Whether you work as a chiropractor or a physical therapist, you are likely dependent on a searcher to seek out your services through a Google search. For that search to lead to your business, you need to understand the concept of local search intent and how it applies to your business. Building a website, blog, Google Business Profile, and social media profiles all help to establish the online presence for your personal care service business.
Local intent influences every other component of your marketing. To help you better understand not just what it is but how to optimize it, we’ve created this guide specific to personal care businesses such as physical therapists, cosmetic surgeons, pain management specialists, and others.
What Is Local Search Intent?
Local search intent is your ability to understand how patients are likely to find your practice and the steps you can take to utilize that information to ensure your business appears in search engine results.
Understanding local search intent allows you to better recognize why people complete online searchers for key information, products, or services. By understanding this, we can then enhance efforts to attract customers who are ready to interact with your business, book service, and recommend your company to others.
To enhance your chiropractor practice’s online presence and secure a spot in the Map Pack for local search, it’s crucial to understand your potential patients’ search queries. This understanding allows you to develop targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns that yield significant results.
The 5 Types of Search Intent
We often talk about search engine optimization or SEO. SEO for cosmetic surgeons, SEO for physical therapists, and so on is important. However, just putting a dozen keywords on your website and hoping they attract the right people isn’t enough. For SEO to be effective, we need to understand what user search intent is.
To do that, we can focus on one of the five types of local intent that plays a role in creating SEO campaigns for your business.
- Informational search intent: In some situations, the searcher is looking for an answer to a specific question. For example, they may want to know what their pain management options are. If you want to attract these types of searchers, you’ll need to incorporate FAQs related to their queries as well as how-to guides. Your objective here is to educate your reader.
- Commercial intent: There are some instances in which a person is researching their options in a service, even though they may not be ready to buy just yet. For example, you may learn that the local search for fitness centers is high in your area because people are searching for the “best fitness centers in LA.”
- Transactional search intent: This type of search intent indicates a person is looking to buy, or more appropriately, “Book’ an appointment. SEO for physical therapists often focuses on how the client can book a session, for example.
- Navigational search intent: Navigational searches tend to focus on finding a specific location. They often include your business’s name. For example, a local search for personal trainers using a recommended trainer’s name fits into this area.
- Local search intent: This type of search intent is the primary objective we want to work towards for most personal service companies. It is a type of transactional or informational intent, but they are looking for something very local and often using local keywords to do so. This is where you want to certainly focus your efforts.
Improve Visibility By Mastering Local Intent
As you think about building your next marketing campaign, utilize the importance of local intent. For example, a person who is looking for a cosmetic surgeon isn’t always going to search for “cosmetic surgeon in Detroit.” They may be looking for a cosmetic surgeon who provides a specific service within their geographical area.
To bring in local searchers, who are most commonly your customers within a personal service business, you must create content for your website, blog, and other online services specific to these factors. You can improve your understanding of local search intent and develop effective campaigns in a few simple ways.
Here are a few ways to get started:
Near Me
Let’s say you were going to a restaurant for a meal while driving home. You type “restaurants near me” into the search engine so that you find locations near your physical location that you can stop at and enjoy. Now, apply that same logic to your business.
Consumers are looking for a service within their area. That means you need to use the phrase “near me” in your content. It’s not the simplest of terms to use, and it can sound a bit off even in the best of scenarios. Yet, including “near me in CITY” will help you meet more of your local patients’ needs.
Local Keywords
As noted, SEO for physical therapists, pain management specialists, gyms, and cosmetic surgeons must focus on your potential clients’ specific needs. Be specific about the services you offer and incorporate the name of the city you serve. Some examples might include:
- Chiropractor for back pain near Dallas
- Best fitness center for weight loss in Cleveland
- Cosmetic surgeons after weight loss in Chicago
Be as Local as Possible
There are two core components to using local SEO to focus on here.
- Use your metro area as a guiding indicator. That is, if your patients come from throughout the entire region, you need to incorporate the biggest city’s names into your site. For example, if you serve the New York City area, including New York City, even if you’re in a suburb,
- Use the local cities as well. Be sure you’re incorporating all of the local cities where you operate. That may include any locations where you know your patients are coming to you from, such as neighboring towns.
By taking these steps, you help get more of the local SEO keywords you need in place. That enables you to build a stronger reach for searchers.
Why Local Search Intent Matters
Many factors must be considered and balanced when building a website, creating an online marketing campaign, or using targeted ads to attract customers. Yet, the most important component of this process is helping customers learn that your service is available in their area.
Google’s job is to ensure that people who are searching for something on their platform see the most effective and accurate information for them. To do that, the search engines capture information from websites to better understand how well your site meets their local search intent.
That means if you optimize your website properly, incorporate the right SEO for cosmetic surgeons or personal trainers in your content, and use local signals, like the names of communities you serve, you’re more likely to be considered valuable in Google’s eyes when people use relevant search terms.
How to Optimize Your Personal Care Service Business Website for Local Search Intent
Now that you know the value of local search intent, how do you make it a reality? Consider these tips to help you get started.
Use your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is a resource that helps you be listed in the search engine directory for your services. This free listing tool helps you rank better in the search engines because it provides information about the services you offer, who you serve, and the areas you provide services to. This tool also allows you to collect local reviews, incorporate local search terms, and optimize engagement with your potential customers.
Create Location-Specific Content
When creating content for your blog or website, always ensure a local focus is present. You can do that by incorporating target keywords in your content, such as the names of the cities in which you provide those services.
For example, you can create content that indicates what you’re doing in the community and include the names of local businesses, events, and community organizations.
Optimize Your Site for Mobile Use
It’s always a good idea to optimize your website to ensure it is mobile-friendly, and this directly affects your success in local search intent. For example, a person waiting at their child’s bus stop might use their phone to find a personal trainer near them, or someone on their lunch break might use their phone to find a chiropractor near them.
There are numerous steps your business can take to focus on local search intent. If you don’t want to do it all for yourself, consider getting some help.
Set up a demo with Surefire Local now to see how well we can help you boost your knowledge of local search intent for your personal care business.