Keywords. This infamous Search Engine Optimization (SEO) factor has shifted and changed so much over the years. In the internet’s infancy, keywords were easy to find, use, and rank for. But those were the old days, before determining and integrating your keywords became an art form.
Today, keywords give Google topical context for your content. By adding them to your headings and subheadings, you send a signal to Google about your pages’ contents. And the easier you make it for Google to understand your page, the higher your rank on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) will be.
Knowing Your Psilocybin Keywords
When marketing a totally new treatment like psilocybin therapy, your place on the SERP is extremely important. Selecting the right psychedelic treatment keywords is the key to laying the proper groundwork for your SEO to get top billing on the SERP.
If you’re having trouble determining the best psilocybin treatment keywords to use for your behavioral health center’s digital marketing strategy, you’re not alone. Today we’re going to share four steps you can take to find the right keywords to target in your psilocybin marketing.
Step 1. Understand Keyword Types
Not all keywords are created equal. In fact, there are actually three types of keywords: head keywords, body keywords, and long-tail keywords.
Head keywords are the shortest and most challenging to rank for. They are usually one to two words and can return billions of search results. You should avoid these unless you’re representing a multibillion-dollar, industry-leading company.
Body keywords are a little longer at two to three words. Even though body keywords are slightly easier than head keywords to rank for, there’s still a lot of competition at this keyword level. That makes ranking for body keywords more difficult and requires a greater initial investment.
Long-tail keywords are the sweet spot you want to focus on. Long-tail keywords are phrases of four or more words and account for 70% of all searches.1 Even though long-tail keyword searches occur more often than body and head keyword searches, their length and increased specificity make them ideal for building your digital marketing strategy.
Step 2. Learn About Your Patients
The best place to start when creating a keyword strategy is by gaining a deeper understanding of your current patient base. Begin by collecting basic demographic data on your patients, things like age, gender, race, religious affiliation, and occupation. Now add in data on your patients motivations and behaviors, opinions and interests, the in-depth information that helps you learn more about who they are. Put this data together and you’re ready to start building out patient personas.
Patient personas are stand-ins for different segments of your target audience. This is especially beneficial for behavioral healthcare SEO campaigns around treatments like psilocybin therapy, with potential benefits for many different parts of your community. Creating patient personas helps you create more effective messaging by customizing your campaigns around targeted segments of your market. For example, one patient persona could be a veteran struggling with PTSD, while another could be a senior in high school in need of treatment for depression.
Your patient personas will inform search intent, and help guide your keyword research.
Step 3. Research Keywords
You already know you need to target long-tail keywords, but how? There are several online tools you can use to identify the right keywords.
Google’s Keyword Planner2 is a free tool that can help you conduct some preliminary research to uncover the best keyword phrases to help you establish your treatment center at the forefront of the psilocybin movement. The Keyword Planner will tell you how many people searched for those keywords and suggest related keywords to try.
When doing your research, don’t forget to explore local keyword phrases. Nearly half of all Google searches have local intent,3 and plenty of your patients will search for your center that way.
Because you have the opportunity to rank for a completely new treatment modality, it may be worth the investment in partnering with an outside agency to conduct your keyword research and create your initial psilocybin treatment SEO strategy.
Step 4. Index Search Results
Ever notice the auto-fill when doing a Google search? Google calls that Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), and this feature is actually very insightful.
After doing your keyword research, try typing a few of your top keyword choices into Google and see what the autofill reveals. The results show related searches as well as related search results.
LSI can help you determine whether certain search terms are too competitive or if you should even rephrase a long-tail keyword to better align with Google’s algorithms.
A Good Website Makes a Great First Impression
Getting your SEO strategy off on the right foot may be the difference between success and failure for your psilocybin treatment program. Keywords are the first step toward a transformative, results-driven SEO plan.
If you need a psilocybin SEO plan, Dreamscape can help. Schedule a strategy session by calling 888.412.7791 to get started.
For a list of references, please contact us.