Using Search Marketing to Connect Seniors with Assisted Living Communities
Companies that have experienced long-term success understand that sometimes you need a helping hand to reach your goals. The senior space is no different. Senior living communities are thinking outside of the box to leverage the internet as a tool to find more people interested in senior caring.
Some wonder, “How can I use the internet to gain more seniors in my assisted living community, when seniors are not on the internet”? One digital web company is looking to answer that question by partnering with senior care communities.
The child of a successful tech company, the team at SeniorCaring is helping senior living communities find pre-qualified seniors and their families with a modern twist. With previous experience generating qualified leads in various niche industries and internet marketing know-how, SeniorCaring knows how to find seniors online.
Studying Search Trends for Seniors
It is a common misconception that older adults are not active members of the internet, however, it is simply not true. According to a study by Google, approximately 78 percent of Baby Boomers and 52 percent of seniors are actively online. But, that doesn’t make it any easier to reach this group of users that are neither digital native, nor technologically savvy.
However, these Boomers and seniors have gradually been adopting internet and technology practices. They are getting better at navigating the internet and actively using it to gain information and knowledge. Not only are these Boomers and seniors consuming social media content, they are using the internet to prepare for a future of senior living.
With Boomers and seniors adopting internet use, an opportunity is presented for senior living communities to find these seniors or their adult children online. If you are able to reach older adults on the web, you may be able to get them on your website. If you can get those seniors on your website, you just might be able to get them into your senior care community
But, in order to find qualified seniors interested in senior care, what are the search trends you should be familiar with?
Senior Living Search Terms
The keywords used on your site and content are incredibly important to be able to rank highly on a Google results page. Boomers and seniors are no longer searching for senior care under a broad term like nursing home. As they have learned how to use the internet, they have learned about senior care and now tend to search for more specific types of senior living or aging topics. They are searching using specific terms like skilled nursing care, continuing care retirement community, or assisted living facilities.
One of the most important things to consider when choosing keywords is how users are searching for you. Do you know the top searched keywords used to look for senior care? Do you know which keywords suggest that Boomers are searching for care for themselves vs. care for their aging parents?
Searching for Senior Care
According to Google, when Boomers look for senior care for themselves, they use terms like independent living and 55+ active communities. The amenities and features they are searching for include activities and events, quality of food, pets, transportation options, and the size of bedrooms.
When Boomers are searching for care for others, their search terms include skilled nursing and assisted living communities. When looking for community features they search for different care types, medical services offered, hospitals near the community, and staff-to-patient ratios.
When you know how to appeal to these two different needs, you can target ads and promoted posts to get the right people on your site. The key thing to remember about search terms is to figure out how the user actually searches, not how you think they should search.
Search Term Volume
When choosing search terms, pay attention to keyword search volume. Your keywords should have a high average monthly search volume and low to medium competition for ranking. You may get lost in the rankings for the search term senior living, but you’ll probably have much better luck ranking for senior independent living.
Choose longer keywords with modifiers to cut through the competition. Instead of independent living, try something like independent living for active seniors. Look at your web visitor’s search queries to help you find the best keyword modifiers to use.
Also, take note of when searches are occurring. More searches occur during the week than during the weekend. Boomers also prefer to use the internet during the early and late mornings from the hours of 5:00 AM to noon. This information comes in handy when scheduling your posts and online ads.
Devices Used to Connect to the Internet
Do you know what devices Boomers and seniors are using to access the internet? Older adults tend to use desktops and laptops to search the web. This means that as soon as your webpage loads, your most important content needs to be viewable near the top of the page without scrolling.
Format your content to fit your users needs. It is important that your site is easily navigable so users can find what they are searching for. Articles and blog posts should have large prominent headlines and accompanying large body text to accommodate readers that have trouble reading small print.
Even though older adults are not using their mobile phones to access the web, your site should still be mobile-friendly. Other younger members of a senior or Boomer’s family will also be checking out your site, and they are more likely to be using a mobile phone or tablet.
Monitoring Online Web Placement
Web Traffic Sources
Senior living communities need to monitor their web traffic volume and where that traffic comes from.
How many visitors find your site from a social post? How many visitors find your site via Google search? How many searchers find your site from paid ads on search engines or other websites? Furthermore, how do these web visitors act when they get to your site? How does their behavior differ?
You should not rely on any one source for your web traffic, but instead, work to create a balance between all web traffic sources.
Using analytic software, you can even track specific actions or behaviors. Monitor how many users visit a particular page, fill out a specific form, download a white paper, and more. Use this information to learn how web visitor behavior differs depending on how they found your site.
Paid Ads and Promoted Posts
A portion of your marketing budget needs to be allocated towards paid web ads and promoted posts on social media.
Facebook is the top social media site used by Baby Boomers. Having a presence on the social site allows you to reach an extensive online community with content that links directly to your site. Promoted posts give you the opportunity to have your message displayed to targeted users as they scroll through their feed.
Organic search ads, like the ones that appear alongside Google search results, allow you to reach searchers based on their search query. Typically, you pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis and can reach Boomers directly when they are searching for senior care. Careful keyword selection allows you to find search terms that have a lower CPC so you can maximize your budget.
To find qualified seniors interested in senior living communities, these are some of the search trends that you should consider as part of your online marketing strategy. As a senior living community executive, do you really have time to learn the ins and outs of internet marketing so you can find pre-qualified seniors and their families? Most senior living executives do not, and that is exactly why partnering with tech companies, like Senior Caring.com, can bridge that gap.
As the operator or owner of a senior living community, your focus shouldn’t be on learning marketing tactics to find qualified referrals. Your focus should remain on providing quality services to those seeking senior living. Partner with a company like SeniorCaring who will use omni-channel marketing strategies to connect qualified families to your senior living community.
