As a dental practitioner, you understand the importance of having an influential online presence. With that said, no other strategy rivals Dental SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in terms of increasing your practice’s earning potential. Local SEO can be particularly effective as it allows more local customers to discover and engage with your business.
Investing in SEO is a surefire way to secure the success of your dental practice. Through SEO, you can guarantee that potential customers will be able to easily locate and visit your business when they are searching for a dentist. With powerful strategies like this, you’re guaranteed to get more people interested in what services you offer.
In this article, we’ll explore the following topics:
- What is local SEO, and how does it benefit dentists?
- Why should dentists invest in dental SEO marketing?
- How can cost-saving strategies be employed using SEO services?
- Which specific local SEO tactics are most beneficial for a dental practice?
What is dental website SEO?
Leverage the power of local SEO to efficiently rank your business website and make it visible in Google’s “local pack.” Whenever someone searches for something related to your service or product, such as “dentist near me,” you want them to see your site at the top of search engine results in pages – that’s what Local SEO does best. As a bonus, when people use city-specific keywords like “dentists in [city name], they are more likely to find and engage with businesses relevant to their location.
Our mission is to attract people who live near your dental clinic and ones that are curious about visiting a dentist but have not scheduled an appointment yet. We want these individuals to come to you so they can experience the amazing services your practice provides.
Why should your dental practice invest in this type of marketing strategy?
Businesses today are utilising SEO to ensure that they show up at the top of search engine results, which allows potential customers to quickly and effortlessly discover them. With effective SEO optimisation tactics in place, you can stay ahead of your competition and make sure your business remains visible.
If potential clients in your area are searching for a dentist and don’t see your name on the SERPs or search engine results pages, they will likely choose another provider. For this reason, it’s essential that you prioritise getting yourself out there through dental SEO marketing to maximise visibility and client base growth.
How can investing in SEO services lower your expenditures?
Through effective dental SEO marketing, you can reduce the cost of traditional forms of advertising, such as TV and radio commercials. By having your business appear first in organic search results, it will save money on paid ad campaigns while increasing trust with potential customers. People are more likely to use your services when they find you through a natural online search than an advertisement.
Local SEO strategies for dentists
To help your dental practice stand out from the competition, it’s essential to embrace local SEO strategies. In this section, we’ll discuss how you can optimise your website for local search by following these ten simple steps:
1. Choose the keywords
To effectively reach your target audience and increase visibility, keyword research is a must. This process involves using an array of words and phrases that potential customers are likely to type into search engines when looking for a dental practice like yours.
Then, make sure these keywords appear in the titles and headers on your website – all part of a good SEO strategy. When you optimise for relevant terms with accurate representation, you can significantly improve your chances of being seen by the people who matter most: those searching specifically for what you offer.
To begin strengthening your local SEO, you must first determine which keywords you would like to target.
For instance, if you happen to be a dentist based in Sydney – “dentist Sydney” and “dental office Sydney” are two essential phrases for search engine optimisation success.
Once identified, it is time to incorporate these primary search terms into your website content, say, have a website page targeting “Dental office Sydney” or something similar.
2. Work on your “Google My Business” page
Claim your Google My Business page right away. Google My Business is a significant component of local SEO, helping Google to determine the type of business you manage and then ranking you in the region where you operate. Don’t miss out on this essential step for increasing visibility online and boosting search engine rankings.
Ensuring accuracy and completeness in your Google My Business account allows Google to categorise you according to location and distance from potential customers. With an up-to-date GMB page, prospects can instantly access the contact information of your practice – be it opening hours, address or phone number – as well as read reviews left by past clients. Taking a few moments to double-check that all the details are correct will go a long way.
3. Gather patient reviews
Your business will undoubtedly benefit from the power of positive reviews. After your patient’s appointment, ask them if they would be kind enough to leave a review on Google Maps – after all, this is one of today’s most prominent search engines.
Chances are that people who had an enjoyable visit to your dentist’s practice will happily comply with this request. Furthermore, obtaining favourable comments from contented patients proves that you offer top-notch services, which in turn can lead customers back to your dental practice again and again.
4. Yelp listings
With 89% of consumers turning to Yelp as their go-to source for discovering local businesses, having your business listed on this powerful website is an absolute must. After all, if potential customers can’t find you online, it’s almost like you don’t exist at all.
To ensure that your dental practice can be found by potential patients, it is essential to keep your Yelp listing updated with current name, address and phone number (NAP) information. This will help Google accurately localise your business in searches of dentists located near the searcher’s area.
To maximise your reach and appeal to customers, incorporate pertinent key phrases into your description while adding pictures of your office. In addition, make sure to include contact information as well as hours and services so patients can compare options before visiting the clinic. Doing this helps ensure that customers come in prepared for their appointment with all the necessary details already at hand.
5. Obtain a technical SEO analysis from a dental SEO company
To make it to the top of search engine rankings, your website must be technically sound. This includes having suitable title tags, descriptions tags and meta titles, descriptions and keywords that help you stand out from competitors. With an optimised technical setup in place on your webpage, you can boost visibility and reach more prospective customers than ever before.
Have your website seen and heard by the right people? A technical SEO analysis from a professional SEO company can help you comprehend how search engines like Google are indexing your site, as well as reveal any structural or coding flaws.
With years of experience in optimising websites for superior rankings on search engine results, an expert team is sure to keep your website at its peak performance! Make certain that it doesn’t fall behind competitively – conduct technical SEO analysis regularly and reap the rewards.
6. Join different dental platforms
Elevate your presence in the dental industry by joining esteemed forums that discuss topics pertaining to your business. This is an excellent way for individuals to become familiar with you and recognise you as a subject matter expert.
You can participate in established discussion boards, or create one of your own, then share it via social media and other outlets so people will be aware of its existence. Engaging in these forums not only increases visibility for yourself but also adds further credibility towards what you offer.
7. Show active presence on social media
Having social media accounts is a great way to increase the visibility of your practice, especially for those who don’t have access to word-of-mouth or other sources. It’s even more effective if people are active online users and often post about their experiences with local businesses like yours (not limited to dentists, but any type of healthcare provider). With this strategy in place, potential clients won’t miss out on hearing all the wonderful things that you offer.
Crafting an impressive social media presence is absolutely essential for dental practices Whether you already have accounts set up on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn or not, it is wise to use these platforms so that your reach can extend as far as possible.
8. Add quality and relevant content
Generating educational material about dentistry is an ideal way to display yourself as an established authority within the dental field. People who have oral health queries can read up on your website, which builds trust and encourages users to spend more time on your page. This will advance brand recognition while providing valuable information for readers at the same time.
Blogs, infographics and slideshows are a great way to tackle questions that potential patients may have, such as managing toothaches or understanding root canal procedures. Not only is this content useful for viewers, but it’s also beneficial for dental SEO. Search engines value pages that contain fresh information, so keeping your website regularly updated with new material can help increase visibility in search engine results.
9. Create high-quality links
Creating high-grade links not only boosts your search engine rankings but also channels additional visitors to your website. Now that you have top-notch content ready, let’s get it out there. Amplify the visibility of what you’ve produced by sharing on social media such as Facebook and Twitter – this way, people are more likely to follow through with going onto your website.
Establishing backlinks from other websites is a great way to prove your site’s legitimacy, which will still be noticed by Google and other search engine bots.
Begin with current partners or former customers who may be open to link you on their own sites.
To continue increasing the number of high-quality links incoming to your website, consider leaving insightful replies in online forums related to dentistry and writing comments in different dental blogs.
As long as you offer some value through these comments along with quality content, this can result in others pointing towards you thanks to its relevance – therefore boosting authority for your website across search engines like Google.
10. Ensure the website is mobile friendly
If you want to get the most out of your website’s SEO performance, it is absolutely essential that you make sure your site is mobile-compatible. Google constantly rewards those sites which can be easily accessed from a smartphone or tablet. If yours isn’t optimised for such devices, then chances are high that it won’t rank very highly in search results conducted by mobile users.
Fortunately, however, upgrading and making your site responsive through platforms like WordPress takes only moments, and once you’re finished with this transition process, more customers will be able to find you via searches online quickly and conveniently.
You can also talk to a web developer about revamping your site to look great on any device. A mobile-friendly site will not only help you rank better for local SEO terms, but it will also help you convert more visitors into patients by providing a user-friendly experience for those who are on their phones.
Understand the difference between Onsite VS offsite SEO
What is Onsite SEO?
Optimising your website for onsite SEO will help search engines understand what your content is about, which in turn rewards you with higher rankings on the search index. Investing some time and energy into making sure that certain components of the site are properly adjusted can pay off big dividends.
To achieve higher page ranking in your particular sector, several essential elements of onsite SEO must be factored into the equation:
- Keywords
- Content
- Titles
- Headings
- Load Speed
- Inbound links
- Alt tag images
Through robust keyword research and content creation, you can take the reins of your success. Not to mention, taking care of all the intricate details will keep you a step ahead in this incredibly competitive world.
What is Offsite SEO?
Offsite SEO is the practice of earning backlinks from authoritative external websites which reaffirm your position in a given field. It’s no surprise that Google algorithm rankings take into account these off-page signals when assigning pages their standing on its platform – plus, they offer an edge over competitors who don’t engage in such practices.
Sitting around and waiting for your website to get established is not a productive approach. Instead, you can bring in external engagement or leverage the site’s longevity and activity to speed up progress.
The following are the most important strategies for creating offsite SEO:
- Shareable content: Create content that is captivating and enjoyable, encouraging people to share it widely.
- Review marketing: By leveraging review sites, you can amplify the number of people that are discussing your business. Additionally, it is essential to maintain a positive public reputation for many other reasons.
- Influencer outreach: Pinpoint your target market and determine who they put their faith in. Then, join forces with those same individuals to make a powerful impact on them.
- Guest blogging: Gaining notoriety and expanding your reach in your field is a breeze when you blog for an industry leader. Don’t forget to include links back to your website, as this will ensure that interested readers discover more of what you have to offer.
- Social media: By staying active on social media and giving your followers something to discuss, you can successfully engage people in conversation while also boosting activity on your own page.
What is better? Onsite or Offsite SEO?
Your SEO strategy should always involve comprehensive research to confirm that you are targeting the right keywords and captivating your desired audience. Onsite SEO forms the foundation of your plan, while Offsite is what makes it complete – like a roof on top of a house. Both concepts play an essential role in search engine optimisation.
Why do you need to hire a professional SEO company?
It saves you time
Time is a luxury that most business owners and managers don’t have, especially for a strategy as time-intensive as SEO. If you are a medical professional, your priority and focus are your patients. You don’t have the time required to delve into SEO.
SEO is an ever-evolving process that takes hours and hours of investigation, optimisation, and maintenance. By outsourcing your SEO to a specialised agency, you can have access to a team of professionals who are devoted to driving success for your brand – giving you the freedom to concentrate on other areas of business.
The undeniable appeal of hiring an SEO agency is that they are masters at running your search marketing campaign around the clock.
It saves you money
To fund the salary, software, and tools needed to construct an internal SEO team is a costly endeavour that necessitates continuous financial investment. Thankfully, you can hire an external SEO company that provides their elite squad and resources at a rate more reasonable than it would cost to maintain your own in-house personnel.
Paying for professional SEO services can seem daunting to some, yet the valuable ROI and growth potential they offer make them a must-have investment.
What’s even more remarkable is that SEO not only boosts brand recognition and fosters customer loyalty but also allows businesses to save money in the long run compared to other strategies like PPC, paid ads, or commercials.
Take advantage of industry expertise
Agencies provide a broad range of experts, like SEO professionals, web developers and content writers, who are prepared to handle any situation. Every person in an SEO agency is knowledgeable in the field of dental SEO marketing and will work diligently together to give your business the best outcome possible.
If you bring an SEO company on board, not only do you receive the advantage of input from seasoned professionals with plenty of experience in this field, but they can also guide your business through Google and Bing’s frequent updates, which often leave businesses perplexed. Even worse, these changes might cause companies to lose out on vital web traffic without knowing why.
If you’re looking to stay ahead of the competition, then hiring an SEO agency is a must. Expertise and professional know-how are just some of the advantages that come with partnering with one – not to mention it’ll give your business so much more weight in this digital age.
- Agency professionals can stay abreast of industry news, discussion forums, and rival agencies to gain an understanding of how algorithm modifications affect SEO rankings.
- By utilising their services, they can keep track of your website’s performance and alert you to problems with indexing, a decrease in traffic, decreased rankings, manual actions taken by search engines and more.
- By diagnosing problems, they can accurately pinpoint the root causes of algorithmic penalties and drops.
- With their expert advice and resources, they can help you find solutions to any issue that arises.
- Savvy professionals have the knowledge and expertise to access and fully use cutting-edge technology, platforms, and trends that are integral to your business. With this skill set, they can help optimise the success of your brand.
The takeaway
As a dentist, you understand the necessity of having an impressive digital presence. In this day and age, searching for dentists online has become the most popular method used by prospective patients. According to research, 90% of people look up local dental professionals using web resources.h In other words, if you’re not investing time and effort into creating, managing and optimising your digital presence, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to expand your client base.
Hiring an SEO expert is the best way to ensure that your site is well-positioned in search engine rankings.
Get professional dental SEO services at Mediboost
Don’t wait any longer – call Mediboost today for dental search engine optimisation services that will take your website’s performance to the next level. Our team of experts is standing by, ready to provide you with innovative solutions and top-notch customer service.
References
Dental marketing: Building a loyal patient base in this digital age
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/11/12/dental-marketing-building-a-loyal-patient-base-in-this-digital-age/
How To Get More Brand Traffic on Your Website
https://mailchimp.com/resources/5-ways-to-increase-website-traffic/
