Episode #8: What Audiologists Need to Know About Google’s Panda, Plus, and Places
“Show notes” are posted below each episode. This is where you will find relevant information and links related specifically to the episode.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the art and science of making sure that the search engines find your information online and display it when appropriate. When someone searches for “hearing aids” in your area, you want your information to show up. One of the keys to good SEO is understanding how the search engines determine what is important and relevant. It helps to know the rules of the game. Earlier this year, Google changed it’s search algorithm significantly with it’s latest update: Panda. Luckily, most audiology and hearing aid practices aren’t going to be negatively affected by Panda. But there are a few things to be aware of. We go over what’s relevant to marketing a hearing practice in this episode.
I’m thinking Google Plus will be a huge deal in the future for independent hearing aid practices. Right now, although Google-managed ads are all over the place, we aren’t able to target them too well, because Google doesn’t know a whole lot about the viewers of the ads. With the Facebook, on the other hand, you can choose to show your pay-per-click ads to very specific groups of people – such as women over 55, in your area, who have an interest in health. I think Google Plus will eventually allow us to use Facebook-style targeting across the entire internet. But right now, it’s not too useful for us – yet. They haven’t released their business features yet. The one thing that we can take advantage of right now though is: linking your Plus profile to your online content, so your picture shows up in the search results. Check out this link for more information: http://www.globinch.com/2011/07/16/authorship-and-google-profile-picture-in-google-search-results/
Google Places is one of the biggest missed opportunities I see in the hearing industry. It used to be impossible for a local business to show up at the top of the search results without any location-identifying information. For example, a search for “hearing aids” would display all the national chains, manufacturers, and medical info site. The user had to search for “hearing aids in San Fransisco, CA” for a local practice to stand a chance. These days, a lot of people are searching for local services online, and Google is finally able to serve them. For a while now, Google began integrating its local maps listings into the regular search results. This, in combination with their ability to determine the location of the searcher, means that your business info can show up on top when someone searches for something as simple as “hearing aids” or “audiologist”. I’ll be releasing a video training course during the next couple weeks. I created this step-by-step training course, specifically for the hearing industry, so that anyone can use to set up a “professionally-optimized” Places listing – the kind that will generate patients.
If you’d like to be notified when the “Places for Audiology” training course is released (so you can possibly take advantage of the launch discount), make sure you’re signed up to receive the “Audiology Marketing Now” WebTV show updates.
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Please comment below, and let me know what you think. I’ve got a ton of great content I’m planning on presenting, but I’d really like to hear what YOU want to see.
