Welcome to the Q&A Forum

@hayleybowyer Thanks for your feedback Hayley. It's nice to hear I'm probably on the right track with how I'm thinking about the situation.

I work work for a health care system in the Midwest.

We have a doctor in our transplant division who whenever we're in a meeting pulls out his phone and types in "kidney transplant" and ridicules me when our hospital is not on the page.

I've long since given up trying to explain search intent to him (all the SERP results are showing information about kidney transplants, not information on where to get a transplant) along with trying to explain all the reasons why our ads don't necessarily show up on his phone despite us having a daily budget for that keyword.

Without trying to explain how SEO or advertising online works, what would you do? I've toyed with eliminating advertising from the hospital zipcode so that I can just say we don't advertise in this zipcode at all, so of course our ads wouldn't pop up. I've also toyed with creating more informational content just so perhaps we can show up on the page, even though it's largely irrelevant (but I doubt we'd ever outrank the national brands that have written extensively on this). If someone types in "kidney hospital" or "transplant center" or anything relevant, we're instantly at the top of SERPs. But none of that matters to him. He only cares about showing up for "kidney transplant."

@terentyev Thanks!

As of June 1 doctor pages on our website that say "No ratings are available yet" are being Soft 404ed in our Google Console.

We suspect the issue is that wording, due to this post. https://www.contentkingapp.com/academy/index-coverage/faq/submitted-soft-404/

Just wondering if anyone with more expertise than me on 404s or local seo can validate that it is likely this issue.

Some examples:
https://www.nebraskamed.com/doctors/neil-s-kalsi
https://www.nebraskamed.com/doctors/leslie-a-eiland
https://www.nebraskamed.com/doctors/david-d-ingvoldstad

I just want to say X amount of unique website visits (or X amount of users) came to this set of landing pages. In this case Orthopaedics. I think in my screen shot that's precisely what I'm retrieving, but perhaps I'm interpreting that wrong.

I don't just want to capture landing pages for Ortho, because many people start elsewhere, visit an Ortho page and then visit some other page in a different section. I just want all the traffic related to Ortho pages though, and none of the pages related to other sections in the report.

Like I said, I can exclude those other pages from the report, but it's a tedious process.

Thanks Robin for taking the time to try and help me.

There must be an easy answer to this, but I can't seem to find it.

All I want to do is create a segment in Google Analytics that shows all pages and search strings with "orthopaedics" in the title, with pageviews, uniques etc.

If I simply navigate to "All Pages" in Google Analytics and then click Advanced Filters and do an Include Page Contains "orthopaedics" it works just fine. (See attached Screen Shot)

But when I try to recreate this as a segment, it pulls in all other pages the users visited before arriving on the orthopaedics page I want to include, which I don't want. I can manually exclude each URL I don't want, but this is tedious and I feel there must be a simpler method I'm just missing.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to create a list of every page and dynamically created query string that includes the word "orthopaedics" to say doctor X, your orthopaedics section generated X views, and here's a list of the pages.

Mm6YTKa

Thanks for the additional feedback Miriam. I'm working to implement both steps.

Thanks for the additional input. I've just tried reaching out directly to Google.

Thanks for the input Miriam,

There is a street and an avenue, and both are currently in Google Maps etc. (But the part of the avenue where our new clinic is, is not yet in Google Maps).

The problem is the avenue portion of the road where our clinic is, does not exist in Google's eyes.

So Google changes the address, assuming that people mean the street (which happens to run almost parallel to the new chunk of avenue that just got built). If that happens people at least are directed to the correct spot (even if the address isn't right). This is what happens when someone searches by name for the clinic.

But if someone types in the full address, Google points them to a stretch of the avenue that really does exist in Google. And that's the biggest problem, them wrongly locating the building far from where it actually is. This only happens when someone types in the full address. I agree with you that few people would type in the full address. But I think the problem is they get an email with the appointment address, and click on it. That drives them to Google maps, and thus directs them to a place far from our clinic.

Thanks Nigel. The pin is in the correct place. I think I might have verified it over the phone, but even though I typed in the address, it still won't allow the correct address to visibly show. If they search the name of our clinic, the GMB pops up and everything is great. Even though the address is wrong, it still shows it at the spot I marked. But for some reason if they just type in the address, it still directs them to the wrong place.

Hello Enable Holidays,

I recommend you really take some time to read through a lot of the beginner keyword resources on this website, as it would take a lot of writing to really answer a lot of your questions. See below for my responses to a few.

• I understand meta keywords are pretty much pointless nowadays, however when I run a report on another 'keyword website' - my website only ranks for around 2k keywords where my competitors rank for much more (around 20k). I was just wondering where these keywords are found, as I can only assume that these are meta keywords?

_SEO is all about ranking for keywords. What you're I think referring to is the meta keyword box on the back end where you used to be able to signal to Google that you wanted to rank for XYZ keywords. Ignore that box. What you rank for is based on a variety of factors, but obviously if you don't have relevant content that uses that keyword phrase and variations thereof, you're definitely not going to rank. _

• The company that I'm working on the SEO for is a holiday agency that specialises in holidays abroad for disabled people, so that means that we have a niche product/service and whilst we rank fairly high for some keywords, we would like to rank higher. How is it possible to work towards ranking higher for particular keywords? When doing keyword research 'disabled holidays' has a lot more search traffic than 'accessible holidays'. We are called Enable Holidays and our main competitors have the words 'disabled' and 'accessible' in their domain's, so I would imagine that it's going to be hard to potentially rank higher than our competitors for these keywords?

It is nice to have a keyword in your name, but given time and a focus on really working toward writing content relevant to disabled and accessible holidays that your clientele actually finds useful and gets linked to, you can potentially outrank them. Of course, if they're doing the same thing, it might be out of reach. But learning the tools here on Moz will allow you to see how much ground you need to gain to have a website as popular as theirs related to that term. A good place to start is using the competitor tools on Moz. My guess is they have many more links to their websites from other places, than links to your website (backlinks).

• Could someone put me in the right direction of how you improve rankings in the SERP for certain keyword searches? For example, do we have to write more content on a certain page about a keyword? Do we have to include more long-tail keywords in the content?

Again, the resources on this website are a good place to start. Over time this stuff won't seem so complex. I recommend:

Read one or more of the major resources here related to how to do keyword research.

Then learn the competitor tools, so you can see what they are doing that you aren't.

Then just set out to slowly set out to catch up with them.

Normally this involves choosing a handful of keywords you see have a lot of search traffic, that you are for example on Page 2 for, but seeing the tools, could move to Page 1 on if you created some good pages/blog posts, that provided really good content for your clientele, and then you worked hard to promote that content to for example tour agencies you work with, who could link to it from their websites for their customers.

_They key is to start small and create content that's genuinely valuable to your clients. (Stuff like answering questions they always ask your staff), and promoting that content. _

Best of luck. SEO is a fun journey once you get rolling!

My core question is just: How do you fix a Google My Business Location Issue if the road doesn't yet exist on Google Maps? Do I have any other options other than to just wait on Google to catch up with reality?

Here's the background:

I work for a hospital. We just opened a clinic on a street that is real and has a U.S. Postal Address, but Google Maps doesn't recognize it, and redirects people to a house .

This is our postal address: 8343 S 168th Ave Omaha NE 68136-1677

If a patient enters the following into google maps, 8343 S 168th Ave, the location the map autofills the wrong zip code, and sends them to a home that is on S 168th Ave. (where in theory a home would exist if it had that home number). The road does exist in that portion of town.

If a patient enters 8343 S 168th Ave, Omaha NE 68136, google maps takes you to the correct location, but it automatically changes Ave to St. The verified Google My Business listing also lists it as Street, even though on the back end I've put in the word Avenue, and it shows up in the right place.

If however someone just searches by name "Chalco Clinic" the right Google My Business comes up.

This is the Google My Business page I'm referring to: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nebraska+Medicine+-+Chalco/@41.1754796,-96.1787153,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf77aefb4e27f865!8m2!3d41.1754796!4d-96.1787153 And even though it says it's on a Street, on the back end of the claimed listing I've used "Avenue".

In case it matters, this is the landing page for the location: https://www.nebraskamed.com/chalco

As a general rule you ultimately are trying to get people back to a place you own, so they have the option of joining your email list. So if for example you know people who want whatever you're selling use Tumblr a lot, you should take a snippet of your post and post there, with a link pointing back to the original location.

But don't fall into the trap of thinking if you just repost your blog in a bunch of places, you'll get a lot more traffic. Better to pick a forum where your target buyer hangs out for example and be active on it month in and month out, answering questions etc., And if a question pops up on the forum you've already answered on your blog appears, link to the blog post. Or do the reverse. Answer questions from the blog in detail. Then provide a summation of the blog post in the forum, and provide the link if they want more details. This is a hard but ultimately more effective way of getting attention, than just trying to get your blog posted in a bunch of places.

I might have misunderstood your question. If you're asking about creating other blogs with different content in other places, it won't hurt you, but normally after a month or so, other blogs are abandoned. Just keeping one updated regularly over time is hard work. And put quality and promotion of that quality blog over multiple blogs with mediocre content.

Hello Community,

I do local SEO for our health system. I recently claimed and adjusted the marker on Apple Maps to our Emergency Room. I assumed since there's a road that leads right to it, the directions would change. But the directions send them to the front of the hospital building (instead of the emergency room entrance). Unfortunately, there is no way to get to the ER through the front of our hospital.

So now I'm trying to fix the directions itself.

I've searched through Apple Forums etc. looking for a solution without success. Any ideas on how I might fix the directions?

Here is the exact location in case that helps.

https://mapsconnect.apple.com/business/ui/editPlace?id=66160ad6-d915-11e6-b4a6-d3fec844f2f3

Hello Moz Community,

We're building out a health system (think a bunch of hospitals and clinics etc.) website on Drupal for the first time. Nebraskamed.com is  our domain.

Because we're using nodes instead of pages, our URL structure can pretty much be whatever we think makes sense.

Our proposal is to drop /blog/ and related terms from the URL structure, because it doesn't really mean anything to the user. Instead, we'd use the service line "cancer" for example, followed by the name of the blog post or document.

Example: nebraskamed.com/cancer/10-bone-cancer-myths

Do you see any red flags (perhaps with SEO or Analytics for example) to what I'm proposing? domain name/service line/blog-post-name

If so, do you have a URL structure you advise?

I know this is a long shot, but are there plans to eventually filter keyword volumes by location like the Google AdWords tool does today? Or is that never going to happen?

Assuming not, are there other recommended avenues for teasing out keyword volumes of a local vicinity? I work for a health system, so nearly all of our customers are local. So I always feel like I have to guess on words like "urgent care" since obviously I'm not trying to rank nationally, but often people do not use a geo modifier term when searching.

Thanks Miriam,

I'm just talking about our clinics that are front-facing departments. For example, Our newborn intensive care unit has its own name, phone number etc. and will soon have its own page on our website. But the physical address is officially still the address of the hospital as a whole.

I'm just worried we're going to have so many of these in one of our buildings it might not make sense or look spammy to list them all.

Hello Miriam,

For some reason I missed the notification that you responded. Your answer (I'm finally reading now several months later) is superb. I'm extremely thankful you took the time to write it. This is the EXACT advice I was looking for!

One follow up question: At the hospitals we have dozens of clinics, each with unique names and phone numbers (and different locations within the larger buildings) and all of whom we want to market.  But will Google consider it spam to have 20 or more markers on a hospital building for example? Or will some simply not show up on the map? Or is that considered a bad user experience?

A belated thanks,

Patrick

Hello all,

I'm in charge of local SEO for a health care system that covers the entire state of Nebraska, with dozens of clinics all over the state, but mainly Omaha and Lincoln.

I'm trying to build a cohesive local strategy for our organization, and a big part of that is figuring out what are the 20% of the actions I could take that will get me 80% of the benefit.

Based on your experience as a local SEO specialist or ideally someone who does local SEO in a health care setting, what are the key things I should focus on?

I'm not new to local SEO (just new to health care). My guess would be to focus in on getting a good local page on our website for every clinic/location etc., and getting a good Google Page listing for each one as well. But I figured I'd seek out advice on this before I plunge ahead.

Thanks Ryan, Josh and Dmitrii,

You all brought up good points for me to consider. Thanks.

Patrick

Thanks for the quick and useful feedback Dmitrii. We're leaning toward what you're saying, but just want to make sure others feel the same way.

Hello Moz Community!

We are building a separate hospital related to a single service line that is currently part of our main website. Traditionally all our hospitals are folded into one website with the same brand.

Problem: Our organization's leaders want to market the new hospital as "Brand Name X" nationally, and not use our locally strong brand name at all.

Therefore is the smarter long-term decision to begin building content on a new website with the new "Brand name X" even though it will take longer and be harder, than building it on our big, established website with a 60+ DA site?

What I fear is our current website's DA won't matter much if people nationally are using Brand X, which isn't part of our traditional brand name? And they won't be using the traditional brand name at all.

Example Scenario: We create a new hospital just focused on heart-related issues.

Do we move the bulk of information for this new hospital from http://www.nebraskamed.com/heart,  to a new website that will better rank with the new brand X and for just heart-related keywords?

Or is it still better to try and stick with the same domain in a subfolder?

Thanks for your feedback. I think this situation is a little different because we built our site using Masterpages in ASP.net so many of the pages have the same wrapper and each page has unique content. Many of those branding pages use an image to show branding guidelines and the social media page just has a few links to social media sites.

You are right. We should try to build out the content a little more but we are also considering using ajax to drive the mega menus because we're guessing that is contributing to the issue.

My Duplicate Content list starts off with this URL:

• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/branding/bellevue-medical-center-logo

Then it lists the five below as Duplicate Content:

• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/branding/fonts
• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/branding/clear-zone
• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/social-media
• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/branding/order-stationery
• http://www.nebraskamed.com/about-us/branding/logo

I do notice that most of these pages have images and/or little or no content outside of our sites template. Is this causing SEOmoz to see it as duplicate?

Should I use noindex, follows to fix this? This error is happening with branding pages so noindex is an option. What should I do if that's not an option? Should I change our mega menus to be ajax driven to so the links aren't showing up in the code of every page?