Your current residents and new resident leads have been through a lot. Throughout their lives, they’ve witnessed the rise and fall of dictatorships, a presidential assassination and assassination attempt, the first person to walk on the moon, the birth of the internet, the digital revolution, and a crippling pandemic to just name a few.
They’ve experienced all of these public disruptions and more. And as a result, they place an extremely high value on trust. They want to do business with credible organizations that consistently deliver on promises and exceed expectations. No pressure, right?
How Important is Trust in Senior Living?
As a senior living marketer, establishing trust with potential leads can be challenging. On top of your leads’ profound life experiences, there’s also a 50/50 chance they doubt your communities’ ability to keep them safe.1 You have a lot of work to do to prove your community’s integrity.
But there is a way. With 75% of seniors regularly using the internet, there are plenty of prospective residents out there looking for trustworthy communities.2 You control the trust signals you send, so your community is accurately portrayed as an honest, trustworthy place to live.
Top 4 SEO Trust Signals for Senior Living
There are several types of trust signals, but today we’re focusing on SEO. SEO trust signals either directly or indirectly prove the integrity of your community by boosting your rank on Google’s search engine results page (SERP).
There are about 200 ranking factors Google considers when determining a site’s position on the SERP. Optimizing your site’s ranking factors not only improves your position on the SERP, but also demonstrates the legitimacy of your website and business. Here’s how to communicate your integrity authentically and improve your rank organically.
1. Technical Factors
Several technical factors influence your position on the SERP. Your domain age is a ranking factor, but this one is out of your control.
You do have control over how long you register your domain for, though. Make sure you register your domain for five to ten years at a time. Longer-term registrations tell Google your website’s serious and here to stay. Also, make sure you include titles, descriptions, and headings on your website. Create clean URLs free of 404 errors, as well. You should also have an HTML or XML sitemap.
2. Searches
Google considers both branded searches and brand + keyword searches when deciding where your senior living community website should rank. A branded search is when a user searches for your community by name. Google sees a high number of searches for your specific community as an indication people know you and trust you. A brand + keyword search connects your brand to the industry where you have the most authority. This type of search is especially impactful on your ranking.
3. Backlinks
Backlinks are a well-established ranking factor. But just having backlinks isn’t enough. You need reputable, authoritative websites linking to your pages to really make a difference on the SERP.
When your new resident leads see your website linked on the websites of local news stations, established community groups, and industry associations, they perceive your senior living community as one worth trusting.
4. User Experience
Google considers user experience metrics including click-through-rates, time on site, and even intrusive ads to rank your website.3 The better the user experience, the higher your site will rank on the SERP. And when your website is intuitive and helpful, users will respond favorably by continuing their customer journey.
Site speed is another known ranking factor impacting user experience. And speed directly affects conversions, too. Sites loading in 2.4 seconds or less convert about 2% of visitors, whereas sites taking more than 5.7 seconds convert less than 0.6% of visitors.4
Now is the time to improve your SEO and cultivate more trust with your leads. Schedule a strategy session with one of our senior living digital strategists by calling 888.307.7304.
For a list of references, please contact us.