Introduction
As some optometrists have discovered, the Internet can be a substantial source of new patients. That’s because Canadians are increasingly using search engines—Google, Yahoo!, Bing and others—as a quick way to find information about local businesses.
Below are five things Canadian optometrists can do to get more exposure by improving their ranking in search engines. If you would like clarifications on these points, please contact us or post your question at the bottom of this article.
1. Claim Your Google Listing
Have you ever done a Google search and noticed a map on the results page? Every business gets an automatic free listing in Google, but it’s important to "claim" it so that you control it. Once you’ve claimed your listing you can add details such as your business hours, payment methods, photos, and your website.
A claimed profile can bring you more businesses because it often ranks higher in the search results. When someone does a Google search for local optometrists, they may see your information on the map and visit your website for more details. For instructions, see our article How to Claim Your Optometry Business Listing in Google.
2. Verify Your Maps
When looking for an optometrist online, search engines will often show a city map with different offices plotted on it. The map is very useful for choosing a nearby optometrist and for getting directions there. But sometimes the map is wrong, as it was with one of our clients. Google showed her office to be several blocks away from the actual location, which could cause obvious problems for patients.
Verify your map by visiting maps.google.ca and searching for your business name and city. If your map is wrong, claim your listing (see tip #1 above) and follow the instructions for adjusting your location.
3. Keep Your Website Updated—for Both Your Audiences
This is more important than it may seem. Your website actually has two distinct audiences: your patients, and the search engines. Naturally, you want your site to look up-to-date (no old new, old photos, or out-dated designs) because it conveys to visitors that you run an active, modern practice.
But the search engines also read your website, and they reward sites that have fresh and current content. That’s because an updated site is more likely to have useful information than a stale site, and so it will be ranked higher on the search engine results page. You don’t have to make major changes to your website; consider just updating your site’s news section, or adding more information about your services.
4. Think About Keywords
If the text on your website closely matches what is typed into a search engine, your site is more likely to appear in the top search results. Try to guess the keywords people would type when looking for your services. We’ve founded hundreds of common keywords and keyphrases during our research, so you can start by including these common ones into your site’s text: "Optometrist in {your city name}", "eye exam", "eye doctor", "eye clinic", "vision test", and "eye disease", and "prescription glasses".
5. Get Free Online Promotion
There are plenty of websites where you can place a free link to your website. This is important for two reasons: first, some people may find your website by these links. But more importantly, the search engines count these links and use it as an indicator of how important your site is. While getting links to your site is important, you should consider what type of links you get, and how local and relevant the sites are that link to you. If you get too many links too fast, or links from the wrong types of websites, it can actually damage your site’s ranking.
Because the issue of "link building" is an important one, we’re preparing a more detailed article on how you can do it yourself should you choose, and what mistakes to avoid. Link building is also a component of Visible Optometry’s Local Online Ranking service.
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This brief tutorial explains how to use Google’s Local Business Center to improve your online visibility. Don’t be alarmed if you’ve never heard of the Local Business Center; most other business owners haven’t either. It’s a relatively-new system that lets you update and enhance the profile that Google already has on your practice.
