Today they sent a list of keywords that they would like to target for SEO, but the list didn’t match the types of “local SEO keywords” that a local business or medical practice should be interested in.

They wanted to target the same keywords that they are targeting for their Adwords PPC campaign – here is the short version of the list: neck pain treatments, sciatica pain, treatment for bulging disc, degenerative disc, herniated disk, back treatment for herniated disk, treatment for herniated disc, herniated disc treatment, herniated disk pain.

This was my reply (location has been changed):

These are great keywords for Google Adwords because you can geotarget your campaigns (make your ads available only to users within a defined geographic region, like within 20 miles of San Diego).

Keywords for SEO are another beast though, I’ll try to explain as briefly and easily as possible what the most valuable SEO keywords for a local San Diego business would look like:

Google has over 1 trillion web pages to try to rank every time someone does a search for ‘back pain’ and similar keywords, with a goal of giving users the most useful website possible. For example, a local chiropractic website wouldn’t be a good fit for a keyword like ‘back pain’ – users in foreign countries and other regions wouldn’t be interested in your website, so Google’s algorithm  makes sure that websites like Wikipedia, informational sites, and prominent online medical resources rank highest for broad keywords like that.

It’s also a waste of your money and time to try to rank organically for those keywords, because San Diego users make up only a tiny percentage of the global traffic that is searching for those keywords.

It is wiser for local businesses and locations to target SEO keywords that include a “local qualifier” (e.g. city or state), that targets your local target market exclusively, for example, “back pain San Diego” or “chiropractor in San Diego, CA.” San Diego users are more likely to search for local pain management and spine relief searches by including “San Diego” in the search term. Try searching for those terms and you will see your biggest online competition appearing high in search results – they are probably getting all kinds of business from those rankings.

I recommend using Google’s keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) to research keywords like “chiropractor San Diego,” “spinal decompression San Diego,” and similar keyword phrases to find which key terms get the most searches per month, and those are the ‘bread and butter’ keywords that you’ll want to rank for because they can get you the highest, and best qualified traffic possible.

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To learn more about making your spinal decompression website or your chiropractic website rank well in search engines, call us today! (801) 947-5595.

While Youtube videos can a valuable part of an SEO campaign and in driving traffic and online exposure to a website, they are hardly the most valuable SEO technique.

Here was my email response:

Youtube videos can be very effective in SEO campaigns, but shouldn’t make up the only component in an SEO campaign. A website that is optimized well for search engines should include high-quality content on a well-built, search-engine-accessible website, and should be supported by inbound links from other websites. For example, a website with a Youtube video could potentially have errors that prevent search engines from finding the website, or a lack of links and valuable content on the website could prevent search engines from ever finding the content on a website.

Youtube videos can contain useful keywords and usage data that help a website rank well for certain keywords, but aside from helping a website rank, Youtube videos can be effective as content on the website, and can even attract high volumes of web traffic if the video itself is popular on Youtube.com, ranks high on search engines, or is embedded on popular websites or blogs.

A comprehensive survey completed periodically by SEOmoz ,an industry leading SEO training company, polls leading SEO experts’ opinions about the most important and critical factors in getting a website to rank well in search engines, and is useful in gauging the usefulness of Youtube videos in comparison to other on- and off-site SEO practices. Source: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors.

Our experience validates the findings of that survey, and we model our SEO campaigns in the same way, giving the most effective SEO practices the highest priority in our campaigns. Some of the most effective SEO practices include link building (building links using keywords as ‘anchor text’ from external links), using the keyword in the page title tag and content, and building links and references from quality, trusted websites.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of people each month (in your area) that are searching online for your product/services. What is your business doing to get in front of these qualified consumers? Are you using Sponsored Links, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Advertising, and/or Social Networking to increase phone calls?

Here are the Top 5 reasons your businesses should be using Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Call Epic Marketing today and receive a FREE consultation with one of our online specialists. Find out what works and what doesn’t. (Example yellowpages.com/ATT and most directories for that matter… do not work!)

Utah Cosmetic Surgery saw a 50% increase in website-driven leads and TWICE the website traffic (95% increase) in only 90 days.

Local (Utah) visits increased by 80% in 90 days

50% increase in Website-Driven Leads

We undertake every marketing campaign with only one goal: results.

Website-driven leads increased by 50% in 90 days

How it Happened

The largest contributor to the increase website leads (form submissions) was the launch of a new website on May 20 that was much more user friendly and optimized to increase calls, conversions, and reduce the website bounce rate (a website’s bounce rate is the percentage of users who arrive at the home page and then leave the website without navigating to further pages).

They have also seen a noticeable increase in phone calls and mentions of the website.

95% increase in Website Traffic (unique visitors)

Unique visitors increased by 95% in 90 days

As a result of the new search engine-friendly website, supported by targeted SEO, PPC, social media, and Facebook online advertising campaigns, www.utahcosmeticsurgery.com received a 95% increase in unique website visitors by July.

As mentioned above in the highlights, this traffic is made up of highly relevant, quality visitors. We saw an 80% increase in local Utah visitors, and an 81% increase in highly relevant search traffic from Google.

About Utah Cosmetic Surgery

Utah Cosmetic Surgery provides plastic surgery including liposuction, tummy tucks, and breast augmentation in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, along with many other services and procedures. Dr. Haupt is a board-certified plastic surgeon with over 20 years of experience as a reconstructive surgeon and wound care specialist at several area hospitals.

Epic Marketing has handled Utah Cosmetic Surgery’s marketing and advertising (both on- and off-line) for just over a year. Some of our largest online marketing efforts for 2009 with Utah Cosmetic Surgery have included:

Search Engine Marketing (source of relevant, quality search-based traffic)

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• PPC  (Pay Per Click, also known as Sponsored Links)

Facebook Advertisements (local low-cost branding opportunity that has turned out to be surprisingly effective in lead generation)

Social Media Marketing

New website launch (opportunity for re-branding, and optimization for usability and lead conversion)