Let’s face it, SEO is dominating the world of marketing in almost every sector and Dentists are no exception. This can be explained by many factors; the first one is that SEO is still the most effective digital marketing strategy, secondly, SEO will still rule the marketing world and lastly because your competitors are optimizing their websites. Thus, the conversation shouldn’t be about whether or not you need SEO but it should be about the best Dentist SEO strategies that can add value to your practice.
These are some of the best strategies for your dental practice:
1. Understand Ranking factors in SEO
Gone are the days when SEO was all about keyword stuffing, the modern day search engines and users are more informed. Thus, focus on making your website resourceful to both potential customers and Google. Start with a highly user-friendly website; easily navigable, simple, bold colors, and highly responsive are some of the features that your website should have. Furthermore, keep your content accurate, informative, unique and highly customized to your target consumers. Display your contact details on the website including your location and what time(s) you are open. According to our research, these are some of the basic features that are required to receive high rankings for dentist’s website. If you get it wrong none of the Dental SEO tips discussed below will work.
2. Keep it local
Remember, SEO does not get you dental appointments; it is the users who do the appointments. When people are looking for a dentist, they want the one who is close to them, thus focus on local optimization. Keyword research is a huge component of Dentist SEO, think of words that people are likely to use when searching for a dentist. For instance, if you are based in California, don’t focus on the entire region using general terms like “Dentist in California”, but keep it highly targeted by using words like ”Cosmetic Dentist in Fullerton California”. This will get you more appointments since customers find local businesses more convenient.
3. Mobile optimization
When was the last time you used your desktop or laptop to browse? Yes, more people are shifting to mobile devices like smart- phones and tablets to browse, thus make your website mobile enabled. Research indicates that in 2015 alone, more that 75% of users to big websites used mobile devices. Further, 70% of the traffic led to a call to action within an hour which is more than any device making this one of the most important Dentist SEO strategies. Ensure your website can adjust the screen size to enable viewing from any device and can be accessed with many devices. One way to implement this strategy is to try accessing your website from many devices or using Google’s mobile-friendly test. Remember, if you miss out on the users using mobile devices, you are missing out on many potential clients.
4. Create a personalized meta-description
Once ranking your challenge is to stand out over your competition. Keep your Meta description personalized by using words and terms that appeal to potential customers. Avoid tired phrases and use customized sentences that your audience can connect and resonate with. Instead of using general terms like “we provide solutions to your dental problems” make it more customized with words like “we specialize in trouble-free quick implants”. This way, customers can tell your area of specialization at a glance. Further, think of phrases that customers use when searching for services related to your practice, hence keyword research is a dominant strategy in Dentist SEO.
5. Encourage reviews
Dentists provide a service that affects human life directly. If you make a mistake, you will change someone lives forever, thus people tend to be more careful when making decisions on whether they should choose you. One way to influence their decisions is by having many great reviews. Customers tend to trust reviews more that your website content. Reviews can be positive or negative as you have no control over them, but how you respond to them matters. If a customer felt disappointed with your services, apologize and try to make it up to them, and if a customer was happy with your services, express your gratitude and encourage them to visit you again.
6. Include a call to action
Remember, the aim of optimizing your website is to convert visitors to customers. Thus, display a call to action on a conspicuous part of the website. The call to action can be anything like “call us today for an appointment”. However, if you want to get more appointments, customize your call to action by including some offers, or discounts that you are offering. If you want to target new customers, include that in your call to action with phrases like “new customers offer: enter your email to get a free cleaning.”
7. Content marketing is still the king
Great content gives your visitors a reason to stay on your website long enough to take an action. As a Dental SEO strategy, content marketing works best when you display your content more as informative as opposed to promotional. Thus, create content that can help your users achieve dental care by writing articles, creating videos or posting on social media. This way, users will read, share and comment on the content and in the process trust you. Dentist SEO strategies is all about getting people to trust you, and nothing can achieve that more that great content offered free of charge.