5 Ways to get your care home top of Google with SEO

But before we dive in, it’s worth mentioning a couple of key points – what SEO is and the fundamentals of keywords.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising a website to improve its ranking on search engines. Google employs over 200 ranking factors to determine the order of pages in its search results for a specific search query.

The ultimate aim of SEO is to be top of the results pages for your main keywords. This means that your business is front and centre for your target audience.

Getting the basics right: identifying the keywords you need to put at the centre of your SEO strategy

For any SEO strategy to work, you need to have a really good understanding of what families and care jobseekers are searching for. Without this, you’ll have a hard time identifying the keywords to use within your content – and if you’re not optimising your website for the right keywords, it won’t  appear in their search results.

The number of keywords is extensive, so prioritise the ones you are chasing based on their potential to generate valuable traffic, and include your location (there’s no point scoring highly for searches for care homes in Newcastle if you’re in Bristol, and most people looking for care for their loved one or for a job will include their location in their search term – this is so important, we’ll expand on it in Tip 2!).

You can use tools such as Ubersuggest or a paid tool such as SE Ranking to assess the search volume of your selected keywords and determine the difficulty of ranking for those keywords and phrases. Your competitors will also be looking to compete through SEO, so the more commonly used search terms are likely to have a lot of organisations chasing them; less common keywords are easier to compete on, but that’s because they’re used in fewer searches.

A good place to start is to use ‘care home in Tunbridge Wells’ or ‘care jobs in Hounslow’, using your location. It will be easier to come top for longer tail keywords, such as ‘care home in Milton Keynes with dementia expertise’, but there will be fewer searches.  

SEO Tip 1: Create great content for your care home website

The cornerstone of any SEO strategy should be to create content that your audience finds useful and is willing to engage with. This works for both your algo and real audiences:

• the SEO spiders that are trawling your website to see if it is relevant to online searches (regular, original content shows that your website is current, so has a high ranking value)
• the people you want to be reading it and ultimately contacting you – engaging, relevant content will encourage visitors to stay on your site (which further boosts your SEO by lowering your bounce rate) and keep them on your radar if you have a digital customer journey set up. 

Google has increased the importance of ‘people-first’ content when it comes to rankings, especially so in its latest helpful content update released in August 2022. Spending time understanding the interests and needs of your target families and candidates is key to your success here. Topics that you could write about include:

• Tips for looking after elderly relatives
• Round ups of events or special occasions at your care home
• Wider care sector news
• Staff spotlights (milestones, achievements etc)

SEO Tip 2: Local SEO

Care homes are vital to local communities and your residents and staff are likely to come from the local area, so it’s important to think about local SEO. A large portion of searches include location keywords – 46% of all searches in fact. For example, a family isn’t going to search for just ‘care home’; they are thinking ahead to visiting and the convenience of a nearby home for their elderly relative. Likewise, potential new recruits will be looking for a care role locally first and foremost. This shows the value of including your location within your content.

Three quick and easy ways to improve your local SEO:

• Google My Business listing – this will put your care home on Google Maps, provide information such as business hours, logos and images to people searching online, and boost you further up the Google search results – because Google likes businesses that are active on its platforms.
• Ask for online reviews – reviews are arguably more important for families looking for care support for elderly relatives than any other business. Target recognised platforms like Google and Trustpilot for the best results. Ask your existing relatives and staff for reviews to show your care home is trustworthy, caring and respected.
• Online directory listing – as well as Google My Business, it’s worth joining as many directories as you can to increase visibility. Yelp and Autumna are good options, along with any local publications that have the facility.

SEO Tip 3: Optimise your website for SEO

While great content is key, you will lose some of the benefits by not optimising your website for SEO. There are hundreds of ways to improve your website’s SEO, but here are some of the easier checks you can make to win Brownie points with the search engine algorithms:

• Is your website mobile-friendly? Mobile traffic is increasing and is now higher than from a desktop. Ensure the user experience is smooth when using on mobile or ask whoever manages your website to check this.
• How quickly does your website load? Check your speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. Today's consumers are accustomed to lightning-fast website speeds and expect websites to load almost instantly.
• Do you have a secure website? A simple check that has a huge impact on ranking. Make sure your website has an SSL certificate for security against cyber-attacks.

SEO Tip 4: Utilise social media

An engaging social media presence is a great way to increase brand awareness, speak to your target audience and build trust within your community. For a more in-depth look at social media for care homes, take a look at our how-to guide.

For SEO, social media can be a great source of visitor traffic to your website. Focus on these key areas to ensure you maximise your SEO efforts:

• Include your link in posts – add your website link into your bio or profile and in some of your posts. Avoid including in every post as it can take away from the organic, authentic feel you will want to achieve.
• Share relevant, quality content – great content is required on social media too. If your audience can relate to it and enjoy looking at it then they are more likely to engage.
• Consistent posting – the more you put your care home in front of your audience, the more likely they are to remember who you are when they are ready to make contact or refer to others.

SEO Tip 5: Digital PR and backlinks

Backlinks from online media sources are extremely useful for directing traffic back to your website. The more authoritative the source, the more ranking points Google gives you and, of course, the more likely you’ll see a higher volume of traffic.

When well-respected publications in your industry reference you as an expert on a specific topic, it is a strong indication that your voice is influential and deserving of attention, particularly when this happens frequently. Once again, great content is the driving force here; trusted sources will only want to link to relevant and useful information.

For a quick win, contact whoever is already linking back to your website. Examine the primary sources or domains that direct traffic to your website via the acquisition tab in Google Analytics; you can then get in touch with them to propose a link-building relationship.

You can also read our thoughts on Why PR is important for care homes.

Appearing near the top of relevant search results pages is a key component to your care home’s success. If you would like to know how we could support your care home’s SEO strategy, contact us on communications@sharpminds.agency or give us a call on 01892 570863.

You can find more of our #SharpTips marketing insights on the Sharp Minds website.