As a dental office, you will always face stiff competition. It is up to you as a service provider to gain a competitive advantage in your field. For essential services like dentistry, you may not get as much walk-in traffic as you will from web searches.
It is therefore essential to invest in quality dental SEO services. Dental SEO services are meant to position your practice as a visible authority in your field. They are also intended to help you turn prospective customers into paying patients at your practice.
According to research, most web users are likely to turn to search engines when searching for a service. The reason is that searches can yield quick results for local businesses. Still, unless you have a robust SEO strategy in place, it is likely that you will get outranked and your competition will enjoy those leads.
Ranking poorly will keep your practice from reaching its potential. Start with these tips to improve your dental SEO strategy.
Hiring a dental SEO expert will help position your practice to be discovered by younger, online searchers.
1. Have a Great Website
Before you even think of a dental SEO strategy, you need to have a website in place. A great dental website design gives you a strong presence on the market. With the immense number of online searches conducted per day, having an accessible site places your practice in a prime position.
Web users usually trust businesses with websites more than the ones unavailable on the internet. Your site needs to be intuitive and informative. A professional website gives you an edge in making you a business leader in your field. It can also be a lead generation machine for you when designed properly.
You can achieve the full potential of a website by incorporating tools that make it more accessible. Such mechanisms may include mobile accessibility and fast load times. Having a site makes your clients more confident with your practice from the very beginning.
2. Work on Your Website’s Accessibility
Making sure your website runs smoothly on any device is a strategy that could help your dental practice’s rank. Google is keen to reward websites whose content is accessible via mobile. With a large section of web users who use portable devices, you should highly prioritize mobile access.
A mobile-friendly website means you can maximize on opportunities to serve potential patients who would like quick services, local services or emergency services. It could also translate to making your website shareable.
Users can locate you using tools such as maps. They can also share information about your platform in other apps primarily found on mobile devices.
3. Enlist Reputable SEO Companies
Search engine optimization extends further than keyword placement. As a professional dentist, however, you might not know all the intricacies of dental SEO ranking. It is important to engage the services of a reputable SEO company on a monthly basis to build your website’s authority in the eyes of Google and others. A good SEO company will help you come up with a strategy that gets you to the top of search engine results.
Due to the competitive nature of your field, a reliable SEO company can help you pick out the most effective strategies for best returns. SEO can be an investment, with plans generally falling in the $500 to $3000+ depending on your market. However, when you consider the lifetime value of a new patient, every dentist looking to grow will see the value of ranking high in search engines.
4. Keep Your Content Fresh
Regular content keeps visitors coming to your site. Your content does not need to focus on selling your practice every time. Creating fresh and relevant content makes Google evaluate your site often and give your content precedence if it is deemed valuable.
Additionally, users trust a site that gives them valuable information about a particular field. Even if they were not looking for immediate services, reading dental content on your website gives your business a better standing among competitors and establishes you as a thought leader.
More content opens your site to more opportunities to utilize on-site SEO strategies. These strategies translate into organic traffic for your website and strong search engine placement.
5. Invest in Social Media
Social media channels are a complimentary resource for dental SEO. Social media platforms can bring you targeted traffic. By interacting with your followers, you can analyze your data to make even better choices for your practice.
Social media provides an opportunity to gain insights into your patients’ preferences. You can then revamp your practice to cater to a wide range of potential clients. Social platforms are also useful in marketing.
Keeping an active social media portfolio means you maintain a grasp across diverse groups. This helps you develop future strategies that target specific groups. It also assists in improving the visibility and authority of your practice.
An active social media strategy can improve your website authority, give you channels for sharing your blog content, and provide insight about your customer’s key pain points (and how you may want to adopt your SEO plan to reflect them!).
6. Use Review Sites
It’s been proven for a while now that web users will trust a business based on feedback from previous users. If a first time user wanted to use your dental practice, they’d look up what other visitors have said about it. Having your dental practice in high-level review sites such as Yelp could bring in more traffic to your business.
It also helps potential clients settle on your business. A keyword chain like ‘dentist reviews + city’ leads potential clients to review sites which mention your practice.
You can use this strategy by asking clients to leave a review about your business. Even a handful of 5-star reviews boosts your reputation in a sea of competing services.
7. Use Local Listings
To reap maximum benefits, it would be great if you optimize your keywords for local search results. Potential clients are more likely to seek out the nearest practice for essential services for dentistry. Using resources such as Google Local, you can position your business as the go-to choice in your area.
You can include contact information and physical address details of your practice. Prospective clients can find you online or walk into the business premises directly to schedule an appointment.
Local listings also give you a higher ranking due to less keyword competition. For instance, using a keyword chain which includes your locality will bring clients to your page if you have optimized your site for local results.
8. Embrace Video
YouTube racks up billions of video views every day. In fact, it is the second largest search engine behind Google. While you can spend hours writing up new content, you can direct some effort to video production.
Social media platforms are increasingly giving videos preference. By creating short, informative videos, you are developing a strong presence in a low competition environment. You can even use videos to market your practice by showing procedures.
Users too are showing an inclination towards video over traditional reading. You can package your message in easy-to-grasp graphics. Once potential clients see the business, they feel like they can trust the services you offer.
Making exciting educational videos also encourages users to share the content they find. The videos must be of good quality and in a format suitable for sharing.
9. Utilize Online Forums
Forums are an often overlooked, yet valuable assets in SEO ranking. Constant engagement in discussions gives you and your practice more visibility on search results.
Forum engagement can range from Q&A boards to commenting on blogs. It is also an opportunity to place your practice in service-specific platforms. The result is garnering more organic traffic to your site.
You stand better chances of appearing on the top of search engines if you offer helpful commentary on forum boards. It is even better if your input in these forums gets upvoted or rehashed by other users. New users and potential clients can correlate your presence with being a trusted resource for dental services.
10. Focus on Customer Service
Customer service has the potential to make or break your website and your reputation. For your dental practice, it is crucial to ensure that your patients experience stellar customer service every time.
Poor customer service can lower your ranking due to negative reviews and reports. If clients are continually complaining about your website, you might start experiencing lower return visits to your site.
When you’re investing in SEO, it only follows that your website and staff need to deliver on their end once potential patients discover your practice online! Excellent customer service will help you understand the diverse needs of your clientele so you can offer better dental services.
Dental SEO – Wrap Up
SEO is a vital resource that you can implement to help your practice achieve its full potential. You need to use other strategies to make sure you are getting the most out of your SEO campaign. As a professional brand, these tips will only bring you as much success as the consistency you put behind them.
A strategic dental SEO plan will strengthen your brand profile and keep you at the top of search results. Your audience will consider you a valuable resource for dental services.
To position your business as a reputable resource for top-class dental work, you need to consider hiring SEO experts. Forward-thinking dentists should embrace the mass shift of audience from traditional walk-in models of business. If you’re not entirely sure who is the right fit for your dental SEO needs, consult local listings.
If you want help in SEO, copywriting, web design, and digital marketing, the team at Midas Marketing is here for you. Just reach out to us whenever you’re ready!