How to Get Found by Clients on Google: Let’s Demystify SEO
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. 💐
LPC, LMFT, LCSW, PhD. EFT, EMDR, IFS, CBT, DBT.
As a therapist, coach, or healer, I know you’re used to the whole alphabet soup of acronyms in our profession.
There’s one super important acronym that they don’t mention in grad school, though — and that’s SEO.
SEO = Search Engine Optimization, your website’s visibility on Google.
Good SEO means your website appears at the top of search results for specific key terms (ex: showing up on page 1 for couples therapy in Chicago, Illinois).
Poor SEO means your website is buried on page 5, or doesn’t show up at all.
Quick question: what’s your current relationship with SEO?
(A) I use it & love it. SEO is my business’s best friend 🙌🏽
(B) I understand bits & pieces, but it’s confusing 🤨
(C) Uhhh, WTF is SEO? 😅
When I first started my therapy practice, I had no idea what SEO was or why it mattered. All I knew was that I had a website, but hardly anyone was finding it... so my schedule was crickets.
Fast forward countless hours of Internet rabbit-holes & business coaching programs later, and now I “speak SEO”. It’s no longer a foreign language to me. It’s a valuable tool that makes my website (& my clients’ websites) the most powerful part of their marketing ecosystem.
Now, my therapy website gets tons of organic traffic per month, and client inquiries that keep my practice full & fulfilling.
I don’t have to hustle to find therapy clients. Instead, people find me via good ol’ Google. (Click here to see the full case study.)
I don’t want you to have to spend hundreds of hours figuring this out, though. Your time is precious!
So here’s the explanation that I wish I could’ve had from the very beginning:
SEO is a conversation between your website and Google. 🤝
(And no, it doesn’t have to involve code or a computer science degree.)
Google talks in a specific language. You can’t just go up to Google and say, “Hey, I’m Elizabeth and I specialize in (really cool service). Can you send clients my way?”
Instead, we have to talk to Google in their language. This translates to:
URL slugs
H1 headings
Page titles
Meta descriptions
Image descriptions
Footer text
Blog posts
Google My Business profile
Page indexing on Google Search Console
Key words sprinkled throughout the copywriting (text) on each page
And if you’re looking at this list and thinking, umm, Liz, that’s even MORE confusing… I get it. It’s a lot, and it’s why learning SEO isn’t an overnight thing.
(Side note: I set up SEO for you when you hire me to write & design your website — so if you want to skip all the overwhelm, here’s where you can learn more.)
Let me break it down one more layer.
If I wanted to improve SEO for a specialty page on a website, I’d edit the URL to include specific key terms.
❌ Instead of: therapywebsite.com/emdr
✅ I’d change the URL to something like: therapywebsite.com/emdr-therapy-chicago-illinois
See how the URL went from general (/emdr) to specific (/emdr-therapy-chicago-illinois)?
That’s like handing a notecard to Google & saying, “hey, make sure to show my website to therapy-seekers in Chicago. I do EMDR!”
If Google were a person, they’d take that notecard, file it in a cabinet, and say, “got it, I’ll keep that in mind next time someone searches for EMDR therapy in Chicago!”
Does that make sense?
If you walk away with anything, I hope it’s this: when your website is set up strategically & intentionally, it has the power to bring great-fit clients into your practice, on auto-pilot. It’s like a marketing assistant that works 24/7, even while you sleep.
Whether you choose to DIY your website or hire outside support, remember what this is all about: you have gifts to share with the world, and your website is the vessel that makes your brilliant work visible & findable.
Talk again soon,
Liz
Need an expert perspective on your DIY website project?
👉🏽 Book a website audit with Liz.
I’ll provide personalized feedback on your site, and you’ll leave with 3+ actionable steps to improve your design, copywriting, and SEO.
Ready for an unforgettable website that attracts ideal clients with ease?
Whether you’re starting from scratch or revamping your existing website, I’ve got you covered. Explore web design & copywriting services — so you can have a website that saves you time + energy, markets for you 24/7, and brings aligned clients to your practice.
👉🏽 Book an intro call for a website project with Liz.
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It’s an excerpt from my newsletter, Delightful Sites — a weekly email series helping therapists, coaches, and entrepreneurs build sustainable, values-aligned businesses, through the power of website marketing.
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