Local SEO for Chiropractors 101: How Search Results Visibility Affects Your Practice

The Chiropractor’s Guide for Understanding Local SEO & Its Impact on Practice Growth

Today, local SEO matters more than ever for chiropractic practices. Immediate online access to every product and service imaginable has been both transformative and detrimental to companies. If someone searches for restaurants, mechanics, or barber shops, it usually involves a two-minute search to compare local businesses’ Google reviews.

In fact, nearly half (46%) of all Google searches are looking for local information. And without ranking on search engines, your chiropractic practice can get lost among competitors in your area.

If you’re not ranking on the first page of search results, there’s a problem with your SEO strategy. Here’s why local SEO matters for your chiropractic practice and what you can do to gain visibility in your area.

You're Invisible If You’re Not Ranking High Enough

When people search for local chiropractors, you want your practice to show up as high as possible in the search results, right? That’s where SEO comes in.

Put simply, SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of making your website more visible on search engines like Google.

Optimizing your website and its content for specific keywords and phrases that people might use when searching for a chiropractor can increase your chances of showing up near the top of the search results. Plus, given that most people don’t look past the first page of results, it’s critical for your business to sit as close to the top as possible.

But local SEO isn’t just about getting more traffic to your website. It’s also about building trust and credibility with potential patients. When your website appears high in search results, it conveys to potential clients that you’re a reputable and trustworthy chiropractor. For small businesses like chiropractic practices, word of mouth and reputation can make a big difference—especially locally.

Moreover, search engines are hungry for consistent and error-free information to provide users with the most relevant results possible. In particular, Google’s algorithm relies on many factors to determine a business’s ranking:

• Local keywords
• Social media profiles
• Good linking structure
• Updated, informative content
• Customer reviews

And playing Google’s game is worth it: Businesses on the first page of search results get 95% of clicks, driving more traffic than competitors buried in later pages.

Show Up in Local Searches with Local SEO

First, the easiest way to appear in local search results is to include your location, phone number, and address on your website. Beyond your website, you can create a free Google Business Profile. Here, you can add your practice hours, highlight essential information, and make a better first impression. By making your business’s information visible online, it’ll be easier for patients to find your practice when they search for nearby chiropractors.

Once you’ve got the basics down, look at your website’s content. When marketing your practice to local patients, your website needs to include words and phrases specific to your area. Locally used terms (like city or neighborhood names) are important because Google’s algorithm ranks businesses according to descriptive, relevant keywords.

Keywords are terms used in content to improve search engine results. For example, if your practice is in Los Angeles, you might include phrases like “chiropractor in Los Angeles” or “Los Angeles chiropractor” in your website’s content and metadata. More specifically, if your practice is in the Century City neighborhood of LA, you should include those keywords.

After making it easier for nearby patients to find your practice online, ensure your website is suited for mobile devices. Since 88% of the U.S. population over age eleven owns a smartphone, you’ll make it easier for patients to browse so they won’t leave your site prematurely.

And your practice’s local SEO benefits greatly from longer visits: Google favors websites that are easy to use on mobile devices because they’re more user-friendly and have lower bounce rates, indicating that they have valuable content worth seeing.

Become an Industry Authority with Expert Content

As you draw more patients to your website, the content you share with them matters. Including keywords throughout landing pages and bios are helpful but showcasing expert content—such as blogs and case studies—can add more value and keep prospects on your site for longer. Consider posting topics on chiropractic treatment’s benefits, common conditions that chiropractors treat, and tips for maintaining good spinal health.

This valuable, educational content can improve your search ranking by targeting specific keywords and phrases related to your chiropractic practice. And, because it attracts links from other websites, it can also add credibility and authority to your website—improving your practice’s ranking in search results.

Mingle with Patients on Social Media

When your posts on social media platforms get likes, comments, and shares, your profiles and linked website attract more attention. This is because search engines like Google often read social media engagement, so activity like this shows that your content is valuable and worth showing to more people.

Plus, it’s a great patient engagement tool; by building relationships with the people in your community, you can drive even more traffic to your website.

Get Attention with More Reviews

Many customers today rely on Google reviews when deciding which businesses to visit, so reviews are invaluable to your practice’s health. A recent survey found that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. What’s more, your responses to these reviews matter: 56% of consumers say that a business’s responses to reviews impact how they view the business.

Your interaction with feedback sets the tone for your practice. To potential patients, it indicates the level of care they can expect from you.

Along with gaining trust and building credibility, reviews are essential to local SEO. If your practice successfully attracts many positive reviews, your Google search ranking will climb to the top of search results. These star ratings communicate that you’re a popular chiropractic practice offering quality services, incentivizing Google to recommend your practice over others—driving even more growth.

SEO Solutions in a Software

In addition to maintaining your social media pages and website content, your practice can take SEO shortcuts by implementing a software solution. With Zingit’s growth software for chiropractors, you can optimize your online presence for local search:

• Monitor & share feedback: Respond to and share feedback from multiple sources (e.g. Yelp, Google, and Facebook) from one dashboard.
• Get 10x as many patient reviews: Automated review requests ensure you don’t have to rely solely on organic reviews (which can come in low numbers); you’ll also save time by not having to reach out to patients manually. (Plus, with an upgrade, your practice can respond to reviews, view analytics, and display the newest top ratings on your website.)
• Stream positive ratings: Broadcast reviews on your website to show new patients what your patients are saying about your practice.

As you can see, having an online presence entails more than simply creating a website and Facebook page. To drive more business in a time when online visibility matters most, you must stay on top of your local information, content, social media posts, and reviews. And, by using software that eliminates a lot of this extra effort, your practice can gain the advantage it needs to rank higher on search engines—placing you above the rest of the competition.

References

Bloem, Craig. (2022). 84 Percent of People Trust Online Reviews As Much As Friends. Inc. ‍

How To Improve Your Local Ranking on Google. (2023). Google.

HubSpot. (2022). 2022 Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data — The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Stats. HubSpot.

Smith, K. (2019). A Comprehensive Guide to Local SEO in 2019. HubSpot.