How to rank on Google as a Weight-Inclusive Private Practice

How the heck do I rank as a weight-inclusive provider on Google when everyone seems to be searching for the latest weight loss solutions??

As a weight-inclusive dietitian and website designer, I feel your pain. It’s like we’re fighting an uphill battle against the constant messaging to lose weight or get on a weight-loss drug.

The good news?

Marketing your private practice is not about making yourself known in a room full of weight-loss providers. It’s about bringing your ideal client to you.

Let’s talk about how to rank on Google as a weight-inclusive private practice:

If you are talking to everyone, you are talking to no one

As a business owner, I am sure you’ve heard this phrase before…

It is especially important when it comes to SEO because the reality is, you probably are not going to rank if someone searches “dietitian” or “therapist.”

Companies like Nourish or Headway will come up because they are big companies with big budgets and see all types of clientele.

But as a weight inclusive business owner, you don’t want to see any and all clients. You have a specific clientele that speaks to you: those interested in a weight-inclusive, HAES, intuitive eating, non-diet, etc approach to health.

We can use this to our advantage.

People are not searching for words like “dietitian”

As I said before, you will likely never rank for single words related to your profession. They are far too competitive and most of the time, that’s not what people are searching for.

Let’s pretend you were looking for a new service provider. You want to hire a carpenter to redo your kitchen. I am 99% sure you are not just going to type “carpenter” into Google. You will probably try something like “carpenters for kitchen renovations near me.”

This is how your ideal clients are searching for you. When building your website, you want to try to rank for long-tail keywords. Here are some examples:

“therapist” → “weight-inclusive therapist” → “weight-inclusive therapist in city, state”
“dietitian” → “dietitian for PCOS” → “intuitive eating dietitian for PCOS”
“nutrition counseling” → “virtual nutrition counseling for eating disorders”

These keywords will have less competition, making it easier for you to rank. It also more closely aligns to what your ideal client is searching for.

Another way of thinking about it: the more specific the search, the more ready they are to buy. If a person is just doing a very generic, broad search, they are likely in the beginning stages of buying phase. Very different from someone who knows what they are looking for and searches for “an eating disorder dietitian who takes United near me.”

Do I need to pick just ONE of these keywords?

Maybe you don’t only work with eating disorder. Maybe you want to come up for “HAES-dietitian” as well as “weight-inclusive dietitian.”

Does ranking in Google mean having to choose one keyword?

Nope!!! Here are a couple of key things to keep in mind

When ranking in Google, we are considering every single page on your website, not your website as a whole.

It actually hurts your chances of ranking if you use the same keyword on each page. For example, if you title each page as “eating disorder therapist in state” – Google will get confused as to which page you want ranking for this search query.

It is a better approach to pick a keyword for your home, about, and service(s) pages. This gives you some flexibility with choosing keywords. Here are some examples:

Weight-inclusive therapy website with just a standard home, about, service page:

Home: “Eating disorder therapist in Nashville, TN”
About: “Weight-Inclusive Therapist | Your Name”
Service: “Trauma-informed therapy for eating disorders”

Google uses semantic search: which mean it understands words that are related.

Google knows the people searching for an “eating disorder dietitian near me” would also benefit from “nutrition counseling for eating disorders.” Choosing one keyword or phrase isn’t saying no to all other possible variations.

When you sprinkle similar keywords throughout your website pages + blog posts and create high quality content related to these topics, it increases your authority on Google. This increases your chances of ranking for your primary keywords and related keywords.

Here is an example of the businesses that come up when I search “intuitive eating dietitian near me” vs “HAES dietitian near me.” The same providers come up.

Weight-inclusive private practices ranking in Google

Weight-inclusive private practices ranking in Google when searching for HAES dietitians near me

Common questions when trying to rank on Google:

It usually takes anywhere from 4-12 months to rank on Google. You can expect it to be on the longer end for new businesses. It also depends on other aspects of your SEO strategy. If you are actively building a strong network of backlinks (other websites that point to your websites), it can increase your authority faster. This can look like leveraging guest podcast episodes, partnerships, media features, and guest blog posts.

Utilize free keyword search tools like Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner. Semrush also allows a few searches for free. These tools will give you insight into monthly search volume and keyword difficulty. You’re looking for phrases with decent volume and low competition! Also consider what language appeals to your ideal clients and what phrases feel most aligned to you as a provider.

Trying to rank for the same keyword on multiple pages. This will prevent Google from pushing your website in search queries. Keyword stuffing is another common pitfall. This is when you try to stuff as many keywords into a title or paragraph as possible. It comes across as unnatural and will be flagged as spam by Google, hurting your rankings.

Nope! For weight-inclusive private practices, free tools and understanding what your ideal clients typically google at 10pm at night are usually enough.

Want an SEO strategy that works for your weight-inclusive private practice?

Book a consult call with me to learn more about my website design strategy and how I can help you rank higher on Google!