Since many of you have asked this question, let me talk a little bit about how search engines rank websites. Let me first put a disclaimer and say that no one really knows the exact algorithm (or method) used in ranking websites. The search ranking algorithms used by search engines are trade secrets and they aren’t public. But, by analyzing websites that rank well and comparing similarities between them, we are able to establish a few things.
Google tracks every word and phrase on your acupuncture web page
Essentially what the search engines do is scan your entire page for any words and create an index. This index essentially is a count of how many times each word and phrase appears on your website. So for example, it would count how many times the word “The” appears, also how many times the word “acupuncture” appears. It will also count how many times phrases like “acupuncture physician” or “acupuncture clinic” appear. By doing this, it can get a sense of what each of your websites is about. It will then give your website points for certain keywords searched by people.
What this means is that it is important to have words on your website. Not only do you have to have words on your website, but they should include relevant keywords targeting acupuncture.
Where the Acupuncture Keywords Appear is Important too
Now that Google has scanned your page and collect all of the words, it starts to analyze where these words occur. Some locations that Google places significance on is the Title Tags, Page Description, and Heading Tags (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6). Be sure that you are putting relevant key words like “acupuncture clinic” or your City name in these locations so as to maximize your indexing.
Google Can’t Read Images
We also know that Google can’t read text within images. For example, if your website logo is an image (and I’m sure it probably is), all Google sees is a block that is an image. Because of this, it is important to always use alt tags on all of your images. Alt tags are basically a description of the image. By reading the alt tags, the search engines will know what those images are about and be able to appropriately index the images.
What are backlinks and how are they important?
Another ranking factor that is significantly important is how many backlinks your website has. A backlink is basically a link on any other website that points to yours. You can think of these back links as a popularity contest. The more backlinks you have, the more popular you are in the internet world, and the greater significance the search engines place on your website. Keep in mind however, that where those backlinks are coming from is important too. Google likes to see backlinks coming from webpages that are similar in content to yours. Search engines won’t give you as many points toward your ranking if you have a backlink coming from a web page about gardening as compared to a web page about the benefits of acupuncture.
How to get relevant backlinks is something we will have to save for another time, but later on we will show you how you can build them.
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to download our Acupuncture Marketing Cheat Sheet Here. We give you basic steps we have used to help acupuncture clinics just like you grow their pactice.
