Search engine optimization (SEO) has changed a great deal along with the changes in Google’s search algorithm over the past several years. Throughout those changes, many people mused about whether or not SEO would still be a driving force in the marketing world. And while certain aspects of SEO may have a different emphasis than they once did, the importance of SEO hasn’t changed and is still a powerhouse part of marketing, and the number one method for reaching new clients within the home care industry according to the 2014 Private Duty Benchmarking Study.
The 2014 Private Duty Benchmarking Study ranks SEO as the top marketing method for reaching consumers. Read more at http://t.co/ww0D4SdsJ4
— Home Care Pulse (@homecarepulse) June 12, 2014
What exactly does that mean for home care marketing? The following graph from the 2014 Private Duty Benchmarking Study shows that those who use SEO as their top consumer marketing method made an average of 32.4% more in annual revenue in 2013 than the industry average.
The fact that SEO plays a major role in online marketing today shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise; however, some are still shocked by the amount of baby boomers and older adults who are active on the Internet. According to Pew Internet Research data, 88% of adults aged 50-64 and 57% of adults aged 65 and over use the Internet regularly, and 72% of Internet users say they looked online for health information within the past year. This means that if you’re not optimizing your website in order to help it get found in a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search, you are missing out on a significant customer base.
What You Can Do to Improve Your SEO
SEO isn’t just about adding a few keywords to your site, though keyword research and implementation are part of the overall SEO strategy. SEO is not an overnight process; it’s an ongoing strategy that requires research, implementation, analysis, and adjustments in order to get the best results. Oftentimes, people get impatient with their SEO strategy and try to cut corners by using “black hat” tactics. These unethical SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing and forum spamming, aren’t only frowned upon, they can actually get your website blacklisted by Google.
Our recent blog post, The Chemistry of SEO: What Your Site Needs to Get Ranked and Get Results, outlines some of the elements a website needs in order to improve its SEO, including:
- Targeted keywords within the on-page SEO
- Active social media accounts
- A regularly updated blog
- Link building
- Fresh, relevant content written for a human audience.
As our fearless leader, Merrily Orsini, noted on her own blog, the importance of SEO is “no secret to us here at corecubed as we have known for years that people seeking home care are looking on the Internet. Also, it has been a longstanding practice to keep ahead of the game for our clients.” If your website could use some help getting found in online searches, corecubed’s SEO experts can help. If you find yourself asking, “How do I get clients for my home care business?”, contact us today to learn how!