Can acupuncture help relieve pain? The most accurate answer is that it may help some patients with certain pain conditions, but the results depend on the diagnosis, treatment context and outcome being measured.
Research is strongest for several chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions, including back or neck pain and knee pain associated with osteoarthritis. Acupuncture should be presented as one possible component of an individualized pain-management plan—not as a guaranteed cure or a replacement for necessary medical evaluation.
The video introduces acupuncture as a long-established practice that involves inserting very thin needles at selected points. It also summarizes the central clinical question: how well does acupuncture fit within modern pain care?
What the Evidence Says About Acupuncture for Pain Relief
The evidence does not support one universal conclusion for every form of pain. Results vary by condition, study design, comparison group, treatment protocol and follow-up period.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reports that acupuncture may be helpful for several pain conditions, including back or neck pain, knee pain associated with osteoarthritis and postoperative pain. It may also help with joint pain associated with aromatase-inhibitor therapy in people treated for breast cancer.
One influential individual-patient-data meta-analysis evaluated acupuncture for chronic back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache and shoulder pain. Its updated analysis found that acupuncture produced better outcomes than both no-acupuncture controls and sham acupuncture, although the difference between acupuncture and sham treatment was smaller than the difference between acupuncture and no treatment.
That distinction matters. It suggests that acupuncture’s overall clinical effect may include both needling-specific effects and contextual effects associated with receiving care, such as patient expectations, therapeutic interaction and nonspecific physiological responses. It does not establish that acupuncture is merely a placebo, nor does it prove that every proposed mechanism is correct.
How Might Acupuncture Influence Pain?
No single mechanism fully explains acupuncture’s effects. Current research suggests that needling may influence sensory processing, peripheral and central nervous-system activity, endogenous pain modulation and other physiological pathways involved in pain perception.
These proposed mechanisms remain areas of active study. Practitioners should avoid presenting an unconfirmed mechanism as settled fact. Traditional East Asian medicine frameworks may appropriately inform clinical assessment and treatment, but biomedical mechanism claims should reflect the strength and limits of contemporary evidence.
Benefits and Limitations of the Evidence
For appropriately selected patients, acupuncture may offer several practical advantages:
It provides a nonpharmacologic option within multimodal pain care.
It may reduce pain or improve function for some chronic pain conditions.
Treatment can be individualized according to patient presentation and clinical response.
It may be considered alongside exercise, rehabilitation, medical care and patient self-management.
The evidence also has important limitations. Acupuncture trials differ in point selection, treatment frequency, practitioner technique, duration and control interventions. Sham acupuncture is not necessarily physiologically inert, which complicates interpretation. Average trial results also cannot predict how a specific patient will respond.
Practitioners should therefore discuss acupuncture as a reasonable therapeutic option when supported by the patient’s condition and evidence—not as a certain or permanent solution. Meaningful outcomes may include changes in pain intensity, physical function, sleep, medication use or the ability to perform daily activities. Treatment goals should be established in advance and reassessed over time.
Is Acupuncture Safe?
Acupuncture is generally considered safe when performed by a properly trained practitioner using sterile, single-use needles and appropriate clinical procedures. Minor effects such as temporary soreness, bruising or light bleeding may occur.
Serious adverse events are uncommon, but they are possible. Reported complications include infection, nerve or tissue injury and organ injury associated with improper needling. Risk depends partly on practitioner training, anatomical knowledge, technique, patient health and adherence to infection-control standards.
Before treatment, acupuncturists should obtain an appropriate health history and assess factors that may alter risk, including anticoagulant use, bleeding disorders, pregnancy, immune compromise, implanted electrical devices when electroacupuncture is considered and conditions requiring medical referral.
Acupuncture should not delay evaluation of new, severe or unexplained pain. Progressive neurological deficits, major trauma, chest pain, suspected infection, unexplained weight loss and other warning signs require appropriate referral or emergency care.
Practical Guidance for Acupuncturists
Evidence-based communication begins with realistic expectations. Explain which outcome is being targeted, how progress will be measured and when the treatment plan will be reconsidered.
Good clinical and risk-management practices include:
Completing and documenting a relevant history and examination.
Recognizing red flags and referring when the presentation falls outside the practitioner’s scope.
Obtaining informed consent that addresses expected benefits, alternatives and material risks.
Recording the diagnosis or clinical rationale, treatment delivered and patient response.
Using sterile, single-use needles and established clean-needle procedures.
Reassessing treatment when measurable improvement does not occur.
Coordinating with other healthcare professionals when clinically appropriate and authorized by the patient.
Documentation should show why acupuncture was selected, what treatment goals were established and how the patient responded. The American Acupuncture Council’s guidance on proper patient records provides additional risk-management context.
The Bottom Line
Acupuncture can be a reasonable option for pain relief, particularly for selected chronic pain conditions, but the evidence is condition-specific and the magnitude of benefit varies. The strongest patient conversations acknowledge both the potential value and the uncertainty.
Qualified practitioners can support safe, responsible care by setting measurable goals, screening for red flags, documenting clinical decisions and incorporating acupuncture into a broader plan when appropriate.
Strengthen Your Clinical Risk-Management Practices
Clear consent, thorough documentation and appropriate referral decisions protect patients and practices. Explore the American Acupuncture Council’s claims service and risk-management resources.
Educational disclaimer: This article is provided for general professional education and does not constitute medical, legal, regulatory, billing or insurance advice. Acupuncturists should follow applicable laws, regulations, licensing-board requirements, professional standards and their own clinical judgment. Patients should seek appropriate medical evaluation for severe, persistent, worsening or unexplained pain.
Osteoarthritis pain can limit walking, sleep, work, and everyday independence. For patients seeking nonpharmacologic options, acupuncture may offer modest relief—especially for knee osteoarthritis—when it is used as part of a broader care plan rather than as a replacement for appropriate medical evaluation, exercise, or other indicated treatment.
Can acupuncture ease osteoarthritis pain?
The most defensible answer is: it may help some patients, with the strongest evidence focused on knee osteoarthritis. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that acupuncture may help relieve osteoarthritis pain and identifies knee pain associated with osteoarthritis among the pain conditions for which acupuncture may be helpful.
The 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation guideline conditionally recommends acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the knee, hip, or hand. A conditional recommendation is not the same as a universal endorsement. It means the intervention may be reasonable for selected patients after considering the evidence, patient preferences, accessibility, cost, comorbidities, and alternative options.
Recent reviews continue to report improvements in pain and physical function for knee osteoarthritis, but the magnitude and certainty of benefit vary. Differences in acupuncture technique, treatment dose, comparison groups, trial quality, and the design of sham acupuncture controls make the literature difficult to interpret as a single, uniform body of evidence.
What the evidence means in practice
Acupuncturists should avoid presenting acupuncture as a cure for osteoarthritis or as a treatment that rebuilds cartilage. Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disorder with structural, mechanical, inflammatory, neurologic, and psychosocial contributors. Symptom improvement does not establish reversal of joint degeneration.
A more accurate patient-facing explanation is that acupuncture may reduce pain and improve function for some people, particularly those with knee osteoarthritis. Response is variable. Some patients notice meaningful changes, while others experience little or no benefit.
Comparisons with sham acupuncture require care. Some studies find small differences between verum and sham acupuncture, while both groups improve compared with baseline or usual care. Sham procedures may not be physiologically inert, and trial context can influence outcomes. These issues do not justify dismissing the evidence, but they do limit strong causal claims about point specificity or mechanism.
Evidence is strongest for the knee
Knee osteoarthritis has been studied more extensively than hip or hand osteoarthritis. Clinicians should not automatically generalize knee findings to every joint. For hip osteoarthritis, hand osteoarthritis, spinal degenerative disease, or mixed pain presentations, the evidence base is more limited or less consistent.
When discussing research, identify the joint studied, the comparator used, the duration of treatment, and whether benefits persisted after treatment ended. This helps patients understand that “acupuncture for arthritis” is not one standardized intervention with one predictable outcome.
Practical implications for acupuncturists
Acupuncture is most appropriately framed as one component of multimodal osteoarthritis management. Depending on the patient, a coordinated plan may include therapeutic exercise, strength training, weight management when relevant, physical therapy, topical or oral medications, bracing, injections, sleep support, behavioral strategies, or surgical consultation.
Before beginning treatment, confirm that the diagnosis is established or that the presentation is suitable for conservative care. Acupuncturists should remain alert to symptoms that require medical assessment, including acute trauma, inability to bear weight, a hot or markedly swollen joint, fever, rapidly progressive symptoms, suspected infection, unexplained weight loss, neurologic deficit, or possible inflammatory arthritis.
Document baseline symptoms and function using repeatable measures. A numerical pain rating alone may miss clinically relevant change. Consider tracking walking tolerance, stair use, sleep interruption, range of motion, sit-to-stand ability, medication use, and validated instruments such as the WOMAC when appropriate to the practice setting.
Set a defined reassessment point rather than recommending open-ended care. The treatment plan should specify frequency, expected time to reassessment, measurable goals, and criteria for modification, referral, or discharge. If meaningful improvement does not occur after a reasonable trial, reconsider the working diagnosis, treatment approach, adherence, comorbid contributors, and need for co-management.
Traditional theory and biomedical interpretation
Traditional Chinese medicine may describe osteoarthritis-related pain through patterns involving Bi syndrome, qi and blood obstruction, cold, dampness, deficiency, or other individualized findings. These are traditional diagnostic frameworks and should not be presented as established biomedical mechanisms.
Biomedical hypotheses include modulation of nociceptive processing, endogenous opioid pathways, autonomic activity, local tissue signaling, and inflammatory mediators. These mechanisms remain areas of active investigation. Mechanistic plausibility is not the same as proof of clinical effectiveness, and animal or laboratory findings should not be used to promise patient outcomes.
Benefits, limitations, and safety
Potential benefits include reduced pain, improved physical function, and support for patients who prefer a nonpharmacologic option or cannot tolerate some medications. Acupuncture may also be integrated with exercise and medical management without requiring the patient to abandon conventional care.
Important limitations include variable treatment response, inconsistent protocols, uncertainty about optimal dose, limited evidence for some joints, and the possibility that observed benefits may be modest. Cost, access, and insurance coverage may also affect whether a trial of care is practical.
Acupuncture is generally considered safe when performed by a qualified practitioner using sterile, single-use needles and appropriate clinical procedures. Common adverse effects include temporary soreness, minor bleeding, bruising, lightheadedness, or fatigue. Serious complications are uncommon but can occur, including infection, nerve injury, or organ puncture associated with improper technique.
Review medications, bleeding risk, pregnancy status, implanted electrical devices when electroacupuncture is considered, immune status, skin integrity, prior joint replacement, and relevant medical conditions. Use informed consent, appropriate clean needle technique, careful positioning, and complete documentation. Coordinate with the patient’s physician or other treating clinician when symptoms change, the diagnosis is uncertain, or the patient is considering changes to prescribed medication.
How to discuss acupuncture with osteoarthritis patients
A balanced explanation can be simple:
“Research suggests acupuncture may reduce pain and improve function for some people with osteoarthritis, especially knee osteoarthritis. The benefit varies, and acupuncture does not reverse joint damage. We will use measurable goals, reassess your response, and coordinate with other care when needed.”
This language supports informed decision-making without minimizing uncertainty. It also avoids guarantees, exaggerated claims, and the implication that acupuncture should replace treatments with stronger evidence for a particular patient.
Conclusion
Acupuncture may be a reasonable adjunct for selected patients with osteoarthritis pain, particularly knee osteoarthritis. The evidence supports cautious optimism—not promises. Acupuncturists can provide higher-value care by using clear outcome measures, realistic treatment trials, appropriate referrals, informed consent, and coordinated management.
Strengthen your risk-management procedures
Clear informed consent, defensible documentation, and appropriate referral decisions are essential when treating chronic musculoskeletal pain. Review the American Acupuncture Council’s informed-consent guidance and risk-management resources for practical support.
Kolasinski SL, et al. 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip, and Knee. Arthritis Care & Research. 2020.
Liu CY, et al. Clinical effect and contributing factors of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. 2024. PubMed record.
Wang TQ, et al. Durable effects of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. 2024. PubMed record.
Lee B, et al. The effect of sham acupuncture can differ depending on the points needled in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. 2024. PubMed record.
Educational disclaimer: This article is intended for educational purposes for licensed acupuncturists and other healthcare professionals. It does not provide medical or legal advice, establish a standard of care, or replace applicable laws, regulations, professional judgment, patient-specific assessment, or consultation with qualified medical and legal professionals.
Did you know that chronic pain and depression often go hand in hand?
Research shows the two conditions can feed into each other, making both harder to manage.
One of acupuncture’s unique strengths is its ability to address multiple concerns during the same treatment.
Instead of focusing on just one symptom, an acupuncturist can create a personalized treatment plan that targets both physical pain and emotional well-being in a single visit.
Because every patient is different, acupuncture isn’t a one-size-fits-all therapy.
Treatments are tailored to your specific needs, helping address the underlying causes of your symptoms while supporting your overall health.
And remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
I’m sharing one very simple SEO strategy to help more local people find you on Google. And before we get into it, I would like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here with you today.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Well, I’m Michelle Grasek, acupuncturist marketing strategist and host of the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast, and today I’m sharing one very simple SEO strategy to help more local people find you on Google. And before we get into it, I would like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here with you today.
All right, so let’s get into the slides and talk about this strategy.
Click here for the best Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance
So I know that most people already know what SEO is search engine optimization, but I wanna offer a, maybe a slightly different way of thinking about it or a new definition that is going to be useful for us today. So search engine optimization is really the art of getting your website and your business to rank higher in a Google search.
And I think it’s really important to note that we have the opportunity through. Search engine optimization to tell Google. When we are the answer to a question that someone has typed into the search, right? When our business is the answer to a search query, and it means that we also have the opportunity to tell Google what kind of patients to send us, right?
And I think this is very important because so much that you can do with search engine optimization is free. And we really underestimate the impact that we can have. But we have to be willing to, I. Help Google help us, right? Because Google’s only using what’s already on our website and our Google business profile, for example, to understand our business.
And if it’s very thin in terms of content and we don’t have any keywords that reference the symptoms and the patients that we like to treat, how is Google supposed to know? When we are the right answer to a search query or how is Google supposed to know which sort of patients to send to us, to our website?
So really what we’re doing with search engine optimization is we are teaching Google when we are the answer to a question and helping it better understand our business. We are helping Google help us. Okay. So it’s a great opportunity that we have. And specifically when we’re talking about local SEO, there’s three things that have a huge impact.
So they are relevance, proximity, and prominence. So let’s talk about each of these briefly. So relevance is essentially how, how well does your business answer the question that someone put in to Google? How closely aligned is what you offer to the thing they are asking for. Okay. Are you a good fit for this search query, right?
Or your business? And proximity, of course is how Google determines when someone types in something like acupuncture near me. How Google determines whether you are within a reasonable range to show up for this person’s search, right? So if someone is searching acupuncture near me, and your clinic is an hour away.
Maybe Google’s going to decide that’s too far, right? There are other acupuncturists who are closer and it’s going to prioritize them towards the top of a search, right? And again, this is specific for near me searches, okay? Because Google is using the location of the user, like where is their cell phone, what are the coordinates when they’re typing in this question, and what is the address of your brick and mortar business and what is the distance between them?
Okay, so that’s proximity. And then prominence is really how authoritative, how engaged, how popular is your business, how much are people talking about your business? And this is both. In terms of online and offline, but Google is using signals like reviews of your business, links from other business websites that are local, that are near your clinic to your website.
Mentions of your business. Social media or elsewhere on the internet, that doesn’t necessarily have to be linked, although that’s always great, but maybe someone is talking about your business on Facebook. Maybe someone actually tags your business in a post on Facebook. Okay. Or Instagram. And Google’s paying attention all of these signals to help it understand like how well known, how established is your business.
Because all of this. All of these factors that contribute to prominence, build trust with Google, because really Google wants to make sure that any business that it recommends in the search results is actually active. And is a part of a community, right? It’s called the Worldwide Web for a reason.
Like it’s building a web of all of these threads that come back to your business and your website and your Google business profile. And it’s checking to see is there a local web of people who are referring to your business? And that just builds a lot of confidence and trust in Google and makes it more likely to rank your website.
Above some of your competitors who maybe have less prominent signals in the search results. Okay. And today what we are gonna focus on is just one very simple. Addition or change that you can make on your website that has a huge impact. And this is called location modifiers. And that’s just a fancy term for adding your location to specific places on your website.
Very strategic places that Google cares about to help Google better understand your business. And I wanna clarify, because what we’re doing is we’re going to add things like. Let me see if I can give you an, I’ll just give you an example. Instead of having a conditions page, like if you love treating migraine patients, maybe you have a big long page on your website that’s acupuncture for migraines, and you talk about what are migraines and who’s a good fit for acupuncture, for migraines, and what has been your experience what are the symptoms that you’re helping people with why should they pick your clinic, et cetera, et cetera.
At the top of that page, instead of just having the title be acupuncture for Migraines, adding a location modifier would be as simple as saying acupuncture for migraines in Scottsdale, Arizona, or maybe your town. Or your neighborhood. You could narrow it down a little. Okay. And I wanna clarify something.
So if we go back, my students, my marketing students ask me this all the time, and they are assuming that by adding our location keyword, they’re. Addressing the proximity piece of their local SEO when this is actually not the case. So what we’re doing when we are adding location keywords is we are improving the relevance of like helping Google better understand our business, who we are, what we do, who we serve, and like where we serve.
That it just counts under the relevance category because you can’t really impact proximity with keywords because Google knows your physical location address, and it also knows the physical location of the searcher. It knows the coordinates on their cell phone as they’re Googling something. And so if someone’s typing, acupuncture near me. It’s calculating that distance right and no amount of you adding other location keywords can change Google’s mind about your physical. Location and your address. Okay, so I hope that makes sense. So we’re not impacting proximity here. We’re impacting relevance because what if someone searches cosmetic acupuncture, Rochester, New York, right?
And you are in Rochester. Now you have the opportunity if you’re including Rochester as your keywords. You are telling Google, okay, I’m more relevant for this specific search query because my business is the answer to what this person put in. I do cosmetic acupuncture. I’m located in Rochester. I’m perfect.
I am the answer to the search query. Show me at the top of the search. Okay, so I hope that makes sense. So our focus here is going to be helping Google understand our business in this specific context based on location. Okay? And it’s super easy. These are very easy changes to make on your website.
So we’re gonna do two. Things. So the first is you are going to add these location modifiers to specific pages on your website. You are gonna update existing pages and blog posts, and then in the future, as you add more pages or blog posts, you always wanna remember to include your location. And then the second thing I’d like you to do is to add location modifiers to specific places on your Google business profile.
So let’s talk about your website first. So I’ll give you a bunch of examples. I mentioned the acupuncture for Migraines page. So I find that a lot of people do have these conditions pages on their website. So for example, if you wanted more pain management digestion in women’s health patients, like those are your favorite.
You would wanna have on your website, one page for each. Talking about, what kind of things can acupuncture help for in pain management? And who’s a good fit and what are the outcomes? What are the symptoms? Why is you, why should they pick your clinic? And I often find that sometimes people will just give that page the title, pain management, or maybe they’ll do.
Pain management, acupuncture. And all we’re doing in this case is just adding your location to that title, right? So Pain Management Acupuncture in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Okay. Because then think about. Each of those parts of that title is a key word, right? You have acupuncture, you have pain management, and you have Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
If we’re thinking about how your ideal person is searching for you, they’re probably searching for a combination of those things, okay? So this is really optimizing your website in a big way, and I just can’t emphasize this enough that it’s helping Google better understand your business and helping make you more relevant to your.
Ideal patient. We are just, we’re giving Google more information and we’re repeating, we’re gonna add your location in multiple places. We’re repeating it so that there’s consistency across your website, really emphasizing this. Okay, so some more examples would be migraine Acupuncture in Scottsdale, Arizona, acupuncture for Chronic Knee Pain in Rochester, New York.
You can also add your location. To service pages, so not just conditions, but also your service pages. So most people have a page that describes, what is acupuncture, and then another for what is cupping, what is Chinese herbal medicine, maybe? What is Chinese dietary therapy. So on those pages, you also want to add your location.
So for example, nutrition for hormone balance in Queens, New York. Okay.
So specifically, where are you at in your location? And I’m actually gonna go, I’m gonna share my screen and go on the backend of my website to show you what I’m talking about for some of these. So on your homepage above the fold, you wanna make sure your location is on there somewhere, and on your conditions pages and your service pages, you can see I’ve got it in parentheses here.
You want to add your location in either your SEO title or your H one header? You could do both. It depends on the layout of your page and we’ll talk about that, but one. Is great. Okay. One or the other. And you can add your location into the first paragraph of each of your conditions, pages, and service pages.
If you feel like you can add it naturally, if it’s a challenge and it doesn’t flow with the paragraph or make sense, that’s okay. It’s not as strong as having your location in your SEO title and your H one headers. And then you should also put your location in your meta description for your. Various pages.
So let’s talk about these. So what is above the fold? So this is a screenshot of my website. Above the fold is when you land on a new website, before you have scrolled at all, whatever you can see when you land there, that is considered above the fold. And this is very high value real estate because Google puts a lot of weight.
On whatever you place in this section and this section. So if you are able to add text on top of a, an image, that’s usually pretty common on most websites. You have a header image and then you can put text and a button on top of it. That’s usually an H one heading. So this is the H one heading on your homepage above the fold, Google is giving a lot of weight.
To this section. So you want to make sure that you are adding your location so you can see that I listed the conditions that myself and my associates like to treat. So things we specialize in, women’s health, cosmetic acupuncture, and pain management in Seneca Falls, New York. Okay, so now let me go behind the scenes of my website and I’m actually gonna let me back up a little bit.
So I have WordPress and if you have Wix or Weebly or Squarespace, then your website is probably going to look different, but hopefully you can still figure out where to find these things. It’s probably just the layout or the organization is a little bit different, but everything we’re gonna talk about should still exist in your website and you should be able to edit it.
So over here on the left, I’m gonna click on pages. And then I’m just gonna pick a page as an example. Let’s do the diverticulitis page. So this is the backend of this page. And you can see right here in this section it says, acupuncture for Diverticulitis Relief in Seneca Falls. So this is my SEO title.
This is the title of the page. Okay. Pretty straightforward. And then if we scroll down a little bit, there is a section here, it says preview. It is giving me a preview of if this page were to come up in a Google search result, this is what it would look like and you can modify it. And that’s what we wanna do.
So I’m gonna say edit snippet. Okay. And then you can see, I can change the, so this is the meta title, and then down here is the meta description. Okay. So if you recall from our last slide, I said that one of the places where you can put your location is in the meta description. So that’s down here. So let’s say that someone Googles, diverticulitis relief, Seneca Falls or Diverticulitis treatment, Seneca Falls or something like that. And in the search results, in the list of organic results, you would see this if it, if Google decided that my business would rank. Okay, so that’s. The description is right here. So that’s where people are seeing like, what is this page about?
And helping them decide. Do I wanna click through and continue reading? So in my description it says, learn how acupuncture for diverticulitis can help reduce pain, bloating, and digestive discomfort. Natural diverticulitis care in Seneca Falls, New York. Okay, and then you can see I also added Seneca Falls, New York in this meta title, which is this part right here.
So I think it’s ideal to have it in both places and this section where you get to edit your metadata. Is often included at the bottom of a page. So if you are creating a new page on your website, it’s probably, you have to scroll down a bit. And I’m using an SEO widget called Rank Math, but a lot of people have a widget that is called Yost, Y-O-A-S-T, and these are free, they have free versions, and that’s what I’m using.
So I don’t have all the features, but the most important thing is it is allowing me to edit this. Snippet so I can edit the metadata and add my location. So then I’m gonna say edit. I use Elementor as just like a very common design platform that fits into WordPress, but I wanna show you something. So I also mentioned adding your location to H one headings on your symptom and conditions pages.
So what. This is the page and this here at the top, if you recall. This is my SEO title. This is the title of the page. So if I scroll down, I’ve got all of this text that can be edited and. Right here it says, what is diverticulitis? And it’s probably pretty small. I don’t know if you can see this, but this is, it says heading one.
So that’s an H one level heading. And if you do the dropdown, there’s heading two, heading three, heading four, blah, blah, blah. So heading one is where you would want to add your location, if it makes sense. So on this particular page. I already have my location in my SEO title and I felt like it would be detrimental for the user experience for me to repeat this exact statement.
Acupuncture for Diverticulitis Relief in Seneca Falls again down here. So you’ll notice that in this H one heading, I don’t have Seneca Falls because. I decided that it’s already in the SEO title. It’s fine and it is important when you are adding. Keywords for SEO to always keep in mind that readability is really important.
You don’t just wanna stuff keywords everywhere so that it is awkward and cumbersome for a real human to read because you also want your page to be compelling for potential patients and to make sense to them and not be really redundant. That’s very important. And Google also cares about that, right?
So you can choose where you wanna put your your location in this case on your symptoms and conditions pages. And if you can fit it into both the SEO title and the H one heading, then that’s great. Okay, so let’s go back. I think I covered everything. Let’s see, above the fold, SEOH one meta descriptions.
Okay, so we’ll keep going. There’s only a few more things to share with you. And again, these are very simple. So I also want you to think about your blog content and going back in and editing your blog posts and adding your location to the title of some of your blog posts. So let me give you some examples how acupuncture helps with seasonal allergies in Portland.
What to expect at your first acupuncture visit in Denver. Acupuncture for runners recovering from the New York City Marathon. Okay? So each of those is helping improve your relevance by including your location keyword. Okay? And then when you’re writing blog posts in the future, you wanna try to keep that in mind, like, how can I incorporate my location into the title of this blog post?
And maybe mention it at least one time in the body of the blog post. And then the other thing I would love for you to do today, and this is again very straightforward and simple, is to add your location to two places on your Google business profile. So one is in your Google business description you wanna add.
Your service, probably acupuncture, and then your town or your city. So the same exact thing we’ve been doing, right? Like acupuncture for pain management, digestion, and women’s health in Seneca Falls, New York. You would wanna add that to your Google business description, and you can also add your description in your Google Business profile posts.
Sometimes they’re also called updates. So let me share my screen again. Just briefly, so here we have my Google Business profile for my practice, and if we scroll down.
This is the business description. Okay? So you’d wanna make sure that your location was included in there. And I think it’s a little confusing. I like to point it out because it doesn’t say business description, it just says from Seneca Falls Acupuncture. Okay? But that’s what this is where it says from your business, that’s the business description.
And then down here where I have these. They look like posts to me, but they are technically called updates. You when you are adding an update, you can add some text. I would just make sure that you are referencing your location for whatever kind of update you are adding. Okay, so I do have an example for you.
Whoops. Let’s go back here.
So let’s say that you wrote an update for your Google business profile about knee pain. You could add a header, so to speak, where you’re sharing like what this update is about, treating knee pain and running injuries in Tempe, Arizona, and then you could continue on with. The rest of your information that you’re sharing in that update.
Okay. But just making sure that you’ve got your location in there somewhere. This really helps to tie your website and your Google business profile together, among other things that also assist with that. But this is a really helpful one that can have a big impact on where you show up in the map pack and the organic search results.
And you wanna think of your website and your Google business profile. Like an ecosystem, they should reflect each other, right? So both of them should be helping Google better understand your business and your ideal patients so it knows who to send to you. So a couple of quick things that you can do, if you can check off everything that I’ve mentioned, or if you just wanna do a couple.
And have some quick wins. I would change the I would add your location on your homepage above the fold. I would add your location to any conditions pages that you have, and I would make sure you add it to your Google business description. Okay. So just a couple things for you to do very quickly. That will have a huge impact on.
Your Google rank. So thank you so much for being here. As always, if you have questions, feel free to send me an email, michelle@michelleGrasek.com. I do have a couple of workshops that are on these topics if you wanna dive deep. And you can visit michelle Grasek.com/google. And as always, I would like to say thank you so much to the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here and share this information with you today.
Have a great day.
Click here for the best Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Hi there. My name is Michelle Grasek. I am a practicing acupuncturist, a marketing strategist, and the host of the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast. And today I’m looking forward to talking with you about three very simple search engine optimization tips that you can use to rank higher in a Google search.
And before we get started, I’d like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here with you today. Alright, let’s get into the slides.
Click here for the best Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance
Okay, so before we begin, I just want to define search engine optimization or SEO. I know that many of you are already familiar with this, but as always, I like to make sure that we’re all on the same page. SEO is the process of making strategic updates to your website. With the goal of your website ranking higher in search engines, and because most people are using Google, I’m probably just going to refer to it as ranking higher in a Google search.
Okay? And I like to think of SEO as both art and a science. And today what we are going to focus on are three tips that are more art than science. Meaning you are not gonna be. Using any code on your website, you don’t need to go into the backend of your website. What we’re gonna do today is really about teaching Google what kind of patients to send you, and I think this is more of the art side of SEO and I do think it’s our responsibility as small business owners to use SEO to tell Google what our business is about.
What kind of patients we want it to send us, and really to help Google know when is our business the answer to a question that someone has typed into Google. And there are a lot of different SEO strategies that we can use to do that. But today I just wanted to show you my top three ways to. Help Google know when your business is the answer to a question.
Like when someone types in acupuncture for fertility near me and you’re a fertility specialist, that you want Google to have a little bell go off and say, I know the perfect website to show to this person for this search query. Okay, so the number one, first thing I would love for you to do is to add keywords to the heading in the above the fold section of your website.
So let’s talk about that before we go any further. So what does that mean? This is a screenshot of my clinic website, and this is the above the fold section. So above the fold simply means when someone lands on your website before they have scrolled. That’s it. That’s the above the fold, and you can see that I have two header images and I have a heading here, and I’ve kept it very simple.
Women’s health, cosmetic acupuncture, and pain management in Seneca Falls, New York. And of course we have our booking button. And really your goal here is to incorporate keywords. That are symptoms. So think about what is your specialty or what do you love to treat? Who do you want to treat more of? What are those symptoms or conditions you wanna treat more of?
And this is also about. Location keywords. So think about a combination of the symptoms or conditions you love to treat and make sure you’re including your location in this above the fold section. So an alternate, because this is very straightforward, it’s, it’s just a list. If you wanted to use a full sentence, I’ve seen people have success with that.
You might say, for example, helping women. In the Finger Lakes region, or maybe just the Finger Lakes, helping women in the Finger Lakes balance their hormones and reduce fine lines and wrinkles naturally with acupuncture. So then you’ve, you’ve kind of described your target market and your location and the symptoms that they are struggling with that you can help with.
Okay, so either way is fine, but ask yourself, how can I really incorporate symptom keywords and my location keyword into that above the fold. Headline on your website and this section on most websites. Let me go back one more time, is generally an H one heading is what it’s known as on the inside of your website, and this is helpful to know because Google.
Uh, puts a lot of weight on an H one heading for each page because the H one heading is like the most important heading. Think of when you learn to write an essay in maybe junior high. So you had your, like, your most important thing that you wanted to say, and then under that you had like subsections, and then you might have had sub subsections where you were getting like.
More and more nitty gritty and detailed to make your point. So the layout of a webpage is kind of similar. So you have your H one heading, your H two, your H three, et cetera. And so Google puts a lot of weight on an H one heading because it’s assuming that your H one heading, heading is explaining this is what this page is about.
And so on your homepage in the above the fold section, your H one heading. It’s really important to get it dialed in with your symptom keywords and your location. Okay, let’s talk about tip number two, which is to optimize the images on your website, and there are multiple ways that you can optimize images, but I just wanna focus on two today that are very simple.
So one is to fill in the alt tags for all of the images that are currently loaded into your website. And two is the next time you go to load an image onto your website. Let’s say you wrote a blog post and you’re gonna add an image with that post before you load the image. You want to change the file name for the image to include keywords, and then you upload it, and then you would also fill in the alt tag.
So what the heck am I talking about? Let me show you some screenshots. So first, let’s talk about changing file names of images. Before you load them onto your website. So this is a screenshot from the downloads section or folder on my website, on my, sorry, on my computer. And you can see that I was making multiple images for blog posts.
And I think the most important thing here is that you can see the name of each image below the image itself. So if I were to tap on this, it would. Be highlighted and then I could type in that space and I could change it. And you can see that I named the image with keywords related to the blog posts that I’m loading it.
So these are all about microneedling, and I am really explaining to Google. What is this blog post about? Okay, so this is another place where we are helping Google better understand our website by adding keywords into the file names of images before we load them onto our website. ’cause once you load it on your website, obviously you can’t change the file name.
So this is inside my website in the media section. So it might just be called photos on your website. It depends on what kind of website you have. I have WordPress, so the media bin in WordPress is where I load all of the images. Okay? And so you can see right here it’s got file name, and this one is for a blog post about neck pain.
So it says acupuncture, neck pain, how it works. Okay. You could also add your location or your business name. So I could have said acupuncture, neck pain, Seneca Falls, acupuncture. And what I really wanna emphasize here is you have to add a dash in between each word because Google is reading the file name and the dash acts as a space.
So if I just did acupuncture, neck pain with no dashes, all one word, that’s harder. Or it’s pretty hard for Google to read, right? So acupuncture, dash neck dash pain. Okay. Whenever you are renaming your images. That’s the structure that you want to use. Okay, so while we are in this section, I have this image pulled up.
It’s got its file name with the keywords in it. The alternative text right here is what I was talking about when I mentioned filling in the alt tag on your website. So alt tag is sometimes also called alt text, and it’s short for alternative text right here. What you wanna do is you want to describe the image and strategically add keywords.
Okay? And let’s talk about like what is the alt text? What the heck am I talking about? Alt text or alt tags are used by screen readers for the visually impaired to. To let them know like, oh, there’s an image here. Here’s what it looks like, or Here’s what it’s about. Okay. So it is important when you are filling in the alt text for your images that you don’t just like stuff them with location keywords like acupuncture in Auburn.
Skinny Atlas Waterloo, SCA Falls, et cetera, right? You, you do actually want to put some effort into describing the image, but then you can strategically also add keywords. So for example, this alt text right now, it says acupuncture for neck pain, how it works and what to expect. So I’m describing the text that is on top of this image, and you could also add onto that.
So perhaps you could make. The whole alt tag, say acupuncture for neck pain, how it works, and what to expect at Seneca Falls Acupuncture. Okay, so. The reason that I chose my business name I is that it has the location in it, and it’s good for SEO. If your business is Ageless Acupuncture, then I would also add in Rochester, New York, right?
So then you’ve got your business name added as a keyword and your location as a keyword. In addition to obviously the key words, acupuncture and neck pain. Okay, so you wanna go back through all the images on your website and fill in the alt text if it hasn’t been done already. And it you, if you have a web developer, they may have done this but it never hurts to check.
Okay. And then the last strategy that I wanna share with you today is writing blog posts. Now. Please don’t shoot the messenger. I know whenever I tell people to write blogs for their website, their response is always, that sounds time consuming. So I get it, and here’s why it is worth it. So every time you publish a new blog post on your website, it counts as an entirely new page on your website.
So let’s say that the average acupuncture website is five pages. So homepage about US services, frequently asked questions, and the contact page, and. Okay, so let’s say your website has five pages and your competitor down the street also has five pages, but you decide to write a blog post twice a month for a year.
So that’s 24 new pages on your website, and you are writing those blog posts about things that you really love to treat frequently. Ask questions. Let’s say that you love orthopedic acupuncture. You love treating athletes, you love treating runners, and. Baseball players, like those shoulder injuries that baseball players get are your favorite.
So those 24 blog posts are all about. The injuries that are common for runners and baseball players, and specifically how acupuncture is helping, what people can expect, answering their frequently asked questions, et cetera. So now you’ve got 24 new pages on your website that are full of keywords that your ideal patients are searching for, which brings your total number of pages on your website to 29, and your neighbor down the street didn’t.
Any blog posts, they haven’t added any new pages to their website. They’re still at five. So who do you think Google would prefer to send someone to, especially if they are an athlete? Your website is going to feel so much more relevant and just chock full of keywords. But your website is also being updated twice a month, which Google loves.
Google really prefers when websites are, freshened up, for lack of a better word, on a regular basis because it gives Google a lot of confidence that your business is relevant. It’s still active, you’re still in practice, you’re helping people, et cetera, so you have more pages with more keywords, and your website has been refreshed more often than your neighbor down the road.
For all those reasons, Google would prefer to display your website. Okay, really think about who do you want to treat more of? Who do you love treating? What are the frequently asked questions that you get all the time? So instead of answering questions that are broad, which you can, you can have blog posts like, how many treatments do I need for acupuncture?
Right? So just. Big picture, but I would also recommend answering specific questions about the things you love to treat. How many acupuncture treatments do I need for carpal tunnel? How many acupuncture treatments might I need for osteoarthritis of the knee? Okay. And think about, you know, your, your knee pain patients.
What are they asking you Think about? If you really love to treat runners we’ll use that example again. I feel like one question runners ask all the time is, can I keep running while I’m getting treatment or do I have to, are you gonna tell me to stop and take a break? ’cause runners hate to take a break.
Okay. So really, really think about your target market and what you love to treat, and what are the specific questions those people are asking you and answer them as blog posts. Okay. It makes a big difference. It helps Google choose you. It makes you look like an expert to your potential patients because you’ve got this body of knowledge that you have published on specific topics on your website.
Okay? So please don’t feel like you have to do all of these things at once. I, I like the strategy of choosing one thing to start with and then. Just taking the other two suggestions and putting them on your calendar, maybe like one month out and then another month out. It sort of helps you like remove that mental burden so that you can just focus on the task at hand.
You can focus on your patients, and then next month it will pop up in your calendar. Oh, I am supposed to be filling in the alt tags for my images on my website this month. Okay. And over time you will really see your. Google rank improve, and one thing to keep in mind is that it takes, I think, on average about three months for the changes to have the effect where now you.
Actually are ranking higher and you are seeing patients as a result. So just pick one thing to start with and get started with that today so that in three months you will really thank yourself for making this effort. So of course, if you have questions, you are more than welcome to. Send me an email, michelle@michelleGrasek.com.
I love talking about marketing. Clearly. I would love to talk about marketing with you. And I recently released a series of. Workshops about ranking higher on Google. So one is about this type of website, SEO strategies, and we get. Into the details of non-tech SEO strategies, other changes, like, just like these strategies that you can make to help your profile, sorry, to help your, uh, website rank higher, and then the sister.
The companion workshop to that one is how to optimize your Google Business profile, because between those two things, your website, search engine optimization, and your Google Business profile, you can have a significant impact on your Google rank. So if you’re interested, you can check those out at michellegrasek.com/google.
And before I go, one more time, I’d like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for the chance to be here with you and talk about these strategies today. Have a great day
Click here for the best Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsI ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
