10 SEO Basics Every Health and Wellness Professional’s Website Is Missing

You’ve built your practice on trust, expertise, and real results. You show up for your clients, you deliver, and people get better because of what you do. So why does it feel like nobody can find you online?

That question keeps a lot of health and wellness professionals up at night. You’re a yoga instructor, naturopath, therapist, nutrition coach, or wellness consultant. You’re good at what you do. You have referrals. You have word-of-mouth. But when someone searches for what you offer in your area, your website isn’t showing up. And if it does, it’s buried on page three.

Here’s what I want you to know: this isn’t about being “bad at tech.” SEO feels mysterious because nobody sits down and explains it like a normal human. It gets wrapped up in jargon and feels like magic that only happens if you do everything perfectly. It doesn’t work that way. SEO is just a bunch of small things done consistently, and most of them are actually pretty straightforward.

In my experience working with wellness professionals, I see the same missed opportunities over and over. Not mistakes, exactly. Just gaps, places where a little attention could make a real difference in how easy it is for the right people to find you.

Let me walk you through the 10 biggest ones I see, and what you can actually do about them.

1. Your Location Isn’t Clear Anywhere on Your Website

This is the number one missed opportunity I see with health and wellness pros. Your clients search for “yoga instructor near me” or “therapist in Portland” or “naturopath in my area.” If your website doesn’t clearly say where you are, Google can’t help people find you.

I’m not talking about burying it in a contact form. I mean your city, neighborhood, or service area should be visible on your homepage, in your service descriptions, and definitely on your contact page.

If you work with clients in multiple locations, or you do hybrid in-person and virtual work, that’s even more important to spell out. “I see clients in Denver and Boulder, and I also offer virtual sessions nationwide” tells Google exactly who should find you and when.

A lot of business owners I talk to assume Google already knows where they are because their business address is in their Google Business Profile. But your website needs to say it too. They’re separate systems, and both matter.

2. Your Service Descriptions Are Too Vague

Here’s a situation I see constantly: a therapist describes their work as “helping clients navigate life transitions” or a wellness coach says they work on “whole-person health.” These are beautiful, true things. But they’re not how people search.

Someone looking for help doesn’t search for “whole-person health.” They search for “therapy for anxiety” or “help with menopause symptoms” or “nutrition coaching for energy.” Your service descriptions need to use the language your clients actually use when they’re looking for you.

This doesn’t mean your website has to lose its warmth or depth. It means you need both: the human, heart-centered language that shows who you are, plus the specific, searchable language that tells Google what you actually do.

If you work with “women transitioning into midlife,” great, say that. But also say what that means: “menopause coaching,” “therapy for women in their 50s,” “hormone-aware fitness,” whatever’s true for you. Use the actual words, the specific conditions, the real problems you solve.

3. Your Homepage Doesn’t Have a Clear Focus

Your homepage tries to be everything. It explains what you do, who you work with, your philosophy, your background, your values, why you got into this work, and why you’re different. It’s all there, and it’s all true.

But here’s what Google sees when it crawls your homepage: confusion. It’s trying to figure out what your website is actually about, and mixed signals don’t help.

Your homepage should answer one main question clearly: what do you do, and who do you do it for? Everything else can be on other pages. But your homepage needs to be laser-focused enough that both a person and a search engine could read it and immediately know if they’re in the right place.

This is different from being cold or businesslike. You can do this with warmth and personality. But clarity comes first. You can have personality on top of clarity. You can’t have clarity on top of confusion.

4. You Don’t Have Dedicated Service Pages

A lot of wellness professionals have one page that describes their work, or worse, they expect people to figure out what they offer by reading their bio. When you have multiple services or specialties, each one deserves its own page.

If you’re a therapist who works with anxiety, depression, and relationship issues, you should have separate pages for each. If you’re a coach who works with one-on-one clients, offers group programs, and does workshops, those should each have their own space online.

Why? Because someone searching specifically for “therapy for anxiety” should land on your anxiety therapy page, not your homepage. That page can focus entirely on anxiety, use the language someone anxious uses when they’re searching, and answer the questions that person is actually asking. It’s way more helpful to them, and way more helpful to Google.

5. Your Contact Information Is Hidden or Outdated

I see websites where the phone number on the homepage is different from the phone number on the contact page. Or the email address listed is an old one. Or your hours aren’t clear. Or you only have a contact form with no other way to reach you.

Your contact information should be the easiest thing to find on your website. If someone’s decided they want to work with you, make it ridiculously easy for them to actually contact you. Put your phone number on multiple pages, not buried at the bottom. Make it clickable on mobile devices. Keep it current.

If you prefer email to phone calls, that’s totally fine, but say so. “Best way to reach me: email [your email].” If you have a limited schedule, say it. “I respond to emails within 24 business hours.” Make it easy for people to reach you in the way that actually works for you.

6. You’re Not Using Headings Properly

This one’s technical but important, so stay with me. Headings aren’t just for making text bigger or smaller. They’re how you tell Google what your content is actually about.

Your page should have one H1 heading, which is the main topic of that page. Then H2 and H3 headings break it into sections. If you use headings just for style, without thinking about structure, Google gets confused about what the page is really about.

So if you have a page about “Yoga for Anxiety,” your H1 should say exactly that or something very close to it. Then you might have H2 sections like “How Yoga Helps Anxiety,” “What to Expect in Your First Session,” “About Me.” This structure tells Google and people reading: this page is about yoga for anxiety, and here’s how it breaks down.

If your website was built in a template or you’re not sure whether your headings are set up right, it’s worth asking someone to check. It’s a small thing that makes a real difference.

7. You Don’t Have Enough Actual Text

I work with a lot of wellness professionals whose websites are 80% images and 20% words. Beautiful images, meaningful images, but not much actual text for Google to read and understand.

Google reads text. It doesn’t read images. If your beautiful photo of you meditating in nature is taking up half your homepage, and the only text is “Welcome to my practice,” Google doesn’t learn much about what you actually do.

You don’t need to give up the images. Just add real substance around them. Describe your services with real words. Explain what your clients experience. Tell the story of why you do this work. Give Google actual content to work with.

In my experience, wellness professionals often worry that too much text makes their site feel corporate or less spiritual. It doesn’t have to. You can write warmly about what you do and still have enough substance that Google understands it.

8. Your Blog (If You Have One) Isn’t Optimized

Some health and wellness professionals have a blog that sits there, beautiful and silent. A post from two years ago about the benefits of meditation. Another one about chakras. Probably some good information. But Google has no idea what it’s about, and hardly anyone reads it.

If you’re going to have a blog, it needs to work for you. That means each post focuses on one topic, uses the language your clients search for, has proper headings, and actually gets written regularly enough that Google sees you as an active website.

A blog that hasn’t been updated in six months actually hurts you slightly more than no blog at all. Google’s looking for signs that a website is current and maintained. An abandoned blog sends the wrong signal.

Here’s the opportunity: if you enjoy writing or have things you want to teach, your blog can be powerful for search. But it needs at least a little strategy, and it needs updates. One post a month is enough to matter. One post every two years doesn’t help.

9. You Don’t Have Any Internal Links

Internal links are just links from one page on your website to another page on your website. A lot of wellness professionals skip them entirely.

This is a missed opportunity because internal links do two things: they help Google understand how your pages are connected, and they help people find more of what you offer.

If you have a page about “Therapy for Anxiety,” you might link from that page to your “About Me” page where someone can learn your credentials. Or to your “First Session” page where you explain what to expect. Or to your booking page. These links create connections that help Google understand your site better and help visitors move around your site more easily.

You don’t need to go crazy with links. Just think: when someone reads about your service, what else would they want to know? Link to that.

10. You Haven’t Claimed Your Google Business Profile

I save this for last because it’s so important it deserves its own moment. Your Google Business Profile is absolutely essential for a health and wellness professional. This is how you show up when someone searches for “therapist near me” or “yoga class in [your town].”

A lot of wellness professionals don’t have this set up, or they set it up years ago and never updated it. Your profile should list your actual address (or service area if you’re virtual), your phone number, your hours, and ideally some photos and reviews.

This is free, it’s not hard, and it makes a real difference in local search. If you haven’t claimed it yet, this is where I’d start. Go to google.com/business and search for your business. If it exists, claim it. If it doesn’t, create it. Make sure everything is accurate and current.

Why This Matters (And Why You Don’t Have to Do It Alone)

SEO doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does take a little structure and consistency. The good news is that most of these opportunities are totally fixable. You don’t need to hire an expensive SEO company or learn code or spend hours a week on your website.

What you do need is clarity about what you offer, where you offer it, and who needs it. Your website should reflect that clarity, and Google will do the rest.

If you’re looking at this list and thinking, “I have no idea where to start,” that’s exactly where a consultation comes in. I can help you figure out which of these opportunities matter most for your specific practice, and what a realistic plan looks like.

You don’t need to be a tech person to have a website that works. You just need someone who speaks both marketing and human, and can help you connect the dots.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I really need a blog for SEO?

No. A blog helps, but it’s not required. If you update your existing service pages regularly and keep your content clear and specific, that’s enough. A blog is only worth doing if you enjoy it or have real expertise you want to share.

How long does SEO take to show results?

Most of these changes take a few weeks to a few months to show up in search results. Google crawls your site periodically, and it takes time for rankings to shift. But consistency matters more than speed, so think in terms of months, not days.

Does my website need to be on WordPress?

No. SEO works the same whether you use WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or any other platform. What matters is the content, the structure, and the clarity. Use whatever platform you’re comfortable with.

Can I do all of this myself?

Some of it, yes. Updating your service descriptions, adding location details, claiming your Google Business Profile, all of that you can do. Checking your heading structure or adding internal links might need a little help, depending on your comfort level with your website platform.

If your website no longer feels like you, let’s talk about it – Book a Free Website Clarity Call with Beth →