Along with a grocery store, bank and coffee shop, every community needs a healthcare provider. As a healthcare provider, you want to improve the wellness of your community as much as possible. But that can’t happen if the community members aren’t aware of who (and where) you are. That’s where local search engine optimization comes into play.
Local SEO is all about making sure that your practice appears on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) and Maps for people in your served areas. Your practice should appear as a Google Business Profile, which is a listing that provides all of the necessary information about your practice.
If your GBP isn’t set up to meet the standards of the algorithm, you won’t be listed as high as you prefer, which can interfere with your traffic and patient acquisition.
There are quite a few ways that you can optimize your Google Business Profile to get in the good graces of the algorithm and gain more local patients. Here are seven tips worth testing out.
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Claim and verify your profile
Trust and authenticity are two qualities that both patients and the Google algorithm look for. That’s why claiming and verifying your GBP is so essential.
Claiming your profile means that you’re marking ownership over the listing that has been created on the search engine. This can be done by following the actions on this Google Business link, or by clicking the corresponding button on an already existing profile.
Verifying it means proving that it’s a real practice that you’re the owner of. This process usually involves sending pictures and postcards of the business.
Once you claim and verify your GBP, you have greater control over how your practice is presented on the search engine while being sure that current and potential patients have all the information they need about you. It builds trust with patients while also improving search rankings.
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Keep your information consistent and accurate
Having a verified profile goes a long way toward being seen as a trustworthy practice, but the information provided also plays a role in how credible you are. If there’s inconsistencies or misleading information, it can affect your rankings.
Your GBP isn’t something that you just set and forget. It should be updated for every change that could affect your patients, from insurance coverage to the specialty services you offer. This not only keeps your patients in-the-know, but it also boosts your relevance for applicable SERPs.
Keep your information as consistent as possible across all platforms and web appearances, especially your NAP (name, address, phone number). If this basic info doesn’t match from one source to the next, it impacts your credibility as a whole while also interfering with patient acquisition and engagement.
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Choose the right business categories
There are so many different facets of the healthcare industry, and every patient has particular needs. By choosing the applicable business categories on your GBP, you’re showing your relevance to a potential patient. For example, if you provide physical therapy services, you want to be sure that you show up for someone searching for back pain treatment.
But beyond the primary category of your services, you also don’t want to discount the role of secondary categories. They allow you to get as specific as possible about the services you provide. For example, if you’re a physical therapist, you can click categories such as dry needling and soft tissue manipulation. They can boost your rankings on relevant local SERPs and help with quality lead generation.
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Write a patient-focused business description
Even though local SEO is often about looking at what the algorithm wants, you never want to lose sight about who is truly the priority: your patients.
When you’re writing a business description in your Google Business Profile, be sure to balance what your patients want to know with the keywords that optimize your profile for the algorithm. This means incorporating keywords naturally into a conversational, yet informative description.
Here few things to keep in mind while writing your description:
- Try to avoid medical jargon
- Aim for a reading level of 8th to 10th grade
- Include the mission and values of your practice
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Add high-quality photos and videos
The more eye-catching your profile is, the more likely you are to appeal to users who come across it. Photos and videos on Google Business Profiles are not only attention grabbers, but having a large amount can also dramatically increase your user requests. In fact, having more than 100 photos can increase the direction requests for your practice by more than 2,000%.
There are quite a few different directions you can take with GBP photos and videos, including:
- Staff
- Office
- Specialized equipment being used
- Treatment areas
- Patient education visuals
Be sure that any photos and videos are optimized for the best quality, as blurry or poorly taken shots can impact their credibility. Try to keep the size under 5 MB with the subject of the photo being well-lit and in focus.
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Leverage Google Posts for patient engagement
Google Posts are a feature of GBPs, found in your dashboard, that allow you to directly provide information to users on the SERP. Posts can include a variety of elements to increase engagement and relevance, including text, photos and videos, and call to action links. They can be up to 1,500 characters long.
Google Posts can be used to spread different types of information, including:
- Upcoming events
- Seasonal health tips
- New services
- Changes in hours, phone number, etc.
Try to set a schedule of consistent, regular posts to maintain relevance and increase credibility. You can also optimize them by using keywords and compelling language.
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Collect and respond to patient reviews
When it comes to a person’s health, they aren’t likely to just “take your word for it” when it comes to the quality of your care. That’s why patient reviews can be so effective. A potential patient can read the testimonial of a current patient to get an idea of what to truly expect from a practice.
Not only should you ask for patients to leave reviews at the end of every session, and in follow-up emails, but you should respond to them as well. It can strengthen your patient-provider relationship and establish a sense of trustworthiness.
Be sure that you don’t incentivize reviews, as that can be a red flag in the eye of the algorithm, possibly leading to suspension.
Want to attract new patients to your website through Google Business Profile optimization? BURG+CO. can help
Your Google Business Profile can be an essential aspect of your practice’s digital presence success, especially as a local healthcare provider. But without optimization techniques, it can be a bit of a struggle to get the metrics that you’re looking for. That’s why BURG+CO. is here to implement the strategies that will help you increase your traffic and patient acquisition.
At BURG+CO., our GBP management and SEO services will help you get the most out of your listing. With our deep understanding of the algorithm, you’ll see how just a few tweaks can bring significant progress.
Our team has years of experience in helping healthcare brands improve their digital presence so they can attract new patients and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more potential patients to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help.
Contact our team today for more information about our digital marketing services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.