Updated in January 2025.
Are you looking for ways for your senior living, assisted living, rehabilitation or CCRC community to rank higher on Google and appear more prominently in search results? In this post, we’ve compiled our top tips for senior living SEO.
Most of these tips not only enhance your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts but also seamlessly integrate into your overall marketing strategy. Let’s jump right into it.10 SEO Tips for Senior Living
- Leverage your Google Business Profile. Your Google Business Profile is likely the first thing searchers will see when searching for senior living options on Google. Consider this your new front door, and make a good impression. These listings, alongside the map, are powered by their Google Business Profiles.
- Tap into directories. Senior living directories, like caring.com and aplaceformom.com, have proven their spot in search engine marketing. These sites tend to rank well for exploratory searches like “senior living near me” or “assisted living in Fort Wayne.”
If you want more search exposure, you’ll want to be listed on the directories appearing in your location. This will help gain visibility on their websites as well as improve rank for your own by establishing relevance.
- Ensure a consistent NAP (name, address, phone number) is used across the web. Inconsistencies in the name of your business, address or phone number will confuse search engines. Variations can appear if your business ever went by a different name or is known by multiple naming conventions. Directory SEO can play an important role in sorting out these NAP errors and improving search visibility.
- Get involved in your community. It is important to be involved in your community for brand awareness. Ideally, your community will be a household name in your area. This is important for human awareness as well as search engines.
Google wants to see your name mentioned across the web and social media channels for local events, chamber of commerce and more — things outside your direct control. This indicates that your business is prominent, popular and sought-after.
The Google Search Essentials state specifically: “Tell people about your site. Be active in communities where you can tell like-minded people about the services and products you mention on your site.” - Implement a strategy for obtaining authentic and detailed reviews. A Google Business profile with many reviews will outrank a similar profile without reviews. Search engines and users use reviews to understand your business.
Don't fake reviews, and don't offer any incentive for the review, but you can ask! Craft an automated strategy for when and how to ask for a review. - Speak their language. You may prefer to call your community a ‘lifestyle community for thriving adults,’ but do you think your target audience is using those exact words when searching online? Likely not. They are more likely to use terms such as ‘retirement community’ and even ‘nursing home.’ Use messaging on your website that aligns with how your target audience speaks and searches to indicate to Google that you are what they are searching for.
- Map each page on your website to the terms it should rank for. Each page on your website should have a term or a cluster of terms identified for which it should rank. This is called keyword mapping, and it helps avoid too many pages targeting too many terms. This creates a lack of focus per page and dilutes your SEO efforts.
- Track keywords by location. You might want to rank for “assisted living” — this is generally a very competitive keyword, and it is unlikely that you will rank for it nationwide. However, you should be able to rank for it in your geographic area. Track keywords by location to monitor improvements or decreases in search visibility in your area.
- Start with a high-quality website and audit it regularly. This is number nine on our list, but it probably should be number one because you’ll need a technically sound website before anything else. Google rewards websites that are reliable, fast and easy to use.
Then, set a cadence to regularly audit and crawl your website to address technical issues, such as broken links, missing SEO data, or image size issues. It's essential to keep a pulse on your site's health and to update it regularly. - Optimize for AI-driven search. AI is transforming how people search, with Large Language Models (LLMs) becoming key sources of information. Senior living communities should create authoritative, well-structured content designed to be recognized and utilized by these models. Your SEO strategy should include both SEO optimization and LLM optimization. By doing this, your brand can gain visibility in AI-generated answers, similar to how you would appear in a Google search result.
- BONUS tip - Work with an SEO agency with experience and a proven track record with the senior living industry. SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy. Working with experts with industry experience can be an invaluable asset to the success of your SEO efforts.
Marketing Essentials Senior Living SEO
Marketing Essentials has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing for senior living communities. Contact us for a consultation and discuss an SEO audit and strategy tailored to your needs.
