The Orthopaedic Surgeon Online Reputation & SEO Guide

Transcription

1 The Texas Orthopaedic Association Presents: The Orthopaedic Surgeon Online Reputation & SEO Guide 1

2 Provided By: the Texas Orthopaedic Association This physician rating and SEO guide was paid for by the Texas Orthopaedic Association and was produced by Topler ( It is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal or financial advice. Please contact an SEO professional for further assistance. 2

3 Table of Contents Introduction to SEO 4 What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? 4 How Search Engines Work 4 Google Algorithm Updates 4 Future Updates 5 Local vs. Organic 5 Local SEO: The Basics 7 Why Local SEO is Important 7 How You Appear in Search 7 Branded Search Terms 7 Non-Branded Search Terms 9 Claiming Your Google Business Listing 10 How to Claim Your Google Business Listing 10 Picking Business Categories 13 What to Optimize (Business Description, Photos, Videos) 14 Avoiding Local Penalties 14 Citations 15 Importance of Citations 15 What is Your NAP and Why is it Important? 16 Explaining How the Local Citation Ecosystem Works 16 How to Claim Your Listings 18 Citations for Medical Professionals 19 Monitoring Your Citations 20 Reviews 24 Why Reviews Matter 24 Which Review Websites? 25 How to Develop a System for Obtaining Reviews 26 Addressing Negative Reviews 26 Optimizing a Website for Local SEO 27 Basics of Local SEO Optimization 27 Conclusion 28 3

4 Introduction to SEO What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? All major search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, have primary search results, which is where web pages and other content are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant. SEO consists of the techniques and strategies that are used to help search engines find and rank your site higher than the millions of other sites. SEO can help businesses increase their traffic and customer base through search engine marketing. This guide provides a general overview of SEO covers all the necessary information you need to get started with Local Search Optimization. How Search Engines Work Search engines use automated software (known as robots or spiders) to follow links on websites and collect keyword-based information. When someone submits a query to a search engine, the engine returns a list of sites and ranks them on their relevance to the keywords used in the search. How search engines assess and determine the relevance of a website to the keyword searched depends on several ranking factors that we will discuss later in the guide. Google Algorithm Updates Google changes its algorithm hundreds of times each year. While most of these changes are minor, Google occasionally rolls out a major algorithmic update. The major algorithm updates focus on three different areas and are referred to as Panda, Penguin and Pigeon. Panda Update: Panda updates focus on a website s content quality. Websites that do not meet Google s content standards may get penalized and see a decrease in search engine rankings. Penguin Update: The Penguin Updates focus on backlinks (other websites that link to yours). Backlinks are the number one ranking factor for search engines. Websites that are suspected of buying links from other sites may see a drop in rankings. Pigeon Update: The Pigeon updates focus on local pack rankings. Pigeon updates are unpredictable and can vary across business niches. The primary focus of Pigeon was to provide more useful, relevant, and accurate local search results that are tied closer to traditional web search ranking signals. 4

5 *It is important to note that Google updates can happen at any time; results can be unpredictable. Often, Google will test or change the amount of information they provide to searchers. Future Updates Today there are over 1.17 billion unique searches performed in Google each month in the United States. As of April 2015, 54 percent of searches were performed on mobile devices (as opposed to a desktop computer or laptop). As more and more people use their mobile devices as their primary source of accessing the Internet, search engines will place a great emphasis on ranking websites that cater to a mobile audience. The bottom line is, if you aren t providing a good mobile experience for your customers, you need to focus on it. Local vs. Organic Although SEO continues to be an evolving practice, there are some basic distinctions between local SEO and organic (traditional) SEO. Local SEO has a geographical component that organic SEO does not necessarily have. It is the practice of building signals of relevance around a specific location, such as a brick-and-mortar business. Rankings for local SEO are represented in local map packs. Examples of websites that utilize local SEO include, local restaurants, physicians, lawyers, and essentially any business that draws their customers from a geographic location. 5

6 Organic SEO is a marketing practice that revolves around ranking a website for non-location based keywords. Rankings for organic SEO are represented by the ten search results listed below the local map pack. Businesses that utilize organic SEO include e-commerce business, news providers, and information-based websites such as Wikipedia. For many years, these two search areas were separated from each other due to different algorithms that used very different ranking factors. However, this changed in 2013 when Google introduced its Pigeon update. The update made organic search a ranking factor for local search. As a result, websites needed their websites to rank on the first page for local terms in organic SEO to have rankings for local SEO. 6

7 Local SEO: The Basics Why Local SEO is Important Local SEO connects search results to a location-based business or service. It allows local businesses to promote their services to local customers at exactly the time they re looking for it. An increase in the number of individuals who use search engines to find local businesses will result in a corresponding increase in the number of keywords with local results. This means that search phrases like best surgeons, which may have never had a local pack in the past, may now have one. If you have a business that can service local customers or has a physical address, you need to be optimizing for local search. How You Appear in Search Local results are tied to a business s Google Business page. How you show up in the local depends entirely on the type of search performed. Local searches can be separated into two categories: Branded Search Terms General Search Terms Branded Search Terms Branded keywords are any variation of keywords that have the name of your business in them. Typically, these types of searches are going to bring you the most qualified search traffic because they are familiar enough with your business that they know it by name. However 99.9 percent of the time your website will rank number one for any and all variations of branded keywords. So no optimization is necessary to rank in the first position. Any organic traffic from branded keywords is not a result of search engine optimization because you can t do any better than first in the local results. 7

8 Example of a branded local result: 8

9 Non-Branded Search Terms Non-branded terms consist of any general term related to your business that does not include the name of your business. Non-branded terms are what drive new customers and is where be the focus of most of your SEO efforts. In local search these terms represents the results that show up in the local packs. Below is an example of a non-branded locals search results for Orthopaedic Surgeons in El Paso, Texas: 9

10 Claiming Your Google Business Listing A business must have a Google Business listing in order to show up in all local SEO listings. Think of your Google Business page as a billboard for your business. Your page provides potential customers with basic information about your business such as its name, address, and phone number and more in-depth information such as images of your office location, videos, and reviews. Fortunately, Google makes claiming or creating your business profile very simple. Note: It is important to note that Google does not wait for a business to create and claim their business profile. Instead, Google will create listing for businesses based on information they pull from third parties. We will discuss this in greater detail later in the guide. How to Claim Your Google Business Listing Go to Google My Business and click Get On Google. Once there, you will need to login with your Google Account. 10

11 Check For Your Business Google Places is organized like a traditional phone directory would be, so the first thing that Google will want you to do is search for your phone number. As noted earlier, it is possible that Google has already created a basic Google Places profile of your business. The phone search will tell you if that is the case. Verifying Your Listing There are three ways to verify your business listing: 1. Postcard Verification - When you request a verification postcard, Google sends a verification code through the mail to the address listed on the business listing. 2. Phone Verification - Verifying by phone is the quickest and fastest way to gain control of your listing. As long as you have access to the phone number being called, this is the best option to choose. 3. Instant Verification - You can instantly verify your listing if it has already been verified with Google Webmaster Tools. If you have not set up Google Webmaster Tools, the previous two options will work just as well. *Note - Some options aren t available to all businesses 11

12 Adding Basic Business Information The next page will allow you to add or revise your official business details. Your basic information will include address, phone number, address, company description, and your business website. Be sure to fill out all of this information accurately. If any of this information is incorrect, you will have a lot of problems going forward. 12

13 Picking Business Categories In addition to your basic business information, you will need to choose business categories for your listing. Picking the correct business categories is one of the most important factors in ranking for local search. These categories allow Google to sort your business in the correct keyword categories. Pick what best describes your business and not what it does or products you sell. 13

14 What to Optimize (Business Description, Photos, Videos) Business Description Use the business description to tell customers what you do. You can include your business s mission, accreditations, or recognitions you may have earned. Photos & Videos Photos and videos are a good way to provide customers with additional information about your business and also provides Google additional information to use in its ranking algorithm. Images should include keyword rich descriptions and videos if their content is to be transcribed. This type of content gives you one more opportunity to tell Google what you do and where you are located. Additional Details Google provides a great area to add additional details about your business. In this area, we suggest listing services offered or brands carried if you are a retail location. This area can be full of great SEO content that will help Google link you to relevant searches. Again, having an adequate amount of information is key. Avoiding Local Penalties Local penalties can occur if your business page is over optimized or if you have duplicate listings for your business. To avoid penalties for over optimizing your listing be sure to follow Google s content guidelines closely ( To see if you have a duplicate listing penalty, first search for your business in Google maps. If multiple listings come up for one location, you will need to close the duplicate listings. You can close a listing by first claiming or by contacting a Google support specialist. 14

15 Citations Importance of Citations Citations are defined as mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites and are a key component of the ranking algorithms in Google and Bing. An example of a citation might be an online yellow pages directory where your business is listed. All things being equal, businesses with a greater amount of citations will probably rank higher than businesses with fewer citations. 15

16 Citations are particularly important for smaller businesses because many of them may not have their own websites. Without much other information, the search engines rely heavily on citations to provide searchers with as much information as they can find. What is Your NAP and Why is it Important? Your NAP or (Name, Address, Phone Number) must be consistent across all of the major data aggregators. Having an incorrect NAP on one of these can cause you to have duplicate listing due to the Local Citation Ecosystem. Explaining How the Local Citation Ecosystem Works Citation websites create profiles for business based off of information that they find from major data aggregators. If your business information is incorrect on any of these major providers, it may override what the major search engines have in their own database. And if you are not included in the databases of these websites, your business is not going to rank as well in Google and other search engines. In the United States, there are four primary sources of data for all the major search engines: Infogroup Acxiom Localeze Factual Once your information is added to these websites, they will feed dozens of other citation sites. The entire process of adding or updating information in the local search ecosystem can take up to three months. 16

17 The graphic below provides a visual of how the major US data aggregates feed information to other websites: 17

18 How to Claim Your Listings Claiming any listing of your business online verifies that you are the owner and the information listed is valid. Each data aggregate has its own listing verification process. Many Web sites provide businesses with a free profile while others may charge annual fees. Most entities will first ask you to determine whether your business already exists in their index. Do not be surprised if it does, even if you have never created a listing there! Unless your business opened its doors today, chances are, there is some record of its existence on the Web. In general, you will be prompted to enter your business name or phone number to discover any existent listings. Next, you will review any existing information, correct any incorrect information, and provide any new or missing information about your business name, address, phone number, website address, business categories, and other details. This is when accuracy and consistency are important and you want your core business details (name, address, phone, Web site) to be identical on every listing. Once you ve filled out your business s information, you will be asked to go through a verification process. This typically happens in one of three ways: Via an immediate phone call during which you ll verify via a pin number. Via a postal mail postcard and pin number verification. Via an in which you ll be clicking on a verification link. 18

19 Citations for Medical Professionals There are hundreds of websites you can get a citation from but not all will be worth the time or cost incurred to add your business listing. When evaluating a potential website there are a couple of important factors to look at. Domain Authority (D.A.): Domain Authority is a score on a 100-point scale that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. The higher the domain authority the more trustworthy a website is to search engines. Domain Authority is calculated by the number of high DA websites linking to it and also the age of the website. You can check a website s domain authority by downloading Moz s Mozbar. Site Structure: Website structure is important because it helps search engines categorizes your business listing. Make sure any website you choose has a clear directory structure that includes the city name and business type. Example: 19

20 List of the Top 25 Citations for Medical Professionals: Monitoring Your Citations Whether you are starting from scratch or looking to increase the local rankings, you can use a specialized tool to save both time and money. While there are many tools that provide different options there are three major tools used for citation management. 20

21 Moz Local: Moz local is perfect for businesses with less than 5 locations. Business owners can check for duplicate and missing citations in 10 major data aggregators for free. However, managing a location or building new citations requires a yearly paid membership. Cost: $84 a year per listing Website: 21

22 Brightlocal: Brightlocal let s you track your citations across the top 50 citation websites. Brightlocal is a paid service but an unlimited number of locations can be managed from one account. On top of showing you missing citations Brightlocal provides a service called Citation Burst that allows you to build profiles on select websites for a small additional fee. Cost: $79.99 monthly Website: 22

23 Yext: Yext offers to list your sites on all the various citation sites that your business is not listed in. Yext has a unique relationship with most of the major citation websites and can allow you to delete or add new listings very quickly. Yext also provides review monitoring and offers local search analytics to track your business s local search performance. Cost: $499 per listing per year Website: Each of these tools provides different levels of service at different price points so it is important to review what your business needs are before you purchase one. 23

24 Reviews Why Reviews Matter Online reviews account for nearly 40 percent of Google s algorithm and are a major factor when trying to rank your business in the search engines. However, the value of online reviews does not end there. Positive reviews are also the extremely important to show consumers the quality and trustworthiness of your business. When given two options, it is much more likely for a consumer to click through to a Website with 20 positive reviews opposed to one with only four positive and one negative review. During the summer of 2014, a 13-question survey was sent to a local consumer panel to help understand how influential online reviews are for consumers seeking the services of a local business. The results of the 2,104 respondents showed that almost 90 percent of consumers have used online reviews to assess the character of a business and over 60 percent of people check reviews before seeing a physician. Data over the last four years show that these numbers will increase in the future. The reviews found on your online listings play a crucial role in determining how the consumer will find your business and the decision-making process that follows. It should be clear to see that accumulating more online reviews will help you gain consumer trust, improve your local rankings, acquire more leads, and convert online traffic into paying customers. 24

25 Which Review Websites? Below is a list of the five review sites that should be your main targets. These are considered the most trusted review sites based on a 2014 consumer survey. 25

26 How to Develop a System for Obtaining Reviews There are several different strategies that you can employ to acquire online reviews, but you must be careful and avoid any risky tactics that can end up getting you banned from a network. It s important to be proactive but just make sure you stay within the Web sites rules. Here are a few strategies that have proven to be successful: Add a Link to Your Website Create a review page that has links to all the review websites you are promoting. Review Guides When patients check out, provide them with a handout that guides them through the steps to leave a review. Direct Send a personalized request with links to review websites or review page. You can also attach a.pdf version of the review guide to help them with leaving the review. Create a Video Produce a short video that walks the patient through the steps. Addressing Negative Reviews If not handled appropriately, negative reviews can be devastating to a local business. As a result, it is imperative for you take action the moment that you notice that someone has left a bad review on one of your networks. If someone has left a negative review, you should first determine the problem the user had with your services. The next step is to contact that person and figure out the best way to resolve their issue. Once the problem has been fixed, the individual will typically edit or delete the negative review. In some cases, you may end up dealing with a fake review from one of your competitors. You can either flag the review as spam immediately or contact the support team for that network, which will result in the support team advising you on the best course of action. Most of the time these companies are great at removing fake reviews from your listing. Negative reviews from competitors are not uncommon among local businesses, so you want to be sure and regularly check your listings. The best way to do this would be to set up notifications every time a review is left on your primary networks. This will allow you to check the reviews as soon as they are posted to your listings and handle any negative reviews before it s too late. 26

27 Optimizing a Website for Local SEO Basics of Local SEO Optimization To optimize your local presence, you need to start with your website and then branch out from there into listing citations and then into local link building that will point back to your local listings and website. Your website should be locally optimized before focusing on the deeper levels of optimization. Your website will serve as the foundation of your local presence and be followed by your major local listings. Follow these basics of website optimization and branch out from there. First, include your city or regional keywords in: Page URL Page Titles Meta Description H1 Tags Site Content Next, include all of your main local information in your site-wide footer: Address (as it will read for every local listing) ZIP Code Local Phone Number (Use a local phone number and not an 800) Link to either your Google Local listing or the landing page you set up for that location 27

28 Conclusion While high rankings and success are never guaranteed, if you follow the steps outlined in this guide, you will have an excellent foundation for success and growth in local search. 28