Why Is Local SEO Important For Mental Health Practitioners? (2023)

Finding mental health resources can be simple these days thanks to the capabilities of the internet. If you are a mental health practitioner and want to see an increase in clients, utilizing local search engine optimization techniques can help. Local SEO will spread the name of your business and allow your web page to be more accessible to people in your area. SEO Design Chicago offers marketing for mental health practitioners across the United States, including local SEO services.

What Is Local SEO?

Strategies used for local search optimization will help boost the number of local clients that walk through your office door. Local search engine optimization can help mental health practitioners reach more potential clients that are in your area and are seeking help.

46% of all searches conducted on Google are looking for local information. Search engines like Google utilize a user’s location to determine which businesses to display on the search engine results page. Local search engine optimization uses the same strategies as traditional SEO, while also focusing on the geographic location of the user. Using local search engine optimization techniques as a mental health practitioner will ensure potential clients nearby will be able to find your company when conducting research online.

Creating a Google My Business Profile, or even incorporating relevant keywords within your digital marketing strategies, can help mental health practitioners appear at the top of search engine result pages (SERPs). Most users do not tend to click past the first page of SERPs, so ensuring your company is at the top of the list is essential to more business.

Local search engine optimization can also help advertise your business on search engines for free. Approximately 86% of users search for the location of a business on Google Maps. Creating a free account on Google Business will display your mental health practitioner business on Google Maps. If your business wants to be visible to this large group of potential clients, your business must incorporate local search engine optimization techniques.

Google My Business

Setting up a Google My Business page is essential to helping people nearby locate your practice when searching for mental health practitioners in their area. The process of creating a profile is simple once your company has an established website and a physical office address.

To verify your company, Google will mail a postcard with a verification code to your office’s address. After receiving the verification code, simply log back into your account and enter this access code.

Your mental health practitioner business will become verified on Google My Business and you can begin to fill out information about your company. Be sure to include the following information:

• Your office’s address
• Phone number and email address
• Your website’s URL
• Hours of operation

It is also important to include pictures of your office’s storefront and photographs showcasing your practitioners. Users enjoy seeing photographs of your business and photos make your company seem more professional and credible.

Users may also enjoy reading reviews that are left on your Google Business Profile. Having a large number of reviews will rank your mental health business even higher. Encourage people to leave reviews on your profile by offering incentives. For example, offer special rates to customers that show proof of leaving a review of your profile.

If for any reason any negative reviews are left on your profile, ensure to resolve them professionally and efficiently. This will give your business more credibility when people are reading your business’s reviews. Sometimes a negative review can showcase your brand better than a positive review can, if handled properly. In addition to our local SEO services, we also offer reputation management services to help you handle any negative reviews online.

SEO for Therapists

SEO techniques for therapists help boost the relevancy and credibility of your website, therefore increasing the ranking of your site on the search engine result pages. Search engines like to see that your website is using keywords that are relevant to your industry as well as words that describe where your company is located. The more relevant keywords you include, the higher your therapy website will be ranked.

Keywords

Keyword research consists of finding the words potential clients are using to describe your therapy business. The best strategy to come up with keywords to use in your SEO strategy is to describe your therapy business with relevant keywords. Use short phrases or words that people who want to find your company would type into the search bar. Depending on what your therapy business’ niche is, it will determine the different keywords you will use. Make sure to include words describing the different services you provide and include your geographic location.

Choosing the correct keywords will be based upon the type of services your therapy business offers. For therapists, keywords help the search engine determine a web page’s relevance to a user’s questions. Essentially, keywords form the user’s query they want a search engine to answer. However, based on the Keyword Tool, the best keywords for a therapist are:

• “therapist”
• “therapist near me”
• “therapist aid”
• “anxiety therapist near me”

Figuring out who your target audience is and what information clients are searching for will help determine which keywords and keyphrases to use. Be sure to use these keywords in a sentence and keep them contextualized. Avoiding random or irrelevant words will help boost your page to the top of the search results. The easiest way to think of some keywords would be to ask yourself what you would search for if you were trying to look for your own therapy business. Ensure your business is not overusing keywords as they may get overwhelming for the user.

SEO For Counselors

When a user is presented with search engine result pages, the most relevant web pages are presented to them, listed in order of relevancy. Ninety-five percent of search traffic goes to the first page of search results,so ensuring that your counseling website is on the first page is important. Search engine optimization comes in when you desire your website to be on the first page of the search engine results.

Website Design

Before booking a service, 81% of clients conduct their research online. With most potential clients starting their journey on the internet, it is essential to have a website for your business. Allowing potential and returning clients to access all possible information about your business on your website is crucial for building a trustworthy reputation for your company. Having a well-structured website containing relevant content will boost your ranking on search engine result pages even more.

Creating a straightforward menu at the top of the website with one to two-word labels will ensure that your customer can easily find information. The menu includes creating different service categories tabs, a “contact us” page, and a great “about” page. This will give people who visit your counseling website easy access to the information they are looking to find.

Another important design aspect to include is to your brand’s color scheme within the website’s design. The website will become even more effective if colors throughout the website include enough contrast to be easily read. Make sure to include features for people who are color blind or fully blind so that your website is accessible to everyone and ADA-compliant. The more accessible your counseling company’s website is, the more clients will be attracted to explore your website.

SEO For Psychologists

Search engine optimization for psychologists is a digital marketing strategy that increases the number of potential clients to your website by using different strategies. Most of these strategies focus on the search engine results page (SERPs) where all results from a search are displayed. Blog posts, high-quality content, and including internal links are all different techniques for search engine optimization.

Relevant Content

One essential strategy for search engine optimization is to make sure your website is publishing relevant, high-quality content. For psychologists to rank higher than their competitors, the website must contain valuable information that users may be searching for. Descriptions of your services, hours of your office, or different methods of contact are all critical pieces of information that help to rank your website higher.

Internal Links

Including different internal links within your articles can also help rank your psychology practice even higher. Internal links guide users to other pages within your website to help them learn more about your services and hopefully guide them to visit your office. The amount of time a user spends on your website is a very important factor search engines use to rank your website on SERPs. Highly ranked websites are ones that have many users and other websites interacting with them.

SEO Design Chicago Offers Mental Health Professional Marketing Services

SEO Design Chicago offers marketing for mental health practitioners, including local SEO services. If you are a mental health practitioner and are looking to increase the ranking of your website ranking on search engines, then usto get started today. We have a specialized marketing team for Mental Health Professionals ready to assist with all of your digital marketing needs. If your office is located in San Diego, we have an entire specialized team ready to get started today.

FAQ:

• What is local SEO?
• What is SEO for therapists?
• What are some good keywords for therapists?
• What are the most important SEO strategies for mental health practitioners?
• Do I need a Google My Business page for my therapy practice?