What’s SEO and Why It’s Important for Your Therapy Practice
Owning and operating a successful business takes work. Lots of it.
Your mental health practice is open and growing at a decent rate. You know scaling your business means you need to bite the bullet and grow your online presence.
You’ve been resisting this beast long enough, but today you’re ready to take him head-on. It’s you versus search engine optimization (SEO).
As a business owner, having an online presence is a must. But it’s important to understand SEO and know why it’s important for your business’s success.
While optimizing your copy can appear to be tricky, it doesn’t have to be. Using the correct strategies can dramatically impact how your website ranks in Google.
If your head’s already starting to spin, don’t worry.
As a mental health and wellness copywriter, it’s my job to tackle the giant known as SEO. Schedule a Discovery Call. Learn how I can take this project off your shoulders and help grow your business.
What is SEO?
SEO improves your website so more people see it when they search for your services online. With optimized words on your website and blogs, you’ve got a better chance of ranking high on search engines.
Most of us use some sort of search engine – such as Google – when looking for answers, products, or services. In fact, every month 19 billion searches are done on computers (1). And almost two-thirds use Google.
That’s a lot of people searching for solutions to their problems. You want to make sure you’re showing up at the top of the list so they click on your website.
And SEO is the best way to do this.
But here’s one of the greatest benefits of optimizing your copy – you’re able to rank higher on search engines without having to pay for ads. We call this an organic search.
Driving organic traffic to your website gives you an advantage over your competitors. It creates an unstoppable online marketing force.
The cycle looks something like this:
SEO-optimized content gives you better search visibility.
More visibility means more people are clicking on your website.
When more people click on your site your authority grows.
Higher authority continues to improve your chances of ranking high.
The cycle continues.
Why it’s important to incorporate SEO into your online marketing.
Understanding SEO is one thing. But implementing it in an effective and strategic way is another.
An SEO strategy gives you content resulting in quality traffic coming to your website.
And this is possible when you incorporate the right kind of optimization strategies into your content.
How does this all happen?
It starts by generating high-quality inbound traffic to your website. And you do this with keyword research. Copy without keyword research is like heading into the woods without a compass. It’s a complete waste of your time and effort.
Keywords are your GPS for online marketing.
When it comes to finding the right keywords there are four areas you want to focus on. These include:
High search volume
If no one’s searching for a word, chances are it’s not worth writing about. Highly searched keywords confirm people’s interest in this particular topic. And writing about it is worth your time and effort.
2. How relevant the word is
You want to find highly searched keywords relevant to your industry. Always keep in mind your goal is to connect with the kind of people looking for what you offer. Relevant keywords filter out anyone who’s not your ideal client.
3. High conversion rate
The next step is to make sure these words convert well. High-converting keywords put your website in front of your ideal client. Right when they’re ready to schedule an appointment.
4. Low competition
The goal is to have fewer companies and other websites competing for this same word. The less competition, the greater your chance of ranking higher in the search results.
Now you start creating optimized copy around those keywords.
Writing SEO-rich content means you’re writing with your ideal customer in mind. Your blogs and website copy answer their questions. You provide solutions for their pain points and struggles.
Apply SEO to your website and blog copy with these 7 strategies.
Get to know your ideal client.
Be very clear about who your target audience is.
Optimized copy works at its best when you’re speaking to a very specific person. Build a connection and relationship with your reader by knowing exactly who you’re talking to.
Connecting with them on an emotional level is what moves them from a prospect to an actual client.
A few questions to get you thinking about who your ideal client includes:
What are their pain points and struggles?
Where do they live?
What are their behaviors?
What are they passionate about?
What are their biggest objections to using your services?
Understanding who your ideal client is builds trust and you earn their business.
2. Write for people to search and find you.
Another way to think of search intent is user-friendly content.
People turn to search engines when they’re searching. Writing your blog and website copy with this in mind makes it easier for readers to find you.
It’s easy to overthink this one but don’t.
Go ahead and type something into Google and make note of how you worded it. Chances are you typed it either in the form of a question. Or with the intent to find an answer. “Where can I buy Christmas lights when it’s not Christmas time” is a question I typed into Google today.
I had a specific question. And typing it into Google produced countless answers, solutions, and products. This is why keyword research is so important. The results I got used keywords relating to my search.
These keywords could be “Christmas lights, buying Christmas lights, not Christmas time.”
There are millions upon thousands of keywords. To make this easier to digest, they’re categorized into four kinds of search intent.
These categories include:
Informational search intent
The goal is to get information. The best form of copy to deliver this information is in value-packed blogs.
2. Navigational search intent
This is a kind of search where someone is trying to find a certain webpage or website. Homepages, pillar posts, and evergreen content are the best for navigational searches.
3. Transactional search intent
As the name suggests, these are searches done when someone wants to buy something. Sales pages and product descriptions are best used for these searches.
4. Consumer investigation search intent
These are like transaction searches, only in this case, the buyer isn’t quite ready to make a sale. Blogs educate these readers turning them from cold leads to buyers ready to buy.
Using the right sort of SEO on your website and blogs meets your reader where they are in their search intent.
3. Always have quality over quantity.
Google takes pride in what it provides its users and Google’s all about quality information.
Quality can be somewhat subjective. Especially when we’re talking about how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks your content.
Let’s break this down. Crawling refers to analyzing your webpage, and indexing organizes the information found. And ranking is where your webpage shows up on the search results page.
A few ways you can rank for higher quality content include:
Providing relevant information
Quick load times on your website
Working backlinks
In-depth, keyword-rich content
Correct grammar and spelling
Quality copy lets Google know your website is a relevant source of information.
4. Don’t ignore length, but don’t dwell on it either.
Your blogs should be thorough and yet concise. Using enough words to get the message across.
As long as search engines have been around, the debate on how long copy should be has been going on. They still don’t have a concrete answer. But while length matters, it isn’t everything.
The last thing you want is a blog stuffed with fluff words with the goal of increasing the word count. Your readers and Google deserve more respect than this.
Google sees well-written blogs and website copy as being of higher quality. They’re viewed as being more educational and relevant for the reader. And this sort of content gets rewarded by moving higher up in ranking.
Three things Google looks for when ranking content include:
Substance
Evidence
Facts
Incorporating these three elements gives your copy more depth and volume.
HubSpot did a study in 2021 and found the ideal blog post length for SEO purposes needs to be between 2,000-2,400 words. This number might sound very overwhelming. Especially if you're used to writing blogs ranging from 200-500 words
But before you freak out, here are a few things to remember about length.
Google doesn’t actually count the words on your blog post.
But what Google does take into account is the user intent. You want quality content written for search intent (go back to the previous two strategies).
Don’t let writing for word count be your goal when it comes to SEO. Instead, provide high-value, relevant copy optimized to reach your target audience.
5. Write copy answering common and popular questions.
Give the people what they want. Or better yet, give the people what they’re looking for.
One of the best ways to boost your SEO is using Google to help you uncover common questions people are asking.
People tend to type their problems into Google, rather than typing how to find the solution.
Pretend you own a pest control company. Someone with a mouse problem types into Google “how do I get rid of mice.” They might not know if they need a product, service, or a different solution altogether.
Good news for you because you recently wrote a blog titled “How To Get Rid of Your Mice Problem Once and For All”. Your business came up at the top of the search and this reader landed on your page and gave you a call.
Answering their question brought them to your website.
Don’t assume you know what readers want. Google has made this very easy and gives you plenty of questions searchers ask.
All you need to do is answer them.
Don’t let SEO confusion hold your mental health practice back.
Optimization is important in online marketing and shouldn’t be skipped, ignored, or neglected.
While some people can read a book and have all their mental health problems solved (I’m not one of them), most need to seek out a professional like yourself to help them. They need someone who’s qualified, educated, and knowledgeable.
The same is true with online marketing and SEO.
Some may read this blog and tackle their SEO issues themselves. But it’s okay if that’s not you and you need a bit more support.
As a professional mental health copywriter, I’m qualified, educated, and knowledgeable about optimized copy.
Schedule a FREE Discovery Call and learn how I can help bring organic traffic to your website.
Let’s get SEO working just as hard for you online as you do with your clients.