Are you looking to bring in more patients to your dental practice but are unsure about the difference between SEO and SEM? SEO and SEM help your site appear when people search for dentists.
Both SEM and SEO can give your dental practice more visibility on search engines like Google, but they work differently.
In this article, we’ll explain the difference between SEO and SEM and show why SEO is a great choice for dentists. We’ll also share how both strategies can help grow your practice.
What Is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?
SEO is a solid way to help your dental practice grow by attracting patients through search engines like Google.
It’s about improving your website to appear higher in search results when people look for nearby dental services. SEO focuses on making your dental website easy to find and helpful for both search engines and patients.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is all about making the content and layout of your website as useful as possible for visitors and search engines.
For dental practices, this means:
- Keyword Optimisation: Using phrases like “family dentist” or “teeth cleaning” in your content so patients can find you.
- Title Tags: Writing clear and descriptive titles for your web pages, like “Affordable Dental Check-Ups in [City].”
- Meta Descriptions: Adding short, engaging summaries under your website links in search results. For example, a good meta description for a blog post about wisdom teeth removal recovery can be: “Wondering what to expect during your wisdom teeth removal recovery? Discover helpful tips and a clear recovery timeline.”
- Internal Linking: Linking pages on your website, such as connecting “Our Services” to “Teeth Whitening” or “Emergency Dental Care,” so patients can find what they need.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO helps build trust in your dental practice through efforts outside your website:
- Patient Reviews: Having happy patients who are happy to leave reviews on Google. Positive reviews on Google improve your online reputation and attract more patients.
- Backlinks: Partnering with local businesses or dental organisations to have them link to your site. This way, you can show search engines your practice is trusted.
- Social Media Activity: Sharing updates, tips, and success stories on socials to connect with patients.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO makes sure your website works smoothly and is easy to use for both patients and search engines:
- Mobile-Friendliness: Many people search on their phones, so your website should look great and work well on smaller screens.
- Fast Site Speed: Patients don’t want to wait for slow websites. Optimising images and improving your site’s speed keeps them engaged.
- Schema Markup: Adding this code helps Google show your clinic’s address, phone number, and patient reviews in search results.
By focusing on on-page, off-page, and technical SEO, your dental practice can stand out online and attract more patients over time.
What Is SEM (Search Engine Marketing)?
As a dentist, you know how important it is for patients to find you online. SEM is a way to boost your visibility using paid advertising. It works well when promoting specific services or targeting patients in your area.
SEM can help your practice stand out by focusing on:
- Google Ads: Running paid advertisements for services like “emergency dental care” or “cosmetic dentistry” so patients can find you fast.
- Local Targeting: Showing your ads to people near your practice so you can reach those most likely to visit.
- Compelling Ad Copy: Highlighting the points of difference for the practice. For example, it could be “sedation for nervous patients” or “complimentary implant consultation.”
- Landing pages: Sending patients to pages on your website that match their needs, like “Teeth Whitening” or “Dental Implants.” This way, they can easily book an appointment.
With SEM, you bid on keywords that patients might search for, like “family dentist near me” or “toothache relief.”
When someone types these keywords, your ad appears at the top of the search results. You’ll pay a certain fee if they choose to see your ad.
SEM can attract attention to your practice and help you connect with new patients, especially for services you want to promote immediately.
SEO Vs. SEM: What’s The Key Difference?
As a dentist, it’s important to understand the differences between SEO and SEM so that you can create digital marketing strategies that will benefit your practice.
Here’s a summary that you can remember:
- SEO: This is about improving your website over time so it shows up naturally in search results. It includes writing helpful blog posts and ensuring your website works well on all devices.
- SEM: This uses paid search ads to put your practice at the top of search engine results pages right away. It’s great for promoting services like “emergency dental care” or “teeth whitening.”
Think of it this way: SEO is better for long-term growth. SEM may give you quick results, but it’s not sustainable. Combining both can maximise your reach.
Why Successful Dentists Focus On SEO
Both SEO and SEM can help grow your dental practice, but SEO stands out as a powerful long-term strategy.
Here’s why many successful dentists invest in SEO:
Cost-Effective Over Time
While SEO requires time and effort upfront, it pays off in the long run. Once your website is optimised, it keeps attracting new patients without ongoing costs.
Unlike SEM, where you pay for every click, SEO brings steady traffic to your site for free.
Long-Lasting Visibility
SEO helps your practice stay visible in search results for months or even years. If you create a blog post titled “Tips for Choosing the Right Dentist in [City],” it could continue bringing in new patients well after publication.
Builds Trust And Credibility
When patients search online, they often trust organic results more than paid search results. Appearing in these results makes you appear more trustworthy, which is key when patients choose dentists.
More Clicks, More Patients
Organic search results often get more clicks than ads. For example, if someone searches “gentle dental care near me,” they’re more likely to click on a natural result than a paid ad, as it feels more authentic.
Long-Term Growth
SEO works like planting seeds for your practice’s future. Once your website is well-optimised, it keeps working for you, bringing in new patients even if you stop actively updating it.
Unlike SEM, where results stop as soon as your ad budget does, SEO continues delivering over time.
Better Experience For Patients
Improving your website for SEO makes it more enjoyable for patients to use. Faster pages, easy navigation, and mobile-friendly designs make it simple for patients to find what they need.
This includes how to book an appointment or learn about your services.
Local SEO For Dentists
Local SEO is another huge advantage. By optimising your site for local searches, like “family dentist in [City],” you can make sure patients nearby can find you easily.
This is especially important for practices that rely on serving their local community.
Focusing on SEO improves your website and builds a strong and lasting connection with patients. It’s a smart way to grow your practice and help more people find the care they need.
The Role Of Keyword Targeting In Dental SEO And SEM
When it comes to both SEO and SEM, using the right keywords is key to bringing new patients to your practice.
Here’s how keyword targeting works in each strategy:
Keyword Targeting In SEO
For SEO, you focus on using keywords naturally throughout your website. This means adding relevant keywords like “cosmetic dentist” or “emergency dental care” to your pages, blogs, and metadata.
The goal is to create helpful content that answers patients’ questions so they can find you when searching for these terms.
For example, if you write a blog about “how to choose the best family dentist,” you’ll want to use keywords like “family dentist” and “best dentist” in the post.
By doing this, Google and other search engines will know what your page is about and will show it to people searching for those terms.
Keyword Targeting In SEM
With SEM, keyword targeting works a little differently. You bid on keywords that people use when they are ready to make a decision, like “affordable teeth cleaning” or “dental implants near me.”
When someone searches for these terms, your paid ad appears at the top of Google’s search results before the organic results. Think of those Google or Bing ads you get to see when you search for a service.
The key difference between SEO and SEM is that SEM will make you pay every time someone clicks on your ad, whether or not they took an action after that.
How To Combine SEO And SEM For Maximum Impact
As a dentist, you can use both SEO and SEM together to create a powerful marketing plan for your practice.
Here’s how you can combine these two strategies for the best results:
- Use SEM For Immediate Visibility: When you need quick visibility every once in a while, SEM is a great tool. For example, if you’re promoting new services like “teeth whitening” or “Invisalign,” SEM can help you appear at the top of search results right away. While you use SEM for immediate results, you can continue working on your SEO strategy for the future. This helps build a steady flow of traffic over time.
- Optimise For Long-Term Results: SEO helps you build a strong online presence in the long term. Once you start running a SEM campaign, you’ll gain insights into which keywords perform the best. You can use this information to improve your SEO strategy. For example, if “cosmetic dentistry” gets many clicks, you can optimise your content with that keyword to drive more organic traffic. By combining these efforts, you create a solid foundation for long-term growth.
- Retarget Visitors: Even if a potential patient clicks on your SEM ad, they may not book an appointment right away. That’s where SEO can help. You can use SEO to retarget those visitors by offering them helpful content. Focus on valuable content and patient testimonials that guide them towards making a decision. For example, after someone clicks on your “Invisalign” ad but doesn’t book, you can send them to a page on your website about the benefits of Invisalign. This will keep you on their radar and increase their chances of booking an appointment.
By adding SEO to your SEM efforts, you can attract new patients, keep them engaged, and ensure you’re working towards long-term success.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to see results from dental SEO?
SEO is a long-term plan. It can take a few months before you start seeing big changes. However, once you see the results, your practice will get steady website visitors and better search engine positions. Over time, this can keep improving.
How do I track the success of my SEO efforts?
You can use tools like Google Analytics to check how well your SEO is working. These tools show you how much traffic you’re getting, how many clicks your pages get, and how many people are booking appointments. You can make changes to improve your SEO results by checking these numbers.
How often should I update my website content for SEO?
Try to update important pages on your website every few months. You can also add new blog posts every week or month. This will help your SEO stay strong and bring more visitors to your website.
How do I know which keywords to target for my dental practice?
Start by researching the terms potential patients use to search for dental services in your area. You can use Google Keyword Planner or other keyword research tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush to find relevant keywords like “family dentist” or “emergency dental care.” Focus on keywords that are specific to your services and location.
Conclusion
It is very important to understand the difference between SEO and SEM. SEO involves changing your website and content so that more people can find you when they search online over time. This helps grow your website traffic.
SEM is about paying for ads that appear quickly in search results. It can bring new patients to your practice right away, especially when you need fast results.
When determining your strategy, remember that SEO will help you build a strong foundation over time, while SEM can give you an extra boost if needed.
If you’re ready to get more patients and improve your online presence, our team in Sydney can help! Contact Mediboost today at 1300 163 058 to work with us. We’ll create a plan that works for your practice.
Sources
Baker, G. (2023, November 16). Local SEO: A Guide For Healthcare Practices. Forbes. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2023/11/16/local-seo-a-guide-for-healthcare-practices/
How Does Google Determine Ranking Results. (n.d.). Google Search. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.google.com/intl/en/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/
McHale, C. (2022, July 27). How to Find and Add Keywords to Your Website. GoDaddy. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.godaddy.com/resources/ca/market/how-to-find-and-add-keywords-to-your-website
Shopify Staff. (2023, October 5). SEO vs. SEM: Learn How To Use SEO and SEM for Your Website. Shopify. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.shopify.com/my/blog/seo-vs-sem
Weiner, A. (2024, June 24). What Is SEO? A Guide to Search Engine Optimization. Wix Blog. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.wix.com/blog/what-is-seo
