Local search is probably the single most important factor you could be focused on in your internet marketing at this time. In the past, local search—listings from Google, Yelp, Yahoo, or local directories—were not quite as important. In recent years, they have become increasingly sophisticated and heavily used by all potential patients or consumers. Now this aspect of internet marketing is quickly becoming a vital part of helping others find you on the web.
Think about your own behavior on the internet. Do you ever look up restaurants online to see reviews to help you decide whether or not you’re going to eat there? When you’re going to buy a new appliance or tool, do you look at reviews from others to help you decide if it’s worth your money? For society as a whole, the answer to these questions is increasingly “yes.” This same principle applies to your practice.
Potential patients, whether fairly or unfairly, are locating you online and drawing instant judgments from your local listing, which typically pulls up first in search results. They are reading reviews about you and deciding if you are worth their time that way. Search engines are purposely putting these listings in prominent places to drive web traffic to their own local search directories, effectively replacing the Yellow Pages. It is now essential that these listings reflect well on your practice. You need them to be optimized and branded; filled with information, photographs, and videos; and—most important of all—packed with good, quality reviews.
This does not happen to your local listings overnight, or on its own. You need a strategy to unify your listings across multiple directories. You also need a strategy for obtaining great, high-quality, positive reviews in appropriate and ethical ways. Cutting corners here will only come back to haunt you in the end. That’s why this is a key area the Top Practices Mastermind group focuses on. Don’t let this critical area of web marketing fall by the wayside.
If you’re interested in making the most of your local search, or would like more information about why it matters, contact us. We can also give you more information about how the Mastermind group can benefit your practice. Just call (717) 725-2679 or e-mail [email protected] today.
