Why Dentists Should Update Their Websites

You’re board-certified. You’re regularly ranked as one of the best dentists in your city. You have the credentials, the experience, and the high-tech equipment required for a successful dental practice. With so much going for you, why should you bother investing in a website and Dental SEO?

In a perfect world, your credentials would speak for themselves and potential patients would overlook an outdated website design, sparsely populated with the bare minimum of content. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, and patients and Google are judging you by your dental website design and the questions that your site answers every single day.

Bottom line? If your website isn’t up-to-date, you could be losing potential patients. Here are some of the ways investing in website redesign can help your dental practice.

First Impressions Count

The Stanford Web Credibility Project, which seeks to provide insight into how internet users determine whether a website is trustworthy, finds that 46.1 percent of consumers judge the credibility of a website based on its visual design, including the layout, images, color schemes, and typography. Psychologist B.J. Fogg, the director of the project, explains that:

“People do judge a website by how it looks. That’s the first test of the website. And if it doesn’t look credible or it doesn’t look like what they expect it to be, they go elsewhere. It doesn’t get a second test”.

If your response to reading that was, “yikes!”, you’re right—people are harsh judges when it comes to website design. In fact, most internet users make a judgment about whether a website is high-quality within 50 milliseconds of viewing.

When your website is outdated, it sends a message that your dental practice is also outdated. When your website is cluttered, it sends a message that your practice is unprofessional.
When your website is sloppy, it sends the message that you’re careless.
We could go on, but you get the idea.

Our team of graphic designers and web developers at Dentalfone work to ensure that our clients always make a good first impression with potential patients. You’ll get a custom website redesign that reflects your sensibilities as well as those of your local community. Although every dental website we create is different, what they all have in common is a modern, uncluttered aesthetic that makes it easy for patients to access the information they are searching for.

The Internet Has Changed—and So Have Expectations

There was a time when a homepage that was simply a wall of text, links, and a few low-resolution stock images was sufficient. These days, the internet is more visual and interactive. We’ve gone from small images to large, high-resolution photographs as the centerpiece of each page, and now we’re pioneering a transition from photographs to video.

Dentalfone is on the cutting edge when it comes to incorporating custom photographs and video into dental web design. Your patients want to see you, not a stock photo of a random dentist; they want to take a look at your office, not a generic one you found on Google Images. To reiterate our previous point, appearance does matter. By embracing video and using eye-catching images, you’re sending a signal to patients that your practice is modern and forward-thinking.

SEO Is Built-In

When you choose to update your site with Dentalfone and work with our SEO Team, SEO is baked into the process. Our web developers work closely with our local search experts—instead of building a site and then layering in SEO, your site is designed with SEO in mind. It’s in the Hybrid-Responsive interface, the structure of your navigation, and the speed with which your website loads. There is no aspect of our design process that doesn’t take search engine rankings into consideration when you work with our web-development and SEO teams.

Why is this so important? It’s because we know local mobile searches are one of the most significant marketing tools you have as a dental practice. 78 percent of local mobile searches result in an interaction, which means getting your dental website to rank at the top of the first page of search results is virtually guaranteed to grow your practice. We also know that 64 percent of local customers use search engines to find businesses and 46 percent of all Google searches are local. All these statistics add up to one thing: search engine optimization matters.

Unlike paid advertising, once you invest in SEO, the ongoing organic traffic you get from it is free. While ongoing tweaks and updates will always be needed, SEO is much more of a long-term investment than Google Ads. The best marketing strategies incorporate both.

Going Beyond Marketing

Many dental practices view their website as a marketing tool—and it is. But the difference between a good website and a great one is that a great website is a true resource for patients, and it ranks highly on Google page 1 for keywords and long-tail search queries.

Here are some of the ways we design dental websites for our SEO customers that go beyond marketing:

We create an online library of information for your patients, with detailed descriptions of procedures, aftercare protocols, FAQs, and educational blog posts.
Dentalfone’s advanced Hybrid-Responsive user interface allows websites to render beautifully across all platforms for ease of use.
Our available dental forms are mobile-friendly, secure, and HIPAA compliant, allowing your patients to fill out new patient registration paperwork directly on your dental website.
Dentalfone websites incorporate online appointment request capabilities to make scheduling a breeze.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can incorporate new telehealth features into client websites, including online consultations.

(Good) Content Is King

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about aesthetics, but that doesn’t mean substance doesn’t matter. The content you put on your website matters a lot, particularly when it comes to Google. Considering that Google has in effect become an “answer” machine, good content sends “signals” to Google establishing your practice as an authoritative source to answer search queries.

Your website should be full of robust, informative content. The key procedures you offer should have a dedicated service page on your website with details to help educate your patients. You should have a blog that’s regularly updated with articles relevant to your practice. Everything you write should be concise and easy-to-skim, as that’s how most people read online.

Google loves high-quality content, but your patients will too. While you’ll want to use content creation as a means of getting important keywords onto relevant pages, it’s also critical to include information that your patients will want to know about your practice. Create a page that covers payment options, the types of insurance you accept, and other practice policies. Anticipate the questions your patients will ask and include them in FAQs.

Find Out How Dentalfone Can Take Your Website to the Next Level

To discuss how we can help expand your website’s reach through professional dental website design and SEO, contact us today.

How to Choose the Best Dental Website Design Agency | Dentalfone

How to Choose the Best Website Design Agency for Your Dental Practice

No matter the location of your dental practice, patients in your area likely have a lot of choices for their dental care. Standing out among other local practices is imperative to grow your business. You can't do this without a visually appealing and search engine-friendly website.

Your website is a crucial element to the success of the entire marketing strategy for your dental practice. The growth of your practice can hinge on the website designer you hire. Here are some practical tips on choosing the best agency to design your dental practice website.

Is the Website Design Agency Interested in Getting to Know Your Dental Practice Well?

Your prospective website designer should be interested in learning all about you and your business. They should want to know about your dental practice, your business objectives, your website goals, and your audience.

A website designer must deeply understand these elements of your dental practice to design a website that reflects your business. Without such an understanding, you risk ending up with a generic website that doesn't accurately depict what your audience wants to see and learn about your practice.

Are They Well-Versed in SEO and Digital Marketing?

It goes without saying that you want your website to be visually appealing. Still, to be effective, it must also rank well on search engines.

Your website design agency could produce the best-looking website for your dental practice, but if it doesn't meet current digital marketing standards and incorporate the latest search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, it won't show up when your potential dental patients are searching online for a dentist.

When interviewing a potential website design agency, find out what they know about SEO as well as digital marketing, in general, and how they incorporate their knowledge into website design.

What Do Their Previous Projects Look Like? Did They Have Good Results?

When interviewing a website design agency for your dental practice, ask to see samples of their previous work. Read their reviews and find out if they will provide you with some references to speak to prior clients.

Remember to go beyond the visual appeal of their website design work—dig a little deeper when asking questions and evaluating their work products to find out if their website design has had positive results. How do their websites rank on search engines? Did their designs help boost their rankings and, ultimately, their conversion rates and patient numbers?

Dentalfone Brings Reliable Results

At Dentalfone, we know you have a wide range of choices when it comes to website design agencies for your dental practice. However, our clients choose us and stay with us because we bring reliable results. We have the talent, skills, resources, and knowledge to make your dental practice website an effective marketing tool that will help you grow your business beyond what you could have imagined.

To learn more about all we have to offer, call us today at 855-385-3663 or request an appointment online.

We look forward to speaking with you and learning more about your dental practice and business goals.

Why Unique Content Is Crucial for SEO Success

In the digital world, it’s no longer enough to have quality content–and that’s if readers believe your content is quality to begin with. Leading search engine algorithms like Google and Bing reward original content with higher rankings that stick longer.

Google periodically releases guidelines for how websites should present their content–and what distinguishes average content from stellar content–to offer the best user experience possible. This means that you need to create truly unique and relevant content that answers users’ questions and encourages exploration throughout your site.

This article covers key points about why unique and high-performance content is crucial for SEO success, as well as some strategies you can implement to ensure your blog posts stand out among the millions of content pieces published every week.

Why Is Original SEO Content More Important Than Ever?

The SEO success you crave depends on you and your originality. Long gone are the days when you could write 500 words of industry aphorisms and get all the traffic you want. Now and in the future, your SEO content needs an unmistakable sense of personality and never-before-seen insights your niche can benefit from.

Original content is essential for a few reasons. One, original content is proof the creator put thought into their work. They weren’t going to accept just any arrangement of facts. Two, it reveals the creator cares about their audience. Someone who values their audience wants to help before they sell. Three, originality is one of the few things that can’t be faked. You can use tools for tech SEO and even content improvements, but real creators don’t automate the content creation process.

Unfortunately, many businesses launch their SEO content marketing efforts with re-written content from their competitors, borrowed content from other sources, or even AI content creation tools. Taking this approach isn’t just lazy; it’s often counterproductive. To get real SEO results, you need to write original content from scratch and keep it updated.

SEO, and the importance of original content, can be simplified down to two points. One, original content is useful content. People don’t need rehashed versions of others’ work; they want something noteworthy. Two, you want your content to be as unique as possible so your posts are read, shared, and championed by the people who matter most to your brand.

What Are Some Characteristics of Unique SEO Content?

The value of originality for SEO content is clear. But how do you distill this timeless principle into actionable content production frameworks?

We narrowed our list down to six leading characteristics of the best-performing, original SEO content:

The topic must be relevant and practical for your target audience. There’s a reason why so much how-to content reaches the first page of Google. Most people turn to the Internet to find an answer or learn a process. If you have the best how-to blog post for your chosen keyword on the Internet, you’re going to see success from it.
Your content must be clear, concise, and grammatically correct. This includes being free of spelling, formatting, and image errors. No one will respect content that offers valuable insights but is challenging to read or looks hastily composed. What’s more, many of Google’s recent core algorithm updates place greater emphasis on content authority and trustworthiness. Double- and triple-check your content before it goes live.
Your images should be high quality, relevant to your words, and include pertinent alt text. Internet users love content that’s visual, and research indicates blog posts with an image every 100 words get shared at least twice as often. Alt text increases your dental website accessibility and also for search engines to see that more of your content is relevant to a user’s query.
Aim for longer-form content. Content should be long enough to be substantive but not too long to be mentally burdensome. 500 words is a minimum for a focused topic. 1,000 words is about the length it takes to write thoughtfully about four or five subtopics within a main topic. 2,000 words gives you more room to expand on a subtopic or include additional information like frequently asked questions.
Your blog posts should be published on your website and not on a third-party platform like Medium or Blogger. If you want to generate and retain SEO traffic for years to come, it’s best to publish content where you want people to take action. Medium.com is a nice place to garner brand awareness and cultivate discussions, but it’s not ideal for driving conversions. Show Google which domain it should prioritize and its algorithm will follow suit.
Your blog posts should be updated once every 90 days to ensure content freshness. Trends, answers, and solutions change all the time–no matter what industry you’re in. That’s why it’s crucial to update your content, even if it’s to add a few links or update your FAQ section. Doing this for all of your content gives Google another reason to trust your site with all of its sweet, sweet traffic.

Benefits of Publishing Original Content

Now that you have excellent content creation principles at your disposal, it’s time to see them in context. The following four sections detail the top four benefits you’ll enjoy when you publish original content:

Readers Begin Seeing Your Site As Authoritative

Readers begin seeing your site as authoritative when you publish content that is relevant, insightful, and short enough to read in a few minutes. Over time, they’ll begin to trust your site more and rely on the information you provide. All of this traffic headed to your site signals to Google that you have what people need, which means they’ll boost your rankings.

Google Understands Your Site Content Is Trustworthy

Google understands your site content is trustworthy when it sees you consistently publish unique, high-quality pieces of content that clearly explain topics and are free of editorial errors. Google also appreciates when you publish at least one new article every 30 days. This shows you have an editorial calendar in place and care about your readers. Consistency is the best way to build trust, and trust is the single biggest factor that convinces a stranger to become a buyer.

Your Content Is More Likely to Go Viral

Original content is more likely to go viral than content that is too similar to other sources. Viral content increases the readership of your article as well as the likelihood that others cite it in their work.

Your Business Feels Less Corporate and More Personal

When you publish unique, high-quality content, your readers understand that you’re a human and not a faceless corporation. Publishing original content allows your blog to feel authentic and even a bit humorous (if applicable), and keeps your brand at the forefront of your content.

10 Strategies for Creating High-Quality, High-Performing Content

Knowing what works and putting it into practice are quite different. That’s especially true if you’re building a long-term content plan. Here are 10 plug-and-play tactics to increase the chances that as much of your content as possible makes it to page one:

Thoroughly research your topic before writing about it.
Look at the questions that are being searched on your topic (the People Also Ask section) and how they’re being answered.
Consider which topics are valuable to your target audience, and look for keyword opportunities that don’t yet have a lot of blog posts associated with them.
Use free tools like Google Trends to help you find topics that are growing month over month.
Develop a written tone of voice that’s as unique as possible, especially for your industry.
Ensure your content isn’t too short–aim for 500 words as a minimum.
Make sure your content isn’t too long and burdensome–remember, 2,000 to 2,500 words should be your upper limit.
Ensure your content contains enough information to succinctly address the questions readers would have when reading it.
Include citations for sources, especially about health or financial matters.
Ensure you have a unique and valid URL for your blog post.
Ensure you have a unique and valid blog post H1 (the reader-facing title).

The Bottom Line

Original, high-performance content is a must for successful SEO, especially any long-term campaign. Google continually rewards content that offers insights no one else on the Internet has yet dreamed up. The search engine giant also penalizes or neutralizes content that is copied and pasted from other sources.

Original content is important for all websites, especially up-and-coming dental practices. It will give your website a boost in Google, improve your readers’ experiences, and make your brand seem more human and authentic. While it takes time to create original content, it’s always worth the effort.

Need Help with SEO?

Google Analytics 4: What You Need to Know

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the newest version of Google’s widely-used web analytics platform. As of July 1, 2023, Google will no longer be recording data via the previous Universal Analytics, so it’s important to get up to speed on Google Analytics 4 right away if you haven’t already.

Keep reading to learn the fundamentals about GA4, including how to set it up, the main features to use, and how to track your data more efficiently.

What Is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 is a free web analytics tool that helps businesses track and analyze user behavior on their websites. GA4 measures site traffic, events like conversions, and time spent on page–among other metrics–that help businesses understand their customers better. GA4 offers a more complete view of customer behavior across multiple devices and platforms, including mobile apps.

Key Features of Google Analytics 4

GA4 comes with several new features that make it even more useful. One of its key functionalities is the ability to measure common event types without configuration. Events are user interactions on a website, such as clicks, video views, and form submissions.

Another key feature of GA4 is improved data-driven attribution. Previously, GA primarily offered “last-click attribution,” which states the final channel someone interacted with got credit for a campaign’s result. With Google Analytics 4, users have a more comprehensive view of the channels and marketing initiatives that led to a conversion. Using your findings on a regular basis simplifies the decision making process for future marketing campaigns.

GA4 also provides more valuable integrations, including Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360, and Google Ads. Instead of hopping back and forth between multiple dashboards, see all of your most important Google advertising data in one tool.

Setting Up Google Analytics 4

If you are a Dentalfone client, we have already taken care of this for you. For others, setting up Google Analytics 4 is simple and relatively quick, as long as you’re following the right process. The first step is to create a Google Analytics account (if you don’t already have one). You can do this by going to the Google Analytics website and following the prompts to create an account.

Once your account is created, you need to create a new property for Google Analytics 4. Click on the “Admin” button and select “Create Property.” Continue following the onscreen prompts to finish setting up your GA4 property. When you’re done, you’ll see a confirmation message.

Once the property is created, it’s time to add the tracking code to your website. This is a string of code that’s added to the backend of your website to ensure GA can properly collect data from your site. If you need help installing the tracking code, follow Google’s setup guidelines and you’ll be set in just a few minutes.

Understanding the Google Analytics 4 Interface

For Dentalfone SEO customers, you will have a custom portal that provides a simple interface for understanding and tracking your site's performance. For others, the GA4’s interface is designed to be more user-friendly and customizable than the Universal Analytics interface. It has a more modern look and feel and is organized into three main sections: Home, Analysis, and Configure. Here are details about each section:

Home: Provides a high-level overview of key metrics, such as user behavior, traffic sources, and user demographics.
Analysis: Offers deeper insights into user behavior, including user journeys, events, and conversions.
Configure: Allows you to customize your Google Analytics 4 account, including creating custom reports and dashboards.

Differences Between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics

Google Analytics 4 is different from Universal Analytics in several ways. One of the main differences is the tracking method. Google Analytics 4 uses an event-driven model, while Universal Analytics used a pageview-based model.

Another difference between the two is the reporting system. GA4 provides more advanced and customizable reporting options than Universal Analytics. It also provides deeper insights into user actions, like reporting on engaged sessions instead of just site bounces.

Yet another difference is that GA4 provides better cross-device tracking, making it simpler and faster to understand customer behavior across multiple devices. This data helps your web development team implement changes faster, your marketing team understand campaigns earlier, and your sales team capitalize on testimonials better.

What to Know About the Transition to Google Analytics 4

If you’re already a Dentalfone SEO client, rest assured we’ll handle all aspects of your Google Analytics transition for you. Our web development team has completed thousands of site maintenance and migration tasks, and this is no different.

If you have questions about the transition to Google Analytics 4 or need help, please contact us.

The Bottom Line

Google Analytics 4 is Google’s latest and greatest iteration for understanding your site and app visitors and the actions they take. Integrating your GA4 account with other Google tools, such as Google Ads and Google Tag Manager, provides an even more powerful view of user behavior.

Are you looking for an agency you can trust your dental practice marketing with? Request a free quote now. We’ll help you transform your practice into the success story you’re dreaming of!

Google My Business Adds COVID Delta Variant Precautions

The spring of 2020 was a difficult time for many of our clients. COVID-19 was new, there was uncertainty about how it was transmitted, and dental practices closed their doors to everything except emergency care. As we learned more about the virus, dental practices were able to open back up, and once vaccinations were widely available, it seemed like COVID-19 would soon be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, the emergence of the Delta variant has proven that COVID-19 is likely here to stay—at least for the time being. This means it’s time to make sure your patients are aware of the COVID-19 protocols at your dental practice.

Local Profiles and COVID-19 Protocols

In addition to putting updates on your website, updating your local business profiles is an easy way to publicize the steps you’re taking to keep patients safe. We're assuming you're already using Yelp, Google My Business, and Bing Places, so all you have to do is log in and take advantage of the built-in features to share updates on your dental practice’s operations during COVID-19.

Updating COVID-19 Protocols on Google My Business

Your Google My Business profile should be the first place you share COVID-19 updates, since both new and existing patients may land on your website from Google. There are a few different ways to update your GMB profile with your COVID-19 protocols.

To create a GMB post about your protocols, use the COVID-19 Update option in posts. The next way to update your profile is by going to Health and Safety in your settings and choosing from the following options:

Mask required
Temperature check required
Staff wear masks
Staff get temperature checks

Updating COVID-19 Protocols on Bing Places

When you log into your Bing Places account, you'll notice a COVID-19 Related Announcements option front-and-center. Enter the information you want to share and specify a start and finish date for your announcement, if you have one. You can also use this section to link to your website; we recommend linking directly to your COVID-19 protocol page, rather than your homepage.

Updating COVID-19 Protocols on Yelp

COVID-19 protocols can be shared in a variety of ways on your dental practice’s Yelp profile. First, you can let your patients know if you're open or closed. If your practice is open to patients, you can add virtual consultations as an option, then check the boxes for any health precautions you've taken. Among the options are:

Proof of vaccination required
All staff fully vaccinated
Masks required
Staff wears masks

To share additional messaging with potential patients, you may also place a banner message at the top of your Yelp profile. This is a good place to share other safety measures your practice has implemented.

Why It Matters

As the Delta variant spreads across the United States, patients will return to feeling hesitant about visiting the dentist for needed care. You can assuage these concerns by making it clear that you’re taking all of the necessary steps to keep your patients safe.

In addition, by letting patients know what to expect before they come to your dental practice for an appointment, you can avoid potential conflicts over mask wearing and social distancing, which reduces the burden on your staff in enforcing your office’s guidelines.

Get Help Updating Your Local Profiles With Dentalfone

If you need help staying on top of your local profile updates, schedule a meeting with Dentalfone SEO.

Why Is Your Google Business Profile So Important?

There’s no question about it: Google Business Profiles are the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to local SEO these days. Even if your patients initially find your practice through other means, they likely use Google to locate your website, address, phone number, or office hours. Google is ubiquitous, and with its 86.6 percent market share of desktop searches, it’s virtually a monopoly, which means you either play by Google’s rules or you don’t play at all.

If that sounds ominous, it wasn’t meant to—there are a lot of reasons to love Google Business Profiles. For dental practices, Google Business Profiles put all of your most vital information at your patients’ fingertips, it allows you to share relevant business updates, and it lets you interact with patients via reviews. Here’s why your Google Business Profile is so important for local businesses like yours.

The Link Between Local Search and Google Business Profile

There’s a simple and obvious answer as to why Google Business Profiles are important: Google owns it. Google is not a public service or utility; it is a business and as such, it prioritizes the businesses that are using its products and services. In other words, a business that has an active, optimized, and complete Google Business Profile is more likely to perform well in local Google searches, and outperform competitors that do not understand and utilize this platform.

This, of course, isn’t just to reward businesses that take the time to optimize their Google listings. It’s also because by having an active Google Business Profile, it helps Google better understand your dental practice and the services you offer. This, in turn, allows Google to deliver search results to its users that are tailored to their queries and location.

Dental practices that have detailed information in their profiles are more likely to surface in Google Maps for specific queries, and more likely to come out ahead in desktop search results as well. Improvements in rankings in Google Maps and Google search can occur even without any changes to your practice’s website. Just optimizing your Google profile is enough to make a difference.

Managing Your Google Business Profile

Knowing this, it’s a good idea to start being proactive with your Google profile if you aren’t already. Here are some steps you can take to optimize your dental practice’s presence in Google’s local results:

Make sure all relevant fields are filled out.
Check your address, phone number, and office hours for accuracy.
When your office hours or other information changes, update it on Google as soon as possible.
Respond to patient reviews on Google, whether good or bad.
Share updates about your business.
Answer questions asked by searchers.
Add photos, announcements, blogs etc to the “posting” section on a weekly basis.

The more active you are with your Google profile, the more Google will reward you on its other platforms.

If you don’t have time to spend on Google Business Profile, Dentalfone can help. To discuss our Google Business Profile management services, schedule a meeting with Dentalfone SEO.

Google Business Posts for Dentists: What You Need to Know

As a dentist, keeping up with the latest in SEO and social media can feel like a Sisyphean task. Just when you think you have a handle on SEO, there’s an algorithm change; as soon as you’ve mastered all of your social media platforms, a new one pops up.

One of the more recent updates with Local SEO is the rise of Google Business posts. In this article, we’ll get you up to speed on Google Business, Google Business posts and the importance of incorporating this activity within your SEO strategy.

What Is Google Business?

Whether or not you’re a current Dentalfone client, we’re betting you’re familiar with Google Business. This is a feature Google offers local businesses to allow them to manage their own presence on Google Search and Google Maps. As a dental practice, local search is the front door to any SEO strategy, so if you’re not already active on Google Business, it’s time to get started.

Google Business gives you the ability to take charge of your own information on Google; if you don’t use Google Business, Google will decide on its own what to share with potential patients about your practice and it may not be accurate. When we start working with clients on Google Business, it’s not unusual to find old office locations, prior practitioners that worked at the practice and inaccurate business hours listed in Google.

What Are Google Business Posts?

In the past, Google Business focused on essential business information, maps, and reviews. Now, businesses also have the opportunity to share updates with Google Business posts. General updates, CV-19 announcements, special offers and much more are now available, all of which help drive additional search traffic to your practice website.

Here’s what a Google Business post looks like:

If we were to compare Google Business posts to another social media platform, we’d say they’re most like Facebook profile updates — you can include text, images, and links with your latest blog posts, promotions, or office news. In fact, if you don’t have the time or budget to dedicate to Google Business posts, we recommend simply repurposing your Facebook posts for the platform so you’re consistently sharing content there.

How often should you post to Google Business? We recommend sharing posts to your account at least once a week.

How to Use Google Business Posts for Your Dental Practice

Most of your updates should have images to grab attention as well as a caption that is engaging and encourages conversion. Google Business posts are ideal for sharing upcoming events, offers or discounts, hour updates, and new services. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

Use high quality images and videos in your posts. Pictures that are blurry or have low resolution will make your practice look unprofessional and outdated.
Don’t max out the character limit. Keep it short and simple—people should be able to skim your updates and get the gist of what you’re saying.
Have a clear call to action. For a blog post, it could be “read more on our website.” Advertise a promotion by asking people to book an appointment today. Every Google Business post should have a purpose and the CTA is where you make that purpose clear.
Keep it professional, but friendly. Google Business isn’t Instagram; avoid excessive exclamation points, slang, emojis, and anything that sounds too informal.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. We recommend trying different types of offers and promotions and analyzing how they perform. As you begin to see what works and what doesn’t, you can refine your Google Business strategy.

The optimization of your Google Business profile is the number one ranking factor for local businesses. Like everything related to Google, there’s no transparency about whether and how Google Business posts factor into ranking, but what we do know is that they’re displayed when people search for your business and they give you the power to share what you want potential patients to know about your dental practice, at the precise moment that they are searching for your services.

Learn How Dentalfone Can Help Manage Your Dental Practice’s Google Business Presence

If you’re struggling to keep up with Google Business posts, our team of local search experts at Dentalfone can help. Contact us today at 855-385-3663 to find out more about our dental SEO services.

Geofencing For Dentists: Location Targeting to Grow Your Practice

Smartphones have changed digital marketing in countless ways, and geofencing is perhaps one of the most exciting. Traditionally, digital ad targeting was done by demographics, interests, and home address, but geofencing allows marketers to target ads based on the current location of a mobile device. In other words, someone might live in Omaha but be traveling to Chicago on business, and when they’re in Chicago, they’ll see ads for local restaurants and attractions while browsing the internet on their phone. When they’re back home in Omaha, they’ll stop seeing these ads.

How Geofencing Works

With geofencing, you’ll draw a virtual boundary around a location or use specific addresses; ad servers know who to show your ad to based on beacon technology, GPS, radio frequency identifiers, and/or Bluetooth. Going back to our restaurant example, a possible geofencing campaign could be showing ads for happy hour to people who work in offices within a 5 block radius of the restaurant each afternoon.

Benefits of Geofencing

There are a number of reasons to implement geofencing in your digital marketing efforts:

Expand Your Ad Reach

If you’re currently only using Google Ads and/or Facebook Ads, then you’re missing out on opportunities to get in front of prospective patients. For example, a pediatric dentist could target nearby daycare centers to get in front of parents that may not be actively searching in Google. This is an opportunity to introduce your office without the distraction of other competitor ads.

Improved ROI

Geofencing allows you to target the audiences who are most likely to visit your dental practice. When combined with other forms of targeting, you can decide who sees your ads with laser precision, maximizing your ROI.

Track Real Visits

With other forms of advertising, success is typically measured by phone calls or form submissions on the website. The problem is that not all of those leads turn into patients in your office. With geofencing, conversions are actual visits because the technology uses your office address as the conversion zone. That means you’ll know exactly how many patients showed up to your office after viewing or clicking on your ads.

Examples of Geofencing for Dentists

We know what you’re thinking: This all sounds great, but it also doesn’t sound like something that would work for my dental practice.

It may seem that way on the surface, but with a little creativity, you can make geofencing work for you. Here are some ideas:

Geofence around retirement communities to advertise dental implants or dentures.
Geofence around medspas, plastic surgery clinics, and high-end salons to advertise cosmetic and/or reconstructive dentistry services.
Geofence around newly-built subdivisions to advertise to people looking for a new dentist.
Geofence around gyms to advertise custom mouth guards.
Geofence around playgrounds and schools to advertise pediatric dentistry services to parents.
Geofence around chiropractic practices and alternative medicine clinics to advertise holistic dentistry.
Geofence around competing dental practices to advertise your superior (or more affordable) services.

While there are not quite as many opportunities in geofencing for dentists—going to the dentist isn’t a spur of the moment decision for most people, after all!—as you can see, there are some exciting ways to set up geofenced campaigns to promote your dental practice.

Learn More About Geofencing for Dentists

The Importance of ‘Near Me’ Searches for Dental SEO

When it comes to marketing a dental practice, smartphone optimization is crucial. People spend far more time on mobile devices than on their computers these days, which means they're also conducting their online searches on their phones. When a potential patient searches for a dental practice on a mobile device, the user's location is taken into account, especially with the local pack and Google Map results, making "near me" searches that seek hyperlocal results more common than ever before.

"Near Me" Searches Become the Norm for Finding Dentists

Local searches with the qualification "near me" grew 150 percent in 2017, showing significantly more growth than searches without that term, according to Think With Google. This indicates that when people search for businesses like dental practices, they prefer to view a list of results that are nearest to them, rather than simply retrieving a list of dentists in the same town or county.

Users are seeking even more granular information from types of searches, according to Think With Google data, using terms like "where to buy" and "on sale" in addition to the "near me" qualifier. This information should influence how you approach local SEO for your dental practice. Instead of "dentist near me," people may be searching phrases like, "where to get teeth whitening near me," or "Invisalign promotion near me."

Dentists Near Me: Now Hyperlocal

When prospective patients use their smartphones to look for a dental practice near them, they're often presented with a list of dentists that aren't just in their town, but in the very neighborhood where they're searching. The term we use for this is hyperlocal, and it's not just the future of local search but the future of marketing your business.

To utilize the popular website Nextdoor, users must first enter their address; they are then connected to the appropriate neighborhood based on their address and asked to submit a recommendation before searching for a (hyper-)local business near them—like a dentist.

Nextdoor searches return results that are hyperlocal to the user's chosen neighborhood. When local search resource AdviceLocal created a test account and looked for a business outside of its designated neighborhood, they could not find it in the results—only businesses in the neighborhood were shown.

We believe that hyperlocal marketing and search are critical for dental practices. We're seeing a growing number of online businesses set up in this fashion, from news websites like BubbleLife to food delivery apps. If you haven't done so already, now is the time to claim your business listing on Nextdoor and keep informed about new hyperlocal prospects for your practice.

Facebook Neighborhoods: A New Hyperlocal Concept

Facebook announced in May 2021 that it would be testing its new Facebook Neighborhoods feature in Canada. Facebook Neighborhoods, a potential competitor to Nextdoor, allows neighbors to interact and provide recommendations to each other. Residents will be able to vote for their favorite hyperlocal businesses, services, and places using popular features like polling, which will be integrated into these Neighborhood communities.

Should Facebook Neighborhoods be released in the United States, it will be critical to claim your business listing and make the most of any features offered to promote your dental practice to the surrounding community. Getting in on the ground floor will give you a leg up on other dentists in your area.

Learn More About Local and Hyperlocal Search

Dentalfone can assist you if you're feeling overwhelmed by the trend to hyperlocal and the increasing demands of local search for your dental practice. To learn more about our dental SEO services and how we can help you stay on top of your competition, contact us today.

Voice Search SEO for Dentists

The challenge of search engine optimization is staying on top of ever-changing algorithms and trends. What worked yesterday might not work today, and what works today has a very good chance of being obsolete a year from now. Good SEO is built upon a foundation of high-quality content, something that will serve your dental practice well through any changes in technology and algorithms. We’re seeing this play out as voice search rapidly changes the SEO game.

Best Practices for Voice Search SEO for Dentists

Here are four tips for how to optimize your web presence for voice search.

1. Go Local with VEO (Voice Engine Optimization)

Build up your local bona fides by focusing on your Google My Business, Bing, and Yelp profiles. One of the most common ways people use voice search is to locate businesses near them—and your local profiles are one of the primary ways for search engines to know that your business is trustworthy, legitimate, and worth recommending to users. According to BrightLocal, search engines take the following into consideration in SERPs for voice search:

The proximity of the business to the searcher’s location
How the business interacts with customer reviews
How many backlinks the business’s website has
Social media presence and activity
Visibility in industry and local directories

In other words, investing in local search pays dividends when it comes to getting your dental practice noticed.

2. Utilize Voice App Technology

If someone is using Google Assistant or Alexa to ask what to do when a crown falls out, do they want to read the answer? Or would a voice response be more helpful? Consider investing in conversational voice app technology to answer frequently asked questions and explain common dental procedures. While this might not be a must for SEO right now, it will give you an advantage in a competitive market and in a few years, this type of technology may be a prerequisite for ranking well in a Google Page 1 search result. (Contact us and speak with our Director of SEO, Robert Messinger, if you’re more interested in learning about our voice app technology solutions.)

3. Understand Search Intent

People use voice search differently than text search, but when it comes to voice search SEO, it’s more important than ever to understand the why’s and how’s of search. How are people finding your site? Why are they using the keywords they’re using?

“What do I do if my dental crown falls out?” has a different search intent than “emergency dentist near me who repairs crowns.” The latter wants to find a dentist to call; the former may or may not be ready to schedule an appointment and they’re primarily looking for information.

Don’t attempt a bait-and-switch and try to attract users with one keyword in order to direct them to something completely different — this is a surefire way to sink your rankings with voice search. If you don’t offer traditional dentures, don’t optimize for that keyword and try to sell people on dental implants instead; don’t try to rank as a local orthodontist for voice search if you only offer Invisalign. Gaming the system only hurts your dental practice in the end.

4. Keep Producing Useful Content

Content is king. Search engines want useful information that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (also known as E-A-T). As a dentist, you have all three of these in spades, so it pays to capitalize on that and create content that will drive people to your website.

Because people often use natural language questions with voice search, providing them with natural language answers is important. Add frequently asked questions to your website and you might just find yourself in the coveted position zero spot on Google Page 1—the featured snippet, which is where many voice assistants pull answers from.

How Dentalfone Can Help You Meet the Demands of Voice Search Technology

If keeping up with the latest developments in search has you pulling out your hair, Dentalfone can help. Our SEO team are tenured authorities on local search and we can provide unique insight into the ways in which local search and voice search interact. Dentalfone’s dental SEO services include:

Well-researched content for your website
Social media management
Google My Business profile maintenance
Submission to local directory sites
Press releases

Each of these can improve your rankings and help you meet the ever changing landscape brought upon by the advent of voice search.

Learn More About Voice Search SEO for Dentists

To discuss how we can help optimize your dental practice’s web presence for voice search, schedule a meeting with Dentalfone SEO.