In today’s digital age, it’s more important than ever for allied health professionals to have a strong online presence. This means having a well-designed website, active social media profiles, and, most importantly, high-quality content that is optimized for search engines.
SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of improving the ranking of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs). When your website is optimized for SEO, it is more likely to appear at the top of the search results when people are looking for information about your services.
Why is SEO important for allied health professionals?
There are a number of reasons why SEO is important for allied health professionals. Here are just a few:
- Increase website traffic: When your website is optimized for SEO, it is more likely to appear at the top of the search results. This means that more people will see your website, which can lead to more appointments and referrals.
- Build brand awareness: SEO can help you to build brand awareness by increasing the visibility of your website and online content. This can help you to attract new patients and clients.
- Establish yourself as an expert: By creating high-quality content that is relevant to your field, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field. This can help you to attract more patients and clients who are looking for your services.
How can you optimize your allied health website for SEO?
There are a number of things you can do to optimize your allied health website for SEO. Here are a few tips:
- Keyword research: Identify the keywords that people are using to search for information about your services. Use these keywords throughout your website, including in your website copy, page titles, and meta descriptions.
- High-quality content: Create high-quality content that is relevant to your field and that is informative and engaging for your target audience.
- Link building: Get other websites to link to your website. This can help to improve your website’s authority and ranking in search engine results pages.
Creating SEO-Optimized Content for Your Allied Health Brand
Here are four tips for creating SEO-optimized content for your allied health brand:
- 1. Know your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your content? What are their needs and interests? Once you understand your target audience, you can create content that is relevant to them and that will address their needs.
- 2. Choose your keywords wisely. Keywords are the words and phrases that people use to search for information online. When you choose your keywords, be sure to choose ones that are relevant to your field and that people are actually searching for.
- 3. Create high-quality content. Your content should be informative, engaging, and easy to read. It should also be well-written and free of errors.
- 4. Promote your content. Once you have created your content, be sure to promote it on your website, social media channels, and other online platforms.
An Example of Great SEO Optimized Content
When an Australian Hand Therapist allied health clinic located in Adelaide, South Australia, wrote a blog post about choosing the best carpal tunnel brace, they never knew it would lead to such a large increase in website traffic. This page alone gained first position for the term “carpal tunnel splint” in Australia and accounts for over 1,400 unique monthly searches – more than 60% of the entire website’s organic traffic!
What they did right: before writing, they conducted keyword research to identify topics that were receiving good monthly search traffic and had comparatively low competition.
A free week’s subscription to Ahrefs.com, SEMRush.com or similar is a good way to do all your clinic’s keyword research in one go for the entire year.
Next, they identified topics they were experts on and which were relevant to their business. Google and other search engines value expertise and topic relevancy very highly, so writing on topics outside of your wheelhouse will be harder to rank for organically.
Finally, they wrote a keyword optimized article which wasn’t trying to sell anything, but rather provide trustworthy information along with resource links at the bottom. Google clearly deemed this article to be the best on the topic within Australia and gave them top rankings for multiple relevant carpal tunnel keywords!
Going forward, they can repeat the process for other topics they are expert on and continue to build both their brand and business.
If you need help improving your SEO content strategy, then consulting a reputable copywriter may be a good option.
Additional SEO Tips for Allied Health Professionals
- Use internal linking: Internal linking is the process of linking to other pages on your website. This can help to improve your website’s navigation and can also help to distribute link equity throughout your website.
- Optimize your images: Be sure to optimize your images for SEO by using descriptive file names and alt text.
- Submit your website to local directories: This can help to improve your website’s visibility in local search results.
By following these tips, you can create SEO-optimized content that will help you to build your allied health brand and attract more patients and clients.