Dental SEO: An Essential Tool For Getting More Patients

It is challenging, if not nearly impossible, for a dental practice to grow and become successful without an online presence.

On this page, you’ll find all you need to know about dental SEO, including what it is, how it can help your business, and the dental SEO marketing tips you should incorporate into your strategy.

SEO Basics

To begin, let’s think about what SEO is. It stands for search engine optimization and is the process of ensuring that Google (and other search engines) can find your site. If your site ranks highly on the SEO scale, your site will be more likely to appear towards the top of the results page.

While there are some common tips that all businesses can use to boost their ranking, SEO works best when the strategy is developed with a specific target audience in mind. If you’re running a dental clinic, you should focus on dental search engine optimization strategies.

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Why is SEO important for dental offices?

It’s easy to overlook dental SEO internet marketing. With all the goings-on at your dental practice, it can become little more than an afterthought. However, it’s an essential step towards developing the long term success of your practice.

Why? Because the more people that know about your clinic, the more patients you’ll have. Ranking highly on Google isn’t just an academic point; it’s your chance to reach potential patients. With more and more people spending increasing amounts of time online, it’s more important than ever that a dental clinic can be easily found. It’s not enough to just be listed on Google, either.

The first five links on the results page account for 70% of all clicks. If you’re appearing on page six, which is what would likely happen if you hadn’t invested in local SEO, then it’s unlikely that anyone will find you.

1. High rankings build credibility.

Appearing towards the top of the Google rankings doesn’t just get your website in front of people’s eyes. It also gives people a positive impression of the business. The search engine giant is a respected platform by internet users.

When a website appears in the top five-ten positions following a search, trust and respect are given to the website—and, by extension, the company. Once you’re in the top positions, you’ll soon see the benefits of receiving this trust and respect.

The greater the number of people who click your link, the more Google will deem your site trustworthy. That helps to further solidify your position at the top.

2. What’s good for Google is good for users.

There are certain criteria that a website must meet if Google is to view it favorably and place it towards the top of the results page. And happily, those criteria also help to build a positive impression with your visitors. In general, what’s good for Google is good for users. And what’s good for users is good for your business.

Google looks for things such as the speed (loading time) of the website, the quality of the content, mobile-friendly design, easy navigation, and so on. A website with these things will be valued by visitors just as much as by Google.

3. Your competitors are doing it.

It’s worthwhile investing in your dental company’s SEO for its own sake. After all, your aim is to be the best that you can be, and solid SEO will form part of that goal. But there’s another reason why you’ll want to invest in SEO: your competitors are doing it.

Given the importance placed on SEO, it’s probable that they have their own SEO strategy that is designed to bring new patients onboard. If you don’t have your own, then you’ll run the risk of being left behind—and losing out on patients.

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SEO Best Practices

We’ve talked a lot about the importance of SEO, but what steps are involved in ensuring that a site’s SEO is as tight as it can be? Let’s take a look at some of the best practices.

1. Focus on Design

The website’s design should be modern, adaptive (mobile-friendly), and conducive to easy navigation. 

2. Quality Content

Google likes quality content because users like quality content. Blogs, infographics, web copy and other website content should all be well-written, aesthetic pleasing, and genuinely useful to the visitor. 

3. Add a Blog

Relevance is key for maintaining strong SEO. A blog allows you to add new and informative content without having to rewrite your existing content. 

4. Offsite Tactics

You can bolster your website’s SEO by using off-website tactics. These include claiming your Google My Business page and acquiring backlinks from other trusted sites. 

5. Be Patient

No one reaches the top spot on Google overnight. Once a campaign has been launched, some patience will be required. It can take around six months to see the effects of an SEO campaign. 

6. Follow the Data

You can track the effectiveness of your efforts by tracking performance. Are your blogs receiving hits? How much time are people spending on your website? 

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Invest in SEO. Invest in your business.

Ultimately, when you work with a dental SEO services company, you’re investing in your business. Your dental clinic can thrive when you have a steady roster of loyal patients, and that’s just what advanced SEO strategies allow you to have. It’s not always easy running a dental practice or competing with competitors for patients, but there are things you can do to help yourself. That includes ensuring that your website has robust SEO credentials that’ll take it to the top of the Google rankings.