Isn’t SEO just about top rankings?

Isn’t SEO just about top rankings?

Let me ask you a question.  Do you want top rankings or more patients?  Because the top search engine rankings and consultation requests are NOT implicitly related.

Have you ever watched a local business with an amazing location — maybe the busiest corner in your downtown —fail despite the great real estate?

The perfect position is important, but if you have the right location in the wrong town, or open your doors with poor service, your position won’t deliver more business.

Location, Location, Location?

We say all the time, “Don’t guess which keywords to target; research them.”  There are two ways that you might go wrong when chasing high rankings.

If you target rankings for keywords that no one searches, it is very much like leasing space on the busiest corner of a tiny little town.  Sure the location is good, but few new patients will result.  Use keyword research data to target related keyword phrases with significant search volumes.

If you worry over rankings for keywords that lack conversion potential you may be wasting your money.  While patients do weigh less after liposuction, chasing rankings for “weight loss” is unlikely to result in new liposuction consultations.  It’s a bit like opening a bar between a church and an elementary school.  Sure, there are people around, but are they your customers?  Use your common sense, and advanced conversion tracking tools, to ensure that the keywords you target are resulting in viable patient inquiries.

Open, But Not Ready For Business

Have you ever rushed to try that new restaurant only to find that they hadn’t quite figured out their flow, their menu or their service?

Many SEO firms develop pages, called doorway pages, designed to get great rankings…but they read like they were written by a six-year-old.  They are pages that make you look juvenile…like you have little or no attention to detail.  When people search, they are hoping to answer questions and solve problems.  Look at the content, layout and writing style of your page to ensure that it flows well, offers prospects what they hunger for, and serves their needs.

You want patients, not placement.  Be sure to track the growth of patient inquiries and the ultimate conversion to surgery…not just your place on a page.