For physical therapy clinics trying to get an advantage over their competitors online marketing efforts, the Google Local Listing platform is a powerful tool to have under your belt. If your clinic isn’t currently taking advantage of your Local Listing, you’re missing out on a great outreach opportunity. If you are actively managing your business’ profile, you may have faced some confusion over the past few weeks.
Google recently announced a major redesign to the way that their Local Listings are displayed and ranked. Great therapists and clinic managers don’t necessarily need to be highly savvy when it comes to technology, and for some the new changes may be a little bit difficult to understand. Luckily, the new format isn’t all that complicated to figure out if you understand the major changes
Here are a few of the key differences of the new Google Local Listing feature:
The main reason for the big changes to Local Listings is the search engine’s major overhaul of the Google Maps platform. This update not only affects how your physical therapy clinic is listed in Google Places, but also how much information is provided to users browsing your business.
The new Google Maps aims to be much more visually aesthetic than its predecessor. For your clinic, this means that you now have the ability to add much more detailed photographs of both the interior and exterior of your office, as well as provide photo tours for potential clients. Make your physical therapy office stand out from others in your area with bright, attractive images.
A key goal of Google’s revised Local Listing feature is to put more emphasis on user reviews. This means that local SEO will have less of an impact on the raking of your clinic’s listing. Instead, the businesses with the best reviews will rank better than their competitors.
This makes it more important than ever to deliver quality patient care. With the newly increased focus on positive feedback, clinics with the most satisfied patients will be the ones dominating the rankings. If your clients are leaving your office unhappy with the level of care provided, your Google Local Listing will suffer.
One big change that’s grabbing the attention of many physical therapists is Google’s new rules regarding business listing owners. In the past, multiple accounts could claim ownership of a business’ profile. While this is great for clinics with multiple owners or people handing online marketing, it can also pose a problem to the integrity of your listing.
To combat these issues, Google is now restricting listing ownership to only one account.
Allowing multiple owners for your website’s listing paves the way for scammers to come in, make unauthorized changes to your listing’s information and even highjack the links to your website. These problems were few and few in-between prior to the change, but the new rules should make it much easy for you to maintain your Google Local Listing.
While it may seem like the changes to Google Local Listings are making it more difficult for your physical therapy clinic to stand out on Google Places, this is far from the truth. Although you may need to spend a little bit of time setting up and optimizing your business for the new platform, the end results will be positive. That’s if you know how to adapt to the changes, of course. The best way to get started is to verify that all of the information about your business is correct in your list, and then work on drawing new clients in with attractive, updated photographs.
Is your physical therapy clinic prepared for the changes to Google Local Listings? If not, your competitors may already have an advantage. By understanding the changes and how their affect your clinic, you can take the steps needed to maximize your Local Listings results. If you’re still not sure how to proceed, we offer a wide range of features with our physical therapy clinic websites that can help you get the most out of the changes to Google Local Listings.
Image Source: Screenshot