For local care and domiciliary care providers, maximising your local presence on Google and other search engines is critical to your success with online marketing.
Optimising your local online presence means that you’re visible on search engines when people in your area look for businesses with the services you provide. Because of the organic (free) nature of SEO, you’ll be generating traffic to your website and leads for free!
Secondly, it means that those who already have a relationship with your business will be able to find you and get in touch – with contact information easily available.
With that in mind, here are some top tips to maximise your local SEO.
Google My Business
Google My Business is undoubtedly the first step to take. If you haven’t got a profile set up
for your business yet, do this right now! With a few simple bits of data including your
business name, address, contact information and a verification, you will have your own
profile that will appear on Google when someone types your company name into the search engine.
As well as this, if potential customers are searching for businesses with the types of services you offer, your Google Map listing will often appear higher than the standard organic search results, giving you a big boost in local visibility.
By integrating your social media platforms such as Facebook with your Google My Business account, you can keep your Google account up-to-date for potential visitors!
Gather reviews
Reviews are a crucial part of optimisation for businesses. These days, potential customers
are likely to research your business not only on your website, but in other places such as
review platforms, the CQC website and your social media too.
Gathering reviews allows you to quickly show the quality of your service, building trust and credibility from the get-go. An added bonus is that the average star rating of the reviews is bright and stands out from your competition among the search results.
Location, location, location!
In terms of on-website SEO, location keywords are critical. For example, don’t just talk about the care services you provide, add location-specific terms to the page – try “care home Worcester” as well as “care home” keywords. These terms can be used in your title tags, meta descriptions, and in the body of the text to help drive traffic.
As well as this, make sure you have an up-to-date contact page on your website with your
address on. You can import your map from Google themselves, giving you extra brownie
points from the search engine.
Online directories
One great source of backlinks (another way to boost your organic position) is by adding your business to both local and nationwide directories online. Some free ones to get started with include:
Google My Business (which includes Google Maps)
Bing Places
Local Pages
Yell
Yelp Business
It’s also crucial, where applicable, to make sure you’re on the CQC website too. And,
remember to keep your information up-to-date, wherever you choose to advertise your
business.
Ready to start earning organic traffic? At Conteur, we’re experts in digital marketing for care homes, covering SEO, PPC and social media. To get cracking, get in touch today.
