Is Doing Local SEO Worth It?

As mentioned in previous blog posts, there are many ways you can improve your site’s SEO.

Some may involve making technical changes to your site. Others may require you to change how you conduct your SEO strategy or go about creating content such as blogs. Local SEO is one avenue that can have many benefits for your practice. But, it may take some getting used to in order to get the most out of it. Today, we are going to be discussing if working to improve your Local SEO is worth the time, and offer tips on how you might be able to do so. 

But First, What Makes Local SEO Different From Your Organic Search?

There can be an overlap between the keywords you want to improve in the organic Google search results and the important terms that folks may be searching for in the areas surrounding your practice. Sometimes, this can include certain keywords like “anxiety treatment near me”, but where we look for these rankings will matter. For the organic search results, it can be difficult to tell what folks are searching for due to how Google decides to show results based on proximity, authority, trust, etc.

Due to this, it can often be more difficult to rank for “near me” and other locally focused keywords in the organic search. However, there is another place that is similar to the organic search results but serves as a more hyper-focused view of the area surrounding your practice and service areas. This place is Google Maps.

Ensuring you rank for locally focused keywords can be an important part of a long-term SEO strategy due to the more competitive nature of in-person services. While online therapy services can occur anywhere, the limited clientele in a given location can make it all the more important to ensure you can connect with those potential clients. It is great to be found by folks outside of city limits or in new locations you previously haven’t reached, but it is still vital for many brick-and-mortar practices to show up for keywords that will connect them with folks in their immediate area. 

Who Can Benefit Most From Improving Local SEO?

Anyone interested in improving their local rankings can benefit from local SEO. But, depending on the nature of your practice, it may or may not be worth the time and effort put into improving your local SEO presence. 

For practices with a physical location, working on your local SEO is a great thing to take into account. However, for practices that are online only or don’t have a physical office, this can be tricky. This is due to the rules Google has in place around listing your practice’s name, address, and phone number. Without a physical location for people to visit, it can make things much harder for Google to recognize where exactly the practice is located. Plus, what service areas they can expect to serve.

Due to issues around this, online-only practice owners may not experience as much of a return on the time spent to improve their local SEO. In most cases, it will likely be more beneficial to focus on organic rankings for different keywords related to online therapy and other services offered via telehealth. Since people can receive the same support regardless of location, it doesn’t make as much sense to try and focus on a specific area.

What If I Have A New Practice?

Improving local SEO may seem like a good idea for a newly established practice looking to get recognized in their town. But, this may be more difficult than one may think depending on your surroundings. In highly competitive areas, it may not be possible to initially break through in the rankings on a local level, especially when there are other more established businesses that may already have a strong presence.

For new practices, it can be good to gradually work on improving local SEO over time. However, it is more important to first establish your practice in the organic search results via high-quality service pages, blogs, and other engaging content.

How Can I Improve My Local SEO?

There are a number of different ways one can go about improving their local SEO. One of the first things to check is ensuring that all your practice information is accurate. This can be the easiest step for many, but ensuring that this info is updated when changes occur can be tricky. This is especially true when your practice info is present on more than one source on the internet. Another impactful step can be building high-quality backlinks over time. Doing so can help improve the authority of your site with Google, and improve the visibility of your site.

In addition to backlinks, starting list management services can also be a great way to improve the visibility of your practice. By doing so, you can ensure the correct practice info is present on a variety of credible directories. You can also keep an eye on how specific keywords are performing on a local level, and get support with responding to reviews, reviewing heatmaps, and more!

Begin List Management Services from Simplified SEO Consulting

Our team knows it can be hard to improve your local SEO. This is why we are happy to offer support with a list management baseline report for your practice. We are also happy to offer a variety of services to support your private practice SEO. You can start your SEO journey with Simplified SEO Consulting by following these simple steps:

1. Apply to work with us to improve your SEO
2. Meet with an SEO specialist 
3. Start improving your SEO!

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 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!