What is the goal of citation building?
Every chiropractor wants to have his or her website appear at the top of page one in the search results. Even more, everyone wants their practice to be found within the limited spots of the Google Maps Local Results at the very top of search results. Since Google has moved to focusing on Local Search, it means that you have to, as well. Below, we'll spell out the steps you'll need to take to land a coveted spot in the Local Results (aka "Local Pack").
A smartphone's screen is filled by the Local Results, a small map and list of three local businesses that appear at the top of the page of Google search results.
1. Create and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
The first step to getting your clinic on Google Maps is to sign up with Google My Business, their center for business listings. Once you're logged into Google My Business, you can add your clinic, verify the listing, and then optimize your business listing with more information about your practice. If you don’t set up a Google My Business listing for your office, then you’re going to have a difficult time ranking in the Local Search results.
2. Build Citations with Online Directory Listings
The next step is to build citations. Citations are directory listings on the web for business. There are hundreds of these listings, and it can be time-consuming to add your office to those. (We take care of this for you with our Chiropractic Marketing Plans.) Here are some of the large directories:
- local.yahoo.com
- YouTube.com
- bing.com
- mapquest.com
- yelp.com
- Foursquare.com
- yellowpages.com
- yellowbook.com
- Merchantcircle.com
- city-data.com
- Manta.com
Again, there are hundreds of directories, and you’ll want to get your office listed with as many as possible. Why? Because Google uses these directories to validate your NAP (name, address, and phone). If you have 100 directory listings for your clinic pointing to your chiropractic website, Google is going to give your website and local listing more weight in the search rankings.
3. Integrate Google My Business with Your Website
Third, you’ll need to build your Google Local ranking by integrating your Google My Business listing with your chiropractic website. This is another way for Google to verify your clinic information.
4. Get Positive Online Reviews and Start with Google My Business
Fourth, you’ll need to build reviews on Google My Business from happy patients. If you have a healthy set of online reviews from real people, that gives even more credibility, as Google wants to send people to reputable chiropractors.
Doing all of this work is time-consuming, but it’s worth it because of the increased visibility you can gain in Google search results.
If you would like a free consultation on how we can help your office, give us a call or contact us here.