Have you ever seen a commercial for hair growth serum? Or a miracle supplement? Or any marginally medical product that promises big results?

These commercials and other promotions like them have one common theme. They rely on expert testimonials to verify and validate their claims. Now, are these “experts” actually trained medical professionals qualified to advise the public about nutritional supplements? Well, that’s a conversation for another day.

What really sticks out is the universal truth that marketers have known for centuries: expert opinions matter. The public values experts’ perspectives and believes what they say. Why? Because those perspectives carry the weight of implied education, training, and experience with the topic they’re discussing.

For emerging psychedelic therapies, the opinion of a psilocybin therapy expert will be especially important. Expertise in psilocybin therapy will be important in promoting and explaining the value these treatments can provide. As legalization of psilocybin therapy, ketamine treatments, and other psychedelic therapies continues to grow, accurate and accessible thought leadership educating the public about these treatments needs to grow as well. And for behavioral health centers looking to offer these new treatments, the time to establish yourself as a psilocybin therapy expert is now.

Why Does Psilocybin Therapy Expertise Matter?

With the right content strategy and support, the assets your center produces could potentially be viewed as the industry-leading material that directs the conversation around psilocybin therapy and other psychedelic treatments. And with so many states on the cusp of legalizing medical-grade psilocybin, you should be leading that conversation right now.¹

Your behavioral health center has the potential to influence the court of public opinion about this valuable, life-changing treatment. Demonstrating and using your psilocybin therapy expertise, especially as a behavioral health marketer, matters. Providing the public with engaging, easily accessible content about psilocybin therapy is important not only to establish your center as a psilocybin therapy expert, but also to offer the public accurate information about these emerging treatments.

Expertise inspires trust. And according to Psychology Today, two of the top factors patients should consider when selecting a mental or behavioral health practitioner are expertise and trust.² Creating content that builds your public credibility gives patients and their families the confidence to choose your center..

Building an outstanding reputation is important for your marketing efforts. But there’s another fundamental reason for developing your center’s expertise. Like much of what crosses our virtual paths these days, it has to do with a particularly well-known search engine.

How Does Google Measure Expertise?

Developing your treatment center as a psilocybin therapy expert not only creates a strong brand, but also is a key ranking factor on Google.³ That’s because Google detects and measures expertise when indexing web pages. And this directly impacts your treatment center’s position on the search engine results page (SERP). As you know, the higher your rank on the SERP, the more potential patients you’ll reach.

There’s a formula SEO experts cite when discussing how to measure expertise. Their recommendation is to follow the EAT model to showcase your Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.

1. Expertise

When assessing expertise, Google looks at the author of the content. Then, the algorithm examines whether or not that entity is a frequent and known supplier of reliable information on the topic. Google also considers the other experts and links cited within the content and whether or not they’re also established thought leaders in the space.

Context is also essential when measuring expertise, because not all great articles with high-quality information are written by known experts. Google’s algorithm takes this into account and makes provisions accordingly.

2. Authority

Authority has more to do with the organization at large. If you search for facts about Yosemite National Park, the national parks’ government website will almost certainly have the top spots on the SERP. Why? Because Google understands .gov URLs are the foremost authority on their topics.

The best way to develop your center’s authority on topics like psilocybin treatment is by consistently posting high-quality content. Consistency over time is the key to establishing and maintaining authority as a psilocybin therapy expert. 

3. Trustworthiness

Google examines trustworthiness in the context of your sphere. Think of this as Google asking the question, “What’s at risk if this content is untrue?” For those in healthcare related fields like addiction treatment, the obvious answer is that there’s a lot at risk if the content is untrue.

To establish trustworthiness, Google’s algorithm scrutinizes your website’s overall reputation and the identified author’s reputation. If you’ve heard the phrase “the internet doesn’t forget”, this is one of those times where it’s actually applicable. Having prior blemishes on your track record with Google will impact your trustworthiness.

This is why it’s important for the long-term health of your website and reputation to take steps to ensure that any content you publish is accurate, straight-forward, and something you would stand behind when sharing face-to-face with current and prospective clients, teammates, and investors.

Establishing your authority as a psilocybin therapy expert takes time, so it’s important to get started now if your center is considering providing these services. Dreamscape Marketing can help you develop a digital marketing strategy that showcases your expertise. Contact us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a strategy session and get started today.

 

 

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