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Search engine optimization and getting organic rankings for your chiropractic website… today in 2012… has changed dramatically due to Google’s Panda and Penguin Algorithm updates.
The old rules and techniques of optimizing a chiropractic website are dead.
Not only does Google no longer favor “highly optimized” websites… today… they actually have something called an Over-Optimization Penalty.
What this means is that if your chiropractic website is optimized by a company or “search engine optimization expert” who is using old-school, out-dated (and no longer valid) methods, your site could actually get slapped by Google and either (1) moved way down in the rankings or (2) yanked from their index altogether.
Either way, this can spell bad news for you and your chiropractic website.
Below is a screenshot from a chiropractic website I ran across earlier. It’s a prime example of a chiropractic website using the optimization methods of times passed.
No doubt in my mind… if this site continues down this path… they will get penalized from Google.
Google’s algorithm can recognize when a chiropractic website is being stuffed with keywords, and has unnatural links on the site purely for ranking purposes.
Today, what Google wants to see from you and your chiropractic website to give it high rankings is fresh, new content posted to your site on a regular and frequent basis. As well, Google also wants to see interaction and engagement with visitors in the form of social signals (i.e. comments, Facebook Likes, Retweets, etc.).
Does this mean there’s no value in having your chiropractic website optimized?
Of course not.
It’s just means you shouldn’t over-optimize the site with content stuffed with unnatural links and keywords that clearly isn’t designed for user interaction and enjoyment.
[UPDATE: After publishing this post I was contacted by the designer of the website shown in the screen shot above. He informed me that he was not finished optimizing the site and that it's only partially completed. Assuming that is the case, and the current optimization is toned-down, there is a good shot this website can turn out quite valuable to the chiropractor and avoid any penalization.]
Hello Todd…
Funny as I saw somebody “like” that website on facebook today and I know that doctor.. I also know who made that site and feel bad for anybody that is using that company.
Hope all is well my fellow ex NJite
Hey Dr. Russell… since the designer of the site reached out to me, and let me know he isn’t finished with the optimization, I’m hoping it gets toned-down a bit and all turns out well. After communication with him, I believe it will.
Hope all else is great with you.
Hey Todd,
I see many chiro’s catch wind somehow that, to ‘rank better in Google..you want to stick a bunch of keywords all over your site.’ Sometimes this is taken to even greater extremes than this example to the point of utter absurdity. I saw one chiropractic site recently where it was so keyword stuffed both in the body copy AND link text that it scared ME…the user! lol I try telling doctors all the time, not only will these kinds of old-school tricks get you into trouble with Google, they create bad user experience often creating body copy that doesn’t even make sense. But the point here I guess is that docs need to be informed and avoid using cheap and antiquated SEO tactics that not only don’t even work anymore, but can get them into ‘hot water.’ Great post!
Well said, Aubrey.