What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

SEO is one of the most important online marketing methods that businesses can take advantage of, but what is it exactly?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and refers to the process of optimising your website to increase the quantity and quality of unpaid website traffic from the results page of a search engine.

So, essentially, as the name suggests, it is the practice of optimising your site for search engines.

A successful SEO strategy will help your practice/website to rank higher in search results, thus bringing in more traffic and potentially gaining more revenue.

 

How does SEO work?

You can optimise your website for search results by doing things that search engines reward. These things include:

 

1. Using keywords and phrases that a searcher might use to look for information that is relevant to your business.

In private practice, this means researching what your clients type when looking for services like yours – e.g., “anxiety counselling Melbourne”. Using words that your site visitors use increases the likelihood of being searchable and thus discovered.

It can also help increase engagement as you’re using words your visitors are familiar with. For example, “anxiety counselling” is much easier to understand for the general public than “cognitive behavioural therapy”.

You can use these keywords and phrases in your Home, About, Services and other relevant pages.

 

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2. Writing content that not only search engines like but human visitors find valuable.

By creating content that your site visitors like, you can increase the amount of time spent on your site, which search engines will take into account when ranking search results. The longer your visitors stay, the higher search engines will rank your site as they believe your site’s content is engaging.

For private practice websites, these valuable content can include:

  • Blogs (advice, tips, information),
  • Infographics,
  • Photos and videos, and
  • How-to guides.

 

3. The number of websites linking to your website.

Search engines trust websites that other websites trust. They assess this by considering how many other relevant websites are linking to your practice’s website. These links are called backlinks. When building backlinks, ensure that they’re from trusted sites to avoid being penalised for spamming.

There are many other ways to work on SEO for your private practice website. But the simple rule of thumb is this: Whatever your human visitors like, search engines like! This means valuable, relevant, engaging and easy-to-digest content.

 

Things to keep in mind

SEO refers only to organic and unpaid search results. Unlike paid search results, SEO takes a long time to build and to see results for. It is important to remain patient and work on consistently building valuable content over time![/membership]

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