The Limitations of Local SEO & When Chiropractors Should Run Google Ads - Rocket Chiropractic Podcast for Chiropractors

Summary5 min read

Rocket Chiropractic Marketing Podcast

Episode: The Limitations of Local SEO & When Chiropractors Should Run Google Ads
Release Date: February 20, 2025
Host: Dr. Jerry Kennedy

Introduction

In this insightful episode of the Rocket Chiropractic Marketing Podcast, Dr. Jerry Kennedy delves into the limitations of local SEO, particularly focusing on Google Maps, and explores when chiropractors should consider leveraging Google Ads to enhance their practice's visibility and patient acquisition.

Understanding the Limitations of Local SEO

**1. Search Volume Constraints Dr. Kennedy begins by addressing the fundamental limitation of local SEO: the search volume within a specific area. He explains that when potential patients search for terms like "chiropractor near me" or "pediatric chiropractor," only a limited number of chiropractors appear in the Google Maps pack. He emphasizes:

“If you're looking at it from a funnel standpoint, there's a lot more people that need a chiropractor than there are people who are actively searching for a chiropractor on Google”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [05:30]

This highlights that while local SEO is valuable, it inherently restricts the reach to those already seeking chiropractic services.

**2. Competition in the Local Area Another significant limitation discussed is the density of chiropractic practices in a given region. Dr. Kennedy shares a personal anecdote about evaluating heat maps from marketing solicitations and realizing that intense local competition can severely limit visibility:

“If there's a lot of chiropractors in your area, there's just going to be more chiropractors close to that person when they're doing that search.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [12:10]

He points out that in densely populated areas with numerous chiropractors, achieving a high ranking in local search results becomes exponentially harder.

**3. Geographical Location of the Practice The physical location of a chiropractic practice plays a crucial role in local SEO effectiveness. Dr. Kennedy advises that many chiropractors overlook the importance of strategic location selection based on demographic needs:

“If you're in the center part of a town, that person's going to get preferential treatment for, you know, somebody searching chiropractor in St. Louis or something like that.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [18:45]

He underscores that being centrally located can significantly enhance a practice's visibility in local search results compared to being on the outskirts of a town.

When to Consider Google Ads

Transitioning from local SEO limitations, Dr. Kennedy discusses scenarios where Google Ads can be a beneficial supplement or alternative.

**1. Starting a New Practice For chiropractors just getting started, Google Ads can provide immediate visibility when local SEO efforts are still building traction:

“If you're just getting started and you have the budget for it and you can do it, that can be a great thing to do and a great time to do it.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [25:20]

This proactive approach helps new practices attract patients while their organic search presence grows.

**2. Expanding Beyond Local Reach When chiropractors aim to reach a broader audience beyond what local SEO can achieve, Google Ads offer a viable solution:

“If you want to reach people that are outside of where you're reaching with local SEO, you could do that and you could do that right away by setting up an ad.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [21:15]

This is particularly useful for practices located in competitive or densely populated areas where organic reach is limited.

**3. Total Local Domination For chiropractors who have already established a strong local SEO presence and seek to dominate their local market further, combining Google Ads with SEO efforts can maximize patient acquisition:

“Nothing wrong with total domination. I mean, as long as you're getting good return on investment, I think total domination is a great strategy.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [29:50]

This strategy ensures that even in highly competitive areas, a chiropractic practice maintains top-of-mind awareness among potential patients.

Challenges and Considerations with Google Ads

Dr. Kennedy does not shy away from discussing the potential pitfalls of Google Ads, particularly the financial implications:

“Most chiropractors either are, it ends up being a money pit. And where I say that is because if you're doing it yourself and you don't know what you're doing, it's easy to waste a lot of money doing ads on Google.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [23:40]

He warns that without proper expertise, managing Google Ads can lead to inefficient spending. Hiring professionals can mitigate this risk but may require a higher budget, which may not be feasible for all practitioners.

Effective Budgeting and Management Dr. Kennedy emphasizes the importance of budget management in running successful ad campaigns:

“If you're paying someone else to do it, oftentimes these companies that are doing payments for, they're, they're doing Google Ads for chiropractors, they'll charge you know, four or five hundred dollars, which I don't have a problem with charging that. But then they charge like they'll say hey, you have to have a thousand dollars or fifteen hundred dollars or $2500 ad minimum.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [24:50]

He suggests that chiropractors must carefully assess their financial capacity and potential return on investment before committing to substantial ad spending.

Strategies for Maximizing Google Ads Effectiveness

To harness the full potential of Google Ads, Dr. Kennedy offers several strategic insights:

**1. Focus on Return on Investment (ROI) Ensuring that ad expenditures translate into tangible patient acquisitions is paramount. Dr. Kennedy advises:

“As long as you're getting good return on investment, I think total domination is a great strategy.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [29:50]

**2. Continuous Learning and Adaptation Chiropractors should invest time in learning the nuances of Google Ads to optimize their campaigns effectively:

“If you're smart enough to be a chiropractor, you're smart enough to do Google Ads.”
— Dr. Jerry Kennedy [26:30]

He encourages practitioners to educate themselves or collaborate with knowledgeable professionals to avoid common pitfalls.

**3. Integrating Ads with Existing Marketing Efforts Combining Google Ads with robust local SEO strategies can create a synergistic effect, enhancing overall visibility and patient acquisition rates.

Conclusion

Dr. Jerry Kennedy wraps up the episode by reiterating the complementary roles of local SEO and Google Ads in a chiropractic marketing strategy. While acknowledging the inherent limitations of local SEO, he highlights Google Ads as a powerful tool for expanding reach and achieving market dominance when used judiciously.

For chiropractors seeking to navigate the complexities of digital marketing, this episode provides invaluable insights into optimizing both organic and paid search strategies to grow their practices effectively.

For more personalized assistance with your chiropractic marketing strategies, including website optimization, SEO, or Google Ads, feel free to reach out to Dr. Jerry Kennedy at me@rocketchiro.com.

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[00:00]
Jerry
Hey, guys. Jerry here from Rocket Chiro, the business and marketing podcast for chiropractors. We're going to talk a little bit today about some of the limitations of local SEO, specifically the Google Maps. And we're also going to talk about when chiropractors should consider doing ads. And this isn't going to be all inclusive, but it's just some things that I want you to think about, because this is something that I started thinking about again recently because I was getting solicited by these people that were. They were showing these, like, heat map results and these things, these are things I do for clients where I'll show them, like people that are doing a practice assessment. I'll show them a heat map and says, like, hey, this is what, this is how you're. Who you're reaching for this particular search at this particular time. And I was being solicited by this company that basically was saying, like, look, we can go from nobody seeing you to everyone seeing you. And I've seen a lot of these heat maps. And I was looking at it going, you know, I'm not, I'm not an expert in all things. I mean, there's always things that I'm learning, and there are definitely people that know more than I do. So I was thinking maybe they know something that I don't know because I think that there are limitations that would prohibit certain people from getting those kind of results. And I actually ended up signing up for a, like a course and a class for this person because I was curious. And it turns out that I was. I was right. And what I mean by I was right was the person actually admitted that the images that they show in their advertisements only work in a small area where there's not a lot of competition. And I was like, oh, yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense. And that really aligns with what I already know. So that's some of the limitations that we're going to talk about today. And it's going to bring us into a conversation about ads, like running Google Ads for a chiropractor. The. So let me just start here. There are a couple limitations when it comes to local search. One of the limitations is just going to be the fact that the. Just the search volume themselves itself. So when someone types in chiropractor near me, sports chiropractor, pediatric chiropractor, whatever, when you're showing up in the map pack, which the map pack is the three chiropractors that are going to show up in the Google Maps or at Least at the top of the Google Maps, when you're showing up there, you're really limited by the amount of people that are searching in your area. Now, this may seem sort of like an obvious thing to say, but it is something to think about. If you're doing a billboard or radio advertisement or social media advertisement, you can, you're going to be reaching a much broader group of people. And those people may or may not need a chiropractor. Those people may or may not be looking for a chiropractor. But if you're look thinking about it from like a funnel standpoint, there's a lot more people that need a chiropractor than there are people who are actually searching for a chiropractor actively on Google. So there are going to be some limitations with search volume. It's not a reason. I mean, the amount of people in your area that are searching for a chiropractor on Google is probably very high. So it's still a very valuable resource. And I, I would focus on it if I was in practice, but there are limitations there. Another limitation is going to be the number of chiropractors that are in your area. And this is sort of what started this whole thought process for me, is because when I saw those heat maps that this person was showing, I was just going, man, when you're doing local searches like chiropractor near me or sports chiropractor or whatever, Google cares very much about where that person is at when they're doing the search. They care like how many people are around them. And Google's going to make the best recommendation within a reasonable distance of where that person is actually searching from. And so you may be the greatest person in the whole St. Louis area. You may be a million times better than anybody in Chicago, but you are not going to show up in the Google Maps in Chicago because the people searching in Chicago aren't going to drive to St. Louis or fly to St. Louis to go to a chiropractor. And I know that's sort of an extreme example, but that's something that you have to consider is if there's a lot of chiropractors in your area, there's just going to be more chiropractors close to that person when they're doing that search. And those are just hurdles that you're going to have to overcome. So if you're in an area that's densely populated with a lot of chiropractors like I was when I was in practice and a lot of areas are that, especially those that are around chiropractic colleges. You just have to take into consideration that what you can expect to see on a heat map like that is going to be much smaller. You're just going to have a much smaller impact, even if you're doing everything correct, than you are in an area where you're the, you're one of four or five chiropractors in the whole area, or even one of 20 or 30 chiropractors in the whole area. That's just much easier to rank well and to have a much broader reach within the Google maps. The third limitation is sort of what I've already been talking about, and that is location. Most chiropractors don't think about this before they pick a location. They're usually thinking like, how nice is the building? What does it look like? What's the parking? I mean, some of, some of you guys are listening to this. You've been in practice for, for way longer than this has even been a thing. And so it's entirely possible that you're not actually in the area where you're pulling or you would like to pull the bulk of your patients. Like maybe if you had to do it over again, you would pick a different suburb or a different town or different location, because that's the demographic of people that you really want to be pulling from. So that is an issue. Like, if you want to pull really, really well from a particular area, having your practice in that actual area, like right in the center of it, is really important. And if there are chiropractors, if you're on the outskirts of a town and there's a chiropractor that's in the, in the center part of that town, that person's going to get preferential treatment for, you know, somebody searching chiropractor in St. Louis or something like that. And so there are those, these are the limit. The kind of known limitations of Google Maps and local SEO is going to be the number of people searching, the number of other people in your area that are competing for the same keyword. So in our case, it's chiropractors. And then the actual physical location of your business like Google, that you're never going to rank well in the maps for the town next to you. That just isn't going to happen. That isn't the way. Unless there's no chiropractor between you and that town, you're just not going to rank well for that. Like the, the days of that working where it's like you just put a few name, put a few town names that are adjacent to you on your website and then you rank well in that town. Like that's, that doesn't exist. That's dumb and stupid. Anyone that's doing that is living in a 20 years ago. So that, that takes me to Google Ads. So when should you do Google Ads? And the reason that I bring up Google Ads is because the way that you sort of sort short track this whole thing is you pay for ads. Now when I say ads, I'm a fully aware of the fact that most chiropractors either are, it ends up being a money pit. And where I say that is because if you're doing it yourself and you don't know what you're doing, it's easy to waste a lot of money doing ads on Google. And if you're paying someone to do it, oftentimes these, these companies that are doing payments for, they're, they're doing Google Ads for chiropractors, they'll charge you know, four or five hundred dollars, which I don't have a problem with charging that. But then they charge like they'll say hey, you have to have a thousand dollars or fifteen hundred dollars or $2500 ad minimum. And I understand that. And the reason I totally understand that is because it's harder to make a lower budget with work. It's actually easier to make a higher budget work from an ad standpoint. So there are some limitations as someone who does those ads for chiropractors and oftentimes I'm working with chiropractors on lower budgets. There's always that trying to figure out how to get the most out of that lower budget. But the chiropractors themselves, the issues that they have is that if you do it yourself, it's stressful, it's frustrating and you're going to waste a bunch of money if you pay somebody else to do it. You're so far out of budget because it's just not the budget that you have for ads that you, you end up wasting money or losing money that way. Because the chiropractors who are paying the most amount of money for Google Ads and they don't have any problem paying five hundred or a thousand dollars for someone to do their ads, they don't have any problem paying another 1500 or $2000 for ad spend. The chiropractors that are doing that are usually doing long term care plans or doing packages. They're doing secondary and tertiary services. They're not your standard typical chiropractor. They're making more money on the average case and a lot of times right up front, those are usually the people that are spending a lot more money on Google Ads. So just be aware of the fact that I know that it can be a money pit, but it also can be really beneficial and it's actually a great way to supplement and maybe bypass some of the issues that come along with local SEO. Because if you want to get more reach, just you can run an ad. Now the ad's never going to have the click through rate that the maps does. It's just not, there's just, there's no way around that. People don't pay as much attention to an ad as they do the Google Maps. So there's that. But if you want to reach people that are outside of where you're reaching with local SEO, you could do that and you could do that right away by setting up an ad. And so that's a, that's a good way to, to, to think about using ads. So, so when should you do ads? I. When you're just getting started. Now that, that double edged sword when you're just getting started. Because if you're just getting started and you don't have any local SEO presence and you don't want to waste or not waste, but just wait and wait for that to come around, then you find yourself in a situation where oh, I can run ads. But then a lot of times people are getting started, they don't have a lot of money. So you run into the money issue with ads. But if you can make it a good return on investment, whether that's doing it yourself and being patient and you can learn to do it yourself. Like, I'm not saying you can. Like it's. If you're smart enough to be a chiropractor, you're smart enough to do Google Ads. But it is a whole different thing that you have to learn. But if you're, if you're just getting started and you have the budget for it and you can do it, that can be a great thing to do and a great time to do it. Another one is, like I said, if you're trying to reach further than what your local SEO will allow you to, that's another time to do it. And I would say the other chiropractors that should be doing it are the ones that are just looking to do total local domination. I mean, if you're already doing great with local search and you have the capacity for more new patients and then you're running ads on top of it. Nothing wrong with total domination. I mean, as long as you're getting good return on investment, I think total domination is a, is a great strategy. As I talk to my clients about when I talk about reviews is like, man, you know, I had a client asked me one time, like when, when is I got like two times the amount of review as everyone else around me. When is the time to kind of back it off? And I was just like, I would curb stop everyone around me like two that 2x3x5x10x like there is no point where it's like I would tell you to stop doing that. Like keep the hammer down, keep the gas pedal down. Like just, you know, nothing wrong with total domination. So those are my thoughts. Those are my thoughts about local SEO and some of the limitations, some of my thoughts about when maybe you should consider doing Google Ad. If you guys would like help with your website, you like help with your SEO or Google Ads, then you could get a hold of me@rocketkiro.com. thank you guys for listening to the podcast. I'll talk to you later. See you.