I spent a few days recently doing local SEO research for a counseling practice. Part of this research includes checking out “the competition” and seeing what other therapists in the area have to offer.

Time and again I noticed that therapists were making a critical mistake. They were actually making it harder for clients to find them!

Here is one very easy-to-implement, quick tip for improving the chances that:

1) Potential clients will find you when they Google something common like "anxiety counseling near me" and

2) People will feel at ease and comfortable when they land on your website.

Ready?

Your Vital Quick Tip: Make sure your private practice address is listed on EVERY page of your website, ideally in your header or footer.

Yup, it's that simple!

However, I see sooooo many therapist websites without this vital info on most of their website pages.

Why is an address so important for SEO as a counselor or therapist?

Reason #1: You’re making the search easy for potential clients.

Imagine you are a client looking for a therapist… You have no idea who is good, or what to expect. All you know is that you’re hurting, you’ve been hurting for a while, and it’s finally time to get help.

You have a few common questions: How much is therapy going to cost? Will someone accept my insurance? Will therapy actually work?

And another question… Which therapist or counselor is most convenient for me?

Sure, lots of people will commute a longer distance to find the right therapist, especially if you have a unique specialty. But they still need to plan out logistics like what days they make a longer trip, or could they plan to see a counselor during their lunch break once a week.

Having your address readily available makes it very easy for people to answer an important question: Is it even worth it to call you for an initial appointment.

Reason #2: You’re using Google and SEO to your advantage.

Did you know that SEO isn’t some marketing scam, but is actually made to create a better online experience for everyone?

Google wants people to use Google, and they know that if they are the best at presenting the exact information people are searching for, people will use it. Google doesn’t want to trick you, they want to help you play their game.

One of the most common phrases added to any search for a service is “near me.” As in “depression counseling near me” or “child psychologist near me” or “couples counselor near me.”

People are most often searching for anything on their phone these days and they have location services turned on. If you have your address on every single page of your website it tells Google that is important information and it will use that to help people near your location find you.

Bonus Tip: Another key thing is to add your business to Google My Business.

This way your information will show up on a map when people do a search for terms related to your practice website.

Reason #3: People don’t visit every page of your website.

If you’ve put a lot of time and/or money into building a beautiful and highly engaging website, this one can be a hard pill to swallow… but it’s true. The fact is, most people will only visit a select number of pages on your website.

Let’s use a common example… someone searches for “ADHD counselor near me” and you happen to have a specialty page about your treatment of ADHD (excellent strategy, by the way!).

Guess what Google is likely to show them in search results (provided you’ve also implemented some other SEO strategies)? Your ADHD specialty page.

Not your Home page. Not your About page. Not your FAQ page.

And if we reference reason #1 above, then we know we want this potential client to immediately see that you are indeed, very close to their location and you also seem to match exactly what they are searching for, you’d be a very convenient person for them to call.

They might then go to your About page before visiting your Contact page… or you can make things super convenient and give them everything they need to contact you on every page of your website.

If you’re still reading this blog post then you’ve just spent more time reading this post than the amount of time it will take you to add your address to the footer of your counseling website and have it easily accessible on every page! So log in right now and make that change!!

And if all of this sounds super confusing or if you’re thinking you need a whole new therapist website, anyway, you’re invited to book a free call to see how we can help you. We offer full-service, all-in-one website design, website copywriting and SEO set up for therapists. We also offer monthly website maintenance if you’d prefer to just have someone else manage random updates.

We’d love to help you out!