Opticians Digital Marketing | Ultimate Guide

 

Digital Marketing for Opticians | Introduction

 

In this marketing guide for opticians, we will focus predominantly on an area of marketing that is often ignored or misunderstood by opticians and that is SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.

In this article we will delve into the stats behind Google searches the factors that affect a website’s Google rankings and how you can improve your website’s rankings.

 

Understanding Google Search Results

When you search for a product or service on Google, Google will show you what it feels are the most relevant websites or webpages based on your search whether you’re searching for a new pair of trainers or tennis coaches in your area.

Google will often show you two or three paid ads at the top of the search results.

We conducted research using Google Data and Found that the average cost of an Ad for opticians is £5.24 With an average Click-through Rate (the number of people who clicked on an ad) was 4.78%.

If the user’s search contains “local intent” ie a product or service that people do locally and in person such as a dog groomer or an optician then it will include a MAP Pack Result.

This is where Google displays a map of the area/town close to you with a number of businesses that offer the service you need pinpointed on the map. Below this, it displays its top three recommendations.

Finally followed by what we call organic search results this is a list of what Google feels are the ten most relevant websites/webpages that will best satisfy and answer the searcher’s query. The higher up this list you are the greater number of potential clients will reach your website.

How Google displays results I am sure we are all familiar with as we are likely one of the 8.5 billion searches conducted using Google on a daily basis.

 

Now I ask you to get out your phone or open a new tab on your laptop and type into Google a search term that is relevant to your business, as an optician these will be terms like:

Optician “your town/city” – ie optician Sheffield or optician Cheltenham.

Eye Test “your town/city” – ie eye test Brighton

 

Ignoring the Map Pack results as these are heavily impacted by proximity so if you’re placing the search at your practice office desk then your business should appear as one of these three results if you have a Google My Business page set-up.

 

Where did you appear on the search results? Number one? Number five or did you have to click onto the second page to find your business?

 

Here are the stats behind the results if you appeared number one, fantastic you will receive a massive 27.6% of potential new clients visit your website. As we drop down the results you can see from the graphic below that number five receives only 6.3% of clicks and if you are on page two unfortunately only 0.63%% of people use a result found on the second page of Google so you are missing out on 99.57% of potential clicks and therefore potential clients. (source Backlinko)

Wherever you are ranking, whether it be good or bad did you know that you can change where your business appears on this list?

 

Organic Vs Paid Marketing for Opticians

The easy route to get to the top of the Google search results is of course paid ADs however there are of course advantages and disadvantages to this.

Paid

Advantages:

• Instant Results – once you get up your Google Ads these will appear live once they have been approved by Google
• Call to Action – You can include CTA such as “Book your Eye Test Today” or an offer such as “50% off frames this week only”. You essentially have the chance to grab the searcher’s eye before they even scroll down to the map pack or organic search results and see your competitors.

Disadvantages:

• Cost – You pay Google for each click – based on a small number of opticians we found the cost to be £5.24 per click.
• Per month cost – you can spend as much or as little as you wish on Google Ads from £5 per day to hundreds of pounds per day. Over the month you could easily spend anywhere from £500 – £3000.
• Click-through rate – The average click-through rate is just 1.91% according to Hubspot meaning 98% of users scroll straight past paid ad’s and click on an organic search result.

Organic

Advantages:

• Cost-effective way of marketing your opticians – You can make improvements to your websites rankings yourself with the only investment being time & learning.

Disadvantages:

• Large Time Commitment – You will need to commit time every week from now on to work on your website.
• No instant results – no two websites, search terms, or competitors are the same so result times vary.

 

Local SEO

This is key to helping your business appear in Google’s Map Pack but also help improve your local organic search rankings for search terms key to your business such as “opticians (+town/city) and “eye tests (+town/city).

These are local people who require a local service. They are also people with high purchase intent, they aren’t just scrolling through social media on the sofa and might view an ad or organic post from an optician or a glasses brand.

By conducting a Google search they have decided that they need an eye test or that they need to visit an optician so getting their attention on Google SERP is important. They are ready to spend money with an optician and you want it to be with you.

 

Local SEO Ranking Factors:

There are a number of factors that affect Local SEO and each has its own level of importance. These factors include:

 

• Your Google My Business page
• NAP Citations
• Reviews
• Backlinks
• On-page SEO
• Website Visitors Behaviour (bounce rate – time on page etc)
• Social Media

 

The most important is your Google My Business page, if you haven’t already you should claim your Google My Business page and complete your page as thoroughly as possible.

 

MAP Pack Rankings

As previously mentioned MAP Pack Results show three businesses that match the searcher’s intent.

42% (source Backlinko) of people click on a map pack result. The map pack gives you the opportunity to showcase your business as it includes a picture alongside your Google review star rating, the number of reviews, and often a snippet of a review that a customer has left.

Below are map pack results for searches for “opticians manchester” and “eye tests Manchester”. For both these queries the searcher needs to see an optician but the results change. Note how the three results in the map pack for eye tests Manchester includes keywords eye test in bold. This is because people have mentioned about their eye test in their review and it has impacted the results Google shows.

Then when we search opticians Manchester the results change.

Where does your business rank?

To find out where your business ranks we recommend using a website called Local Falcon this tool sets out a grid pattern with points around you’re business and will rank your position in the map pack for a search term such as “optician” or “optician (+town/city).

It will also rank you against your competitors and provide you with two key statistics:

ARP – Average Ranking Position: defined by Local Falcon as “This is the average rank position of the business for only data points that the business was found”

SOLV – Share of Local Voice: defined by Local Falcon as “This is the percentage of data points where the business ranks in the top three positions”

 

We ran a scan for Bramley Pope Opticians in Bristol using a 5×5 grid over a one-mile radius from their practice location using the keywords “opticians Bristol” and these were the results.

They ranked in the top 3 and therefore in the map pack the majority of times. Now let’s see how they compare to their competitors.

 

 

As you can see they rank very well their SOLV is 68% meaning they appear in the Map Pack on 68% of searches performed for 4 square mile area of Bristol and have an ARP of 3.44.

Ranking them third against their optician competitors. You will notice however the marked drop off in SOLV for fourth-ranked optician whose share drops down to only 16%.

The importance of optimizing for Local SEO is highlighted by the data shown below its competitor Ollie Quinn is less than half a mile away yet has only 4% of the SOLV, yet Specsavers is also just under half a mile away 84%.

 

Data from First Page Sage shows that the click-through rate for Map Pack Rankings is:

 

What this data shows is that the most achieving map pack status for your desired search is key whether you are number 1 or 3 the difference in CTR is very similar meaning you can grab the users click by standing out with a great picture or most likely searchers will be inclined to visit your site based on the number of reviews for your business and it’s rating.

A massive 98% percent of people read online reviews for local businesses and Healthcare is an industry where consumers see business reviews as the most important factor when selecting a business. (brightlocal.com).

 

Keys to Improving Your MAP Pack Ranking

Google My Business

We recommend you complete or check the basic information on your profile is up to date and correct. This includes the following are all correct

• Name
• Address
• Contact number
• Website
• Hours

Additional info to complete

Business Category – add your primary category ie Opticians along with secondary categories these could include “Optometrist”, “Sunglasses Shop” or “Glasses Repair”.

Description – write an engaging description of your business, include what sets you apart whether it’s your investment in equipment, staff or the eyewear brands you stock. Also be sure to include naturally the keywords that are important to your business including optician + location and eye test.

 

Tip: When you read it back to yourself it should sound natural and flow off the tongue rather than extra words that have been added to the sentence but don’t need to be there and add no value to the reader.

 

Services – add the services you as opticians offer to your clients.

This helps Google understand the type of services you offer and can help your business be displayed if someone is for example looking for contact lenses in your area.

Products – Add products that you offer. Include your eye tests, contact lens check-ups, and children’s eye tests. You can also include frame brands that you stock.

 

Reviews

Reviews are the third biggest Local SEO ranking factor. However, it is uncommon for even the biggest fans of your business to leave a review without being prompted. Only a small number of people leave a positive review for a business without being prompted but unfortunately, unhappy customers are more likely to leave a negative review. However, up to 70% of people will leave a review if they are prompted after their purchase (source review trackers).

 

How to get more reviews

1. Ask everybody who interacts with your business, whether it’s a screw replacement, a regular client after their yearly eye test or someone purchasing new glasses.
2. Add Google Review Link to the bottom of your receipts
3. Email blast
4. Social Media

 

Google Review Link:

To find the link login to your Google My Business account and select the Ask For a Review Icon.

Then copy the link onto your emails, digital receipts, and social media using a hyperlink with the anchor text of “Leave a Review”.

This link will send people straight to your Google My Business page where they can leave a review. You want to make things as easy as possible, even the smallest inconvenience will give people an excuse to put their phone down and do something else. You only have their attention for a short period of time so make the most of it, and be efficient.

Emphasize how you appreciate every review and how important it is for you as a small independent optician and local business.

Show this appreciation by always replying to reviews when they come in.

We conducted research and found that opticians included in Google’s Map Pack for their area had on average 128.9 reviews

 

Posting on Google My Business

This is a very simple task, that can be done in bulk and in advance thanks to platforms like Planable which allows you to schedule your Google My Business posts in advance. This means that you will never forget to post, all you need to do is schedule an afternoon or even as little as three hours to plan your posts for the next three months or even longer.

You can also if you wish post this same content to your other social media platforms at the same time with just a couple of clicks meaning you don’t have to produce new content for the platforms as well.

For best practice however, we recommend that Google posts be kept separate so that you can add a “Call to Action” or CTA like Learn More or Book Now as every click will drive traffic to your website and a step closer to converting into a dispense or eye test booking.

What we found:

Consistency is key. We found that over a two-month period of a client not posting on Google My Business their Share of Local voice had dropped from 96% to 68%. They started posting regularly again and within 6 weeks they were back up to an 80% share of local voice.

 

NAP Citations

NAP Citations are mentions of your business’s Name, Address, and Phone Number. These NAP’s are found on sites such as:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Yell
• Yelp
• Local Directories
• Stockist Lists

It is essential that they are correct and all match your Google My Business name.

As mentioned adding keywords in your Google My Business profile name can help improve your chances of ranking in the map pack.

This however means that as far as Google is concerned that is now your business name and this must be the consistent name you use across the internet from Facebook to your local chamber of commerce profile.

 

Search Engine Optimisation for Opticians

This is the practice of ranking websites in Google’s Organic Search Results to generate traffic to a website without paying for Google Ad’s.

 

How can you improve your Optician’s Marketing & SEO?

 

Conduct an On-Page SEO Audit for your Opticians

This can be done using tools like Ubersuggest, SemRush, or Ahref’s. These are all paid tools but are worth every penny as they will point out errors on your website and often tell you how much impact they have on SEO.

 

For this example, I will use Ubersuggest, head over to their website, and set-up an account. Once you’ve done this head down to site audit and enter your website address.

Depending on the depth of your website this can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes, so give your eyes a rest, pop on the kettle, and head back in a few minutes.

Once this has been completed you will be able to see the following:

On-page SEO Score: This is rated out of 100 and essentially the fewer errors or key missing information the higher your rating will be.

Organic Monthly Traffic: The number of people that visit your website on a monthly basis.

Organic Keywords: This is the number of keywords that Google has ranked in the Top 100 from your website.

Backlinks: This is the number of links from other websites that point back to your website.

These three we will come back to a little later but first, we will focus on the results of the Site Audit, any errors picked up, and how to fix them.

 

SEO Errors Discovered

As you can see for the site we analysed Ubersuggest has found a number of errors and it has indicated not only what they are, but also how easy they are to fix and how much impact they have on your SEO.

Understanding the results

Title Tag: This acts as a header for the page on Google Searches.

Meta Descriptions: This is a short sentence or two that describes the particular page that appears below the H1.

H1: This is the heading of the page.

All of these help Google understand what your page is about and therefore for what keywords it should rank it.

The keyword you are trying to rank for should be included in all of these categories. For example, for us writing this article on Opticians Marketing you will find this phrase in our title tag, meta description, and H1 header.

 

For you as opticians, your title tag for your home page would read something like:

{Business Name} | Independent Opticians – {Location}

A page about one of your eyewear brands should read

{Brand Name} Glasses & Sunglasses – {Business Name}

alternatively

{Brand Name} – {Official Stockist UK}

 

Broken Links

These are links on your website that lead to pages whose URL’s have either been renamed or the page no longer exists. In either case, you will need to either update the link to the new URL, remove the link, or change it to another page on your website that is relevant.

 

Page Speed

Page speed plays an important role in SEO as it provides a good user experience. Have you found yourself waiting for a page to load and left before it has because you’ve become impatient? Well, this impacts your SEO as Google will see that the user left the website quickly. This tells Google that the user didn’t find what they were looking for therefore this can cause your website to slip down the rankings.

To check your page speed head to https://pagespeed.web.dev/ and enter your website.

It will produce a rating for your website as you can see below. It will also diagnose the reasons for a low rating if you have one. It will also asses your performance for both mobile and desktop separately.

Is your optician’s website mobile-friendly?

This is particularly important not only as a ranking factor but also because according to Sistrix 64% of searches are now performed using a mobile device. Therefore if your website isn’t mobile friendly then the chances are it will be lower in the search results for mobile searchers.

Along with the fact that users want convenience and therefore may instantly leave your website if they can’t navigate their way around it.

To check if your website is user friendly just search Mobile Friendly Test on Google and enter your website URL.

Organic Keywords

If you haven’t already we highly recommend setting up a blog, where you can write articles relating to your business like I am here writing this blog on optical marketing.

On this blog, you can write about the brands you carry in your opticians, common eye problems, different glasses styles, polarised lenses the list goes on and on.

The more in-depth articles you write, that are well formatted for SEO the more keywords you will rank for, this tells Google that your website is a good reliable source of information on the world of optometry and glasses.

With the right technical SEO behind it, the article will start to rank alongside the big multiple opticians with large marketing budgets. The more in-depth the article the more keywords it will rank for.

We wrote an article for a client’s blog that helps people find petite glasses and sunglasses. That receives thousands of impressions each month. For a dozen different search terms around small glasses.

There are a large number of tools such as Ahrefs and SEMRush that will help you identify keywords to target (ie write blogs about) along with how many people search this term each month. This is key as there is no point in spending hours of your time writing about a subject very few people search for.

These tools will also give you a rating telling you how hard these search terms are to rank for. The lower this number the better.

 

Under 30 – Fantastic – Get Writing

30 – 50: Harder to rank for and will therefore will longer to rank for but can be achievable.

50+ – Very tricky – Save these for later down the line.

 

Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other websites back to your website. These act almost like a recommendation from one site to another. The more respected this site is in the eyes of Google the more weight it carries.

You may be wondering where and how can I obtain more backlinks. There are a number of answers to this and this part of SEO is almost a form of digital PR.

1. Your local newspaper might be writing an article on fashion or health and they may be looking for experts in this field to contribute to the article they will likely include your name and they may link back to your website.

A quote this like is not only good for SEO it will also act as good PR that thousands of people may read either digitally or in print.

 

2. Your lens, contact lens, and frame suppliers. All of these suppliers are likely to have a map or list of their retailers on their website and these typically include alongside your business name, address, and contact number but also a link to your website.

 

3. Guest Posts, these are when a blogger or website owner allows you to author a piece of content on their website. These could be local magazines, fashion bloggers, or industry publications such as the Optician

 

Opticians Marketing Guide – Conclusion

We hope this marketing guide for opticians has given you an insight into how your business is seen online and how you can improve your performance online and get seen by hundreds of potential new customers each month.

If you would like a helping hand with marketing your opticians, please do get in touch and we will happily provide a free-of-charge analysis of your website and where we feel we can improve your online presence.