When You Can’t Rank for the Keyword You Want

You’re King Arthur and showing up at the top of Google is the holy grail. Or maybe you’re Monty Python. Either way, you have the lofty goal of one day claiming the top spot as your own. Of course, the number one spot is coveted and elusive, and everyone else is trying to reach number one as well. It’s more competitive than ever before to rank highly for the keywords that are relevant to your business, so what do you do when you can’t rank for the keyword you want?

While you want to show up at the top of Google for each and every word that pertains to you, this isn’t going to happen. It’s going to be extremely difficult for a doctor to rank for the keyword “doctor”. That’s OK, though. Because you don’t actually need to rank highly for each and every word that relates to your field. Here’s what you should do if you can’t rank for your preferred keywords.

Take a look at your keywords

The first thing you need to do is determine the quality of the keyword you’re trying to rank for. Simple, generic keywords -such as “doctor” – are fairly low quality keywords. They cast a net that’s too broad, and they’re not targeting a specific audience.

The way that people use search engines is changing. People looking for services aren’t going to use the broadest and most generic keywords because that’s not really what they’re looking for. People are using more detailed keywords, and changing their searches to improve their results. Someone looking for the best family doctor west of the Mississippi is going to search “best family doctor west of the Mississippi” rather than “doctor”.

In fact, people usually start searching with a description of their problem or a general question — like “shoulder pain” or “does Blue Cross cover physical therapy?”.

Focus on long tail keywords

Don’t try and own single words. You’re not going to own the top spot for “doctor”, “surgeon”, or even “heart surgeon”. Try and zero in on the long tail keywords that you actually want to rank for. That is, what are your potential customers, clients, patients, etc. going to search for? That’s where you want to be.

• What makes you unique, or what do you bring to the table that others don’t?
• What are you known for, or what do you want to be known for?
• Think about some of the questions you hear frequently and try to rank for some of those questions.

Try Google Ads

Everyone’s ultimate goal for their website should be ample organic traffic. Getting organic search traffic is an involved process that requires both time and effort. Unfortunately, there aren’t shortcuts or quick and easy ways to establish your website, improve your rank on Google, and open the floodgates of organic traffic. You can, however, pay for advertisements.

Paid advertisements can help bring in traffic, which is great for new websites and people looking for a boost in traffic numbers. You shouldn’t necessarily rely on ads alone, however. While ads are a great way to jump start your traffic, the end goal should be reliable traffic through organic search.

There’s no substitute for SEO

Even if you decide to pay for ads, SEO is always and forever going to be your bread and butter. In fact, the same characteristics that make your website rank well for organic search also give you the best results with Google Ads.

Linkbuilding, social media, and blogging are going to really improve your reach and help build lasting traffic. Let Haden Interactive help you rank for the keywords that are most valuable to you, and most important to your target audience. Contact us today for information about our SEO services.