Local Chiropractic SEO Guide: Tricks on How to Increase Traffic to Your Website

Highlights

• Local SEO focuses on location-specific keywords and is the best way to attract new patients to your practice. Blogging has its own SEO tactics.
• SEO evolves over time as Google continually changes its algorithms.
• Keywords should be based on common chiropractic search terms and should flow naturally within the text, not be “stuffed.
• It may make sense for your practice to consider outsourcing blog content. Be sure to choose a company that knows best practices for SEO.

What Is Local Chiropractic SEO?

Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your practice be more visible to potential patience looking for services near you.You’re exposed to SEO, or search engine optimization, every time you use a search engine online. SEO is not static; it changes regularly, generally based on that are constantly being tweaked for accuracy and efficiency.

For example, new devices, like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, have driven Google algorithm changes. The rise of voice search is also affecting SEO best practices.

Local SEO involves factors related to your overall site (such as time it takes for a user to load a page). A critical consideration here is whether your practice is using a mobile-responsive website. A 2021 survey found that more than 84% of Americans access the internet with their phones.

Yet a surprisingly large number of businesses are still using websites designed primarily for computer viewing. If your practice is one of them, then even the best SEO practices won’t help you. Most of your potential audience are bouncing off your site as soon as they see that your content doesn’t fit their screens.

Responsive sites are now the standard. If you’re not using one yet, getting one should be your first step toward improving your SEO results.

Chiropractic SEO Keywords

If you hear often that people found your practice online, that means your business is showing up when someone searches for a “chiropractor near me,” which is great. To optimize those searches, you’ll want to make sure you use commonly searched terms and phrases in your blog posts and marketing materials.

There are a number of free keyword tools available to help you identify the most popular keywords related to chiropractic practice, including Semrush and AHRefs.

When SEO is done correctly, keywords flow naturally in the text, and the reader isn’t aware that the material was written specifically for SEO purposes. Badly written chiropractic SEO has keywords “stuffed” throughout the article or blog post with no thought to how jarring it is to read.

Keyword stuffing is now counterproductive because with each tweak of Google’s algorithms, searches become more sophisticated. Google can now judge quality — and penalize sites that don’t offer it — when determining page ranking.

With minor changes in Google algorithms taking place every day and major changes several times a year, it is imperative to keep up with the latest trends in chiropractor SEO.

Businesses now need to offer valuable information to their audience if they want Google to recognize them.

As part of a busy chiropractic practice, you may not have the time or expertise to keep up with SEO best practices yourself, so you may want to consider outsourcing your chiropractic SEO needs to a specialist.

Chiropractic SEO for Blogging

First Things First

There are two critical things chiropractic bloggers need to think about from the beginning:

1. Once you start a blog, you must produce fresh content on a regular basis. You will need a posting schedule and the discipline to stick to it. A posting frequency of at least a week is ideal to start with, but it’s best to post two or three times a week as your blog or practice grows. Consistency is the most important factor. An initial flurry of posts that steadily decreases will not reflect well on your practice. People want to see professionalism, particularly in a health care practice.
2. Never use your practice blog to sell your readers something. Focus on providing informational and educational posts that your current and potential patients will find valuable. SEO is important, of course; the better optimized your content is, the higher it’s likely to rank in searches. But more importantly, give your readers current and interesting content, and they will see you as a trusted source of information. They will be more likely to think of you first when they need the services you provide.

Best SEO Practices for Writing Blog Posts

• Google prefers longer-form posts, so aim for 1000 words or more for each post. Make sure every word is valuable; no fluff. Trust us — Google will know!
• Include your targeted keyword in the title and at least one heading. Use related keywords in your content.
• Consider voice search in your SEO targets. Use natural language questions your target audience might search for, and use them as headings in your blog posts.
• Use lots of photos, and name each image.
• Consider multiple forms of content, including videos and podcasts. A good mix of content types makes what you have to say more interesting for your audience and attracts a broader range of users.

Users now prefer video to text in numbers that continue to grow. In a recent marketing survey, 69% of respondents said they’d prefer to watch a short video to reading text. And 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

Podcasts are also becoming more and more popular. Over 20% of Americans listen to weekly podcasts, and 75% of podcast listeners listen to learn new things. A weekly educational podcast could be a great way to increase brand awareness among your potential patients.

Tips for Choosing Topics

Coming up with interesting topics that provide good information for your current patients while incorporating chiropractic keywords is the key to successful blogging.

If your post is about sports injuries, for example, that term should appear in the title, and other chiropractor keywords such as the types of sports injuries you treat most often in your practice should be in subheads and in the text itself. You should also include commonly searched-for related keywords such as sports-related injuries, common sports injuries, or sports injury treatments.

Here are a few more tips about topics:

• The media is a good source for chiropractic posting ideas. A little controversy could draw interest, but be certain that it won’t cause offense and turn away some of your patients. Covering a controversial subject from both sides and remaining neutral is a good way to get the public reading your blog without making yourself a target.
• Focusing on attracting new patients in your blog posts could increase your web traffic and your office traffic at the same time. A step-by-step explanation of what they can expect at their initial visit is a good topic to offer early on. Adding video introductions to each provider would be a great way to humanize your practice.
• Even though you are writing about more general chiropractic topics, use standard chiropractic keywords such as “back pain” and “neck pain” in your post for SEO purposes.
• Some of your blog posts may focus on workshops or other events your practice is hosting or involved in. With a little tweaking, these posts can also serve as press releases or social media postings.

Local Chiropractic SEO

Local SEO is perhaps the most effective means of advertising for a brick-and-mortar business such as a chiropractic practice. With local SEO, you are targeting potential readers/patients in your service area.

Here are a few hints on how to use local SEO:

• Incorporate keywords specific to your location — such as city names, neighborhoods, or landmarks near your office — to target potential patients in your vicinity.
• You’ll also need to include your practice name, address, and phone number in your local SEO, and make sure everything is spelled correctly.
• Use local SEO throughout your content, always in a natural form, such as, “If you’re looking for a caring chiropractor in Fishtown ….”
• Place your information with as many local online medical directories as possible. Not only does this make it easier for patients to find you, but such listings help you acquire good backlinks that will send traffic to your website.
• Claim your business on Google My Business, which includes not only your address and contact information but photos and reviews. Encourage satisfied patients to leave good reviews on your website so that those seeking chiropractic care receive the kind of specific information they’re searching for.