Word-of-mouth referrals indeed carry a considerable influence when someone recommends dental services, but this too has found its home primarily on the Internet through reviews, social media post sharing, and dental SEO (search engine optimization).
The majority of patients seeking dental care rely on search tools provided by sites like Google to help them research and ultimately pick a dentist before ever meeting them for the first time. This reality makes local SEO for dentists even more crucial to their success as a provider.
To help you attract more local patients, we've updated this list of helpful tips to ensure you achieve this goal and create a more sustainable practice in 2023.
The primary way any business gets site traffic is through content. This material comes in many forms, including blogs, three-minute educational videos, and even free downloadable eBooks and infographics. No matter what type of content you create for your website, make sure you create a section for blogging or sharing of your latest SEO-optimized news to further improve your SERP (search engine results page) rankings.
It's important to remember that any topic you focus on should be aligned with the interest of the audience you're targeting. For many dentists, subjects could include:
Your primary goal for creating this media is to help those in your area find your site with the keywords associated with your business, leading them to schedule dental services.
One of the first places you can start is to create an FAQ (frequently asked questions) page that can answer the most common questions your patients ask. This also creates an opportunity to create blog posts that can explore the answers you provide more thoroughly, all the while adding value to your site with targeted dental SEO at the same time.
Aesthetics are equally important on your website as they are in your office. The reason for this is that your site is essentially a virtual office, and a visitor's impression of it will influence their willingness to become your newest patient. If your site is difficult to navigate and doesn't offer intuitive features such as live chat options, they will likely go elsewhere.
Of course, you don't have to include a ton of different widgets or sub-pages of information, but you want their experience to be easy-to-navigate and streamlined. Potential patients who visit want information available instantly, or they will likely hit the back button and go to a competing office's site.
At Adit, we help dental companies create websites that are engaging and responsive. This means that they not only look attractive on a computer screen but also on a tablet, laptop, or smartphone. When a web page isn't optimized for these devices, users will struggle to navigate it, which often results in their clicking off to another provider in their search list.
Because the majority of people use some sort of mobile device, they rely on the convenience of their mobility to look up dental services from the comfort of their couch or on their lunch break at work. With this kind of access, the likelihood of your site being viewed on a cell phone is high, and you want them to find your information easily. 95% of Americans have a cell phone of some kind, with the vast majority using smartphones.
Additionally, any dental website you create to represent your business and services should be fast and not take more than a few seconds to load. This is why working with a dental marketing agency is the best option when creating your online site. Search engines pay attention to these details, and it can affect your overall dental SEO strategy and ranking working with unoptimized pages.
Google has established itself as a business standard across every industry you can imagine. This makes it especially important to get your dental practice's information into public view on the world wide web right away. In early 2022, Google Business Profile was the latest offering by the search giant that does just that. Prospective patients won't even have to access your website but can instead get your contact information from their Google search results in a pop-up window. Even better? With a simple button click, they can call your office directly from the linked phone number on your business listing.
Getting listed on GMB is a bit of a process, though, and has strict rules and conditions that you must follow not only to claim your dental practice listing but to keep it active. This is why you may want to rely on the digital marketing expertise of Adit to assist you in setting it up and keeping it maintained.
Outside of general business details you can share like your hours of operation and contact numbers, you can also post SEO-optimized announcements, and your patients can leave reviews, as well.
Regardless of any online platforms you're using to get your brand in front of new patients, you need current clients to leave reviews. Because it's a common practice only to leave a review if disappointed with a service, you should find ways to encourage satisfied patients to post their thoughts, as well.
You may need to incentivize this process by using reminders in goodie bags they receive at visits and having staff encourage them.
One of the primary elements of dental SEO is effective keywording. This requires research into the services you provide, the patient base you want to serve, and even reviewing your competitors' SEO strategies.
When determining your keywords, they must be pertinent to the services and practices that you operate. Once you have your list, you can use them throughout your content to increase your ranking on SERP results. Keep in mind, depending on the subject matter you're writing about, the keywords you utilize could change but will serve the same person: Get you in front of your prospective patients.
With Adit's team of writers, you can be sure that any content strategy you develop will attract the patients you need to your website and keep them engaged. This means better conversion rates and increased revenue.
Whether you are building a new website or creating a social media page for your dental office on Facebook, make sure your address and phone number are accurate and easily found anywhere you create a profile. It doesn't matter if you have a single office or several across the globe. Consistency in how your details get presented is crucial for helping prospective patients know where to go and is the first step in creating effective search engine optimization.
Another important aspect of consistency is keeping your contact information up-to-date across all sites where you have shared your dental practice on. One of the most confusing things for patients is getting an old phone number or email address that is no longer valid in their search engine results. They'll assume you're no longer in business and move on to their next provider option without trying to verify if this assumption is correct.
If you have several branch offices, consider centralizing their different numbers into one. They can then just pick an option number assigned to the office they're trying to reach and still connect. Creating this uniform approach to your website and online profiles from the start can save a lot of frustration for patients and build trust in your professionalism.
One of the challenging aspects of creating effective search engine content is making sure it's relevant to your practice. For example, if you are a dental startup in Miami, you want clients from that area. You also may want to cater to a specific demographic by focusing on those communities. Drilling down into your market audience and leveraging an effective strategy can be challenging.
You don't want to overextend your reach into areas that you won't normally serve, so it's crucial to work with a knowledgeable team of marketers like those at Adit. We are the premier choice to develop dental SEO for providers like yourself.
Getting in front of new patients with top search engine results requires targeted ad campaigns like those provided by Google Ads. Leveraging this cost-effective advertising in conjunction with other online positioning strategies enhances dental SEO.
Adit is exceptionally qualified to leverage these services. In fact, we even built our own Call Tracking software that tracks patient conversions. Even better? Our Dynamic Number Placement technology enables you to see precisely which calls came from your Google Ads.
Couple these great features with our online scheduling technology, and patients can easily book their dental appointments with your office through your practice management software. Doing this makes it possible for you to see what ad campaigns and keywords these appointments resulted from. This is why we are so unique in our search engine optimization services and comprehensive reporting features.
For Millennials and younger populations of patients, social media is a natural part of everyday communication. In 2023, these online community platforms continue to give you the opportunity to boost your search engine rank for minimal cost! With strategic keywording and engaging content, even your Instagram page can show up in top search results when would-be patients are seeking a provider online.
It's important not to blindly try appealing to your market audience, though. Take time to learn about the demographic you want to appeal to first. Knowing when they are typically surfing the net, and the types of posts they prefer are also key elements you need to narrow down when creating content for your Facebook or Twitter accounts. The effectiveness of search engine optimization on these social media platforms is also measurable, thanks to the many business tools these companies have integrated to accommodate businesses.
YYou also need to engage with your followers and group members actively. If you simply post content and never respond to inquiries, they may think you're no longer operational and move on to pages that appear more active. Working with a digital marketing agency with social media management services can prove most helpful by automating your account and ensuring communication is centralized into one convenient location.
SEO for dentists can be overwhelming at first and has a steep learning curve when digging into insights and other metrics. The good news is that you don't have to do it alone. Trust Adit to not only handle the technical details of keyword research and competitor analysis, but we can streamline your patient experience too!
We know what it takes to have a strong internet presence in the online dental market and can help you sustain new patient growth for the long term. Our comprehensive approach to dental SEO is nothing short of innovative and results-driven.
Some of the services our clients rave about include:
We thrive because you do, which motivates our team of writers to ensure any developed content is uniquely tailored to your dental office's service features that attract new patients. We will help maximize the search engine optimization of your site and help boost online brand awareness.
Adit wants your dental office to be recognized throughout your community, but dental SEO should ultimately create more revenue. This means converting leads into actual booked appointments, and our Call Tracking app and Online Scheduling feature let us combine both of these efforts.
Unlike other digital marketing firms, we guarantee our results. We do this by not accepting any payment until you break your ROI.
Request your free demonstration today to learn more about the dental SEO services we provide!
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Angela is a former English teacher turned marketing content specialist. Over the past 10 years, she’s developed marketing strategies to forge enduring bonds between B2B, B2C and SaaS companies and their clients through holistic education, effective communication, and captivating storytelling that moves audiences to act.
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