ABOUT THIS EPISODE
I was talking with a friend recently about chiropractic website companies, and I mentioned that making a website look good and knowing how to do SEO are two completely different skills. His take was that if someone builds a chiropractor website without understanding SEO, that's an egregious mistake, because the whole point of a website is getting patients from search. I agree search is important. But not every chiropractor can be in the top three of Google, and that's just math. So does your website still matter if you're not ranking? Absolutely.
When I do a website and SEO review, I'm trying to answer two questions: is this chiropractor being found, and what do people see when they find them? My reviews look at the first question through the lens of search, but search is only one way to be found. If you're a new chiropractor in a competitive market, you have plenty of other options: word of mouth, referrals, networking, community outreach, print, radio, social media, and social media advertising. Most of those will get patients in the door faster than waiting for Google to notice you.
Here's the part a lot of chiropractors miss. No matter how someone hears about you, they're going to do their due diligence before booking. A referred friend, someone who saw your flyer, someone who met you at a networking event: most of them will land on your website, especially now that so many people prefer online scheduling over calling. Your website is the doorstep to their first appointment.
I share a recent website review where a chiropractor had one of the best local SEO scans I've seen all year, and still wasn't getting new patients from the internet. The problem was the website itself: generic, cluttered, hard to navigate, and not clear about what made them different or how to schedule. They'd done the hard part of being found, and people were turning around at the front door. When your website is cluttered or generic, every dollar and hour you put into marketing gets funneled into a page that isn't helping people take the next step.
Topics Covered:
- Why web design and SEO are two different skills
- Not every chiropractor can rank in the top three of Google
- The two questions I ask in every chiropractic website review: being found and what people see
- Ways chiropractors get found beyond Google and AI search
- Why new chiropractors shouldn't wait on SEO to get patients
- How referrals, networking, and social media still lead patients to your website
- Patient due diligence and the role of online scheduling
- Your chiropractic website as the doorstep to the first appointment
- What your website should communicate: value, what makes you different, and how to schedule
- A real example: great local SEO, poor website, few new patients
- Why patients do what's easiest over what's best
- How a cluttered, generic chiropractic website wastes your marketing efforts
Call to Action: Want me to take a look at your chiropractic website and local SEO? Request a free Website and SEO Review at RocketChiro.com. If you're starting a practice or feel overwhelmed by the business side of being a chiropractor, check out my NEXT Step coaching program at RocketChiro.com.
