Like most health and wellness businesses, as an optometrist, you have a distinctly local focus in marketing. You don’t want to attract new patients living outside your ideal service area. This means your marketing needs to specifically target your local community, even down to the zip codes you service.
This creates a challenge for optometry businesses. You must localize your online marketing in order to reach the right people with your message. An optimized website and localized online marketing focus is essential to this. If you are ready to embrace localized online marketing for your practice, here are some local SEO website strategies for optometrists that will help.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO refers to using local search terms to target the people who live in your area. It helps drive the right traffic to your website and other online properties. It also works to keep your geographic tags consistent across your platforms. Since your goal as an optometrist is to attract nearby customers, it is an essential part of your online marketing strategy.
Factors Influencing Local Search Rankings
Several factors impact your local search ranking. Understanding and embracing each of these will help you rank high when people in your local community are searching for optometry services.
- Keywords: Relevant, local keywords play a role in local SEO
- Google Business Profile: A consistent and accurate Google Business Profile is the starting point for local SEO.
- On-Page Signals: Working in local terms and facts to your website will help draw local traffic.
- Reviews: Reviews from people who live in your community help drive your local traffic.
- Citations: Any place your name, address, and phone number is listed, including business directory listings, will help your local SEO.
- Links: Having links from localized sites, like your local chamber of commerce, is another signal to the search engines that you’re a viable business in your community.
Here is a closer look at each of these and how you can optimize them to work for you.
Keyword Research
Keywords are the words people search for when looking for a business like yours. For local SEO, you will move beyond just optometry terms and include local search terms, such as your city or your zip code. As you look for your keywords to incorporate on your website, you must balance a high search likelihood with a low competition.
To do this, first list the words and phrases related to your business. Then, list the locations you’re targeting. Create a list of relevant keyword strands that use both of these.
Next, check the metrics of these keywords. Some will have a high search volume, and some will not. However, you also need to check the competition. The more websites that are using that strand, the harder it will be to rank high. Look for high-value, low-competition keywords. Finally, use a keyword research tool to check your competition against these keywords. This will help you build a comprehensive list of keywords you can target as you grow your online presence.
As you look for tools to research keywords, consider the ones offered by Google. Google Keyword Planner can be quite helpful. In addition, your online marketing platform should offer keyword research help.
On-Page SEO Optimization
Now that you have your list of keywords, you are ready to add them into your website to optimize it. Make sure you do so naturally, so Google does not feel you are keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing means adding your selected keyword far too many times into sentences where it doesn’t naturally make sense. Next, optimize your meta tags, including the title, description, and headers to target your local community. Finally, make sure your website is optimized for an excellent user experience, including mobile optimization and fast loading times.
Localized Content Creation
You can’t simply optimize your website for local SEO and forget about it. You need to consistently create new location-specific content. A blog is a great place to put this information, and you can also create specific location pages for the various cities and zip codes you are targeting.
First, create blog posts with local relevance, such as things to do in your area or highlights of local health and wellness events. Make sure these are relevant to your readers as well as your local community.
Next, build specific location pages for each town you serve. Make sure the contact information is relevant and accessible. Add an embedded Google Map to this website to make it easy for people to find you.
When you can, use photos and images that are locally relevant and add the image tags. When you get testimonials from satisfied patients, add them to the site with a geotag of the person’s location. All of this signals to Google that you’re relevant in your community.
Local Citations
Local citations are places on the web where your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are listed. Business listings and online directories are common local citations. Review sites can also have your NAP. Work to build as many of these as possible, and link to your website and social pages when you have them. Ensure the NAP are consistent on every listing to avoid confusion, both for new and current patients and for Google.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data refers to the format you use to present information about your website and its pages to Google. It’s a structured way to tell the search engines what your page is all about and also provides information and snippets to the search engines to reflect what the results are if someone clicks your link. If you incorporate structured data into each page of your website, then the search results snippets will display what you want them to.
Schema.org is a website that allows you to create markups that communicate with all major search engines. It offers several features that can boost your local search results, such as local tags, NAP information, geographic coordinates to your business location, zip codes for areas served, and reviews. You can also place your business and website in the appropriate schema category for optometrists and thus signal to the search engines exactly what it is that you offer.
Website Performance Analytics
Finally, once you set up your website and optimize it for local search, you must track and analyze its performance. Google Analytics is the most valuable way to do so. Use the data to track user behavior and traffic sources. See what keywords are working, and which ones are failing to perform. Make adjustments based on this data so you can improve your local SEO performance and better reach people who need your optometry services.
Make Localizing Your Optometry Business Easier with Surefire Local
If reading this list makes you feel a bit overwhelmed, you are not alone. Many businesses find localizing their website and building a strong local presence online to be time-consuming. Surefire Local offers an all-in-one platform that can help you manage all of these tasks more efficiently and with less frustration. If you are ready to increase your visibility in specific zip codes and improve your local patient engagement, our tools are what you need.
With Surefire Local, you can build a website with local SEO optimizations in place. Create geo-tagged content and publish it quickly to your website or blog directly from the platform. You can also manage and respond to reviews, claim and optimize your directory listings, and ensure consistency for all of your local citations.
Surefire Local also manages your content and social media marketing. You can schedule posts, optimize your business profiles, and respond to comments directly from the platform. You can stay consistent while saving time and effort.
This comprehensive platform also has tools for local online advertising, including the analytics you need to make data-driven decisions. Set up and track your ads, using local search terms to attract the attention of people who live in your service area. This helps you maximize your ROI for paid advertising. The platform’s transparent, easy-to-understand reporting allows you to take specific action when you need to make improvements to your advertising campaigns.
Finally, Surefire Local provides educational resources designed for local businesses. Read blog posts or participate in webinars designed specifically for local, small businesses. Learn everything you need to know about online marketing and local SEO website strategies for optometrists directly from the platform.
Your time is valuable. You need as much time as possible to meet and care for your patients. Surefire Local allows you to stay on top of your online marketing and local search strategies without adding a huge burden to your “to-do” list. To learn more about our all-in-one platform for local businesses, make plans to attend a Surefire Local demo.