You’ve probably used Google Maps much more than you realize, even if you’re not using it for navigation. From finding a local coffee shop to seeing which gas stations are on your route to your friend’s house, Google Maps plays a significant role in helping you find businesses in your community. The same idea goes for people finding your mental health clinic.
A Google Maps ranking refers to how highly your clinic is listed on relevant search engine results pages, or SERPs. How you’re ranked is affected by a variety of factors that are considered by the algorithm, including relevance, distance and reputation.
Improving your Google Maps ranking and visibility is a part of local search engine optimization. Local SEO can help you boost your website traffic and conversions by appealing to the needs of the people in your surrounding areas.
We’ll guide you through a few strategies for increasing the Google Maps ranking of your mental health clinic so that you can incorporate them into your local SEO approach.
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Google Business Profile optimization
Your Google Business Profile, previously known as Google My Business, is the listing that appears for your clinic on relevant SERPs. By optimizing your profile, you’re showing the relevance of your clinic to both patients and the algorithm.
Be sure that you claim and verify your GBP to show that you’re the owner of the actual clinic. Then you can have greater control over how your clinic is presented across Google Maps and SERPs.
By keeping all of your profile’s information up to date, you’re increasing your credibility and establishing a sense of trust with patients. Update the basic details that people need to know about your clinic, including:
- Google Maps snapshot of your location
- Phone number
- Reviews
- Hours of operation
- Service/treatment categories you provide
It can also be helpful to add high-quality photos, descriptions of what you do and posts about new offers or events. If you want to increase your rankings and visibility, you have to bring as much value to the listing as possible.
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Using a Google Maps rank checker
If you don’t know how you rank for relevant keywords, then it can be difficult to see possible gaps in your SEO strategy that need to be addressed. That’s where a rank checker comes in handy.
You can use a rank checker tool, such as Semrush, to see how your clinic ranks on Google Maps based on different locations for your target demographics. It can provide a variety of benefits, including:
- Seeing how your site traffic varies across multiple cities
- Finding out which keywords are bringing in the highest ranks
- Learning about your local competition for insight about how to stand out
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Encouraging patient reviews
Every type of business can benefit from positive reviews, because potential customers want to hear about the experience of current or past customers. It’s much easier to take the word of someone who you can relate to than the word of an owner. This is even more important for mental health clinic reviews, because patients want to know that they can put their mental well-being in the hands of someone who has helped others on their journey.
Having credible reviews on your site and GBP can provide a vote of confidence to your credibility, which can lead to higher Google Maps ranking. It’s also important to respond to every review, no matter how negative it may be, to engage with your demographic and strengthen the provider-patient relationship.
You can encourage patient reviews by requesting them at the end of each visit and letting them know how their opinion can help other people work through their mental health challenges.
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Leveraging local SEO strategies
Local SEO allows you to appeal to the target demographics in your area by appearing on SERPs for their relevant concerns and interests. By ensuring that your digital marketing strategy includes local SEO strategies, you can increase your Google Maps ranking and visibility for the patients in the areas you serve.
Keyword research is essential to effective local SEO. You want to see what keywords people in your community are searching for and how you can incorporate them into your efforts.
For example, if you live in a beach town, there may be many keywords related to being out in the sun. Then you can create a blog post called, “5 reasons sunscreen is important.”
You can also build a local backlink network. A backlink refers to a link to your site that’s on another source. By having backlinks from other reputable people, organizations and businesses in your area, you can strengthen your authority in the community and increase website traffic.
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Monitoring performance and adjustments
When you’re trying to boost your Google Maps rankings and visibility, you want to make continual improvements to your marketing efforts. It’s important to keep an eye on how they’ve been performing to see what’s working and what isn’t.
By seeing how your Google Maps rankings change over time, and the amount of traffic that comes from them, you can adjust accordingly, such as taking a new direction with your keyword research.
The key benefit of using an analytic tool for your Google Maps rankings is that you’re able to use the insight from the data to back your next moves. They provide you with reasons to put future decisions into action that are likely to lead to positive results.
Want to attract new patients to your website with Google Maps rankings? BURG+CO. can help
If you want your mental health clinic to show up high on relevant SERPs, then it’s important to pay attention to your Google Maps rankings. With strategies like local SEO and patient reviews, you’re increasing your visibility for potential patients so that they are more likely to choose you as a destination on Google Maps. If you’re not sure how to put these strategies into action, BURG+CO. SEO services are here to help.
Our team has years of experience in helping health care brands improve their digital presence to attract new patients and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and Google Maps rankings and attract more potential patients to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help.
Contact our team today for more information about our digital marketing services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
