Google Maps optimization
When you’re aiming to enhance your clinic’s visibility you need to implement a local maps marketing plan that immediately captures the attention of both search engines and potential clients. Using Google, the world’s top search engine, you can lay out a quick and easy path right to the doorstep of your practice with Google Maps optimization.
To do so, you need to optimize your online content, beginning with your profiles. The following tips will help you do just that.
Check the Accuracy of Your Google My Business Profile
Your GMB profile is the basic building block of your online presence. It provides users with your medical practice name, phone number, address, website, and other essential information about your business when they conduct a web search for the kinds of services you provide. Any additional information will help you target the specific audience you seek.
Your profile is one of the first assets the Google algorithm will scan. For your practice to be included in search results, it is critical that your information remains accurate.
Categorize Your GMB Listing Correctly
Your Google search ranking can be significantly affected by the categories you choose for your business when completing your profile. Try to select categories that provide a description as close as possible to the kind of clinic your GMB profile represents.
If your profile is for a physical therapy practice or a sports medicine center, select a primary category that most closely matches your niche. You can get a bit more specific by choosing one or two subcategories.
Use Eye-Catching Photos
In the age of Instagram and other social media platforms, the image is king. It certainly is true that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and several compelling photos can tell the story of your practice in seconds.
Your profile can include pictures of your staff members in action assisting patients, your state-of-the-art facility, or before-and-after photos of clients who have successfully reached the ends of their healing journeys. Maximize your pictures with brief captions, using client testimonials to highlight the effectiveness of your methodologies.
Provide an Intriguing Description of Your Clinic
It’s not just what you do, but how you do it. Simply listing your services, therapeutic techniques, or areas of expertise may not be enough to set you apart from your competition, especially online.
Enlist the help of the most creative writer on your staff to craft a description that piques the interest of a wide audience. Give your description a warm and inviting tone that is down-to-earth yet professional. Readers can begin to develop trust in your expertise and a sense that you care from just a few initial lines of text.
Google allots you 750 words to describe your practice’s ethos, history, and approach to care. That should be more than enough to make a great impression on prospective clients.
Optimize Your SEO with Links to Your Content
Every opportunity you get to improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) should be harnessed. Your GMB profile is like a virtual front door that leads users to your practice’s URL and other content.
Be sure to include links to your website, landing pages, and other major online assets such as social media, blogs, eBooks, or your YouTube channel. Doing so will increase traffic to those destinations and help boost your overall Google Maps ranking.
Maximize Key Words, Phrases, and FAQ
Every region has idioms, accents, and manners of speaking that are unique to that area. You can easily use your Google posts to attract clients by including keywords, questions, and phrases that people in your area recognize and identify with.
Local jargon in your GMB profile and other content can be easily picked up through searches for medical services in your geographic area. Just be sure to use the exact wording that potential clients are likely to use, to increase your odds of being quickly matched to web searches.
Spread the Word with Great Reviews
Nothing provides better proof of your expertise than the enthusiastic words of satisfied clients. Their testimonials and feedback about your bedside manner and the effective techniques you use have the power to convert prospects to patients.
Most patients are more than happy to put in a good word for you by providing online reviews about your business. Don’t miss the opportunity to request reviews when talking with patients on the phone or in person. High recommendations of your practice displayed on your GMB profile will encourage prospective clients to click for directions and head straight to your clinic.
Partner with Other Businesses for Backlinks
Another effective way to boost your Google Maps ranking is to partner with other local businesses. You no doubt already have great relationships with other medical-related companies, like pharmacies, equipment suppliers, or even therapeutic spas.
You can offer to write guest posts for their blogs or websites, and request backlinks for yours in return. Partnerships like this help to enhance everyone’s reputation, and they will increase traffic to your website and online content, while boosting your website’s SEO.
Contact the Experts
The online landscape is constantly changing, and sometimes you need the enhanced insight of experts to make the most of Google Maps for your local clinic visibility. Web development experts can help you improve your SEO, and subsequently, the foot traffic to your clinic, so you can continue to provide the stellar care you’re known for.
{References
Quesenberry, K., “Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution”, Google Books, 2020
Metha, H., et al., “Google Maps”, International Journal of Computer Applications”, Vol. 178, No. 8, May 2019. }
