Best Google My Business Tips for Rehab Centers

Navigating the online world is difficult for any business. As tech and marketing trends grow and change, it’s important to update your business’s online presence if you want to stay afloat.^[1]Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R. et al. The future of social media in marketing. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 48, 79–95 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1 Clients and customers rarely trust or even patronize businesses that don’t have a professional and reliable online presence.

This is the case for medical facilities and rehabilitation centers as well. Though you provide an essential business, potential clients are looking online to verify your legitimacy, reputation, and capabilities.^[2]Islami, X., Mustafa, N. & Topuzovska Latkovikj, M. Linking Porter’s generic strategies to firm performance. Futur Bus J 6, 3 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-0009-1 There are lots of options when it comes to healthcare, giving patients the freedom to shop around and find what they like.

With rehabilitation centers especially, online customers are looking to find local services. Inpatient and outpatient rehab services are more accessible and convenient if they’re in a patient’s area and allow them the capability to easily check in. When it comes to local marketing, Google My Business (GMB) is absolutely key.

If you aren’t using Google My Business for your rehab center, you’re missing out on a considerable number of potential clients. We have GMB tips for rehab, so you can begin to capitalize on local traffic.

GMB and Local Customers

It’s important to understand how Google My Business works when it comes to local traffic and customer generation. Ultimately, it boils down to the way people search for information. When trying to find nearby stores and services, a lot of people search for things like “women’s clothing near me” or “Thai food in Seattle.” A good amount of people do these searches right from Google maps, whether they’re on their computer or their smartphone.^[3]Jabr, Ferris. The Reading Brain in the Digital Age. (2013). The Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

The results that appear on Google Maps make up a business’s Google My Business account. There’s information there about how to get to the website, an easy way to call the business, reviews, hours of operation, address, and more. Essentially, GMB gives users easy access to the essential information all in one place.

Google My Business and Your Rehab Center

If your Google My Business account isn’t up to date, is incomplete, or contains negative reviews, users usually move on to search for another business.^[4]Amblee, N., and Bui. T. (2011), “Harnessing the Influence of Social Proof in Online Shopping: The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth on Sales of Digital Microproducts,” in: International Journal … Continue reading This means you lose out on clients, and they are robbed of access to your unique services.

This may seem like a very small part of your online presence, but it can have a significant impact on your new client generation and the overall success of your rehab center. If you haven’t optimized your Google My Business, we have some tips for how to improve your profile to maximize traffic.

1. Manage Reviews

Reviews are one of the top things that potential customers look at before they give you a call.^[5]Berger, J. Sorensen, A. T. and Rasmussen, S.J. (2010), “Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales,” in: Marketing Science 29(5), 815-827.Google Scholar This is especially true for rehab centers. Inquiring minds want to know if your services are effective, if others have had success with your program, and whether your facilities are clean and comfortable.

Bad reviews (or no reviews) don’t give viewers the reassurance that they need to seek out your services. If they’re going to put time and effort into rehabilitation, they want to know that their investment will be relatively effective.

If you have lots of bad reviews or none at all, your first step should be to ask current and past clients to write positive reviews for you. Approach them directly and ask if they’d be willing to write something about your facility. This can really help to boost your ratings and hide negative reviews at the bottom.

Responding to Reviews

One way to manage your reviews is by responding to them.^[6]Bosman, D. J., Boshoff, C. and van Rooyen, G. J. (2013), “The Review Credibility of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication on E-commerce Platforms,” in: Management Dynamics,22(3), 29-44. Customers like to see involvement from the page owner if something goes wrong. However, you need to be careful of HIPAA guidelines when you’re running a rehab facility. Be sure to avoid disclosing personal or identifying information when you respond. Encourage them to call you directly to talk further.

2. Update Your Information

One of the most disappointing ways to misuse your Google My Business is by not updating the information. Old phone numbers, bad website links, and old addresses cause a lot of confusion, and they’re so simple to fix. Verify your information on your account and test the links to be sure they work correctly. You want to be as available as possible for when someone is ready to check into rehab.

3. Add Additional Information

The more information you make available, the better. Though the standards for a My Business profile include location, hours, phone number, and website, go the extra mile. Consider adding information such as:

• Your service areas
• Payments and insurance plans that you accept
• Holiday hours
• Links to social media
• Pictures
• Videos

The more content you have readily available, the more trustworthy you seem.^[7]Chen, P.-Y., Wu, S., and Yoon, J. (2004), “The Impact of Online Recommendation and Consumer Feedback on Sales,” in: Proceeding of the International Conference on Information Systems: … Continue reading It also shows Google that you’re a legitimate business and not a bot or a dead company listing.

4. Optimize Your Business Description

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a significant part of any business’s online presence. When a user searches for something on Google, the search engine ranks the websites based on how closely it matches what they’re looking for. A way to get Google to put you towards the top is to make sure you have keywords and phrases in your content that users are actively searching for. The closer you can get to an exact search, the more likely that Google will put you at the top.

Keyword research is required to implement proper SEO. Guesswork has no place here, as it is as ineffective as doing no SEO at all. Many companies hire professional consultants and marketers for their SEO and GMB tips for rehabilitation.

5. Broaden Your Content

SEO efforts on your website will help your My Business profile and vice versa. Writing optimized blog posts for your rehab’s website can help to increase your exposure on Google search results. You can link to blogs and social media on your GMB account, but it’s important to first have quality content that covers a broad number of topics.^[8]Garett, R., Chiu, J., Zhang, L., & Young, S. D. (2016). A Literature Review: Website Design and User Engagement. Online journal of communication and media technologies, 6(3), 1–14. When you create evergreen website content, you are helping your GMB rank higher.

6. Geotarget

Google My Business is for individuals seeking local businesses. As we mentioned, many people will search for things like “rehab near me” to begin their research process. To show Google that you’re worth ranking, you need to saturate your profile and website with geographically specific language. Work “rehab near me” into your content as many times as you can while maintaining natural language.

Whenever you write “rehabilitation center” on your GMB or website, add your city’s location before it. So rather than saying “check out our rehabilitation center,” change it to “check out our Pittsburgh rehabilitation center.” This may seem like a small change, but it makes a huge difference in the eyes of search engine rankings. The more you can make these alterations, the more powerful your GMB listing will become.

7. Invest in Help

Navigating Google’s complicated algorithm on your own can be intimidating. Many people find it difficult to properly optimize their My Business account and struggle even more with keyword research and analytics. This is normal, but it shouldn’t stop you. Online marketing can make a huge difference for your company.^[9]Ahlers, D. (2012). Local web search examined. In Lewandowski, Dirk (Ed.), Web search engine research (Library and Information Science, Vol. 4, pp. 47–78). Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. You don’t want to ignore it just because you can’t do it yourself.

Instead, invest in consulting, marketing, and optimization efforts. Professionals in these areas can make a significant difference and help create more local business for your rehabilitation center.

Hire Professional Help for Your Rehab Local Marketing Strategies

With almost three decades of experience in the medical and mental health fields, our company has become an expert at helping rehabilitation services thrive online. We understand the challenges from all angles and are here to provide comprehensive support and advice to ensure that your website and Google My Business are working to their full potential. We can help you find the right marketing agency to help manage your local brand visibility. Reach out to discuss your marketing needs more.

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