SERP Features for Therapists [2020]

It’s not as simple as ranking on page one anymore.

There are tons of features that you can rank for on Google besides the usual organic results.

Here, I go through what the search engine results page (SERP) features are and how you can get them.

Let’s dive in.

SERP features therapists can rank for

Featured snippets

Featured snippets are snippets of content from a web page that Google displays for a search query.

For example, check out the featured snippet below.

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Featured snippets are a great opportunity for more exposure on Google. Plus, if searchers feel like the snippet didn’t answer their question, they’re more likely to click on your result than someone else’s.

There are a few ways that you can optimize your content for featured snippets.

1. Use lots of lists. Google can’t extract points from paragraphs as easily, so if you’re answering a question and you can use a list, do it.
2. Keep answers close to headings. Keeping questions and answers close together makes for an easy snippet. For more on that, check out this video.
3. Use schema. Schema is structured code that Google can use to understand your content and make a featured snippet. FAQs and lists schemas are used most commonly. There are lots of free schema generators out there that help you create a schema.

Ads

I discussed ads in-depth in my marketing guide for therapists, but I’ll quickly go over them here.

Basically, ads are search results on Google that you pay for. On the search engine results page (SERP), you pay when someone clicks on your ad. Ads are great for a few reasons.

1. Your result appears above the organic search results (including the local map results).
2. If you have the right bidding strategy set up, Google chooses the ad that’s most likely to get clicks.
3. If you pay enough, you can get leads quickly.

To make sure your ads appear on page one, I recommend a few things.

1. A list of keywords.
2. A list of negative keywords (these are keywords that you don’t want to appear for, for example, “speech” or “physical” since those are different kinds of therapists).
3. A few text ads, one call ad, and a responsive ad.
4. As many extensions as possible (for example, call extensions, location extensions, sitelink extensions, etc.).

If that all sounded like gibberish, you can sign up for my email list for more information on Google Ads for therapists.

Knowledge graphs

I won’t lie—knowledge graphs, which can appear as boxes or panels, are tough to get.

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Typically, knowledge panels pull from highly reputable sources, such as WebMD. But, if you organize your content well and your domain has enough authority, you may be able to appear.