If you’re a dentist, local SEO for dentists can do miracles for you; but how? As a dentist, you’re a part of a super competitive, rapid-fire industry. Due to the competing demands on your time, you may need more resources to develop an effective local SEO strategy. Conversely, you see fewer clients than you’d like.
You are losing out on local customers, but you can bring more patients to your office with the right local SEO for dentists.
Almost all users (97%) generally use search engines to find information about local businesses.
With the inevitable downfall of the Yellow Pages, a strong online presence is now crucial to attracting clients and generating leads. It’s required given that other dentists will compete for visibility and more patients in the local area. This article discusses helpful strategies dentists can enjoy to improve their local online presence.
Table of contents
Why is Local SEO Important For Dentists?
1. Patients Refer To Google
Despite its limitations, the internet is often people’s first port of call before making an appointment with a doctor.
If you’re in pain and think you need to see a dentist, you probably wouldn’t look in the “D” section of the phone book. Rather, they will go online, type a phrase like “dentist near me” into Google or another search engine, and schedule an appointment with the first or second dentist that pops up.
Today’s patients typically take that tack. Medical practices that want to keep or increase their foot traffic will need to adapt to this strategy to be one of the results that come up in response to location-specific and relevant searches.
To achieve this, local SEO for dentists is essential.
2. You Can Learn About Patients and Find Potential Clients
You can diversify your traffic sources and be there when potential customers are looking for you by enhancing your Google Business Profile to appear in the results of relevant local searches with the slightest help of an SEO company.
After you achieve prominence in relevant local search results, patients will become aware of the availability of your services. Also, if all other conditions are met, they are more likely to call and schedule an appointment.
One of how local SEO for dentists helps your bottom line is by increasing foot traffic to your medical practice.
3. Local SEO Is Affordable, and It Pays Back
It also helps you save money on expensive online ads, which is great for your bottom line. Of course, you can get more digital marketing services to appear stronger, but it would be completely optional.
When you use local SEO, you can position yourself in the same geographic areas as your competitors. Suppose you can appear in local search results alongside your competitors. In that case, you increase your chances of attracting some of their potential customers. This is infinitely preferable to losing all your online customers because you couldn’t be found in the search results.
More patients scheduling appointments and paying you for those services are the results of employing local SEO for dentists.
Useful Techniques Improving Local SEO For Dentists
Here are the professional strategies suggested by digital marketers that help dentists to enhance their online presence:
1. Take a Look at Dental-Specific Keywords and Optimize Content for Your Area.
It may sound daunting to conduct keyword research for your dental office, but it takes a few clicks in Google’s search bar.
Your keyword research and content strategy can begin with the suggested queries Google provides automatically.
- Find out what search terms you’re currently ranking for.
- Check the positions of your rivals’ keywords.
- Don’t forget to use keyword phrases that your ideal patients would use
- Choose a focus and associated keywords that are pertinent to your dental practice. Also, take seasonality into account when conducting keyword research.
When doing keyword research, it is helpful to examine the top-ranked content to infer the user intent. Are patients interested in dental sealant information or scheduling an appointment?
As important as knowing the precise words a patient types into a search engine, knowing their intent is much more important when it comes to targeting keywords and creating content. Look at the top-ranking results for a keyword or phrase to understand the context of the search. Google is good at figuring out the purpose of a search.
Once you know why a patient is searching for a certain term, you can begin creating content that is relevant to them. If you need a deeper dive into this part we recommend “create and optimize landing pages for SEO” content.
*Helpful Tips For Starting Keyword Research For Designing Local SEO For Dentists:
- Avoid using broad categories like “dentist.” When using general or short-tail keywords, it needs to be clarified whether a user is looking for a definition, background on the dental industry, or information on a specific dental service.
- As with more generic dental terms, competition increases for long-tail keywords like “best dentist in Tallahassee, FL.” The purpose of a search can be better understood with the aid of long-tail keywords than with more generic queries.
- Use a variety of related terms like “dental implants” and conversational keywords like “how much do dental implants cost?” if you’re aiming for the phrase “dental implant services” in your content.
- Add local SEO value by including local keywords with the name of your town and neighboring towns.
2. Create a Complete Google My Business Profile (GMP) Page.
To get on Google’s radar as a nearby business, set up a Google Business Profile (GBP). After including your name, address, and phone number (NAP) on your listing and verifying it, you’ll appear in both Google Search and Google Maps.
You must complete all the required fields to ensure your listing is as effective as possible. Specify details such as:
- Title
- Company Address
- Phone (a local number if possible)
- Hours
- Category
- Descriptive Information About the Website (mention your services and a unique selling point)
If you don’t include all of the Information, Google won’t show you to potential patients, and you want to make a good impression on your clients. Be sure to include localized keyword phrases here.
Your chances of being included in Google’s local SEO 3-pack, which displays the top three ranked businesses for a local search, improve if your GMB profile is optimized.
3. Improve Your Website’s UX
If you want to rank well on Google, you need to pay attention to the user experience (UX), so UX design should be at the heart of your SEO efforts. But you won’t need a professional digital marketing agency to do it for you.
Begin enhancing your UX by making content pages based on Google’s most frequently asked questions. If you have a FAQ page, use it to answer common patient questions. This will increase your page’s usefulness and relevance to searchers and therefore your local SEO for dentists efforts flourish.
And remember to create some content! Participate in social media and start a blog. Being active in your local community will boost your profile and the respect others have for you. Here are some more suggestions for improving your site’s performance.
Make sure each of your dental procedures has its dedicated webpage.
Include a page specific to your area and relevant content. Make sure each page has its URL, title tag, and meta description.
*More Tips For Improving Your Website For SEO:
- Create a mobile-friendly version of your website.
- Put your focus on the local keywords.
- Steer clear of repetition
- Incorporate eye-catching media like photos, graphics, and videos into your web pages.
- Quicken page loads and simplify your site’s interface.
4. Analyze Your Progress
Essential to any local SEO for dentists ‘plan: keeping up the good work after you’ve reached the top ranks.
Search engine optimization (SEO) takes time to bear fruit, even if local SEO is less competitive than traditional SEO. In light of this, it is crucial to monitor the results of your local SEO campaign in terms of rankings, traffic, conversions, and so on.
Growces has a team of dedicated dental SEO specialists. Our industry-leading Return on Investment (ROI) Tracking Technology Platform gathers comprehensive data on site visitors to reveal the success or failure of your local SEO campaign for your dental practice. You can make the most of any SEO strategy with the help of our various SEO tracking tools.
Final Words
If you’ve read this far, you have a solid grasp of what it takes to run a successful local SEO campaign for a dental practice. Whether you do your local SEO or work with a professional firm, you should now be better equipped to do so. Any reputable SEO service will provide you with steps to improve in these areas. Contact us if you need help locating a reliable local SEO firm. Our company is eager to prove itself worthy of your patronage.
