Senior Living Search Strategies to Dominating Google in 2023
Senior Living Search Strategies to Dominate Google
How are your senior living search strategies going to change in the New Year?
There is no way around it: Google is hands down the single most utilized search engine in the world. As of January 2024, it owns 91% of search engine market share.
That means if you want your senior living community to stand out online and snag that all-important click, you need to dominate Google with a solid senior living search strategy…or at the very least in your local Google searches.
We’re here to help you in that endeavor. We’re sharing four Google strategies that will help you leverage Google pay-per-click ads (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), and Google reviews to bump up your website in the rankings this year.
In this article we will cover:
Using First-Party Data for PPC Ads
With online privacy concerns growing almost daily, Google is moving away from third-party cookies. This valuable data has been used for years to help marketers like you reach your ideal audience with PPC ads. So how will you attract traffic without it?
The answer is first-party data. That’s the information you collect about your audience directly.
The best source for first-party data is your customer relationship management (CRM) system. If you don’t already have one in place, it’s the most important marketing investment you can make this year.
Having a strong CRM system in place (like Enquire CRM) can help you understand how current residents and prospects interact with your senior living community.
Using your CRM data, you can help you target similar audiences with your paid Google ad campaigns. This is a game changer for your senior living search strategies!
Optimizing Content for “People Also Ask”
Another senior living search strategy for your community is this smart “backdoor” way to drive more traffic to your website…
Show up in the “People Also Ask” section of the search results page.
You have no doubt seen and used this popular search feature. It shows related queries other people have made with a dropdown arrow that features a snippet of content that answers that question.
For example, a Google search for “how much does senior living cost” generates the following “People Also Ask” results:
To increase the chances of your content being featured in this section, update your content to provide answers to commonly asked questions.
You can figure out which questions people are asking the most by using a keyword research tool to find the most popular keywords people search.
Which Keyword Research Tool Is Best for Beginners?
If you are new to keyword research, we recommend starting with a free or low-cost tool like:
- Soovle: It’s free! Shoovle shows keywords for a variety of search engines like Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Bing, Yahoo and even Amazon.
- Google Keyword Planner: These keywords come directly from Google and are tailored to the services you offer. And, yes, it’s free too.
- KeywordTool.io: This robust tool offers a ton of keywords. Keep in mind, it has very limited free capability. To access all of the keywords as well as competitor analysis and other helpful data, you will need to pay for a plan starting at $69 a month. Fortunately, they offer month-to-month plans so you can give it a try before fully committing to an annual plan. Plus they have a 30-day money back guarantee if the tool is not a good fit for you.
Once you identify the best keywords, optimize your content with those words in the answers you provide. Make sure you always include both the question and the answer to ensure you have a shot at ranking in the “People Also Ask” section.
To further enhance your chances of getting featured, localize your content with city, state, and ZIP code references that will help you rank in “near me” searches.
Automating Online Review Requests
With our senior living clients, we always emphasize the importance of having an online review strategy. We do this because we know how much seniors and their families rely on feedback from other residents to help them make a decision about your senior living community.
In fact, we’ve written The Ultimate Guide to Getting More Reviews in Senior Living, which we encourage you to check out.
Linking All Your Google Accounts
And finally, to supercharge your search strategies for your senior living community, make sure all of your Google accounts are linked. Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Business, and Google Search Console.
By linking all of your Google accounts, you can share data from your paid ads efforts and your SEO efforts to make sure the data you are tracking matches up.
Google makes it easy for you to connect all of your accounts. Simply go to the “Link Accounts” section of your Google Analytics Admin console. Follow the instructions for connecting all relevant accounts into your Google Analytics profile. This will help bring your data together so you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your online presence and audience behavior.
Remember Your Mobile Users
For all of these senior living search strategies… don’t forget to optimize for mobile users.
According to Power Traffick, 53% of paid clicks are made on mobile devices.
Even older adults are actively searching from their smart devices…so your community needs to show up and be user friendly from a mobile device.
As a result, make sure your website, all landing pages linked to your ads, and your ad copy are mobile-friendly.
You can easily test your landing page content using Google’s Mobile Friendly Test. Simply enter your landing page URL and wait a few minutes for the analysis.
Partnering with a Senior Living Google Expert
If you lack confidence in your ability to dominate Google on your own, don’t worry, you are not alone. Consider outsourcing digital marketing efforts.
Even with the wealth of free videos and blogs on mastering SEO, PPC, online reviews and Google My Business, lots of senior living marketers rely on a partner to help them maximize the success of their Google campaigns.
Choose a partner who knows the senior living market and has delivered measurable results for other senior living communities.
We cannot overstate that. It is important that your Google partner not just understand the Google platform, but your specific audience as well.
Fortunately, you don’t have to look far. Smart Girl Digital has spent several years working directly in the senior living industry and has helped transform the online presence of dozens of senior living communities.
You can request a free Senior Living Strategy Call to discuss what you’re currently doing with your Google campaigns and get an idea of how we can help you move up the ranks in local searches and beyond.
