In the previous article, we showed you why local SEO is important for chiropractors. Your marketing goal must be to get website traffic from people in your local area, who are likely to become your patients, not from people in other cities or other countries. Today we will show you how to create an effective local SEO strategy without spending one single cent.
We know that you don’t have a large marketing budget. After all, you were not able to run your practice to its full potential for a year now. Thus, we want to help you find patients and become visible to them on online searches.
Key Elements of an Effective Local SEO Strategy
Google relies on various pointers that indicate that a website belongs to a business that is:
- In the local area of the user performing the search
- A good match for the type of products or services the user is looking for
- Reliable and with a good reputation.
To gain information on a website for these purposes, Google bots search the internet. The most important sources of information on the business are, in order:
- Google My Business Listing
- Business directory citations
- Customer reviews
- Content posted on the website
- Backlinks from other websites to the site of the respective business
Therefore, to create an effective Local SEO strategy, you need to cover all these aspects of your chiropractic practice. Here is how to do it:
1. Create Your Google My Business Listing
Google My Business is an online business directory owned by Google. It is available for free to all businesses across the globe. To get started, create your Google My Business (GMB) listing here: https://business.google.com/create.
Here are the main steps you need to go through:
- Type in your exact business name
- Select your business category – chiropractor is one of them
- Add the location of your practice
- Fill in the exact address of your business
- Add a phone number
- Specify business hours
- Add high-quality photos of your offices and your business logo.
It is extremely important to add an accurate address and a valid phone number. Google will ask you to verify your listing by postal card or phone. Once your location is confirmed, your Google My Business account is active.
As an added bonus, a Pin with your location will be added to Google Maps.
2. List Your Practice in Online Business Directories
You should find all the popular business directories where you can list your practice. You must be careful to use accurate NAP information (name, address, phone number). Moreover, remember to use the same address format for each of these directories and for your GMB listing. Otherwise, Google may interpret them as different locations and you will end up competing against yourself.
3. Encourage Patients to Leave Reviews
Reviews on your Google My Business listing are very important. When a business appears in the Local Pack box, the information Google displays include its rating and the number of customer reviews.
Remember to include an invitation to leave a review in emails to your patients, especially when you send them a progress report of their treatment and at the end of a treatment session when they are truly happy with your services.
4. Add Local Keywords to Your Website Content
One of the simplest ways of building an effective local SEO strategy is to add “in [city name]” to your main keywords throughout your blog posts. You should also create an About Us page, where you list prominently your location and use terms such as “near me”, “close to”, etc.
Make sure that your contact page also contains the full NAP information – in the same format used elsewhere.
5. Generate Local Backlinks
Backlinks represent other websites linking to yours. You earn them by:
- Participating in professional or community events
- Being a reliable source of information
- Searching for guest post opportunities (publishing your articles on other websites)
Once again, please remember that it is not enough to create an effective local SEO strategy – you need to keep updating and improving it on a continuous basis.
