Over the past few years, most senior living providers have made content marketing a priority in their marketing strategy. As a result, the competition for keywords and phrases has gotten pretty intense. Whether it’s fighting for organic traffic or for ads, most companies are focusing on the same handful of words. Rarely do we ever find anyone who isn’t a client of ours including comparison keywords in their strategy.
What’s a senior living comparison keyword, you may be wondering?
These are words and phrases older adults and their families are probably using in their search when they are trying to learn more about our complicated industry. Or when they are trying to refine their list of options.
Let’s take a quick look at where your senior living SEO opportunity lies…
Comparison Keywords Helps SEO
For a brief few months this summer, COVID-19 seemed to be behind us here in the Mitten State. We decided to head to northern Michigan for vacation, the same as we did in the pre-pandemic days. You know, like regular folks living normal lives. Finally.
But we had a few extra passengers this time around. More than would fit in our house. Because we were last minute planners, our regular options were booked solid. And we weren’t excited about having family members stay in hotels quite yet.
Like most vacationers do, we took to the Google machine for options. We used search terms like “alternatives to hotels in Harbor Springs” and “alternatives to hotels in Petoskey.”
Of course, VRBO, Home Away, and Airbnb all came up with plenty of houses for rent but the fees were just crazy high! One added charge after another. Seriously. It was madness.
So then we Googled, “alternatives to VRBO” and “booking services not Airbnb” and so on.
Eureka! That was the ticket! We found a small northern Michigan rental agency with great houses for rent. And very reasonable fees.
That search history lead us to a solution that worked out perfectly.Turns out their son worked in the tech industry and helped them create their little website. While they can’t really compete with the big dogs, they own their secondary market. Their business is thriving with lots of repeat travelers.
What Are Comparison Keywords in Senior Living?
So, what the heck does that saga have to do with senior living comparison keywords ?
When you know an industry well, like most of you probably do the senior care and aging services fields, it’s easy to put blinders on.
We think of our service lines in terms of level of care: independent living, assisted living, nursing homes, skilled nursing and rehab, life care community, home care, and so on.
Most providers are optimizing for those keywords and phrases. It makes for a very competitive online experience.
Sidebar: Some companies might get crazy and have a content-rich blog that expands their keywords strategy, but few senior living companies really do a great job with blogging. For most, it’s one long, boring sales pitch.
But how do families see our communities and services? Are they clear on what types of care are out there? Maybe they are struggling to understand what each one offers? Or to figure out if there are alternatives to consider? Are they on the fence debating one level of care or another?
When you optimize for all those situations and comparison keywords, you’ll likely meet some new folks who find their way to your site.
Need some more specific examples and ideas? Here are some that might give you the light bulb moment we hope makes this easier to understand and try:
- “Versus” articles we write for senior living clients almost always perform well. That’s likely because families struggle to understand how assisted living is different than independent living. Or how a nursing home differs from skilled nursing and rehab. And so on and so on. The nuances of these similar but different types of care create more advanced searches.
- “Alternatives” is another one to consider. Like our example above showed, if people know what they want and aren’t finding it, they might get more creative in their search. I had a family member recently tell me they found a residential care home for a neighbor when local assisted living communities she visited felt too overwhelming. She searched using “alternatives to assisted living in Ann Arbor.” The residential care home had a great website that literally compared themselves feature by feature to assisted living communities. Pretty little chart and all.
- Google is getting better and better about understanding what people are really looking for in a search. What might throw them, however, is how different senior living lingo and terminology can be from state to state. Aged care home in one state might be a group home in another. Without getting yourself in to trouble with licensing, think about utilizing synonyms in your content. It’s a little different than straight comparison keyword, but one that’s likely to come up especially if adult children are searching from another state.
You get the idea right?
Your challenge for 2022 is to look beyond the obvious and test out some senior living comparison keywords.
Drop us a note if you have any questions!