SEO for Dentists
Generate more customers, increased foot traffic and more calls to your practice.
Many dentists and dental services providers can be a bit hesitant to embrace the whole "SEO for dentists" idea. Perhaps they have been cold-called or on the receiving end of an email solicitation that seems, just, well … shady. After all, you've worked for years to establish a good professional reputation in the dental community - why risk it?
While we would certainly advise anyone to avoid questionable practices, and like any industry the SEO world does have its less-than-ethical operators, at Posirank we believe that SEO for dentists can be carried out with integrity and adherence to the highest professional standards - and can get you the following results:
Overall Increased Community Engagement: There is nothing like the "lift" that organic SEO can give you to increase your visible presence in your community. Many in your community who might do business with you don't know you are there - but seeing you online can easily put you on their radar.
Increase In Your Client Base: Customers come and go. Some move out of the area. Some may die. A few may decide to change their dentist. People needing dental work in the past may not need it right now. So every dental practice needs an influx of new clients. You can't build a business when you are losing clients. You need to increase your client base, and the easiest, most cost-effective way to do that is to cater to those who are searching online.
Dental SEO: The Focus is LOCAL
Let's face it, in the dental services industry, the focus (even with nationwide chain providers) is on local searching in a web environment.
No one, really, just searches for "dentists" - even search engines know, for that search term, to ask for your location so that they can display local results. Because you are not likely to travel hundreds of miles to go to a dentist - you want "dentists near me."
Those offering professional services locally have been aware for some time of the Google "local pack." These are listings they generate that are set off by themselves with NAP (name, address, phone number) and other information displayed. But did you know that more than 40% of those searching online will visit one of the sites in the local pack when searching for dental and similar types of services? And that this can be done even for dental practices that maintain multiple locations?
When people search for dentists/dental services they usually need them right NOW - teeth problems (and the pain they bring) won't wait for next month or even next week - your practice needs to be ranking high (1st page at a minimum) in order to be seen when people are hurting!
What will help to ensure that people will use your services? CONFIDENCE that you can get the job done. When people visit your site they can find out about pricing, range of services, insurances accepted, you and your staff's background and qualifications (establishing expertise), special offers, travel directions, hours of operation and more.
This means that people can get their initial questions answered before they pick up the phone to call you. This results in more booked appointments and more paying clients.
We Already do Plenty of Advertising
Traditional forms of advertising - print, TV, radio - are not cost-effective (as many people hearing/reading your ad do not have a current need). Organic SEO means you are driving traffic from search results pages, from people looking you up when they have a need.
According to the website Statista, in the United States alone, there were close to 160,000 professionally active dentists who were licensed and practicing in 2019.
This means that the competition is growing - competing for new clients and the revenue they bring to your dental practice.
Competing dental practices in your area know of your existence just as you know of them. They are actively working to get to the top of the search results pages (SERP's) because they know that at least 30-40% of all clicks on page 1 results will go to the top slots.
Your competitors already know that the client acquisition game has shifted online, and they are already players in this space. What about your practice?
Why Not Just Rely on PPC?
Yes, it's true - even Posirank offers PPC Management - because for some it is a good option. For example, a new practice that needs clients right away while their site is under development, or those having sites but who need time to make site changes in order to increase their visibility in the SERP's.
Satellite vs. Rocket Ship. PPC can be compared to a rocket ship journey. You shoot off the launch pad and travel upward - but the rocket only flies as long as it has fuel. Run out of fuel? You come crashing back to earth.
With the rocket ship of PPC you can sit at the top of page 1 for 10 years but if you stop spending money, like the rocket ship with no fuel, down you go, as your presence in the SERP's will vanish.
And PPC costs always seem to be rising. When was the last time that your cost-per-click went down? Probably never. And it is not likely to, given the huge increase in advertisers using that service.
Finally, PPC does not have the credibility that organic (natural) search results has. That little note that the PPC ad is "sponsored" makes people wary, and frankly some never click on paid ads as they know that any business spending enough money can be seen, regardless of the quality of their products/services.
In contrast, investing in organic SEO is like putting a satellite into orbit. Of course, you must expend some fuel to get off the launch pad, but once you are in "orbit" you can stay up there for a long time for a (normally) lower expenditure of fuel. With organic SEO for dentist tactics, once your rankings are achieved, you only need occasional campaigns (to freshen content, acquire additional new backlinks, mitigate negative SEO, etc.) - usually for far less cost than PPC or even the cost of initial organic SEO campaigns.
Does Your Dental Practice Website Pass Inspection?
Just because your site looks flashy and cool does not mean that it gives site visitors a good user experience.
A great User Experience (UX) means that site visitors can find the information that they need easily and quickly.
And it also means that they find that information useful/helpful to them.
For example, well-written content on subjects like maintaining dental hygiene at home, or available options for teeth whitening, or how to deal with a dental emergency until you can get to the dentist, in addition to being extremely helpful to visitors, helps to establish confidence in your practice by demonstrating your expertise in the field. People who have learned to rely on your site as a trusted source of information are much more likely to reach out to you when they need dental services in the future.
And keep in mind that Google is especially strict with health-oriented sites. They expect information provided there to be reliable and backed up by obvious expertise, because incorrect or incomplete health content could seriously damage someone's health.
But rest easy, our content development team has delivered thousands of pages of health-related medical/dental/health niche content that has passed the strictest of review standards. Our team knows about health claims that cannot be made, medical terminology, drug and treatment techniques, and so much more.
A lot more goes into good website functionality than just content, however. Posirank can provide you with a comprehensive SEO Site Audit which will help you to pinpoint areas of your site where more work is needed - and we'll back that up with our expert recommendations on what to do to raise your site UX score.
Keywords: The KEY is in the WORDS
But for people to reach out to you they need to be able to find you - or more accurately, your website - when they need you.
And a major factor in being found for organic SEO search is to make sure that the content of your webpages reflect subjects that are being searched for. The most often searched for words/phrases are called keywords - and your content needs to rank well (high placement) when people are searching for those topics.
Keywords need to be carefully researched however, because there are tradeoffs: some keywords are often searched for - so often, in fact, that they can be difficult to rank for because there are so many other sites targeting the same words. Other keywords are not as competitive - but they may not be searched on very often.
What you need to find are those keyword phrases that bring a good amount of traffic to your site, but which can be realistically ranked well for. This is the tricky part of keyword research, and for that you need special tools and SEO expertise that comes from doing a lot of keyword research for many different clients. Posirank has the expertise to uncover the hidden "low hanging fruit" that can give you more traffic without breaking your budget.
Your Dental Website and "ABC"
Perhaps you have heard of the sales-related acronym: ABC. Sales professionals use it as a reminder to Always Be Closing. "ABC" reminds them that their ultimate goal is to make a sale, to "close" a sale.
ABC should also apply to your dental practice website. Yes, you are trying to be helpful and an information source. Yes, you are trying to present your credentials to the community-at-large.
But really, at the end of the day your dental practice is not a charity - it is a business. So the ultimate goal of your dental site is to drive sales. You need to "always be closing" - and Posirank can help you pinpoint (via SEO metrics) where your website traffic is coming from and if that traffic is "converting" to a paid client in some way (a phone call, email contact, information form submission, etc.).
SEO for Dentists With Multiple Locations
There are many great dental practices with a single location. But some have grown to the point where it has become necessary to service communities in more than one location.
Will SEO for dentists work in these situations as well? ABSOLUTELY!
Remember: online searching for dental services is always local-focused. People living in Chicago who need a dentist are not searching for dentists in New York!
That means that as long as your multiple locations have different physical addresses and phone numbers, they can show up for different location searches. Yes, even if your multiple locations share a common website! And Posirank knows just how to get each of those locations featured in the top-featured businesses along with a location map (we're sure you've seen these) - sometimes called a "local pack" as several different business locations may show up there: 2-3 or as many as 5 or more listings.
You can't pay (PPC) to get in the local pack - you have to rank for it. Google decides, ultimately, who will show up there. But we know how to - ethically - tip the scale in your favor. And getting into the local pack is pure gold for any business with a local focus for their customer/client base.
How Long Will it Take to Rank My Dental Website Organically?
The honest answer? It varies for each website that we have under management. But there are two main considerations:
Your Website Itself. The first factor in time-to-rank is the nature of your site itself. Websites are like jigsaw puzzles: get them all in place and you'll have a great picture. Lots of missing pieces means more work and time for the changes to take effect, to see the search engines begin to respond and reward you with higher rankings in the SERP's, because they see the value of your site (to their searchers) increasing. The more issues that need fixing, the longer this process will take. The good news is: once ranking improvements occur they usually are long-lasting! So the sooner you implement the necessary fix(es) the sooner you will be ranking better.
Your Competitors. The other big factor in time-to-rank is your competition. If your competing dental practices have their act together and are currently outranking you, more time and effort will be needed to outrank them. That's why at Posirank we always look at your competitors as a key component of SEO for dentists. Conversely, competing sites that are currently outranking you may be easier to outrank than you might imagine. And we'll let you know when that is the case.
I Need to Get Traction Quickly - What do I do Next?
We know that if you are running a dental practice your time is limited for "secondary" activities. Every second away from your patients means money lost.
So here's what we recommend: Head over to our booking department and book a call with our team. The call is only about 15-30 minutes, and we'll spell out in detail what we can do to help you. Give us the word and we can usually get you a proposal within 1-2 business days. Once you approve and come onboard, we take over for you, and do what's necessary - we'll report back to you in a timely fashion and help you to monitor your results.
This is how we have helped thousands of clients - including dental practices - to see huge increases in traffic and, ultimately, revenue.
Here's that link again: book a call today and discover the Posirank difference!
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