Confused About SEO? Understanding the Basics Using a Fitness Analogy

In its basic definition, search engine optimization (SEO) is how your website gets chosen to appear on search engines. For example, if a person were to type in “eye doctor in Broomfield, CO” only those practices that have strong SEO will appear on Page 1 of the search results.

No, it’s not fair. Even if you truly have the best eye doctors with the most accolades and your practice is the largest one in the area, if your website is not fully optimized for Google searches, you will be invisible. At Fast Track Marketing, we tell our clients that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to put SEO tactics into place and time for Google to recognize your efforts. There is more to SEO than simply adding a bunch of common keywords to your pages. So much more.

Think of SEO Like a Fitness Program

Just like fitness goals, SEO results don’t happen overnight. Here are some key things to remember:

• If you hire a professional marketer to handle SEO, be wary if they promise you #1 spot results in 6 months or less.  
• Even if you do appear in the #1 spot, you can’t rest – you must maintain those results using varying methods. This includes continually posting fresh content to your site. We recommend posting at least 2 blogs per month and making sure those contain keywords for which you want to rank.
• Shortcuts will get you into trouble. Just like using steroids can backfire in fitness, using “black hat SEO” tricky techniques can ruin your reputation with Google.  
• Tracking your results is important. If you aren’t seeing positive results from your efforts, it will be time to analyze what isn’t working and implement changes.

Base-level SEO Strategies

There are several strategies that should be implemented on every website. These include:

• On-page SEO: incorporate meta titles, meta descriptions, headers, image alt tags, keyword density, quality content, no keyword stuffing
• Schema markup: this is the code that helps search engines understand what’s on your website
• Local business listing (LBL) claiming: all mentions of your practice online that include your name, address, phone number, website, etc. Some of these are automatically populated with incorrect information so it’s important to continually look for these.
• Review generation: patient online reviews can make or break your practice. Potential patients are looking for reviews online before they visit your practice. If there are lots of negative experiences online, they will go to your competition instead.
• Relevant and fresh content: if you don’t have the content for the keyword you want to rank, search engines won’t know to rank you for it. Backlinks within your content are also very important. These are hyperlinks between web pages.

Below is a visual representation of the ranking factors that Google looks at when serving up search results: You can see that content, backlinks and keywords are very important. 

Still Confused? We Can Help!

If you don’t have the internal expertise to handle SEO for your practice, Fast Track Marketing can help. We will analyze your current strategies as well as your current rankings and make recommendations on how to improve your online standing. We can also create a strategy to implement those changes for you. Whether you want consulting or full implementation, we are here to help! 

Contact Brandi Musgrave, our Director of Business Development, to discuss SEO in greater depth. We look forward to hearing from you!

Brandi Musgrave

Director of Business Development

22 Years of Ophthalmology Marketing & Consulting Experience

• Call or text: 303-731-2634
• Email: brandi@fast-trackmarketing.com