Today we welcome guest blogger, Eric Bridges. Several of our senior living content clients use Eric for their SEO so we are lucky enough to work with him on a regular basis.
We asked Eric to share some of his sage SEO advice with our readers this week…
6 Action Steps to Improve Your Senior Living SEO
Whether you are the owner of your own independent senior living community or the CEO of a national chain, many people tend to get nervous when they’re asked about their website marketing strategy. Agencies, consultants, and others will pretend that website marketing is such a hard concept to grasp that there is nothing a “non-technical” person can do on their own.
I’m here to tell you that is completely untrue.
We’ve compiled a list of six things that you’re able to execute on your own which can help improve any website.
Is this all there is to website marketing?
No. But if you don’t have the budget for an SEO agency or consultant, doing these things should help your search engine presence.
- Don’t Guess What Keywords People Are Searching, Know For Sure
Sadly, I’ve encountered many clients within senior living that think they’re doing great in search rankings because they rank first for the keyword “senior living facilities that have memory care in [CITY NAME]”. When I inform them that nobody actually searches that keyword which means it is useless to rank for it, they always ask how I know that.
There are a ton of different keyword tools available that will give you estimates on how many monthly searches are/aren’t done. Try going to the Google Keyword Planner and typing in various keywords you think people would search for related to your senior care service. This tool is actually meant for Google pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, but will still give you estimates on the search volumes different keywords get (and also offer other related ideas).
It should be noted that Google made a recent update that now limits just how much granular visibility you have into the exact number of searches. But it does provide ranges. If there is no range then there aren’t searches being conducted for that keyword (and you shouldn’t be targeting it). Think of this tool as more directional in nature for keyword research now that they’ve made these changes.
It is also important to not let your branding standards stop you from targeting higher value/more searched terms. I understand that some clients are averse to terms like “facility” or “nursing home” and prefer terms like “continuing care retirement communities” but it’s likely that term gets less (if not zero) searches compared to the others. You can still include those terms and target them in your copy and SEO strategy while maintaining your brand.
Don’t just guess what keywords might be getting search volume, take some time and find out for sure.
- Combine Geo With Search Keywords
As you do some keyword research and find out what types of keywords are being searched, you will also need to make sure geographic identifiers are present (if applicable). So if your senior living community only serves Kansas City, you should make sure that “Kansas City” is present throughout your content, title tags, and other on-site optimization factors.
I’ve seen many clients that are baffled on why they don’t rank for local search terms until they realize that they don’t actually mention the city anywhere on their website.
- Don’t Forget Conversion Elements
Website marketing isn’t just about gaining the traffic to your website but also knowing what to do with it. Utilizing things like forms, phone numbers, and other conversion elements will help monetize that traffic better and lead to higher occupancy rates at your senior living community.
A 20% increase to your organic traffic can do wonders. A 20% increase to your conversion rate can transform your business.
- Use Free Tools
You don’t need to be a website marketing expert to deploy some of the free tools that are available to every website owner. Here are just a few I recommend that can provide valuable insights to your website:
- Google Analytics: If you find yourself wondering how much traffic you receive from social media and various search engines then you should try to setup Google Analytics for your website. With some extra setup Google Analytics can provide you with insights on user behavior, audience demographic info, and even conversion rates of particular pages.
- Google Search Console: Once known as Google Webmaster Tools, Search Console provides insights to a TON of search related information. You can see how many pages Google has indexed on your website, crawler issues, and even security issues (often with recommended fixes). Bing also has something similar you can use.
- Moz Free Tools: From tools that help with checking your local listing optimization to revealing content and linkbuilding opportunities, Moz has several free tools at your disposal.
- Google Trends: If you’re not sure of your industry cyclical trends, you can type in various search terms to Google Trends and it will give you historical search volumes by month. It can help with marketing budget allotment and more.
These are just a few out there but all are pretty easy to setup (especially if your website is built in WordPress, Drupal, or most CMS’).
- Please Don’t Forget About Mobile
Most of us work on desktop monitors. We spend most of our business day working on these monitors and begin to look at our website in only that view. However, I’m guessing that when you get home, one of the first things you do is hop on your phone and begin to search the web.
Mobile can often be forgotten when it comes to our own websites but that is just no longer acceptable. 2015 was the tipping point where mobile searches outnumbered desktop which means it is likely half of your website visitors are on a mobile device.
6. Have Unbiased Eyes Review Your Site
If you can’t look at your website without a bias (and it’s definitely tough to do), try having friends or family (preferably within your target demographic) navigate through your website. Ask them to simply say what they do and don’t like about the website or request they try specific things (i.e. like trying to contact you directly). You might start to better understand how mobile users operate and end up creating a seamless mobile experience.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t take an expert to do a lot of the things mentioned above. It does require some time and learning, but the return on that could be huge if your website presence isn’t producing the leads you need it to.
Eric Bridges is the founder of E7 Cyber and has an expansive history in lead generation, pay-per-click advertising, and SEO services related to the senior living industry.