The 6-Step SEO Marketing How-To Guide (made just for wellness pros!)
In this 6-Step SEO Marketing How-To Guide, you’ll learn the primary SEO steps you need to show up in front of new patients online.
And we promise it will be easier than putting together your new standing desk from Ikea. ????
Step 1: Get your website on Google
The first step to using the SEO Marketing How-To is making sure your website shows up on Google!
If you’re not listed on Google, the most popular search engine on the internet (over 90% of people use Google vs. search engines like Duck Duck Go, Bing, or Yahoo), you’re basically invisible. Potential patients who search Google to get answers to their questions and solutions to their problems will never be able to find you.
So what do you do? How do you know for sure your website is listed on Google’s index? (Remember, Google isn’t the live internet…it’s just an index of sites it sources from the internet!)
There are two ways to check.
The first is a quick and dirty technique called a site search.
This is our preferred method to see if clients’ websites show up on Google because it requires no background setup and takes just a few seconds.
To perform a site search:
- Navigate to Google.
- Type site:yoursitename.com
- Review the results. Are your most essential pages listed? Are some pages not listed?
For example, a site search for our agency’s website would look like this: site:thelafontagency.com
The second way to ensure your website is listed on Google is by creating a Google Search Console account.
If you already have a Google account, this won’t take very long and will provide you with the most accurate information about your site’s appearance and performance on Google.
Simply use the URL Inspection Tool, conveniently located at the top of every Google Search Console page:
Once you enter your website address and click enter, Google Search Console will provide results letting you know if the URL is indexed…or not.
Did you notice your site (or a page on your site) isn’t listed on Google’s index? Click here to start your free 7-day trial of the Market Your Wellness Biz monthly membership to learn why (and what to do about it!).
Sometimes, the reason can be as simple as you’ve just published your website, and Google hasn’t yet gotten around to listing it.
Ultimately, however, you want to troubleshoot any underlying reasons why you’re not showing up. Remember, patients use Google to get answers, find clinicians, research supplements, etc….your website and the fantastic information it provides should show up when they hit “Search.”
Step 2: Make your website easy for patients to find
Once you know your site is, indeed, listed on Google and able to be found, you should make sure it’s EASY to find!
You don’t want to be stuck on page 10 of Google when most people never leave page 1 to get their questions answered.
The way to get your website in front of potential patients is to:
- Ensure you’re speaking to one specific group of people, i.e., women with thyroid hair loss, female cyclists, busy CEOs who need help with heart-healthy recipes
- Use your site to answer your patients’ questions and solve their problems
- Write your content (blogs, articles, how-to guides) so patients find it useful versus using hard-to-understand medical lingo
- Make your content interesting, engaging, and shareable
- Publish content as frequently as you’re able (and not go crazy!)
Google uses the acronym E-E-A-T as the foundational principle for ranking the information on its index. Meaning if your website shows off your Experience, Expertise, and Authority on a topic and creates Trust with readers, Google will boost you to the top of the list when a potential patient performs a search.
So, instead of writing a blog about your favorite sciencey way to address H. pylori, write a blog that gives people with stomach ulcers the top foods they should eat to feel better. Bonus if you make that blog entertaining and engaging—remember, people love to be entertained, especially when they’re going through something hard.
Step 3: Make your website easy for Google to find
Google uses a software called Googlebot to surf the web and find the information it wants to list in its index.

But how does Googlebot search the internet to get the info for the index?
Through hyperlinks.
A hyperlink is any clickable link that takes you from one place to another on the internet. For instance, this link takes you to the amazing story of what SEO can do for your business, and this link takes you to the New Age Bullshit Generator (the funniest site on the internet, in our opinion).
If you want Google to find you, you need to have lots and lots of hyperlinks leading to your website (called backlinks) and even links from your website to other parts of your website (called internal links).
There are infinite ways to get backlinks, from guest blogging to podcast appearances to joining forums or professional groups. But at the end of the day, remember that the more links pointing from reputable, well-maintained sites to your site, the easier it will be for Google to find you and list you high in search results.
Thankfully, you’re fully in charge of the links on your website!
Internal links should (in a logical, easy-to-use way) connect all the pages on your site to all the other pages on your site. For example, your homepage will contain hyperlinks to the most important pages, such as your services page and about page. These links should also act as an intuitive way for patients to navigate and find what they need.
In the eyes of Google, pages on your site are virtually non-existent without hyperlinks connecting them. So, do your best to use hyperlinks frequently and, importantly, in a way that enhances your site visitor’s experience.
Step 4: Make your website invaluable to patients
More than your credentials, education, clinical experience, or even how many followers you have on social media ????♀️, your potential patients care about how you can help them feel better.
That’s the primary reason they’re online in the first place—they have a problem, and they’re looking for solutions. It’s not called “Dr. Google” for nothing.
Your website needs to be THE PLACE they go for the most trusted, accurate, and, importantly, practical information to solve their bloating, hair loss, chronic pain, weight gain, etc.
Your blogs, articles, podcast episodes, videos, and infographics should be focused on solving your niche’s problems. Full stop.
Of course, we highly encourage you to do your due diligence before publishing this content. Make sure you do your best to provide evidence-based, referenced content while resisting the inner voice most clinicians battle, telling them to hide in the shadows and never publish another word.
We get it—it’s a difficult balance. But you got this.
Step 5: Make your website exciting for collaborators
While backlinks (links from other websites to your site) are an easy way for Google to navigate the enormous world of the internet and find you more easily, they’re akin to a vote of confidence.
Google sees backlinks as a positive testimony to the quality of your website. So, make your website appealing to people who might want to collaborate with you.
Now, unless you already have a huge following with lots of professional admirers who want to work with you, you’ll likely have to do some work to create these collabs.
Social media can be helpful in this regard, as well as some simple Googling to see who you like and who’s active in your field.
Who’s work do you admire?
Who’s audience might love your website and offerings?
Who would be open to partnering with you and spreading the word about your site (and vice versa)?
A great example of boosting SEO via collaboration is C.J. Thomas of Simply Healthy Marketing. We’re constantly blown away by her ability to work with her peers and create incredible content for her audience. (We also love her email marketing course and highly recommend it!)
These collaboration skills mean C.J. and her website get lots of backlinks (like the ones above ????) from the wellness pros she works with.
And everyone’s clients benefit.
Step 6: Keep at it
SEO isn’t a one-and-done task to check off your list. It’s a long-term marketing strategy that amplifies the work you’re already doing.
Just like sending out weekly newsletters, regularly publishing useful blogs, and posting on the social media platforms where your avatar hangs out, SEO is a built-in part of your continuous content marketing.
So stay the course.
Keep updating older blogs to make sure links are active and calls to action are relevant while publishing new ones.
Keep improving your site’s pages and making sure they’re showing up on Google.
Keep easing user experience by making your site easier to navigate with intuitive backlinks.
And keep reaching out to professional peers you love to increase both your reaches.
Want more SEO how-tos?
Register today for DIY SEO, the only SEO course created just for wellness businesses, and get even more practice-boosting details on how to show up in front of new patients and make it to page 1 of Google.