It can be difficult to ensure that one specific dental office gains the most visibility when it comes to search engine results. This is especially true in large cities where there is a lot of competition in the dental industry. However, it’s not impossible to rank higher in search engine results and improve brand awareness by following a few simple dental SEO strategies.
By improving your brand’s online presence and regularly publishing useful information on your website, your office is sure to receive more visitors and by extension, gain new patients.
Use Relevant Keywords
Part of making a dental office easy to locate on search engines involves using terms that search engines pick up on. By using popular keywords and optimizing search engine rankings, dental offices can make it to where their websites reach the first page of search results around their locality.
Most of the time when potential patients are searching for dental care, they are likely to key in location-based keywords along with their search. Because of this, it’s a good idea to optimize not only dental keywords but location keywords as well. This way, people searching for dental care in a specific area will find relevant results.
Be sure to look through different keyword tools to determine which terms are being searched most often. Choose keywords that are highly searched with little competition so that your office is likely to have a higher search engine rank than others in your industry.
Google My Business Listings
Creating a Google business listing is another way to ensure that patients and potential patients are going to see your company’s name when they’re searching for dental care. Because Google is the most popular search engine in the US, it’s in a dental office’s best interest to take all the steps needed to comply with Google’s algorithm.
Create a Google My Business listing for your office and make it easier than ever for patients to find and interact with your office.
Post Reviews on Your Website
If you run an already well-established dental office, it’s a good idea to display reviews on your website. Take a look at what satisfied patients are saying about the office on third-party review sites and list them on your own site so that visitors will be able to check out the positive interactions other visitors have had.
In addition to using third-party review sites, it’s also wise to ask patients to fill out reviews about your office. People typically enjoy being asked about their opinions, especially when it comes to a positive experience they’ve had. Most patients will be willing to take a few minutes out of their day to say something positive about the office they visit.
By posting reviews on your website, potential patients feel more confident when it comes to making the decision to book an appointment. Because so many other patients have had good experiences at a given office, it becomes much easier to believe they’ll receive the same positive treatment.
Create Engaging Web Content
Many office managers think that creating a website and business page for a dental office is all it takes in order to keep receiving new patients. However, search engines are far more likely to rank a website higher if it has shown usefulness. If a business page is never updated or changed, there is very little reason for patients to keep visiting, so it’s important to keep them engaged.
Create blog posts or video presentations about different topics related to dentistry. By publishing new content frequently, search engines get the impression that a site is providing helpful information. When patients and potential patients visit the office’s website and take the time to view the newest content published, search engines are able to see that patients are engaging with what they’re reading.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to make certain services available online so that patients are more likely to keep visiting the office’s website. For example, making it possible to contact the office, book an appointment, download forms, learn about the staff, or check out information about services gives patients a reason to explore the company’s web pages.
On top of regularly publishing content related to the dental industry, it’s important to optimize the content so that search engines can easily find it. Use on-site keywords in blog posts so that Google knows what your pages are about. Keep an organized toolbar on your website that makes content easy to find. Keep location and contact information listed in the header or footer of every page, and finally, take advantage of meta descriptions and keyword use when it comes to site photos and other pieces of media.
Stay Active on Social Media
Most of the time, people do not think about dental offices when they think about social media presence. However, it’s a good idea for practically any business to have profiles on social media platforms, and it’s even better for those businesses to stay active on social media.
If your office has social media profiles linked to and from your website, it’s a great way to keep attracting new patients. Whether they find your social media accounts through your website or whether they find your website through your social media accounts, you’re still providing valuable links to your business.
By regularly posting pieces of news about your office or industry, you’re making it more likely that social media users are going to see your company’s name and become interested in your services.
Search engine optimization isn’t an easy task when it comes to competing with other offices in your area. However, taking the time to make sure your office’s website is properly optimized will help make competing a little easier and even out the playing field between your office and other offices in your city.
Search engines are one of the most common ways that internet users find information, so taking the steps needed for search engine optimization is one of the best practices an office can take when it comes to increasing the visibility of their brand.