“Is SEO a One-and-Done Thing… or Should I Be Working On it All the Time?”

Introduction

This is an excerpt from Delightful Sites — a weekly email series helping therapists, coaches, and entrepreneurs build sustainable, values-aligned businesses, through the power of website marketing. 💐

When I first started learning about SEO - as a therapy practice owner, eager to figure out ways to book new clients without depending on sporadic referrals from Facebook - it felt like a foreign language. 

📍 SEO, for the record, stands for Search Engine Optimization. It refers to how discoverable your website is on search engines, like Google. 

You know those websites that show up on page 1 of Google for specific queries (like couples therapy in Atlanta, Georgia or sound healing in California)? Those websites have good SEO.

The online discourse around SEO can polarize in one of two directions: 

(1) “SEO is super complicated & mysterious, and it’s too hard to figure out on your own.” 🔥

OR

(2) “SEO is simple - you just have to set it up once, and then voilà – the client inquiries start pouring in.” ✨

In my experience, the truth is somewhere in between.

👉🏽 There are certain parts of SEO that are “one and done” – meaning, you set it and forget it, and you likely won’t have to change it again. This includes:

• H1 headings on each page of your website

• Page titles & descriptions on the back-end of each page

• Image descriptions

• Key words sprinkled throughout the copywriting on each page - in a way that sounds natural & human, not forced & robotic

• URL slugs

• Text in the footer of your website

• Page indexing on Google Search Console

Once you do these steps, they’re done… and it can lead to incredibly effective SEO. For example: a service page that I optimized for SEO on my therapy website, years ago, continues to get found on Google & attract ideal clients, to this day… because I implemented all of the above steps with strategy & intention.

👉🏽 Then there are other parts of SEO that may require monitoring, tweaks, and mindful action across time, if you want your site to continue to perform well or to improve visibility across time. Here’s what an active approach to SEO might look like:

📍 creating & optimizing a Google My Business profile, and updating it on a regular basis (ex: scheduling brief posts to come out 1-2x per week, or 1x per month at minimum)

📍 gaining quality back-links to your website – because when another website links to your website, the Internet sees your website is more credible & trustworthy, and your website gains “SEO points,” so to speak

This is why I keep my PsychologyToday profile up, as well as other directory listings. Even if referrals don’t often come directly from those directories, the directory websites serve as quality back-links.

📍 writing unique, high-quality, human-centered blog posts (not AI slop!) - that answer questions that your ideal clients are Googling

📍 being featured in media outlets that provide back-links to your website

📍 checking your Google Search Console (a free tool that helps monitor & improve your website’s presence in Google Search results)

I recommend checking your Google Search Console at least 1x per month, to track patterns (which pages are getting the most clicks?) & make informed decisions about your website strategy based on these patterns (ex: if Google Search Console tells me that most people find my website via the search term “trauma informed IFS therapy,” I might prioritize creating blog posts that include these key words). 

📍 asking colleagues to leave testimonials on your Google My Business profile - this sends signals to Google that this is a highly credible business, and helps your site show up higher in search results 

If your head is spinning after reading all this… I get it! This is a lot of information. So here’s what I want you to know, in a nutshell:

• Some parts of SEO are “set it & forget it.” 

• Some parts require active tending across time. 

• You don’t have to hustle every day to “optimize SEO.” This is a slower, more intentional, and more passive marketing strategy (compared to posting every day on social media).

What’s your relationship with SEO? What role does it play in your marketing, if any?

Talk again soon,

Liz

P.S. If you’re wondering, what about AI? / is SEO even relevant now that AI is here? - my short answer is this: in order for a website to be recommended by AI, that website still needs to have strong SEO foundations. AI & SEO are not separate - they’re connected. 

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