Local SEO for Functional Medicine Doctors: Strategies For Doctors That Practice Functional Medicine

As a local functional medicine practice, you need to target your community using the keywords that they are searching for. Medical practices usually have a specific type of patient they are looking for. When you understand your ideal patient, you can easily optimize your website for those search terms. 

Here at Functional Medicine SEO, we offer local SEO for doctors. Our experts understand the healthcare industry and we know how to help practitioners increase the number of new patients that find their practice. 

Here’s a look at some of our strategies: 

1. Optimize Google Business

This has been one of our top ways to help practitioners find new clients. Your Google Business page is a free listing that will drive traffic to your website and bring you new patient calls. We have been tracking the number of phone calls that practices receive through their GBP pages. A practice may get 50% or more of their calls from that source. 

When a doctor signs on for our SEO, we do a few one-time optimizations to the GBP page including: 

• Updating the description to include their target keywords
• Add relevant images
• Make sure hours, phone number, and address are correct
• Add services
• Determine the category and sub-categories for the practice

These are a few things we do to optimize the listing itself. Then, we make ongoing additions to the listing to keep the interaction up. These additions are not only beneficial for your potential clients but are also very helpful in building prominence in the eyes of Google. The better your engagement level becomes with your current and prospective clients; the more likely Google will be to rank your business higher in its search results for future clients to locate you more easily.

2. Target Surrounding Cities Through Local Pages

Every month, we write new content that targets the specific city and service the practice offers. For example, if a practitioner offers functional medicine in San Francisco, CA, we will write a page that only talks about that service and city. Even if the doctor provides other services like chiropractic care, we will only mention the functional medicine. We will do a separate page for the chiropractic services. 

In addition to writing about the specific city that your business operates within, we also list surrounding areas that potential clients might be searching in. This is a powerful tool that allows us to help you reach new clients from cities that you might not usually have been exposed to. With our local pages and inclusive posts, your business can now appear in multiple nearby city searches.

3. Name, Address, Phone Number

Your name, address, and phone number, otherwise known as your NAP, are very important for targeting your local market. We will make sure that it is consistent across the web. If there is a discrepancy between your GBP page, website, and directories, we’ll make sure all of them are updated. 

Having consistent and accurate NAP data boosts your company’s exposure in local search results and enhances your user experience. Additionally, the relevance and credibility of a business is determined by search engines such as Google using NAP data. A company is deemed reputable and well-established by Google when its NAP data is consistent across many listings and directories.

4. Posting Updates to Google Business

A way to keep up engagement on your GBP page is to post an update every few weeks. You can share new blog posts you’ve written, sales, or other information your patients will be interested in. When they see your listing in the Google search, that post will show up. This is a great way to grab their attention and share your latest news such as new product releases, sales and other buyer incentives, or to announce an upcoming event.

The posts usually expire every two weeks, so make sure you are sharing something new. Generally, you will receive an email notification that your post is about to expire. That notification goes to whichever email address is associated with the account. Beyond getting views and clicks on your most recent material, there are other advantages to publishing on Google Business. The local 3-pack, which consists of the top 3 business results for relevant search terms, is an attractive spot to be found and can be earned by regularly posting. This alone is incentive enough to add a new article at least once every seven days.

5. Backlinks from Other Websites

Another great way to boost local search is to increase the number of links pointing back to your website. Our team writes guest posts, submits to local business directories and other ways to get backlinks to your site. It’s essential to get new links each month to help your traffic increase. 

If you ever write a guest post, appear on someone’s podcast, or are interviewed, ask the host to link back to your website. The best way to do this is to link back to your website in your bio. Backlinks are an essential component of SEO since they tell search engines, such as Google, that other websites find the material reputable, which can boost the content’s search rating. And the higher you are rated, the more visible you, your website, and your content will become.

Contact us Today for Help with Local SEO

If you are ready to expand your medical marketing, get in touch with the experts at Functional Medicine SEO. We’ll be happy to provide you with a free evaluation of your website. Sign up for our free strategy session here and we will get in touch with you in a day or two. Or you can contact us with any of your questions.