Ever wondered why other healthcare providers consistently appear at the top of search results while your clinic struggles to gain visibility? The answer lies in strategic competitor analysis—a powerful yet often overlooked aspect of local SEO.
In this episode, we’ll break down exactly how to identify your real competitors, what to look for when analyzing their online presence, and how to use that information to improve your own SEO strategy.
And stick around to the end, because I’ll be giving you three actionable steps you can implement today to gain a competitive edge.
Webpage Episode: https://propelyourcompany.com/how-to-spy-on-your-competitors-seo-plan/
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🎉 NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients without spending a dime on ads
📞Book a discovery call - Book a discovery call with Propel to see how smart SEO and website design can help your clinic get found online.
Send in your questions. ❤ We'd love to hear from you!
NEW Webinar: How to dominate Google Search, Google Maps, AI-driven search results, and get more new patients.
In this 1-Hour SEO Planning Session, you’ll learn what it takes to thrive online and convert online traffic into foot traffic.
Plus, Get a Free Patient-Centered SEO Action Plan to Kickstart Your Strategy!
https://propelyourcompany.com/learn
📞Book a discovery call - Book a discovery call with Propel to see how smart SEO and website design can help your clinic get found online.
https://propelyourcompany.com/
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Clinic Marketing Podcast.
I'm your host, Darcy Sullivanfrom Propel Marketing and
Design.
Today we're diving into acritical topic: how to analyze
your local SEO competitors soyou can outrank them and bring
more patients through yourdoors.
(00:21):
In this episode, we'll breakdown exactly how to identify
your real competitors, what tolook for when analyzing their
online presence, and how to usethat information to improve your
own SEO strategy.
And stick around to the endbecause I'll be giving you three
(00:41):
actionable steps you canimplement today to gain a
competitive edge.
So if you've ever wondered howother clinics seem to dominate
search results while youstruggle to gain traction, this
episode is for you.
Before we dive in, I do want tomention that today's topic came
(01:03):
in as a special request from oneof our listeners.
If you have any requests oftopics or SEO-related questions
or website-related questionsthat you would like answered,
please reach out to us onInstagram at PropelYourCompany.
All right, let's get started.
(01:23):
So, step one, you want toidentify who your real
competitors are.
The first step in a competitoranalysis is to identify who your
real competitors are.
See, many clinic owners make amistake of assuming that just
because they're a chiropractor,that other chiropractors in
(01:45):
their direct area are theircompetition.
And that's not necessarily true.
Your real competitors are thosewho rank in the top spots for
keywords that you want totarget, meaning when you type in
those keyword phrases intoGoogle, other sites are coming
(02:06):
up for them, not yours.
They also need to meet othercriteria, like serving the same
target audience in yourgeographical area, and have
similar business model or offeroverlapping services.
So let's say you're achiropractor in Austin, Texas.
(02:29):
You might think your competitionis every single chiropractor in
town, but if you specialize insports injury rehabilitation,
your actual competitors might bea mix.
They could be chiropractors,some physical therapist, or even
other clinics like orthopedicclinics that offer similar
(02:51):
services.
So how do you find out who yourreal SEO competitors are?
Well, there's a couple quickways.
One, Google search.
Type in the key services alongwith your location and see who
appears in top search results.
Examples for this could be giventhe previous example that we
(03:15):
used, you might want to type inSports Injury Chiropractor
Austin and see who comes up.
Now it's important to note thatwhen you're doing a search like
this, you want to make sure thatyou're actually looking at the
organic results and not justlooking at ads because that
those people are paying to play.
They are paying for some ofthose top positions on Google.
(03:38):
So we want to make sure thatwe're actually looking in the
organic results.
Next, check the top listings inGoogle Maps for relevant search
terms.
You can also use SEO tools.
There are a ton of them outthere.
Some are freed, some are paid,some are free mum, meaning they
(04:00):
have free and then premiumoptions.
Almost all of them do offer afree trial period.
Some tools that we like for thisinclude AHREFs, SimRush, or Moz.
They can help you analyze whichcompetitors are ranking for some
of the same keywords as you.
(04:21):
Once you've identified a list ofcompetitors, it's time to
analyze what they might be doingright.
So once you know who thesecompetitors are, next you're
going to want to analyze whatthey're doing to rank.
Here are a few key areas toevaluate.
One, their website, itsstructure and content.
(04:44):
How is the website organized?
Do they have services pagesoptimized for specific keywords?
Do they have specific servicespages that highlight what
services they offer?
Are they using blog content toanswer patients' questions or
(05:04):
provide additional valuablecontent to their website
visitors?
If you run an acupunctureclinic, at the top, your
competitor might have awell-structured website with
detailed pages regardingacupuncture for back pain or
acupuncture for migraine.
(05:26):
They might even have detailedinformation about what the
difference is between dryneedling and acupuncture, really
honing in on what their targetaudience is looking for, along
with combining it with SEO andmaking sure all of the pages are
optimized to boost theirrankings.
(05:47):
You'll also want to look attheir Google Business Profile
listing.
Do they have a complete andoptimized Google Business
profile?
Are they getting a steady flowof positive reviews?
How frequently are they doingGoogle posts and updating
images?
(06:07):
If you notice a competing clinicin this example, a physical
therapist clinic, has over 200reviews with an average star
rating of 4.9.
While you only have 20 reviews,you know you need to focus on
getting more patient feedback.
What about backlinks?
(06:27):
These are links coming fromother websites to that
competition's website.
Are they getting mentioned inlocal news sites, directories,
or industry blogs?
Have they formed any localpartnerships like gyms or
wellness centers that arescoring them quality backlinks
(06:51):
to their website?
If a competitor's website islinked from popular local
fitness blogs that review healthand wellness, maybe you could
reach out to them.
Again, there are tons of toolsout there.
So I don't want to get into thenitty-gritty of what specific
tools you should use, but youcan look for backlink data tools
(07:16):
to find out what backlinks theseum your competition might be
getting.
Now, one thing that I want tomention with this is I know some
people go a little crazy overthe whole backlink idea.
And there used to be thispopular idea of just going out
and hiring somebody to build youall these backlinks, but they
(07:41):
were usually kind of worthlessbacklinks that had nothing to do
with the services that peopleoffered and/or the industry that
they were in.
So we don't want to just like goout and buy backlinks.
What we want to do is look andsee what popular websites are
backlinking to your competitionand how you might be able to
(08:05):
target and approach thoseorganizations.
We also want to look at localcitations and directories.
Does your competition havelistings in key directories like
Yelp, Zoc Doc, or Health Grades?
Is their business informationconsistent?
We talk a lot about NAPconsistency, name, address, and
(08:28):
phone number consistency online.
And that is one place that youreally want to practice that is
making sure that you do haveappropriate name and address and
phone number listed throughoutall of your listings online.
And that's something that youwant to look and see.
Is your competition doing that?
What about social media?
What is their social mediapresence and engagement?
(08:50):
Do they have an active socialmedia presence?
Are they posting content that'sactually engaging?
If so, how can you leverage anddrive some ideas of types of
content you can use?
We're not copying ourcompetition.
But if your competitors arethriving, for instance, on
(09:14):
Instagram by sharing before andafter patient success stories,
it might be worth incorporatingsimilar content into your
strategy.
Next, we want to use thecompetitive insights to improve
SEO.
Now that you've gathered thesedata points and you've got this
(09:37):
information as to what yourcompetition is doing, what are
you going to do with it?
Well, one, you don't want tocopy exactly what they're doing.
You can never be the best inyour industry by copying
somebody else.
You also want to remember thateven though you've done this
research, and I've seen thistime and time again, especially
(09:58):
when it comes to websites, ispeople will look at their
competition and stare down theircompetition's websites over and
over again and fall in love withthe idea of some of the elements
on their competition's websites,implemented on their website
just to see that theircompetition gets a new website
days later.
Because even though you'restaring at it and there might be
(10:20):
some elements that you like, youwant to ask your charter get
audience and get them involvedto make sure that the items that
you're thinking of including andoptimizing in your website, one
reflect your services, youroffering, and also your website
visitors.
So if competitors, for instance,have deep service pages, you
(10:45):
might want to consider expandingyour own, but you're not going
to use the same content thatthey're using.
You're going to use content thatrelates to your business.
If they have a strong blogstrategy, then you can start
having a strong blog strategy,but start by answering some of
the most common patientquestions you get as blog posts.
(11:06):
Don't start by just copying theblog post that your competition
has.
And when it comes to improvingyour Google Business profile, we
have tons of resources and we'vedone tons of episodes that
really highlight optimizingcertain elements of your Google
Business Profile listing.
But again, you want to look atthe frequency.
(11:26):
How often are they putting timeand energy into their Google
Business Profile listing?
How many reviews do they have?
And how can you jump in and makesure that you're able to compete
with them when it comes to that?
Also, those backlinks that wetalked about.
Reach out to local blogs, newssites, companies within your
(11:48):
area that makes sense for you tocreate partnership opportunities
and try to gain new backlinks.
There was one episode that wedid that I'll link in the show
notes that really went intodetail about how to leverage
other people's audience in theright way to create quality
backlinks.
(12:09):
And also stay active on socialmedia.
Make sure that you're engagingwith your audience by sharing
patient testimonials, casestudies, and educational
content.
Let's say you're a med spa andyou realize one of your top
competitors has tons ofengagement on their Facebook by
hosting a live QA session abouttheir treatments.
(12:31):
You could start doing the same,positioning yourself as the
go-to expert in your area.
Let's wrap this up with someaction steps you can take today.
One, run a quick Google searchfor your top services plus your
location and write down your topthree competitors that show up.
Again, in the local results, notin the ad section.
(12:55):
Two, analyze their website,their Google Business Profile
listing, their backlink profile,their social media campaigns,
and more to see what they'redoing well.
Then implement at least oneimprovement on your own website
or your Google business profilebased on the information that
you've gained.
(13:16):
Remember, your goal is not tocopy your competitors, it's to
learn from them and do an evenbetter job.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe to
the Clinic Marketing Podcast soyou don't miss future episodes
packed with practical strategiesfor growing your clinic.
And if you want personalizedhelp with your SEO, please visit
(13:40):
propelyourcompany.com to learnmore about how we can help you
attract more patients and growyour business.
Thanks for listening.
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