SEO is a term used to describe the strategy that you use to increase your website’s visibility and its ranking in search engine results, such as Google. The better your rankings are when people use search terms related to the industry you work in, the more chance you have of reaching more potential clients.
As an aged care or in-home care provider, building trust with clients is vital. People won’t use your services if they don’t trust you, especially in healthcare. Given that aged care homes look after vulnerable people in our community, your clients are depending on you to take care of them. Your website is the first thing potential clients will see before they decide to pay for your services.
It takes just 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for someone to form an opinion about your website and if they don’t like it, they’ll leave.
In the past, websites weren’t as crucial to gaining new clients because word-of-mouth, print advertisements and other strategies were enough to find good aged care providers. Nowadays, people are doing their research through search engines and if your website isn’t coming up on the first page of results, people are unlikely to find you.
The best way to make sure that you are visible on Google is to implement a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, over one-fifth of the Australian population will be aged 65 and over. That means huge growth and competition will occur in the aged care sector. Raising brand awareness is important in any industry, and aged care is no different. Having a strong online presence will become even more critical in the future because ranking high for search terms will only get more difficult.
SEO is a more effective marketing strategy than advertising because a lot of people block ads or simply don’t trust them. When businesses appear on the first page of Google search results, people are more likely to trust them. As people become more aware of digital marketing strategies, they are learning which results are organic and which are paid.
The goal of SEO is not only to rank well but then keep people on your website by providing them with a good user experience. This includes everything from good quality content, fast loading speed, internal links and much more. You want your target audience to have a good experience when they visit your website and get them to come back again because they know it’s easy to find the information that they’re looking for.
When SEO is done correctly, you’ll see an increase in the number of people visiting your website. Better visibility means a higher chance that people will pay for your services. You don’t just want anyone visiting your website, but rather getting your target audience to come because they are the ones that are interested in what you have to offer. In SEO this involves conducting keyword research which is essential to know what search terms that your potential clients use when searching for care providers.
If people can see that real people think that you provide good care, then they’ll trust you. For example, when you’re choosing between a couple of restaurants for dinner you probably look at the ratings on Google to see which one has the highest. It might not be the one determining factor but it plays a role in the decision making process.
Did you know that businesses that post regular blog content get up to 97% more inbound links? As an aged care provider, write content that your target audience would be looking for, such as an exercise guide for older adults. Blogging regularly will not only improve your website ranking but you’ll become a trusted source of information.
Finding out what people search online is how you will find more potential clients. Once you know what the search terms are, then you can start putting these into your content. When you start typing into the Google search bar, it automatically generates the top phrases that people are using when they search.
So what do people search for when looking for an aged care provider? They might search by location, for example:
– Aged care Melbourne
