How Clinics Can Rank in Nearby Cities (Even If You’re Not Located There) | Local SEO | Ep. 137

Learn how to improve your clinic’s local SEO and rank in nearby cities. Discover proven strategies to expand your reach, attract more patients, and grow your visibility beyond your location.

Let’s say your clinic is based in one city, but many of your patients are willing to drive 20 or even 30 miles to see you. They know it’s worth traveling for high-quality care. The challenge is that when those same people search online, they often aren’t typing in your city’s name. They’re looking for services closer to where they live or work.

So how can your clinic show up in those searches and attract new patients from surrounding cities or suburbs?

That’s what we’re exploring today: how to expand your local SEO reach the right way. We’ll cover how Google determines local relevance, the strategies that actually help you appear in nearby city searches, and what to avoid so you don’t hurt your visibility.

By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap for building a stronger local presence that helps patients in your wider area discover your clinic and book appointments with confidence.

Episode webpages, blog, & show notes: https://propelyourcompany.com/rank-in-nearby-cities-local-seo-for-clinics/

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Nearby Cities Matter
• 4:30 Build a Strong Local SEO Base
• 5:57 Choose Target Cities Strategically
• 7:13 Avoid Cookie-Cutter Location Pages
• 9:33 Create Valuable City Pages (If Worth It)
• 11:11 Geotargeted Content That Builds Trust
• 13:33 Earn Local Backlinks Through Partnerships
• 15:16 Track, Measure, and Double Down
• 16:11 Seven-Step Recap and Next Actions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Let's say your clinic is based in one city, but you know plenty of your patients would happily drive 10, 15, 20, even 30 or more miles away. They're willing to travel for great care. But when those people search online, they're not typing in the name of your city. They're searching for services that are closer to them. So how do you show up for those searches? That's what we're diving into today. How to rank in nearby cities and suburbs the right way. We'll talk about what to do, what to avoid, and how to create real location. We'll talk about what to do, what to avoid, and how to create real local relevancy that Google and your patients love. Hello and welcome to this episode of the Clinic Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Darcy Sullivan from Propel Marketing and Design. If you're like many clinic owners, your website probably only focuses on your city. But nearby towns and suburbs and other cities are full of potential patients who are actively looking for what you offer. And here's the kicker. Again, they might be willing to drive the 15, 20, 30, 40, or more miles if they felt confident you can help them. That means if your SEO only targets your exact city name, you're leaving opportunities and appointments on the table. The key is not spamming your website with city names. It's proving to Google that you're relevant to those nearby communities. Today I'm gonna walk you through my suggested seven-step strategy for making the most of ranking locally even outside of your direct city. Are you ready? All right, let's dive in with step number one. Start with a solid local SEO foundation. Before you expand your reach, get your local business locked in. We have tons of resources that relate how to rank locally for your city. And I'll include some of those in the show notes and the website page associated with this episode. You are going to want to make sure that your Google Business Profile listing is fully optimized with your current name, address, phone number, and hours. Your service areas include the nearby cities and suburbs you want to rank for. Your NAP information, that's your name, address, and phone number, is consistent everywhere. On your website, on Apple Maps, on Yelp, Health Grades, Facebook, and other directories. That your contact page, and actually, I even suggest your footer on your website includes a clear map. Your contact page can also include specific directions on how to get to your location. That's the foundation that helps Google understand where you're located and what areas make sense for you to serve. Once you've done that, you can move to step two. Step two includes identifying the right nearby cities or suburbs. Instead of trying to rank everywhere, you want to start small. Look at where your current patients actually come from. If you were in Orlando, Florida, for example, and you see a lot of patients from Winter Park or Lake Mary, those are great starting points. Or maybe there's a nearby suburb that's growing fast and doesn't have many providers offering what you offer. And this is especially true if you offer some specific modalities or services that others don't offer. You can find these patterns in Google Analytics, looking at your Google Business Profile insights, or even on your intake forms or conversations that you have with people that come into your clinic. Pick one or two of these cities and start there and grow from there. Step three: show regional relevance naturally. Here's where most clinics make a mistake. And I've seen it time and time and time again. Whether they do it or they were in talks with an SEO company that was using strategies that worked 18, 15 years ago, where they create dozens of cookie-cutter pages and just swap out the name of the city. That is such a big no-no. And again, if you have done this or you were guided into doing this, I understand it's not your fault. But I want you to be on the good side of Google because when you do things right, Google will reward you. So instead, you want to weave those surrounding cities into your content naturally. Here are some ideas for doing that. Mention nearby cities on your homepage or your contact page, like stating serving patients from Orlando, Lake Mary, and Winter Park. You can add driving directions or phrases like just 15 minutes north of downtown Orlando. When you include testimonials, you can reference a nearby area. Michelle from Orlando found relief after years of neck pain. You can feature photos or community references that show your connection to that area. Doing this, you're showing Google and your website visitors that you're genuinely part of a larger local ecosystem, not thinking it just by swapping out keywords. Step four. And I want you to be very, very careful with step four. And only use it if you can do it the right way that we're going to describe. If not, skip step four and move on to step five. But step four would be to create city pages only when they add real value. Sometimes it does make sense to build out a specific page for a nearby city. But again, it has to be done original and useful. For example, if you are a chiropractor in Orlando and you regularly see runners from Winter Park, you might create a page titled Sports Chiropractor Near Winter Park for Runners and Athletes. This page could include driving directions from that area, why runners from that area come to you, photos of your team and local events, testimonials from patients specifically in that area, and some information about your experience helping local athletes prepare for that annual winter park road race. That kind of page adds real value. It's not just filler. These are not pages that could pass for tourism pages. That's when we see problems, is when people go and they just build out all of these crazy pages where again they're just subbing in out the city name, going to AI, having them write them for them, or they're just very basic location information. That's the wrong way to do it. If you do not feel like you can create city pages that truly add value, again, skip that step and just move on to step five. Step five is when you start to use geotargeted content to build trust. So you can also create localized content that shows your connection to nearby cities and they don't require separate pages. You can use blog posts, for example. If there's a popular marathon happening one city over, like the winter park half marathon, you could record a short video or write a blog post about top three stretches for runners before the winter park marathon. Mention your clinic works with runners from that area and include tips about avoiding injuries before the race day. Or if there's a well-known park or trail one city over, you could go to that location and film short stretching or mobility routines there. That way, when you create a blog post around that content, when you're highlighting that content, let's say you upload it to YouTube, you're starting the conversation by saying, Today I'm at location, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you're naturally working that not only into your video content if you're recording a video, but then in the text that surrounds it, you would want to include that too. Another way, if you're a sponsor or have a local event or health fair in a nearby town, write about it on your blog or post about it on your Google Business profile. Bonus points if you can get other people to post about it on your Google Business Profile. In episode 135, we talk all about user-generated content on your Google Business Profile listing to give you an edge. You'll want to check out that episode and we'll include it in it on the episode web page and show notes. All of these things send a very strong signal to Google and create reliability and reputable information, and you are providing engaging content for people in those communities. As you can see, there's a huge, huge difference in creating content like we just talked about, that's geo-targeted that adds value versus those basic location pages that don't add value. Step six, you can start to strengthen local connections and backlinks. If you really want to rank in neighboring cities, one of the best things you can do is earn local backlinks. Now, a local backlink from a pizza parlor isn't going to be the same as a local backlink from a Chamber of Commerce or a youth sports team that you're sponsoring, because those have better link equity. So try partnering maybe with a local nearby gym or fitness studio if you're a chiropractor, or if you are an acupuncturist or physical therapist and that makes sense. Consider joining the Chamber of Commerce or networking groups in surrounding areas. Another example, if you're a chiropractor, acupuncturist, or physical therapist might be sponsoring a youth sports team, a 5K or community wellness events in that city. You can also consider collaborating with local bloggers or health coaches who already reach that audience. We also see oftentimes where there's a chiropractor that partners with physical therapist or with acupuncturists, think about all the connections you can make. And these backlinks act as trust signals, telling Google that your clinic is known and trusted across multiple cities. Then we have the final step. Step seven, track what's working. Once you've started implementing these strategies, monitor your progress. Look at Google Search Console, what city names are appearing in search queries that lead to your site. Look at your Google Business Profile Insights, where are calls and website visitors coming from? Look at Google Analytics and see how these targeted pieces of content are performing. If you start to see momentum from one area, that's a cue to lean in. Maybe more content or deeper relationships or a new page that fits your SEO goals. There's also a really great episode that we'll link on the web page that talks about partnerships opportunities locally and how those can directly affect your SEO. All right, let's do a quick recap. One, start with strong local SEO fundamentals. Two, identify a few nearby cities to focus on. Three, add those locations naturally to your website and content. Four, create unique, valuable city pages only when it makes sense. And I'm gonna repeat that, only when it makes sense. Five, use local content opportunities like marathons, parks, events, get creative to connect with nearby audiences. Six try to build local backlinks through real relationships. Seven, track and adjust based on what's working. Remember, it's not about tricking Google into thinking you're in those cities, which is what I think some people try to do. It's about showing that people from those communities already know, like, and trust you. And if you're ready to take the next step, be sure to visit propelyourcompany.com and either book a discovery call or check out one of our recent webinars. Thanks for your time today. And remember, your next best patient might not live in your city, but they're probably already searching for you just one town over.