Wondering why you should have a content marketing strategy?

Unsure how to use search engine optimization (SEO) – or what it even means anymore?

This article will help you understand the need for mental health content marketing and the top 3 SEO best practices necessary for it to be effective.

A Quick Story About Anxiety, Search Engines, and CBD

In my early twenties, I realised that what I’d taken as my status quo might actually be an anxiety disorder. I knew I had to look into it but felt way too self-conscious to ask a person I knew.

Instead, I did what’s become second nature to most people: I searched online for ‘anxiety symptoms’. The usual results came up first – Mayo Clinic, WebMD, etc. In my vulnerable state, however, I wanted a more personal approach than they provided.

Just a short scroll down was an article that, from the paragraph describing its contents, seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. The content did indeed give me all the information I needed while making me feel seen.

Out of curiosity, I went to the homepage of the website hosting this article. It belonged to a company that sold CBD products to help with mental health. After browsing for a few minutes, I had a few items in my cart.

Nervous about money, however, and a couple of years into a degree in psychology, I decided to pause and take a few minutes to do a bit of academic research.

At the time, there was not yet much evidence for the efficacy of CBD and I abandoned my cart, choosing to go to a mental health professional instead.

This is not a cautionary tale. Actually, it’s an example of how content marketing works and why SEO is so important.

The Need For Mental Health Content Marketing

I didn’t end up buying CBD products for anxiety, but that is not important.

Most readers of an article won’t click through to the website. Most people who click through won’t make a purchase. It’s really a numbers game. If ten people read your article, it won’t grow your business, but if ten thousand people do, you’ll see results. The higher that number, the more sales you make by having customers come to you.

There’s another side to that story, though. We know now that CBD can be somewhat effective for treating anxiety. But an unregulated product based on what was then shaky research definitely was not what I needed.

One of the many problems with the way we access information today is that search engines don’t show us the most accurate content. Rather, they show us the content that is easiest to find.

If you’re reading this article, chances are that your company markets mental health products or services. Hopefully, you believe in the importance of what you provide.

As such, the content on your website has dual purposes: to bring customers to you with valuable content and to help them find an effective solution to a significant problem.

In other words, for mental health companies, climbing the search rankings is not just about the profits. By displacing misinformation, it also helps you further your company’s vision of improving the lives of people struggling with mental illnesses.

So, how do you climb the search rankings?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in 2024

My search for ‘anxiety symptoms’ happened more than fifteen years ago. Technology has changed a lot since then, and search engines are no exception. Back then, stuffing keywords into your content was enough to convince the algorithms that your site was what people were looking for. In 2024, SEO is far more sophisticated.

Search engines today use artificial intelligence to determine which articles to display*. They don’t take an abundance of keywords as proof of a page’s legitimacy.

In fact, since the algorithms have been updated to counter that practice, it can harm your search rankings.

What does work? Search algorithms are improving all the time, and at The Empathy Hub we make sure to keep up to date with them. For now, though, the following SEO best practices are the most effective.

*Further down, we’ll discuss how large language models like ChatGPT impact SEO for mental health companies, but for now we’re focusing on the kinds of algorithms that have been around far longer.

1. Keyword Research

Keywords are still important. If your articles don’t include the words people are searching for, they won’t come up. However, you should use them in a subtle way that reads naturally.

The fact is that, if you are writing useful content that provides legitimate information about the topic, many keywords will come up organically. But it’s nonetheless important to identify the keywords most commonly used, along with their variations.

Consider my search from all those years ago. I went with the simple ‘anxiety symptoms’, but there are many other common ways to perform that search.

Some people ask ‘do I have anxiety?’ Others ask ‘what is anxiety?’ Then there are those who’ll search for the symptoms themselves without having made the connection to anxiety.

You don’t have to use those keywords (or terms) to come up in those searches. The sophisticated algorithms look at the actual content of the article.

However, the fact that your article contains the keywords ensures it will be at the front of the ‘queue’ that the algorithm checks*.

The good news is that there are excellent tools available to do keyword research. The better news is that, if you are using a content marketing company like The Empathy Hub, we do that work for you.

*This is a massive oversimplification of how the process works, but it provides a general insight into what has become a very intuitive system.

2. Quality Content… and Stories

It’s easy to be cynical about the state of search engines. When using a search engine like Google, you are bombarded with ads and sponsored sites. It can seem as if the results are all about how much money you have for digital marketing.

Don’t let that discourage you. While sponsoring a post will bring your website to the top of the page, it will come with a clear disclaimer of its sponsorship.

Internet users are becoming increasingly discerning and less trusting of paid results. Furthermore, the algorithm has improved to ensure that better articles are more likely to do well.

The Advantage of Quality Content

Again, this is not because the algorithm magically knows which content is objectively more accurate. Rather, it is based on how readers perceive the content.

SEO relies on statistics regarding how long the average visitor stays on the page. When the content is of a high quality, this number is inevitably higher.

Does this mean you should make your posts as long as possible?

We all intuitively know the answer to that. If we see a post that seems to be never ending, we are likely to click away unless there’s a particularly compelling reason to read on.

The ‘sweet spot’ when it comes to length falls somewhere between 1,000 and 2,500 and depends on the type of content.

How much impact can the quality of the content have? The reality is that a post perceived as boring will not keep visitors around no matter how high the quality. This is where storytelling comes in.

People Love Stories

I have a friend who is, unfortunately, a little bit boring. We care for each other but don’t have much in common. Still, we meet up once in a while to check in.

On one occasion, he seemed particularly excited. I sat enrapt as he spoke for thirty minutes straight.

What changed? Turns out he had met a high-profile celebrity the night before and been on a bender with them until the early hours of the morning. He didn’t tell the story particularly well, but it was a great story nonetheless.

Good content capitalises on the fact that people love stories. By telling stories, you can ensure readers spend more time on your page. Which is why most people will spend more time reading a poorly-written story than slogging through a groundbreaking research paper.

When it comes to mental health content, you need both high quality writing and some storytelling to be successful.

The story keeps the reader engaged. The quality lets them know that they can trust your professionalism.

3. Relatability

Another important factor SEO takes into account is whether people are sharing your content. This helps it climb the search rankings and, over time, keeps it at the top of search results.

A news feature doesn’t need to be relatable to be shared, just interesting. But mental health content needs to resonate. The more relatable it is, the more likely people are to share it. They want friends and family to understand their experience suffering with or treating mental illness.

Ultimately, someone who would never share a run-of-the-mill article about anxiety for fear of how they might be perceived will share a well-written, engaging, empathetic post that humanises their struggles.

Relatability also makes content ideal for your social media strategy. Consider which of the following two quotes would have more impact in an Instagram post:

“Social anxiety disorders impact the ability of an individual to attend events, often leading to an inability to make friends or build a professional network.”

“I would feel so embarrassed about blushing all the time that I’d even avoid after-work drinks. I didn’t realise how alone I felt until I started therapy.”

Which might you share?

Before we wrap up, there is one last point of discussion that’s becoming more relevant by the day.

Is SEO Still Relevant With AI Here to Stay?

SEO experts are getting nervous that they’ll be out of a job soon. So are content marketers. They fear that AI might render inbound marketing irrelevant.

But in the mental health industry this isn’t a major concern.

What are experts worried about? Why is the mental health industry different?

I use search engines far less often than I used to. When I want to find a recipe, I prefer asking ChatGPT than Googling.

Why?

With AI, instead of searching for generic recipes that are as close as possible to what I want, I can input my exact needs.

How AI Saved My Dinner

How are you using AI? Here’s a recent experience of mine.

I find a ChatGPT app that caters specifically to cooking. I say something like: “I want to cook a Mexican dish that’s not too difficult, using the 3 tomatoes in my fridge that are on the verge of going off.”

The AI responds with some more questions to make sure it gives me what I want. Then it suggests chicken enchiladas, providing a list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions.

The recipe requires chipotle peppers, which I’m unable to get. Instead of giving up on the dish, I ask what I can replace them with.

The replacements are unavailable and I ask for more alternatives, mentioning what I already have at home. I find the perfect solution.

I start cooking the modified dish and reach a step that tells me to add the cooked, shredded chicken. I realise I haven’t cooked or shredded my chicken and panic.

I tell the AI without fear of judgement, and it tells me how to remedy my mistake. The chicken enchiladas are delicious and become a regular favourite in our house.

Will I ever use a search engine for a recipe again? Probably not, as I always have follow up questions which a static blog article won’t give me.

You can see why this is a problem. But the mental health industry does not need to worry about this just yet.

Who Do You Trust?

I ask ChatGPT to give me recipes because the consequences of inaccurate advice are low.

I would never ask it for information about mental health issues, at least not in the same way. It can give me really great answers, but they may be inaccurate.

Even if an answer is perfectly sound, it may be based on a treatment philosophy or approach that hasn’t worked for me.

It’s also good to remember that search engines still need to make money. So, while Bing has integrated AI into its search, it has done so without eschewing the websites it draws its answers from.

It connects every response to sources – sources identified using the algorithms upon which SEO techniques are based.

Wrapping Up

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of your content marketing strategy.

But it shouldn’t be the focus.

As we can see from the above points, SEO best practices in 2024 work in favour of good content that connects with people. Content writers who pump out poorly-written articles filled with keywords no longer get very far.

And while articles written by AI may do well at the technical aspects of SEO, they are rarely compelling or original.

The Empathy Hub works SEO into your content strategy in a way that improves the quality of your articles. Get in touch now for more information on how SEO will make your content more successful at garnering leads.