SEO for Physio: Complete Guide to Growing Your Clinic with SEO

If you’re a physiotherapy clinic owner, you’ve probably heard the term “SEO” before. But you may not understand what the hell SEO actually is.

That’s what we’re here to fix.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization; in short, it’s all about improving your rank on Google.

When someone searches for “physiotherapist near me” – does your clinic come up?

How about when they search for “back pain physio” or “physiotherapy + [your location]”?

If not, then you need to invest in SEO

Before you keep reading… we’re offering free SEO audits for physiotherapy clinics. Try it out.

Why is SEO Important for Physio Clinics

People are searching for your services, but if your website doesn’t show up on the first page of Google, then you have little chance of turning them into patients.

Being on the first page of Google and Bing is important because the vast majority of people don’t scroll past the first few listings.

For clinics that are doing well at SEO, it can easily become their biggest and most important channel for new business.

How Do Physio Clinics Actually Do SEO?

SEO is a complicated topic – there’s an entire industry dedicated solely to helping websites rank better. But that doesn’t mean it’s out of reach for clinic owners.

There are a few key steps that every clinic should follow when looking to improve their search engine optimization.

1. Create a Google My Business Listing

The first thing to take care of is your Google My Business listing.

Google is by far the biggest search engine, so if you’re going to start anything, then start here.

Make sure to:

• Give your full business name
• Spell your address and phone number the exact same as it’s on your website
• Provide a detailed description of your company
• Add a logo and photos
• Add the relevant categories (such as “physiotherapy”, “massage therapy”, “athletic therapy”, etc.)
• Add your hours and any other information

Once you have a complete and optimized GMB profile, you’ll put yourself in the best position to rank for relevant searches.

Here’s an example of a complete GMB listing for you to reference.

2. Do Your Keyword Research

Keyword research is all about finding search terms that you can create content for in order to rank.

There are endless opportunities with keyword research, but here’s what you should start looking for:

• service + location (ex. “physiotherapy victoria bc”)
• keywords related to services
• keywords related to pain conditions

While it’s easy to make assumptions about keywords, I highly recommend doing your own research. You may be surprised by the most popular search terms and trends.

Once you understand which keywords you’re trying to rank for, it’s time to update your key pages.

One tool I like for keyword research is SEMRush. It can help with you uncover keyword opportunities and even has a free plan that provides you with limited but useful data.

3. Create and Optimize Key Pages

Armed with your list of keywords, look at updating your website or at least updating your key pages.

Your key pages are things like your home page, services page, and individual service pages.

But be strategic about which keywords you’re using and where.

For example, it’s no use to have multiple pages trying to rank for the same keyword. If you try, then you’re just competing with yourself.

4. Create Relevant Content

In addition to creating these key pages, look at other types of content you can create.

Blogs are a great tool for this.

Look at answering the questions that came up through your keyword research.

5. Take Advantage of Local Directories

Some people snub their nose at local and online directories, but the reality is that they still provide a benefit to your website.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

First of all, they provide you with free traffic. It may be a nominal amount of website visitors, but something is better than nothing.

Second, many provide you with a backlink. Some of these are called “no follow” backlinks which limits their SEO benefit, but it’s still useful nonetheless.

Third, they help you dominate branded search. When people search for your business, the last thing you want is a competitor coming up. By having these business directory listings, you can help to push down any other irrelevant links.

Yelp is an example of one of the biggest local directories. Have you claimed your listing? Are you listed at all? Notice how one of the clinics listed here has a 1-star rating… have you responded to your reviews?

Tips for Improving Your Website SEO

Knowing why SEO matters and having a basic understanding is a great start. But ranking on Google is competitive so there’s still a lot more work to be done.

Speed Up Your Website

Making your website faster is not only a better experience for visitors, but it actually helps you rank higher on Google.

Speeding up your website includes things like optimizing images, but it also includes technical improvements such as minifying code, caching pages and assets, and serving fonts correctly.

Link Building Matters

Link building is one of the best things you can be doing to improve your website SEO.

“Backlinks” refer to links on other websites that direct your clinical site.

While we mentioned the importance of local directories, that certainly isn’t the only source of backlinks.

Social media, local events and business websites, guest posts, PR, and a variety of other channels can be used to build up the links to your site.

Nothing Beats Free Traffic

If you need any last push to get started with SEO, then just think about this…

Paid ads are great, but nothing beats free, relevant traffic.

Investing some time in SEO will help you capture more of that sweet sweet free traffic.

The PatientPartners Process

At PatientPartners, we have a proven method for getting physical therapy clinics to rank.

SEO isn’t an easy beast to tackle, so if you’re looking for an easier way, reach out to us.