When you are trying to find information about a specific service, what do you usually do? If you said you search online, that would be the logical answer. It also means that if you operate a drug rehab center, individuals with addictions or their family members will likely be doing the same thing as they look for services like yours. But if you don’t implement SEO (search engine optimization) on your website, you will not be able to compete with your competitors – harming your business’ bottom line. In this article, we will look at SEO strategies that you can begin using immediately that will produce long-term success

Building a Drug Rehab SEO Strategy

There are several steps to constructing an effective drug rehab SEO strategy. Many of them you can execute yourself and others will require the assistance of an SEO agency to complete. The overall goal of SEO is to attract search engines to your website, teach them what they will find, and help them to share that information with anyone looking for a service such as yours through an online search. It doesn’t happen overnight, but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort.

Here is a simple breakdown of what you need to do to gain that competitive edge over all the other treatment centers trying to reach the same individuals as you:

Step #1 – Keyword Research

Keywords form the foundation of any SEO strategy. A keyword is a word or set of words that are used by internet users to find results in online searches. You can use internet tools to help identify industry-related keywords that are relevant to the drug rehab service that will help funnel traffic to your website. Make a list of primary keywords and secondary keywords. Each of these will play important roles in both the content you produce and the SEO you use.

Step #2 – Create Content

Website content is everything that appears on your website pages. This includes titles, sub-titles, articles, blog posts, contact information, images, and whatever else a visitor to your website will find. If you have a blog, this is a perfect venue to make use of keywords through engaging, informative, and relevant blog posts. One way to keep search engines current on your content is to publish a new blog post at least once a week, if possible.

Step #3 – Google My Business

As noted by Digital Authority Partners, creating a business profile on Google My Business (GMB) is another important SEO step. Although GMB pages have moved to Google Maps, the profile you create for your drug rehab facility will aid with local SEO. It will give you a space to promote your hours of operation, contact information, a place for photos to show potential patients what to expect, and a place for reviews. The review section is vital as this will impact the decision-making of visitors to the page.

Step #4 – On-Page SEO Optimization

To build web pages that specifically respond to search queries, you are doing what is known as on-page SEO. This involves several different elements: adding alt text to all images and optimizing those images to speed up page loading times to updating header tags; reviewing internal links; and ensuring that anchor text used in links contains keywords. When you optimize the on-page SEO, you improve how web pages function within your website.

Step #5 – Off-Page SEO Optimization

Actions that are taken outside of your website that assist with page and site ranking are considered off-page SEO practices. The goal of this strategy is to improve how your website is perceived by search engines. This is achieved by using these elements that exist outside of your website to enhance the credibility, trust, and authority of your site. You can do this through link building, where you request backlinks to your site from other sites, and by manually adding links.

Step #6 – Building Links

Linking to and from your website is an important SEO strategy. However, it takes some work and patience to establish high-ranking backlinks from other authority sites. This involves contacting website owners of relevant sites and requesting they link to your website or a specific web page. They are not obligated to provide you with a link, and this is the time-consuming part. However, when you manage to earn links from high-ranking sites, it improves your ranking.

Step #7 – Regularly Maintain SEO

SEO is not something you can just set and forget. It is always changing and requires a regular maintenance schedule. By constantly updating your site, you give search engines (and visitors) something to always look forward to. Always monitor your links and replace old ones and broken ones. Site speed is a metric measured by search engines and impacts rankings. Work to always improve loading speeds by optimizing images or changing them to smaller versions.

Step #8 – Social Media Feeds

Another piece of the SEO puzzle comes from social media. Although search engines do not rank websites from social media activity, you can still get the word out about your treatment center by promoting it and your website through various social media channels. Social media is a great way to reach new audiences and gain exposure. Plus, it is a tool that provides instant feedback. Establish pages on as many social media feeds as you can handle.

Final Thoughts

An estimated 21 million Americans are suffering from addiction. The shocking news is that only ten percent of those individuals receive the help they need. With over $600 billion spent annually on drug and alcohol addiction treatment, there is a deep need for this service. With the assistance of new technology, it has become easier for those with addiction problems to find help. But if your rehab center website is not search engine friendly, you are not going to see much in the way of new patients. The steps listed above will give you an edge and help build your rehab service so that it will be steady and successful.