Today, people search and access the world of information anytime on the internet for almost everything they want. That is why businesses have started focusing on their digital presence and the dental industry is not an exception. As more patients started booking and scheduling their doctor’s appointments online it’s crucial for doctors to build a strong online presence to win potential customers. Dental practitioners are now paying more attention to their websites and understanding the basics of search engine optimization. In 2022 dental practitioners can not afford to ignore dental seo.
This guide is designed to explain dental seo and its importance for dental practices.
WHAT IS DENTAL SEO OR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION FOR DENTISTS?
The process of optimizing a dental practice website so it can rank on the top spot in Google searches for related search queries is named dental seo(search engine optimization). This means your website will rank on the top position without paying for ads.
For example, when a potential customer search terms like “dental implant”, “dentist near me”, “clear aligner treatments” or any other dental search terms, seo will help your website appear in the top position. If you want to be found online by potential patients, you need a dental seo strategy.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SEO FOR DENTISTS AND DENTAL WEBSITES
We have discussed what is seo and how it helps to increase the visibility of the dental website in search results. But why is seo important for dentists? When people search dentists online, 78% of people click on the websites ranking on the top 5 positions in search results and out of that ~34% of people click on a website that is ranking in 1st position. Over 75% of people never go to the second page.
A good SEO strategy for dental websites is an effective way to bring new patients to the practice. In 2022, think of SEO as an important marketing strategy for dental practices.
- SEO helps in building credibility and trust with the patients
- SEO brings more traffic and conversion to dental websites
- SEO makes the better user experience of dental website
- Fast website load speed
- Mobile friendly website design
- Headings and subheadings on pages
- Original content
- Easy website navigation
People usually click on the top search results (between 1 to 5) as they think it would be more accurate for their search query and believes they are better. As more people click on your website Google see your website as a trustworthy source for users and push it to top rankings. This builds the overall credibility and trust with the patients.
Research shows that ~53% of website traffic comes from organic search which is non-paid. SEO helps your website to be found on the top when a potential patient needs you. This is an inbound marketing tactic where people are coming to you with the intent of buying the services from you. This increases the website traffic and also increases the conversion rate of booking a dental appointment.
User experience is one of the most important things in SEO strategy. For example:
All these things improve the user experience of the dental website and help achieve top ranking in Google searches.
HOW CAN A DENTIST WEBSITE RANK #1 IN SEARCH RESULTS?
Ranking for #1 is not difficult if the right SEO strategy is implemented. The whole idea is to optimize the website so it starts appearing on the first page of Google. When people click on a search result, Google gets to know that your website is a credible source. It then starts pushing you in towards the top positions. Even one position up in the ranking makes a huge difference.
To understand how you can appear higher in search results, you need to understand how SEO works for dentists.
HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORKS?
When you search for something on Google or another search engine it shows the best possible results that satisfy the user. For example, if you type “dental implant,” Google might thig you are searching “what is dental implant” or “dental implant procedure” or “dental implant cost” or “dental implant surgery near me”. Google will show you the most relevant result to the query. Optimizing the website to ensure Google believes you are a trusted source of information that searcher is looking for is what search engine optimization is.
HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES DECIDE WHERE TO RANK DENTAL WEBSITES?
The search engine shows the best results for each query. There are various ranking factors that come into play while deciding the ranking of dental websites. Majorly these can be categorized into two parts On-page ranking factors and Off-page ranking factors.
ON-PAGE RANKING FACTORS FOR DENTISTS WEBSITES
On-page ranking factors belong to the information placed on the web pages and how search engine looks at them. Search engines constantly crawl the website and gather every piece of information to know who are you, what you do, what type of service you are offering, how trustworthy you are and much more.
On-page SEO ranking factors include:
- What’s on your website pages
- Presence of keywords in the content
- Length and quality of content
- How old your website is
- How easily does the search engine index your content
- How fast your website page loads
- Whether the website is mobile-friendly or not
- What is the dwell of the website(how long people stay on the website)
- Navigation of the website
- How trustworthy your website is
OFF-PAGE SEO RANKING FACTORS FOR DENTISTS WEBSITES
Off-page SEO ranking factors belong to the factors which are outside of the website but influence the ranking of the website. The biggest off-page ranking factor is backlinks. Backlinks are the links that come from other websites to your websites.
Off-page link-building ranking factors include:
- How you earned the link (naturally, manually, or self-created)
- The linking site’s popularity
- How related the linking site’s topic is to the site/page being linked to
- How recent the link is
- The trustworthiness and authority of the linking site
- The number of links
*These are just a few.There are more than 200 ranking factors for the website that decides the ranking of a website for a specific search query.
So coming back to our question, how do search engines decide where to rank dental websites?
When a potential patient searches for “dental implant,” a search engine will consider all the discussed on-page and off-page SEO factors to help determine:
- Which result to show
- What type of results to show whether it’s a review, dental directories, website pages, blog posts, etc
- The order of those results
The search engine results also depend on:
- Keywords used in their search
- Where the person is searching from
- The person’s search history
HOW TO OPTIMIZE DENTAL WEBSITE FOR SEO?
SEO is the backbone of the online marketing of your website. Here are some actions to focus on when creating a website.
- Build your site on WordPress
- Website URLs
- Meta titles and descriptions
- Image alt attributes
- Image and video file sizes
- Website page load times
- No broken links
- Design website with better user experience
- Create original content
- Original: Content must be original and must not be copied from any other source that is already present. Always write in your own words with your unique tone. Copy-paste content is penalized by search engines and harm the authority of the website
- Compelling: Content should be compelling. It should answer the common questions, should focus on solving the problems
- Keyword-optimized: Content must be keyword-optimized. Keywords can be found by conducting keyword research for every single web page. It should be included in headings, meta descriptions, copy of every webpage. People use phrases called keywords to search on search engines. Keywords-optimized content ranks for those phrases.
Build your dental website on WordPress. Building a website of WordPress is not only very easy but also SEO-friendly. Websites built on WordPress are flexible, scalable, and look and mobile-friendly. Things that you need to seo optimize on the back-end of your website include:
Make sure you optimize all these things for every single page on the website.
A better user experience is one of the most important factors in SEO strategy and the design of your website will make all the difference. Create a dental web design that makes a long-lasting impression on visitors. The only way to do that is through a modern, custom site designed by a professional who understands the dental industry, and has a background in search engine optimization.
Beautiful designs are not enough for the website. You need to create original, compelling and keyword-optimized content for your website.
Keyword Research Tips for Dentists
Keywords are the phrases that people use to search for any information on the internet. Keywords research tells you what potential patients are typing in the search engine to look for the dental services you provide. Keyword research is one of the most important parts of the whole seo strategy. We can write a complete guide on keyword research separately but as of now here are a few tips on keywords research:
- Use a keyword research tool:
- Google Keyword Planner
- Moz Keyword Explorer
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
- Look at competitor’s keywords using one of the tools above
- Use Google’s Auto Complete Search to search keywords
HOW TO OPTIMIZE DENTAL WEBSITE FOR OFF-PAGE RANKING FACTORS?
Off-page SEO is as important as On-page seo. You should also focus on off-page seo and must not any miss any opportunity.
- Add your website to Google My Business
- Claim your Google My Business listing
- Add complete information about your dental practice
- Use a local phone number
- Add photos of your dental clinic practice
- List your website on local directories and citation sites
- Build patient reviews
Google My Business is a free listing. When you search for any local business or service the first result that appears is usually a map. This is called “Local Pack”. A dental practice is a brick-and-mortar business model. People visit a dental clinic for their problems. So it’s important not only to add a dental website on google map but also to optimize it to rank as high as possible in the Local Pack.
Here is what you need to do:
A local citation is a mention of your dental practice on the web. These citations don’t necessarily need to link to your website, but they must include your name, address, and phone number. Add your website to citation sites and directories.
People view the reviews before buying any services from you. The positive reviews build the authority of the website on the internet. And if you have positive reviews this helps others to buy service from you. Ask patients to leave reviews on google for the services you have provided to them and publish them on the website as well.
HOW YOU CAN KNOW IF SEO IS WORKING OR NOT?
It’s important to review Key Performance Indicators to measure the results of the seo efforts you make for your dental website. This also helps you to know whether your seo efforts are going in the right direction, what’s working and what’s not!
Here are important Key Performance Indicators to review:
- Conversions – Tracking the desired actions of visitors on the website. For dentists, we recommend calls, form submissions, online bookings and chatbot conversations are conversions
- Website traffic – Keep track of website traffic, source of the website traffic on a monthly basis
- Keyword rankings – Monitor website ranking for the keywords and how that changes on a monthly basis
- Reviews – Ensure this number is growing and remember to respond to your patient reviews
GET MORE PATIENTS WITH DENTAL SEO SERVICES
Now you have a better understanding of what dental seo is and how important it is for dental websites. Reading and understanding the strategy is easy but implementing the same for the dental website is quite difficult for most dentists.
We know it. Optimizing your online presence takes a comprehensive, detail-oriented approach that requires time and a dedicated resource. You need to worry about it. You should focus on what you do best and leave the rest on us.
At Addigitally, our team helps your dental websites with the best SEO strategy and keeps them ahead of the competition. We work with specific SEO tactics that work best for the dental industry. If you want to know more about how SEO can help request a consultation call with us now. We will be happy to answer your queries.
Addigitally Digital Media Pvt Ltd has been selected among the Top Dental Website Design Companies by Designrush.
Head on to Addigitally if you are looking out for seo strategy for your dental business.