Google is still the number one place new patients search online for a medical practices. Statistics show that Google owns 66% of the search market which makes their Google Places pages the #1 medical practice marketing
opportunity online to gain more visibility and new patients. Depending
on the city you live in and the demand for your services a well
optimized Google Places listing can equate to several new patients each
week.
Google Places vs. Google+ Local
Now before we go into how to rank your Google Places page I want to point out that I will be referring to the new Google+ Local still as Google Places for the rest of this guide. Google+ Local is the name change Google made in the Spring of 2012. Along with the name change came the understanding that Google Places would fall under the umbrella of Google’s social network Google+ under a new Local tab. At the same time magically everyone was suppose to call this Google+ Local but most people like myself still see it as Google Places so that’s the term I will be using.
It should be also noted that this is updated training since the release of my book, ‘SEO for Google Places‘ which was released on Amazon’s Kindle 2 weeks before the name change. A lot of time has passed since then and this post will serve as an updated Google Places Optimization Guide but will be geared towards helping doctors and my medical practice clients.
#1 – Optimization of Your Website – Yes investing in our medical SEO services will not only increase the ranking of your website in the search engines but it will also significantly help your Google+ Local page ranking.
#2 – Filling Out Your Listing - As you can see from the graph filling out your listing properly is about 25% of the battle to rank your Google+ Local Page high. It is critical to do this correctly in order to NOT violate Google’s lengthy terms of service which is the reason some medical practices have gotten their listings banned and taken away. In the section below I walk you through step by step how to do this.
#3 – Citations – Getting your practices NAP (name, address, phone number) onto 3rd party review and directory sites helps Google verify your listing is correct. Their automated search spiders crawl these type of websites to help verify your practice is legitimate. Getting citations on these websites is also a great way to further extend your practices online visibility and reach.
#4 – Patient Reviews - All things being equal if you have more reviews than your competitors your Google Places page will out rank theirs. To learn how to get more patient reviews check out our blog post series: ‘How to Protect Your Practice’s Online Reputation‘ which covers tips to implementing an automated reviews acquisition system to generate a steady flow of REAL patient reviews.
Company/Organization:
If your medical practice’s legal name is “Jane Doe Dental Care,” then that is what you need to put here. Google wants your legal name spelled out in fully exactly like it says when you file your taxes.
Street Address:
This is pretty straight forward just make sure NOT to use any abbreviations. If your office is in Suite A then make sure to put this in the second field and don’t abbreviated it.
Description:
The description will most likely be read by new potential patients so write these 2 sentences to illustrate what makes your practice great. DON’T STUFF KEYWORDS HERE. A great question to ask yourself before writing this is, “What is in this for me?” Here is an example, We have offered pain-free sedation dentistry to our patients for over a decade. Call us today to improve your smile!
Category:
Start by typing in any terms that seem relevant to your practice. You will want to choose the categories that Google suggests to you by default. Use as many of these default suggestions first then you should create custom categories that fit to fill in the remaining. Make sure to fill in all 5 but be sure when creating custom categories you follow the “is not does” rule or your account may get flagged and/or banned.
Example, use “Cosmetic Dentist” as a category instead of “Cosmetic Dentistry.” The latter is something you do.
Service Areas:
Make sure your medical practice takes advantage of the “Distance from one location” and “List of areas served” options.
Hours of Operations:
Let your patients know when your practice is open with your hours of operation.
Payment Options:
Here you will want to select the forms of payment you accept.
Photos:
Photos are very important! They give your practice “personality” and it reassures new patients that your practice is real. Your allowed up to 10 photos and you should include as many as you can (preferably 10). These should be of you, your staff, your logo, inside your practice, and/or outside of your practice.
Videos:
Google+ Local pages will soon support videos and it’s advised to still upload them so when they are supported they’ll be there.
Additional Details:
It doesn’t hurt to quickly include some professional associations or anything else that is relevant to your practice here. I say quickly because these have not shown up for a long time now and local SEO guru’s say that these will be removed soon.
Next, you’ll want to click the submit button which will take you to a verification screen. More often than not you’ll have to select the ‘verify by postcard’ option. Put your name in the field and submit the form. Your Done! Your postcard will arrive in less than 10 days with your pin number which you will then want to go in and enter in. After that is done you will have officially claimed and verified your listing! And if you followed the steps above your listing will be optimized to rank high!
Duplicate Listings – Go to Google maps and type in your practices name and make sure just one Google Places page is showing up for each of your physical locations. If multiple listings are showing up you need to have them deleted by Google so that only 1 shows up. Having duplicate listings will kill your rankings or you simple won’t rank at all.
Google Places vs. Google+ Local
Now before we go into how to rank your Google Places page I want to point out that I will be referring to the new Google+ Local still as Google Places for the rest of this guide. Google+ Local is the name change Google made in the Spring of 2012. Along with the name change came the understanding that Google Places would fall under the umbrella of Google’s social network Google+ under a new Local tab. At the same time magically everyone was suppose to call this Google+ Local but most people like myself still see it as Google Places so that’s the term I will be using.
It should be also noted that this is updated training since the release of my book, ‘SEO for Google Places‘ which was released on Amazon’s Kindle 2 weeks before the name change. A lot of time has passed since then and this post will serve as an updated Google Places Optimization Guide but will be geared towards helping doctors and my medical practice clients.
Google Place SEO Ranking Factors
#1 – Optimization of Your Website – Yes investing in our medical SEO services will not only increase the ranking of your website in the search engines but it will also significantly help your Google+ Local page ranking.
#2 – Filling Out Your Listing - As you can see from the graph filling out your listing properly is about 25% of the battle to rank your Google+ Local Page high. It is critical to do this correctly in order to NOT violate Google’s lengthy terms of service which is the reason some medical practices have gotten their listings banned and taken away. In the section below I walk you through step by step how to do this.
#3 – Citations – Getting your practices NAP (name, address, phone number) onto 3rd party review and directory sites helps Google verify your listing is correct. Their automated search spiders crawl these type of websites to help verify your practice is legitimate. Getting citations on these websites is also a great way to further extend your practices online visibility and reach.
#4 – Patient Reviews - All things being equal if you have more reviews than your competitors your Google Places page will out rank theirs. To learn how to get more patient reviews check out our blog post series: ‘How to Protect Your Practice’s Online Reputation‘ which covers tips to implementing an automated reviews acquisition system to generate a steady flow of REAL patient reviews.
How to Optimize Your Google Places Listing by Filling it Our Correctly
Before we talk about how to fill out your Google Places page correctly we need to make sure you have already claimed and verified your listing. If you have not head on over to this post where I walk you through how to do this. If you have already claimed and verified your page listing them your ready to fill it out correctly in order to rank high and to avoid getting banned by violating Google’s terms of services.Company/Organization:
If your medical practice’s legal name is “Jane Doe Dental Care,” then that is what you need to put here. Google wants your legal name spelled out in fully exactly like it says when you file your taxes.
Street Address:
This is pretty straight forward just make sure NOT to use any abbreviations. If your office is in Suite A then make sure to put this in the second field and don’t abbreviated it.
Description:
The description will most likely be read by new potential patients so write these 2 sentences to illustrate what makes your practice great. DON’T STUFF KEYWORDS HERE. A great question to ask yourself before writing this is, “What is in this for me?” Here is an example, We have offered pain-free sedation dentistry to our patients for over a decade. Call us today to improve your smile!
Category:
Start by typing in any terms that seem relevant to your practice. You will want to choose the categories that Google suggests to you by default. Use as many of these default suggestions first then you should create custom categories that fit to fill in the remaining. Make sure to fill in all 5 but be sure when creating custom categories you follow the “is not does” rule or your account may get flagged and/or banned.
Example, use “Cosmetic Dentist” as a category instead of “Cosmetic Dentistry.” The latter is something you do.
Service Areas:
Make sure your medical practice takes advantage of the “Distance from one location” and “List of areas served” options.
Hours of Operations:
Let your patients know when your practice is open with your hours of operation.
Payment Options:
Here you will want to select the forms of payment you accept.
Photos:
Photos are very important! They give your practice “personality” and it reassures new patients that your practice is real. Your allowed up to 10 photos and you should include as many as you can (preferably 10). These should be of you, your staff, your logo, inside your practice, and/or outside of your practice.
Videos:
Google+ Local pages will soon support videos and it’s advised to still upload them so when they are supported they’ll be there.
Additional Details:
It doesn’t hurt to quickly include some professional associations or anything else that is relevant to your practice here. I say quickly because these have not shown up for a long time now and local SEO guru’s say that these will be removed soon.
Next, you’ll want to click the submit button which will take you to a verification screen. More often than not you’ll have to select the ‘verify by postcard’ option. Put your name in the field and submit the form. Your Done! Your postcard will arrive in less than 10 days with your pin number which you will then want to go in and enter in. After that is done you will have officially claimed and verified your listing! And if you followed the steps above your listing will be optimized to rank high!
Additional Tips to Help Your Google Places Rankings and to Avoid Getting Flagged/Banned
Your City – Unlike when you optimize your website you must avoid listing your practice in a city that it is not. If your practice is in a Suburb like Eden Prairie for examples DO NOT SAY your located in Minneapolis. Your not. Your located in Eden Prairie. This is the number one way to have your listing penalized and potentially shut down.Duplicate Listings – Go to Google maps and type in your practices name and make sure just one Google Places page is showing up for each of your physical locations. If multiple listings are showing up you need to have them deleted by Google so that only 1 shows up. Having duplicate listings will kill your rankings or you simple won’t rank at all.
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