I’ve met loads of dentists who avoid talking about SEO because they just don’t understand.
In reality, SEO for dentists is not all that mysterious, once you understand the fundamentals of online search. By learning some basic SEO principals, your dental office can implement a digital marketing strategy that will help you achieve your business goals while reducing wasted resources on ineffective SEO tactics.
Here are four fundamentals dentists need to understand about SEO for dental practices.
1. SEO For Dentists is not Complicated
Sometimes SEO agencies and marketers will tell dentists how complex SEO is when they are selling their services. When a dentist assumes SEO is too complicated, or they don’t spend enough time educating themselves on the subject, it can result in money, energy and time wasted on tactics that don’t produce results, or worse, have negative consequences for your website.
What Works and What Doesn’t for Dentist SEO
Dental clinic SEO is not all that tricky when you understand the process – the biggest component of a successful SEO strategy involves producing spectacular content that your potential patients can learn from.
Once a dentist understands the following online marketing basics, he or she will be better equipped for implementing successful and profitable digital marketing strategies:
- How a search engine finds, evaluates, and ranks website content
- How future patients search for information online
- Why producing high-quality content for your dentist office website is imperative
Knowledge is Power for Dentist Marketing
Once a dentist learns some digital marketing basics, the chances of them wasting valuable resources on a tactics that don’t work, or risky schemes that might hurt their online presence decrease significantly. This also lowers the risk of wasting their resources on marketing services they don’t actually need. Instead they can focus on producing content that improves their visibility online, while helping them connect and engage with future patients.
2. Utilize Dentist Directory Listings Appropriately
They are several notable directories like Google My Business, Healthgrades, and Yelp that potential patients may see while they’re looking for information relating to your dental practice. Since potential patients are already looking in these areas, you should claim your profile on each of those sites and add helpful information about your dental offices and the dentists that practice there.
Don’t Pay Somebody For Claiming a Local Dental Directory Listing
Usually, it takes fewer than ten minutes to setup the profiles on these directories. Sometimes, sites such as GMB (Google my Business) send you a postcard to verify the physical location of your dental practice. Because it takes a bit of participation on your part, and it won’t take lots of time, you should not be outsourcing this to someone outside of your practice.
3. Capitalize on Social Media to Amplify Your Private School’s Digital Presence
Increase Visibility in Searches
Maintaining an active presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook reinforces your dental clinic’s brand values and message online. These platforms are likely also appearing in the SERPs where potential clients and referral sources are searching for information about your dental clinic.
Broadcast Your Dental Practice’s Message and Values
Joining these platforms helps you convey a positive and consistent image for your future patients, while driving qualified traffic to the website of your dental office at the same time.
Social media is also beneficial for promoting your dental practice’s website and blog, while also allowing your office to engage in discussions that relate to your practice area(s).
Remember that Content is King
But social media should not be the sole focus of your office’s digital marketing campaign. Social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are excellent platforms to amplify the voice of your dental clinic online, supplementing your dental office’s other content marketing activities. It shouldn’t distract you from publishing great content for your practice’s websites and blogs, however.
4. Too Good to be True Usually is Exactly That
Marketing agencies try making promises that they’ll get your dentist office website to “the top of Google” overnight.
No marketing agency can guarantee rankings, and no marketing agency can promise they will get your dental practice to the “top of Google” because that isn’t actually a thing.
An SEO agency said they would guarantee your search engine results huh?
Google search engine results vary depending on many factors including: user location, what search terms are entered, the type of devices someone is using and the time of day. Any single search term could have “top results” but there is no one “top” of Google.
Search Engine Optimization for Dentists is a Process
Successful SEO for dental offices is dependent on creating exceptional content, which doesn’t happen overnight. Creating quality content requires time. It also takes time to establish credibility and authority on the search engines.
Marketing agencies might promise fast SEO successes. Or dentists might think there is a way to “game” Google into unnaturally boosting the rank of their website in the SERPs.
Attempts to “Trick” Search Engines are Risky and Ineffective
Today, Google’s algorithms are too intelligent for tactics like this to result into long-term, significant improvement on a website’s rankings. Tactics with the purpose of tricking Google into enhancing website rankings are a violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines and the likelihood of them making a positive impact on your dental practice’s search result rankings is slim to none.
We Help Dental Practices Grow
The most effective and profitable method is building a strong foundation for your dental practice’s online marketing by consistently publishing remarkable content that addresses the needs of your future patients. Consistent content writing builds trust and improves visibility on the search engines, and it also helps by creating a relationship with potential patients.
