifically look at where website visitors are coming from so it’s especially useful for tracking your local SEO progress.
And keep in mind that how you rank locally may vary. You may rank much better a block away from your apartment than you do downtown even though they’re both within the city limits. This is where I often find a heatmap helpful. It will show variations in how you’re ranking in different areas.
Some mental health professionals have been told that all they need to do are a few of these strategies (namely Google My Business and directories) and they’ll rank oh so well on Google. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been our experience. Our experience has been that Local SEO, if done in a vacuum, simply isn’t enough.
That’s why our typical strategy for SEO involves first setting a strong foundation with great content on your website. Adding great content to your website and then completing on-page optimization helps tell Google what your website is about and what types of topics you should show up for. Backlinks, reviews, and having some stability with your site (not constantly redesigning or changing hosts) then teach Google to trust your website. And local SEO shows Google where your website is relevant so it knows where to put you at the top of search results.
When searching for a therapist, most people are looking for someone local. Google knows this. And that is why Google will often prioritize ranking websites that it believes are not only super relevant to the term the person is searching but are also local to that person’s location.
So, if Google sees a lot of content that suggests your practice is most likely located in Nova Scotia, you’re much more likely to show up if someone is searching for a therapist in Halifax than if someone is searching in Greenwood, British Columbia.
Whether you’re a psychiatrist, therapist, counselor, or other related professional, getting your website to rank well in local search results is essential to growing your practice and building your client base. And Local SEO can be an important piece of the puzzle as you’re working on SEO.
Overall, building local SEO for your private practice is all about being consistent and clear about who you are and where you are located. By using these tips, you can help ensure that potential clients can easily find you when they’re looking for mental health services in your area.
And if you’re looking for more help working on Local SEO or your overall SEO strategy, Simplified SEO Consulting would love to help. Reach out and schedule a free 30-minute Zoom consultation to talk about how we might be able to help. Our team would be happy to offer support with helping you better understand what directories your practice is present on, and which opportunities are still available.
Jessica Tappana is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, private practice owner, and the founder of Simplified SEO Consulting, a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping mental health professionals, therapists, and other related professionals to grow their businesses through effective SEO strategies. With over 5 years of experience working with mental health professionals all over the world in English Speaking Countries, Jessica has developed a proven approach to help her clients achieve success online. And, she’s proud to have built an incredible team of SEO Specialists who each have knowledge of the mental health field in addition to SEO training.
*Please note this is an affiliate link. However, we only recommend KWFinder because that is the keyword research tool we ourselves use. If you’re more comfortable, feel free to not use the affiliate link and go directly to the page. We just truly think this is a great tool!
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