YogaGeekSquad.com Blog

Google, SEO , New Patients and Students

Take a look at these interesting facts about how your patients are using the internet to find “Acupuncture” and “Acupuncture Doctors”:

• More than 1.5 million people searched for “Acupuncture” on Google in December 2009 on Google.

• More than 142,700 people searched for “Acupuncture Doctors” in December 2009 on Google.

• More than 422,800 searches on “yoga teacher”-related keywords took place in December 2009 on Google.

• Google alone claimed 66% of the USA market for Internet Search Engines, with Yahoo at 18% and MSN at 10%.  AOL and Ask combined comprise the remaining 6%.

• 62% of search engine users only view the 1st page on Google, and 92% never look past the second cites Google.

• 80% of patients and yoga students located their practitioners and yoga teachers via an internet search in 2008.

What is SEO?

• Search Engine Optimization- SEO Is What the Insiders, Such As Website Designers and Internet Marketers Do to Make a Website or Business Show Up in the 1^st Page of Google’s Search Results.

Coming up on the 1^st page when there are MILLIONS of results rarely happens WITHOUT SEO.

These are the definitions of SEO given by 4 out of 33 subjects in a recent research study. Physicians are still ignorant of SEO and its importance:

“It is a process to improve the significance and performance of results on Google. It is definitely not a service.”

“I haven’t heard of it, but I think it helps Google work better.”

“You pay Google to get better ranks.”

“It is how many results you get when you search something.”

How many times have you searched for information on the Internet and read just the first-maybe second page of the search results?  According to Google’s statistics-the chances are that 92% of the time you read 1-2 pages of search results before you find what you are looking for and stop searching.

Just about every time you look up something on Google, or any other search engine for that matter, SEO is playing the decisive role of determining what you results you see, and therefore, which practitioner or studio you are likely to give your valuable business to.  Having an attractive website isn’t enough if the patients and students you need to reach never see it.

If you are looking for a holistic physician or a yoga studio near you, chances are that you might use internet to search for good physicians and yoga studios. The geriatric population, as one of my colleagues in the acupuncture field points out is an exception-but often times their kids look one up on Google. Here is where the SEO comes into play:  SEO determines which practitioner or yoga studio’s website will be the first you see when you search on Google, Yahoo or MSN.

According to the president of National Institutes of Health and the World Organization, “It (alternative medicine) is pretty well documented through scientific studies that acupuncture, for example, can be very helpful in relieving certain things like migraines and other ailments — or at least as effective as more intrusive interventions.”

Millions of people are realizing the benefits of alternative treatments and thousands of people who need yoga and acupuncture are searching for them on the internet every day according to Google’s latest statistics.

If you own a yoga studio, or are a holistic physician, it is important for you to be visible to patients and students. Conventional methods like printing pamphlets are limited to only local people, and are not focused towards the intended audience. The best way to offer your services to a wider community is to have a website WITH SEO designed and regularly maintained by someone who stays on top of the latest SEO and market trends while you do what you do best-heal and teach.

I’m sure all of you will agree that Internet has affected the life of about everyone, and just about everyone is using the internet. Personally, if I need anything, my first action is to search for it on the Internet. Similarly, Thousands of people daily are looking for good holistic physicians on the Internet, in which case, your website’s Google search results ranking plays a critical role in which clinic or studio new patients and studios attend patronize.

I hope after reading this blog post that you are a little wiser about SEO, and that you will not be in the 4 people out of the 33 questioned who did not understand how vital SEO is to the modern yoga teacher and acupuncture physician.. In my next post, I will tell you what SEO you to do to attract more patients and students from the internet. It’s coming up a lot sooner than the last post.  I have been busy doing SEO writing and creating online training programs for others that I haven’t updated my own blog.  Since I was number 3 in Google’s search results it wasn’t a priority…
Since it’s license renewal time for many Acupuncture Physicians, check out a great book and 10 CEU course at:

http://www.acupuncturebusinessschool.com/buildingyourpracticethroughyourwebsite.html