Establishing a strong online presence is key to any thriving business, including—and maybe especially, eye care professionals.
Local listings are a piece of search engine optimization (SEO) that can sometimes be overlooked—but local listings help connect your practice to the local community by enhancing your visibility in search engines and building trust among your potential patients.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of positioning your website to gain better visibility in search engines like Google, making your website more visible to potential patients. A successful SEO strategy can increase traffic, leads, patients, and revenue.
What are Local Listings?
Local listings (also known as local citations), refer to online mentions of a business’s details like the name, address, phone number, or website URL. These references can appear in local directories, websites, blogs, social media, or apps.
Local listings help you find nearby businesses, increase your website’s search engine rankings, and ultimately attract more patients.
Why are Local Listings Important?
Boosting your website’s ranking isn’t always easy or fast, even with the best SEO strategy—especially when you compete with larger, more established businesses. That’s why local listings play a major role in increasing your site’s visibility.
Types of Local Listings
Industry-Specific Listings
It’s important to build out listings in directories specific to your industry—for optometrists, this could include RateMDs or Free Clinic Directory.
Geo-Specific Listings
You can submit your practice’s information to geo-specific directories, like your local Chamber of Commerce website, to be referenced alongside other local businesses in your area.
Local Listings for Optometrists
Local listings help ensure that when someone in your area searches for “eye doctor near me” or “optometrist in [your city],” your practice appears in the search results.
Local listings are also an opportunity to showcase what sets your optometry practice apart from the competition. You can include details like the unique services, amenities, diagnostic equipment or eyewear you offer, and any special promotions or events.
When potential patients come across your practice’s listing and see accurate information, positive reviews, and timely responses to inquiries, they’re more likely to perceive your practice as reputable and trustworthy—which influences their decision-making process when choosing an optometrist.
Optimizing Local Listings
You can actively submit and manage your online listings on local directories. Typically, this involves submitting your business’s details and contact information to different listings and aggregators.
Managing your local listings controls the spread of data (or misinformation) to other websites. An incorrect business name, address, phone number, or website can hurt your rankings, traffic, and reputation.
The best thing to do when you see incorrect information about your business online is to reach out to the directory or website and request to fix the errors. Sometimes submitting a change is simple and other times it is quite difficult—this all depends on the platform.
Managing your SEO strategy, including your local listings, can be difficult for practices and eye care professionals, especially when you’re focusing on your patients. For questions about your marketing strategy, get in touch and see how our Marketing4ECPs team can help.
