SEO for Counselors: Why We Don’t Sell Short Term Solutions?

The Truth is Short Term Solutions Just Don’t Work When Doing SEO for Counselors. 

We know that when it comes to your practice whether you’re just building it or you’re scaling up, that patience can be challenging. You’re ready to make a bigger impact and have added security to your business. However, we are open and honest from the start that SEO takes at least 6 months to get you a ranking so you can begin to establish credibility and maintain it. Sometimes businesses need more time if they are an online-only practice, if they are coming back from a bad reputation, or if they are in a bigger more populated area.

Additionally, SEO has gotten more competitive over the years. We know that our strategies work and have strategies and approaches that line up with this. However, we want you to be an informed consumer, so you can get the most out of your investment. Here are a few reasons why we don’t sell short-term solutions and why hanging in there with us will benefit your practice long term.

SEO for Counselors Takes Time

The simple fact is that SEO is about building up your domain trust over time. That means having a strong keyword strategy, being intentional in how we incorporate SEO factors, building high-quality backlinks, and impactful content that your ideal clients need. Six months sounds like a long time when you just want to add new clinicians or you just don’t have the funds to invest in this huge business expense, but in the long term taking time with SEO will benefit you.

Nothing Good Comes from Cutting Corners in Business

One thing we don’t want to encourage with SEO is putting up a bunch of content all at once or keyword stuffing. These are considered black hat SEO strategies. Additionally, buying backlinks is a big no. These tactics can tank your SEO and leave you struggling to build up any credibility. It is honestly better to invest in SEO within the guidelines and parameters of what Google has set forth for consumers. Really Google wants you to find your ideal clients, but just like with a client, when mistrust is established, it is harder to regain. So we recommend and recognize the need to do SEO at a slower pace ( 3-4 pages at a time), in order to have that long-term payout.

We Want to Help You Get Your Ideal Clients and Maintain Referrals

SEO cannot be done in the short term because you need to get to the first page. If you don’t have service pages or quality blogs that your ideal clients will connect with, then you are not going to have the greatest outcome with SEO. Even if you have good referrals know, they will catch up to you. So it’s best to follow a strategy where we do intensive optimization on services pages, create quality cornerstone blogs, and over time watch the data to see what is and is not resonating with your ideal clients. Through our process, we have steps we expect to follow that tell us whether SEO is or is not working.

For example, are you getting a big boost in rankings? We expect to see this month 1-3. Are you starting to get a few referrals? Not an overwhelming amount, but a few inquiries, that came from Google and are good fits? Great! That is what we want to see in months 3 and 4. If we get to that month 4 and we see that we are not getting what we hope, we restrategize early on. So we may modify some meta’s or write a blog post. Another point I expand on below is that the timeline for more competitive areas is a bit different and we expect that. In months 5 and 6, we want to know if you are getting more consistent referrals to your site. This is the time you should be blogging and getting backlinks.

Certain Locations Are More Competitive Than Others and We Want To Set You Up For Success

As mentioned before, we have some consistent trends in what we hope to see for your site, but what if you’re doing SEO in New York, Denver, Colorado, or Orange County, California? What Then? Well, the truth is that we may see in certain areas that the return on investment happens at a slower pace. I mean how many therapists are doing similar things to you in New York, Florida, or California? What matters here is that you are clear on your niche and how you help and support your, clients. Our goal is to help you stand out from the rest of the crowd. You have a unique voice that will bring in your ideal people.

One thing to note is that this is where blogging can help make that process easy. Don’t just write a blog on “Benefits of Online Therapy in New York”, write one about Why Online Therapy in New York is perfect for the person who thinks their problems are not big enough for therapy. What is this person telling themselves, how are they negating their experiences, what beliefs and internal dialogues are they giving into, and how can you help them deal with the feelings that have yet to give voice to. This will help you stand out in a competitive world of counseling and SEO.

Each Niche, Geographical Location, and Website Requires a Specialized Strategy

We don’t sell short-term solutions because each area has its own timeline for when SEO will begin to work, the more specific you are the better the SEO outcome, and different platforms are better for SEO. If you expect to get a ranking on a Wix website in New York within 6 months, to be honest, that’s not a realistic goal, that is why we recommend moving to Squarespace or WordPress. If you are on WordPress in Texas and specialize in pre and postnatal care, getting a ranking may be a faster process. We tailor our strategy to your needs, and that may mean needing a few extra months to break through the wall of the Google search engine for others, this process may be quicker.

We Always Paying Attention to The Data and Shifts in the Algorithm 

As SEO specialists, we know that you trust us to be the experts. With that being said, we also know that Google’s algorithm can change at the drop of a hat. We are always monitoring these changes, so we can modify your SEO strategy accordingly. Much of the time, even when Google updates, we may see a month or two of fluctuating data, but then it settles down and we see the payoff from the work we have done.

It takes time to undo the adverse effects of Black Hat SEO and Bad Reviews

Lastly, if you are looking to scale up your practice, but you are dealing with the negative impacts of Black Hat SEO or bad reviews, we are here to support you through the process of undoing these issues. Plus, we can help you build back up your reputation. However, when these things happen, it can be a process. We have helped many individuals combat these issues, knowing that the process may take up to a year to reach the intended outcome. We don’t say this to discourage you, but to set you up for realistic results. If you do need support in this realm we have a great team of individuals who can help you navigate his process whether that means a strong Google my business strategy or helping you reestablish trust with Google.

The Take-Home Message When Doing SEO for Counselors and Therapists

Our team loves helping individuals reach their business goals and visions. Everyone’s strategy looks different, but for good reason. There is no one size fits all approach to therapy and we also believe that with SEO for counselors and therapists. We all follow some basic tenants, knowing that each client we work with has a slightly different approach. If there is some way we can support you, please reach out. Our consultation team would love to work with you and give you some insight and recommendations.

Begin SEO for Counselors and Therapists From A Team Who Truly Cares!

SEO is a process, but one worth taking. We have helped many private practice owners and groups scale up their practice. Our wonderful team of mental health SEO specialists at Simplified SEO Consulting would love to talk strategy with you and help you get connected with the best service for you. To get started with our service follow these simple steps:

1. Schedule a consult with our Consultation Team
2. Learn more about our talented team of mental health SEO Specialists
3. Start scaling up your practice and filling your clinicians

Other Services offered by Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO consulting offers a wide range of services that can help you begin working with your people. We offer Done for You SEO Service packages, online courses, and SEO training opportunities. Our most popular course includes our “Top of Google” online course, and we have 12 weeks of intensive SEO for those who want to learn with a guide. For those looking for a more specialized package, we also offer an SEO strategy package. To get started, schedule a consultation with our Client Success Specialist today!

About the Author:

Jasmine is a Mental Health SEO Specialist and our Client Success Specialist at Simplified SEO Consulting. It can be challenging to know where to start with SEO, luckily Jasmine is here to help. If you want insight, recommendations, or to talk about the next steps with SEO, contact us for a free 30- minute consultation.

Jasmine Jaquess is currently working towards her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University. She has been doing SEO with Simplified for the last few months. Currently, she serves as the Client Success Specialist in new client consultation with Simplified SEO Consulting and is an SEO specialist. She specializes in platforms such as Squarespace and Wix but has learned to love WordPress sites as well. Jasmine really enjoys hearing the clients’ goals for their businesses and helping them achieve them. She works with coaches, eating disorder specialists, trauma therapists, and more.