Local SEO For Dentists – Tips and Tricks From Our Experts To succeed in 2021

We all know Google search results are a great way to drive new patients into a practice. But you don’t need an SEO course to get started.

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Services are the gritty but fruitful work that gets dental practices top rankings in Google search results. The only problem is that Local SEO is a confusing, ongoing, interactive process for someone who doesn’t do it every day. It can require practices to spend continual time, money, and effort to achieve any kind of long-term results. And that’s only if you have some clue on where to start!

Our dental SEO experts are here to help you on the right path. Below are a few easy ways to get Google to notice your dental practice.

Blog Now – And Blog Often.

A blog is a powerful Local SEO tool, especially during this COVID slowdown. Hey, guess what? You’re reading a blog RIGHT NOW! Use yours now and use it often.

If you didn’t already know about blogs; a blog is simply a space that your practice can write content that interests you online. In the dental world, blogs are used to speak on common questions like “Household Toothache Remedies” or “How Does Whitening Work”. However, blog topics catered to your community can really move the needle too. You don’t have to keep your topics strictly dental all the time either. You can blog about local events you’re involved in. As long as it is relevant to your dental practice, local blog articles can really do a number for your website rankings.

You can also use your blog to share information about your team or changes happening in your office: a new staff member, new tools or services, etc! Share about any team-building events that your practice does, or blog about your team dressing up in office for any themed celebrations like Halloween. Every chance you get to talk about your community and/or dental topics is more fuel for your SEO fire!

Localize Your Website Content

Unique content is the one of the best ways to earn SEO points with Google. It hates it if you are a cookie cutter practice. Show off what makes you different and how you’re involved in your community. Here’s how to accomplish it.

No matter if you are in network with PPO or if you are Fee-For-Service, the text and images that are found on your website tell a new patient a lot about you. They can give the viewer a feel for what they are in store for before they even pick up the phone. Beyond how image and text content on your website affects your patient, it also affects your online rankings. When you are updating your website content, make sure it not only reflects who you are as a dental practice, but also highlights local places like the name of your city. Highlighting the good that you do for your community online goes along way.

Example: Graham Family Dental began building 3D masks during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then he promoted his efforts to help his local community on his social media sites and his website.

If your team volunteers, or your practice is officially a part of a local charity, then use a page on your website to share about your local charitable events. You want your website to present your office as a local landmark, so constantly seek any opportunity to localize and customize the content you present to search engines like Google.

Homepage Example: Instead of using stock photography or a quick picture of your building, take a photo of your team having a picnic or hanging out together on Main Street being “real people”. Caption with “Welcome to Dental Town, right off main street in downtown Austin.” A detailed set of photos throughout your website can be a great chance to add localized content in subtle, but impactful ways that improve your SEO success. Sprinkle in your city name and dental service terms wherever it’s natural to do so. Lastly, make sure to use high-quality photography.

Correct Your Practice Information

Let’s get a little more technical here. Your NAP is an abbreviation for the Name, Address, and Phone Number for your dental practice. And it must be right and it must be right everywhere. Here’s how.

Make sure your information is exactly the same on every notable, major directory or map. The state of this information online can make or break a practice’s rankings in Google.  Your NAP information must match the information listed on your website, so that search engines can properly read it and help patients easily find your office. If you are doing this yourself, we suggest gaining access to the primary listings on Google, Yelp, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, and Nextdoor at a minimum. Keep in mind you may have multiple listings for each location, previous locations, and even for each individual dentist. Gain access to these places and make sure your NAP is the same on all of them.

This can be a time consuming, detail-oriented process – which we do for all our clients.

Reviews and Reputation

You may or may not know this, but Google actually reads your reviews (Rude, Right?!?). How can we use this? Here’s how.

Every time you get a new review, Google reads the review for content and classifies the review by specific terms and files it away for the future. So, when your patient leaves your office and writes you a Google review that says, “Dr. Tim has the best customer service ever!” Google will now be more likely to show your listing to people searching for customer service-related dental terms. Take advantage of this when you request feedback from patients. Make sure they know what kind of power they hold in their writing. 

Not only is the text important, but the number of consistent positive reviews on your Google listing helps with your Local SEO too. Think of new reviews as push notifications to keep Google constantly reminded that you’re a local dental practice and that people in the community love you. When Google sees this, it wants to show you more and higher in search results.

So remember, building positive online reviews is key to building your SEO empire. We recommend that you use a reliable, automated, text-based review software such as BirdEye or Swell.

Pain-Free Local SEO

Local SEO can be a lot of work, but the benefits to a dental practice are long-lasting. If you prefer keeping your hands off of the keyboard and back on the dental chair, let us do the heavy lifting. Pain-Free Dental Marketing makes it easy for busy dentists and dental practices to be found on Google. Our Local SEO work supports the climb to the top of the major search engines like Google and Bing, and helps them earn more patients online. Take a look at a few of our case studies to see the new patient results.