You're using the wrong keywords. Or are you?

Keywords are the bane of my existence these days, because the SEO "experts" have made it a selling point: If you don't have the right keywords, you won't get found! If you don't do this or that, your keywords won't be seen! And my favorite - I will get you to the top of the results for your keywords!

Let's look at some ugly truths about keywords...

They're not as important as you think they are. If you are focused on being found for certain words, you are missing the bigger picture. For example, if you want to be found for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, you are dramatically overstating the value of two words: Minimally Invasive. The spine industry will have you believe that the words "minimally invasive" and "robotic" are the differentiators between you and every other doctor. It's total BS and a fabrication invented to sell you products. Are they good technologies? Sure, but you're the doctor. The reality is that people simply don't use these terms. They just look for "spine surgery des moines". I'm not saying this as an opinion, either. I've got hundreds of thousands of searches documented across years of campaigns and the usage of "minimally invasive" or "robotic" just isn't a term used. In fact, a client of ours who is one of the world's largest orthopedic companies, doesn't even use those terms in ad campaigns despite the fact they sell these types of product because it simply doesn't register with consumers. Focus on simple, layman terms for everything and don't view your campaign as a success or failure based on your belief on what words are important. Stick with the basics.

They don't work like you think they do. Keywords aren't even words, they are phrases. Spine surgery, knee surgery, hip surgery are phrases that have different variations that mean the same thing: spine operatin, knee treatment, hip procedure all mean - to a consumer - the same thing, more of less. And Google KNOWS they mean the same thing and will often value one over the other if these phrases are used in context with other related terms. Stuffing your page with the word "surgery" over and over doesn't necessarily get you found. You have to use variations AND you have to use them in context. Next, the root of the phrase should also be used in context. If we are talking about spine surgery, you'd want to use the word "spine" (your root) to describe your approach to spine surgery with spine patients to treat spine pain using minimally invasive spine techniques after conservative spine care. Obviously you'd want to spread that phrase out a bit, but you get the gist. Focus on using many phrases to describe the key terms you want to be found for and surround these with related terms.

Keywords are not a guarantee of traffic. If you search for "coolest person in Nashville" you'll find a guy's page that is titled "Coolest Guy In Nashville". Whether he is or isn't is subject to debate, but he built this page to prove his point, that he could get to number one on a subject. Where this proof falls short is where he is being number one for something no one is looking for. In the event someone needs to locate the coolest guy in Nashville, then he's got it made. The same thing goes for content on your website; if you do NOT have laminectomy or knee replacement or ankle fusion content on its own page, highly optimized and submitted to Google, then the odds of you being found WHEN someone looks for that term are not great. Where you CANNOT fall into the trap of assuming since you ARE number one for something it should translate to more visits. That simply isn't how it works. Here's proof: search for "lower right back pain". You'll see the usual suspects such as Cleveland Clinic, Healthline, etc. And you might notice in one of the featured images is our client, Atlanta Spine Institute. This image brought him 109 visits in the last 30 days. Nice! But out of how many? Google doesn't tell us the number of searches on pages that have generative AI anymore, but you can safely assume this is in the millions. So is it a success or failure? Atlanta Spine got found because they created relative content to spine surgery and posted it, along with hundreds of other articles over many years that they've been our client. And they get found a LOT due to their commitment to populating search. But they never looked for data on specific terms or how to get found for them. Instead, we focus on the whole and take whatever terms show up and try to get found for as MANY as possible, without tracking single ones. Focus on getting found for many terms, and you will get found for those people are looking for. Don't sweat individual phrases because the audience may not be there.

Did you notice I suggested you search for coolest PERSON in Nashville? Google knows what you meant, and he didn't use the word person on the page anywhere. Google tries to figure out what you are looking for, so having many variations of a term is your best approach.

Keywords are just one part of the marketing effort. You can optimize your page for the perfect keyword phrase: titles, H tags, image alt tags, cross site linking, navbars, etc. etc. and it might rank, but if you don't do all of the things Google asks you to do - create quality content often and link from other places - it will fail to a lesser page because they did the work. Keywords and phrases are important but are not the life and death of a website. Don't set your traffic expectations about keywords, but seek to be found for anything a patient may search for. Remember, Google is a fickle friend who will drop you like a prom date who just "wants to be friends" if you don't do all of the things Google requires. Drop us a line at [email protected] to learn more.