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Last Update July 25th, 2016 — In today’s Internet driven world, being found online is essential.
That’s why it’s imperative that chiropractors understand chiropractic SEO as much as they understand chiropractic management.
But before you think chiropractic search engine optimization is the Holy Grail, think again.
Today’s chiropractor needs to be well-rounded in all aspects of chiropractic Internet marketing.
If it’s new to you, make sure you review the basics.
To get started, you may want to read the following:
- A Complete Guide on How to Choose the Perfect Domain Name for Your Chiropractic Clinic
- How to Choose Web Hosting for Your Chiropractic Website
- Why Chiropractors Should Self-Host Their Chiropractic WordPress Website
- 4 Types of Content Every Chiropractor Ought to Use
But if you already have a good grasp of the basics, it’s time to shift gears into SEO.
Even though chiropractic SEO isn’t the Holy Grail for attracting new patients, it should still receive considerable attention when building a successful chiropractic marketing strategy.
Because of this, chiropractors need to familiarize themselves with the three types of SEO.
By doing so they’ll better understand how it impacts their ability to spread the chiropractic message as well as compete within their local SERPs (search engine result pages).
Ready to dive in?
Let’s get started…
What Every Chiropractor Ought To Know About On-Page SEO
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Chiropractic on-page SEO deals with the optimization of every page that is a part of your chiropractic website.
This includes every blog post that is published as well.
But before we address how this is done make sure you have the correct permalink structure setup within WordPress.
You’ll find the permalink settings under Settings → Permalinks.
The default permalink is ?p=<postid> but should be changed to Post name.
You also need to decide how you want your domain name to show up in search.
For example, do you want your domain name to show up as www.mydomainname.com or simply mydomainname.com?
To set this, go in your general settings, under Settings → General and enter your domain name how you’d like it to appear.
You will also want to make sure this is setup correctly in your Google Webmaster Tools account.
Once the aforementioned is taken care of, go ahead and install the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast.
Once installed, you’ll be prompted to take a tour of the plugin.
If you’ve never used the plugin before, I highly recommend that you spend a few minutes going through the tour so that you can familiarize yourself with its features.
Once done, navigate to SEO → Titles & Metas.
You should now see several tabs for different types of pages on your site.
Go ahead and set these up for optimal on-page search engine optimization.
Once done, this will produce a Title Template as well as meta description templates for all pages.
But don’t stop there.
Make sure you spend more time optimizing individual pages and posts by using the snippet preview section that’s provided below the Editor section of each page and post within WordPress.
The title, the contents of your page’s <title> tag, is one of the single most important factors for ranking in the search results.
Not only is it the literal title of the tab or browser window, it’s also the first line people see in the search results.
The snippet preview allows you to edit this for optimal SEO.
For further instruction on how to get the most out of the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast, visit my Members Area.
Once inside, navigate to Dashboard → WordPress SEO.
There you’ll find 17 videos that’ll walk you through how to get the most out of this amazing and powerful plugin.
What Every Chiropractor Ought To Know About Local SEO
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Chiropractic local SEO focuses on claiming and verifying as many local citations and directories within your local market.
Local citations and directories include sites like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Yelp, Merchant Circle, Healthgrades, YellowPages.com, Whitepages, and CitySearch.
But that’s not all!
There are literally hundreds of local directories that represent your local market.
So, to help strengthen your online presence, you need to make sure you claim and verify as many listings as you can.
The problem, however, is that claiming these listings can be a real pain in the rear!
For example, each company has its own set of guidelines and if you don’t follow them, trying to claim your listings can be a real time suck!
Matter of fact, most chiropractors I’ve spoken with have simply given up trying because of the time commitment involved juxtaposed with the frustration they experience.
Why does it matter anyway — especially when some of these directories aggregate your listing from other sources?
It matters because if your business name, address and phone number (aka your NAP) isn’t being reported correctly, it can affect your overall rankings locally.
If you’re not familiar with NAP, you may want to read 3 Things That Should Never Change With Your Chiropractic Local Listing.
So obviously you want to make sure you take the time to have these listings claimed and verified.
The nice thing is that you can actually delegate this process to someone else.
Some chiropractors delegate it to one of their chiropractic assistants while smart chiropractors seek the help of a professional.
I don’t say that condescending toward chiropractic assistants.
I say it because, in my experience, chiropractic assistants don’t have a clue on where to start let alone how to finish the process.
And that’s not their fault because they’ve never been trained on how to do it!
My recommendation is that you seek out and hire someone that is very familiar with the process and gets the job done in a professional manner.
If you can’t find anyone that you trust, checkout my chiropractic local listing services that are available for chiropractors whom are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
What Every Chiropractor Ought To Know About Off-Page SEO
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Chiropractic off-page SEO focuses on building quality links off of your website’s pages and posts in order to help establish authority and authenticity within the niche or industry you represent.
In other words, your goal with off-page SEO is to acquire as many quality links (aka backlinks) as you can that point back to your chiropractic website for the sole purpose of pushing your overall site’s ranking further up the SERPs.
Why is this important?
Because the higher you rank in the SERPs, the more chances you have on being found.
Consider this…
- 75% of people that perform searches on Google click on the organic search results over what’s displayed via ads.
- Out of the 75%, 95% DO NOT go beyond page one.
Now do you see why it’s so important to focus on SEO?
Being found on page one can have a huge impact on a chiropractor’s business’s bottom line.
Therefore, it’s of paramount importance that you invest in off-page SEO on a consistent basis.
If you don’t, you can be assured that your competitors will (especially in larger markets).
Obviously, you can try to learn the process and do it yourself (which probably isn’t a great idea) or you can leave it to the pros like the team I’ve put together over at DCRank.
DCRank is the #1 chiropractic SEO service provider for chiropractors.
They rank chiropractic websites higher to attract more new patients and prove the ROI for chiropractic marketing.
The choice is yours.
You can spend the time manually building thousands upon thousands of backlinks, writing press releases, guest blog posting, then boosting all of those backlinks to help lift your site to #1 or you can simply hire DCRank, then set it and forget it!
It’s that easy!
Chiropractors Need To Pay To Play
Learn how to attract quality new patients using the Internet! Become a member for free! Click HERE.
Chiropractic SEO isn’t rocket science.
But it does require a great deal of time and effort to get it done correctly.
Some chiropractors are doing it well but the majority aren’t.
Which category do you fall in?
If your competitors are killing it and you’re not, then it’s time to reevaluate your marketing strategy.
Today’s market is a pay-to-play model.
I don’t care if you’re talking about search engine optimization or social media.
Facebook is a great example.
If you don’t pay Facebook to reach your audience, your updates will rarely be seen.
This is no accident.
Facebook is a business.
They’re main objective is to make their shareholders happy.
The same goes for Google.
The constant algorithm updates require chiropractors to either hire a professional to keep up with the madness or simply fall off the proverbial search engine map because they refuse to spend the money to get the job done.
Bottom line: Understanding and investing in the three types of SEO is imperative for chiropractors that want to both spread the chiropractic message to the masses as well as dominate SERPs in their local market.
