Why Dentists Should Issue Press Releases

In this age of digital marketing, press releases may sound like a bit of a throwback. Why issue a press release when you could boost a post on Facebook or add more budget to your Google Ads campaign? We issue press releases for the value that they add to Organic SEO.

Press releases might not be a promotional tool on the radar of most dentists and practice managers, but 72 percent of journalists say that press releases are one of the most useful types of content sent by PR firms. Local news outlets often use press releases to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings in the community, but the more modern benefit of press releases is that they build brand reputation, grow an online presence, and improve SEO.

According to Robert Messinger, Director of SEO at Dentalfone, “The reason that we publish press releases is to promote a significant event.  A new website, new technology, a new associate are all newsworthy items. It is an off-page Local SEO strategy that helps popularize your events, products, and services on the web to improve the SEO of your site.”

The key to writing an effective press release is to choose a compelling, newsworthy topic. Some potential ideas for dental practices include:

• Launching a new dental practice or opening a new location
• Releasing a new website
• Offering a new dental service
• Adding a new dentist to the practice
• Rebranding
• Celebrating a milestone or anniversary
• Launching a charitable campaign or making a donation to a non-profit
• Participating in community outreach programs
• Receiving an award or certification
• Announcing the publication of an article or book
• Sharing dental tips or education
• Promoting an upcoming event
• Announcing a retirement

You might be surprised to find that your press release is picked up by a local news outlet and leads to a bigger story and a steady stream of new patients — but even if it isn’t, you’ll still benefit from the off-page SEO that sends a signal to Google that your site is legitimate and trustworthy. 

As Messinger explains, “Press releases are an efficient way to build citations -- mentions of your dental practice’s Name, Address, and Phone number. By including your practice’s contact information in the address, when that press release is distributed to dozens of online news websites, you build citations -- and those citations can help improve your practice’s local Google rankings.” 

No one likes to toot their own horn, so let us do the work for you. We offer a press release service to make the process simple and affordable. Instead of hiring an expensive public relations firm to write and distribute your press releases, our in-house writing and SEO team can get the job done for you as an add-on to our standard SEO services.  

Our SEO team will help you select topics that are relevant to your practice and will pique the interest of potential patients and reporters. Once the press release is written, you’ll have a chance to review it before it’s distributed. Our competitive pricing fits into the budget of dental practices of all sizes. 

If you’d like to learn more about how issuing press releases can help your SEO and spread the word about big changes at your dental practice, schedule a meeting with Dentalfone SEO. We’re always available to help you make the most out of your partnership with us.

Here at Dentalfone, we’ve been hard at work these past few months developing new ways to help our clients promote their practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the steps we’re recommending is to load safety protocol pages onto client websites. 

What we know about the novel coronavirus now is very different from what we knew about it in January. As our knowledge evolves, so do safety protocols, ADA, and CDC guidelines. It’s important to have current documentation on your website that reflects the infection control procedures in your practice. 

During this time, all of us are adjusting to a new normal. It can be unnerving for patients to arrive at their doctor’s or dentist’s office and find an empty waiting room, be asked to have their temperature taken, wear a mask, etc. Having a protocol page helps prepare your patients for what to expect from dental visits in the time of COVID-19. With a small minority of Americans refusing to wear masks and social distance, it’s also helpful to make all of your patients aware of these protocols before they arrive at your office to prevent possible conflicts.

We also foresee that having a safety protocol is going to become a marketing tool for dental practices. Implementing advanced sterilization techniques, air purification systems, etc., is going to give you a leg up on other local practices. You can expect that patients are going to be checking these protocols before they schedule appointments and may even choose a provider based on the measures they take to keep patients safe. 

Being adaptable is the name of the game right now. In March, dentistry was deemed a nonessential service in some states, leaving dentists only able to serve patients experiencing dental emergencies. Now, as restrictions begin to be loosened, dentists must adapt their safety protocols.

Dentistry involves both close contact and high-aerosol procedures; dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants are among the most vulnerable professions when it comes to infection in the workplace. Until there is sufficient PPE and rapid testing available, we can expect that there will be no “back to normal.” Even with these two factors in place, the dental experience for patients will be quite different than what it was before COVID-19, with screenings and social distancing in waiting areas. Once a vaccination is widely available and no community transition is detected, dentists will be able to return to business as usual, but undoubtedly, patients will continue to have higher standards for safety and cleanliness.

Related to that last point, now is the time to clean house—replace worn-out dental chairs or carpet, set up a cleaning service to dust and vacuum, and make sure your office looks clean. Patients will flock to modern practices with bright, sterile surroundings and the latest dental equipment and technologies. Even having a website with a clean, uncluttered design can send a message about your practice. 

Teledentistry is another service worth investigating. While it may not work for every dental practice, many can utilize teledentistry to assist patients in emergencies, offer guidance on homecare, and provide consultations on future procedures.

Let us know if you have questions on how to best market your dental practice during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Contact us today to schedule a meeting.

Dentalfone specializes in designing cutting edge websites and forward-thinking marketing services for dentists. Well-known for their Hybrid Responsive website technology, Dentalfone also provides its clients with cloud-apps, Search Engine Optimization, logo design, custom videography, photography, online patient forms, and Social Media, all with the overarching goal of making it easier for dentists to connect with their patients.

First, we want to reiterate that our team is working hard (from home) to support you during the COVID-19 crisis. Read more about how we’re responding to the situation on our blog COVID-19 and Your Dental Website.

Google My Business is one of the most important tools dentists have for local SEO search visibility. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has now impacted GMB, as Google has decided to temporarily disable and limit a number of popular features, including the ability to obtain and respond to client reviews. Here’s what you need to know:

These are the features that you and your patients will no longer be able to use:

• New Reviews – During this time, no new reviews will be published. Users can post reviews and see them, but they will not be viewable by the public. 

• Review Replies – You will be unable to respond to reviews on your profile or edit replies you’ve written previously.

• Q&A – Questions and answers have been removed from profiles altogether. Your patients will not be able to read your Q&A content or post new questions.

These are the features that Google has decided to limit for the time being:

• Adding, Claiming, and Verifying Listings – Google is prioritizing health-related businesses, while all other businesses are being delayed. We do not believe dental practices will see an impact here.

• Editing Business Information – Again, Google is giving priority to health-related businesses here. Others will see delays in the posting of listing edits.

Read Google’s post about GMB changes here.

Like many businesses, Google is trying to quickly transition its team members to telecommuting, which means critical services need to be prioritized. With limited resources and availability, Google is diverting efforts from GMB and instead focusing on ensuring that information on Google Search and Maps is reliable.

COVID-19 has already taken such a dramatic toll on small businesses and these changes to GMB are another added stressor, especially as dental practices need to provide up-to-date information to their patients. 

Will these changes have long-term implications for your practice and its local SEO? We don’t think so. Our guidance is to focus on building and improving the content on your website and engaging with patients on social media until you’re able to work on your GMB presence again. We also suggest that you use the “Add Update” feature in Google My Business “Posting” to communicate with your patients and provide the latest updates using your Google Profile.

How can we help support your dental practice right now? Don’t hesitate to schedule a meeting with Dentalfone SEO. We’re always here for you.

As our world experiences sudden changes with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hearing from many dental offices that are looking for additional treatment options for their patients. Telemedicine is a solution that can help practices quickly, efficiently, and safely consult with patients, and foster open communication with patients during this crisis.

When considering offering video conferencing solutions for dental, orthodontic, periodontic, oral surgery, and other dental specialties, it’s crucial to ensure that you are operating within the HIPAA (Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act) guidelines to maintain the integrity of your patients PHI (Protected Health Information). When seeking out a provider for video conferencing for dentistry, it’s vital to make sure that they offer the proper security and a BAA (Business Associates Agreement). 

Some video conferencing providers have opted not to offer a HIPAA compliant solution, and these services should be avoided for teledentistry. Skype®, Facetime®, Standard Email, and SMS should not be used for teledentistry. Be sure to carefully review the documentation and speak with each company you are considering before selecting the right video conferencing service to use in your dental practice.

Providers that list HIPAA compliance information include GoToMeeting® and Zoom®. The links to their HIPAA specific pages can be found below. We recommend that you reach out to any provider you are considering to speak with them about pricing and the particular needs of your practice. Be sure to review and complete all the necessary HIPAA requirements when signing on with a provider of telemedicine solutions.

https://www.goto.com/healthcare

https://zoom.us/healthcare

Once you have selected a dental telemedicine provider, you can work with your dental website company to update your website and inform your patients about the teledentistry options you offer in your practice. It’s up to each office to make sure you are correctly adhering to all government regulations and guidelines. If you need specific legal guidance, we recommend reaching out to your attorney or one specializing in HIPAA compliance for dentistry. Also, if adding Telehealth, please make sure to include language addressing the HIPAA compliance of your teledentistry provider.

Keeping patients and staff safe during the coronavirus outbreak is important for everyone in the dental community. Telemedicine is a critical part of this process, a technology that we expect more practices will adopt not only during this pandemic but in the future as well.

Dentalfone is closely monitoring information related to COVID-19 and we understand the impact on the dental and medical communities and their patients.

Many of our clients are contacting Dentalfone to post notices on their websites. Feel free to reach out to us if you haven’t already done so for more information on getting your site up to date with the latest news for your patients. Due to the sensitive nature of this subject, specific office policies, and the medical advice given in these notices, we require that each office provide us with the exact text they would like displayed on their website.

We also recommend keeping your patients up to date on social media, primarily Facebook and also inside your Google My Business profile which now includes the “post” feature for updates and time-sensitive notifications. Please contact our SEO team if you are not familiar with this recent addition to your Google My Business profile.

Please understand that with some offices having down-time to focus on other projects, such as updating their marketing and advertising initiatives, we may experience longer wait times for requests. Please know that we will process all requests as quickly as possible and are prioritizing requests for posting updates regarding COVID-19 and office related policies during this time.

We are fortunate as a company to be set up to have all staff members available to work remotely or otherwise isolated from other team members, allowing us to continue to provide our ongoing high-level service to our customers.

We wish everyone continued health and safety today and every day.

We are sometimes asked if a website is HIPAA compliant. Please note that we are not attorneys and can not provide legal advice. You should seek the services of an attorney specializing in HIPAA law and applicable state laws for guidance regarding your specific practice.

HIPAA compliance in very similar to OSHA compliance for a Dental Practice. It is the responsibility of the practice to be familiar with the laws and ensure that they are in compliance with the most current version of the laws and that they communicate with their web company regarding the information that should be posted and/or updated on the site when practice policies change. States may also have specific laws that must be adhered to as well. Your web company will not be aware, for example, when you have a staff change that affects who is acting as the HIPAA Civil Rights Coordinator for the practice. It is the responsibility of the practice to communicate this information so that the web company can update your Dental website as appropriate when these changes take place.

When working with your web company on developing your dental website please be sure to include the following information:

• Policies

  A copy of your HIPAA Policy Statement in an electronic format that is computer-readable, not a scanned copy of the document.

• The following HIPAA Practice Contact Information

  HIPAA Entity
  HIPAA Civil Rights Coordinator
  HIPAA Civil Rights Coordinator Title
  HIPAA Address
  HIPAA Phone
  HIPAA TTY
  HIPAA Email
  HIPAA Fax

• State Policies (if required)

  A copy of any privacy statements specific to your state.

• Any additional information required by HIPAA or your state.

  If any other documentation is required it should be forwarded to your web developer.

Please keep in mind that these documents are required by law for your office independent of your website, so they are the responsibility of the practice. Once you provide the above items to your dental website developer they can add them to your website.

We always recommend that a practice uses HIPAA secure email with encryption. We can provide you with the names and contact information for some companies that offer encrypted email services. This is another area where it is important to have specific practice policies in place and to ensure that all employees are properly trained to follow the HIPAA laws as well as any specific states laws regarding health information. The ongoing daily activities of the staff and how they work within the policies of the practice will impact whether the practice is HIPAA compliant just as the proper following of the OSHA laws will dictate from moment to moment whether the office is OSHA compliant.

For further reference, the ADA and the government both provide additional information on HIPAA. You can read more on these topics using the following links.

https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/member-benefits/practice-resources/dental-informatics/electronic-health-records/health-system-reform-resources/hipaa-faq

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html

In summary, a website itself is not HIPAA compliant, the practice must be. It is up to the dental practice to comply with HIPAA and state laws and communicate the appropriate information to their web developers for inclusion on the practice website.

This article does not constitute legal advice and is for informational purposes only. You should seek the services of an attorney specializing in HIPAA law and applicable state laws for guidance regarding your specific practice.

A clean design, an intuitive site map, and pictures of beautiful people with pearly white smiles — all are hallmarks of functional, aesthetically pleasing dental office websites.

And yet so many of these sites are fundamentally flawed.

A good dental website should be more than a digital brochure for your services and appointment scheduling. Does your dental website incorporate the latest online technologies? Is it hyper-relevant to people living in your service area? Does it make life easier for the folks who carry out your marketing strategy? Does it list your core services from a clinical perspective? Or does it also inform prospective patients “why they should visit you” for a specific service?

If you answered “no” to either of those questions, then you’re committing one of the three most avoidable dental website mistakes. Here, we’ll drill into these common missteps and explain why each is important.

Forget how pretty your site looks on a laptop. If it doesn’t look good on a smartphone, then it’s failing.

Period.

Most people nowadays interact with the Internet from their smartphones. According to a report by Hitwise, an estimated 58 percent of Google searches are made from mobile devices. That number is even higher for health-related searches, with 68 percent of health-related searches happening from smartphones and tablets. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that mobile search is a fad, or that you can get by with the 32 percent of web users who’ve clung to their desktops. A recent Pew Research Center study found that 92 percent of young adults own smartphones. Those are tomorrow’s coveted dental patients.

Make sure your site is technologically relevant by incorporating a responsive web design. Responsively designed websites automatically reconfigure themselves to display as intended in all kinds of browsers.

Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just creating a good user experience for patients. Without a mobile-friendly site, there’s a good chance people may not even find your site online. Google recently started indexing mobile websites with higher priority over desktop sites. Poorly optimized mobile sites are penalized in the rankings. That’s important, considering most Google users don’t click beyond the first page of search results.

In short, an aesthetically pleasing website that doesn’t display properly on smartphones isn’t worth its server space. Converting to a responsive mobile design is the best way to ensure your dental website stays current with ever-evolving technology. Learn more about our custom dental website design services.  

Smartphones didn’t just change how people view websites; they also changed how people search the Internet.

Back when desktop searches were more popular, people might search Google for dentists by typing the following phrases: “find a dentist,” “dentist reviews,” or “dentists in Seattle.” However, web searches from smartphones are fundamentally different.

For starters, a growing number of people search the web using voice commands and digital personal assistants, and spoken queries are more articulate than typed queries. In fact, Google has introduced AI (artificial intelligence) to help interpret spoken queries. This technology is currently processing approximately 13% of all voice searches and will change the manner in which the Google local search algorithm analyzes local SEO, which is defined as a 15-mile circumference around your practice location.

Second, people are more likely to search for goods and services in their immediate areas, sometimes down to the district, neighborhood, or street. Examples of typical smartphone searches might be “find a dentist near me,” “dentists on Broadway,” or “dentists near me that take Delta Dental.”

How can you adapt for this changing landscape? A good first step is evaluating your content and inserting specific references to your immediate location. Start a blog and post about your involvement in community events. Seek endorsements from local business organizations and think of ways to involve your clinic with localized news stories on dental health trends — local journalists love that stuff, and you can share those stories on your website, too.

Also, if you haven’t already, verify your dental office profile on Google My Business and the other high priority national directories that also have local intent (Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc).  Make sure your contact information exactly matches what’s on your website. You should also start a Yelp page and invite patients to leave reviews. For more dental website SEO tips, read our article: SEO for Dentists: How to Get Your Website Ranking in Google.

Blogs and videos play important roles in improving the overall quality of your website. On the surface, both types of content are significantly more engaging than standard descriptions of services. Videos of dentists and happy patients might persuade people who visit your website to schedule appointments. Blogs, on the other hand, can be shared on social media to bring more people to your site.

Worried about not having anything interesting to share on a blog? Don’t be. You can write about anything from parenting tips (tips for teaching young children to brush) to the merits of flossing. And, as we explained in the previous section, blogging about community involvement is a great way to bolster your local SEO strategy.

Investing in blogs and videos could also improve your website’s search rankings. Google prefers websites with unique, frequently updated content. A dental website with an updated blog and video content is more likely to be ranked higher than a static website that only describes office procedures and services.

A clean, intuitive website is important for any dental office. However, there’s more to a good dental website than what meets the eye. In this day and age, a website needs to be more than a shiny online advertisement. It must be a tool that enhances your marketing, attracts more visitors and stands out from competitors. You’ll get that kind of mileage from your website by sidestepping these common mistakes.

At Dentalfone, we specialize in marketing for dentists, including website design, SEO, social media, and dental videography services. To learn more about how we can help, call us at (855) 385-3663.

Good SEO does not come cheap, especially in the dental field. Google offers a limited amount of above-the-fold real estate on its first page of search results, and that space is dominated by locator maps, business listings and up to (4) paid ads. Organic search results — which, years ago, were positioned prominently near the top of the page — are barely visible without scrolling down. Compare the number of dentists in your area with the number of available positions on Google’s first page of results. That is why dental SEO is far from being free.

How much you will spend on SEO depends on a range of factors. How aggressively do your competitors market themselves? Do you have the in-house staff to focus on content development, blogging and social media? Answering these types of questions can help you make a better prediction of what you should budget for improving and maintaining your SEO. Here we’ll review the factors that most heavily impact costs.

The first step when predicting the cost of dental SEO is to consider the competition. Dental offices in small towns and rural areas tend to face fewer competitors than those in larger cities. Also, you need to consider the effectiveness of each competitor’s marketing strategy, as well as whether certain competitors have word-of-mouth advantages from years of keeping their doors open. Every competitor that actively works to improve its SEO is another reason to boost your marketing budget.

When researching your competition, visit the Moz Open Site Explorer and enter the URLs of each of your competitors. Here you can view each competitor’s page authority, domain authority, and link network size. Then, plug in your own domain to see your information. The more competitors there are ahead of you, the more you’ll need to spend to catch up and get ahead.

Next, focus on your website and marketing efforts. Is your content sharp? Is your website responsive? Are you thinking beyond Google’s organic search results? We’ll review these and other important facets of good SEO that are likely to add to your overall costs.

Own a Quality Domain: Ideally, your domain should exactly match the name of your dental office. That’s the simplest way to earn a high ranking when people search for your business with either a written or spoken query. However, sometimes that is not possible. If your perfect domain is taken, you can try to find one that is unregistered or you can make an offer on the owned domain. Be prepared to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you choose to go that route.

Restructuring Your Website: Many dental offices offer multiple services to their clients. For optimal SEO, your website should be structured with dedicated landing pages for each service. That could mean unique designs, graphics, videos, text, and other content. It also means optimizing your meta and header tags to clarify the purpose of each section, and each webpage, to the fullest possible extent. This could require anything from a simple brush-up to a complete redo of your website.

Converting to Mobile Responsiveness: Desktop-friendly websites are out; mobile-responsive websites are in. Google recently started giving preference to websites that are fully functional in mobile browsers. Fortunately, most new best dental websites are made with mobile-responsive designs. However, if you operate a well-established dental office with an older website, then you will need to switch to something that works on smartphones and tablets according to established Google requirements.

Quality Content: “Content is king” is an old SEO adage. Years ago, the term “content” mainly applied to articles and images. Now, content has a lot more depth. Articles, blog posts, infographics, testimonials, videos, animations, surveys, and all kinds of other elements fill out the spectrum of content. Build out your website with engaging, quality content, and everything about SEO gets easier. Google’s search engine algorithm has been shaped with endless amounts of metadata to favor content that’s deemed to be relevant, unique, and useful. Starting a blog is an easy way to generate quality content that can bolster SEO in more ways than one.

Getting Citations: Google’s search algorithm gives preference to business websites that are deemed as legitimate and credible. Citations help establish that online reputation. Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites. If your dental office has several branch locations, then each needs its own citations. Start by getting listed on Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps, Foursquare, YP.com, and dozens of other business directory websites. Search Google for competing dental offices and see which websites they are mentioned on. This competitor research can provide more ideas for where to get citations.

Search engine optimization is not free. It is not simple, either. Good SEO is not just about climbing the organic search rankings; it is about maximizing your above-the-fold page share. That means taking advantage of social media, Google My Business, and business directory listings. It means building your link network and finding citations. It means inspiring positive reviews and thoughtful blog posts that drive potential customers to seek you out. It also means keeping ahead of the competition.

When all is said and done, climbing the ladder of SEO could cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousands of dollars. Like all things in business, though, you will get what you are willing to pay for, and SEO is an ongoing expense as technology changes over time.

At Dentalfone, we specialize in search engine optimization for dentists. If you need help, you can learn more about our dental SEO services, or call us at (855) 385-3663.

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.

Despite advances in digital marketing, word of mouth is arguably the most powerful form of advertising. A 2016 Nielsen Harris Poll survey of 2,000 people found more than 80 percent of Americans seek recommendations for all kinds of purchases. The survey also found strong correlations between people’s purchasing choices and how they discuss brands online. Also noteworthy is that young adult’s ages 18 to 34 — Yelp’s prime age demographic — are 10 percent more likely to seek recommendations than the rest of the population.  

However, online reviews may have already closed the gap with referrals. A 2017 study by the marketing firm BrightLocal found that 85 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. 93 percent of consumers said online reviews helped to establish the quality of local businesses. Of note is the statistic that 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months aren’t relevant.

This is where Yelp gains an edge. Nielsen rates it as the Web’s most-visited review site and the 20th most-visited Web property overall. As a result, businesses listed on Yelp can easily accumulate reviews. Also, Yelp stands out from other review sites with a variety of content guidelines. Reviews cannot be written by competitors, former employees, business promoters or people receiving incentives for good reviews. Yelp’s guidelines also ban threats, lewd language, back-and-forth arguments and more. Questionable reviews can be reported, audited, and removed. For these reasons and others, Yelp has a reputation as a credible source of reviews.

Yelp isn’t just a place for finding reviews of businesses. People can use Yelp to schedule services, check-in at appointments, request quotes, get directions, and more. With the click of a virtual button, users can call businesses or visit their websites. Yelp is literally built from the ground-up to engage customers and drive leads and sales. Also, the Yelp app and website are mobile-friendly. Yelp reports 74 million visitors per month on its mobile site and 28 million visitors per month from its mobile app. That is 102 million monthly visitors from smartphones and tablets compared with 83 million total monthly desktop users. Being ahead of the curve on mobile is highly important considering the rising rates of smartphone ownership, especially among young adults who make up the next generation of new dental patients.

Dental clinics need quality, functional websites to compete for patients online. However, dental practitioners can start building their Yelp presences with no prior experience in Web design or content generation. It is easy, accessible and proven to be effective.

Consumers trust high-quality online reviews, and they trust Yelp to provide such reviews. It stands to reason then that building a strong Yelp presence can make your dental practice immediately credible to potential clients.

There are many ways to encourage clients to leave positive reviews without violating Yelp’s terms of service. Perhaps the easiest way to solicit reviews is including Yelp buttons on follow-up emails and appointment reminders. You can put Yelp buttons on your dental office’s website and social media pages. You can even feature review snippets from Yelp on your website. Inviting potential patients to visit your Yelp page is a great way to leverage the popular website’s credibility.

You can further optimize your Yelp experience by upgrading to an enhanced profile. Unlike regular Yelp pages, enhanced profiles can include customizable slideshows, a call-to-action button, and an optional video. The call-to-action button can instruct people to contact your dental clinic or schedule an appointment online. Another big benefit is that Yelp will not show ads from competing practices on enhanced profile pages. You will pay extra for this feature, but you’ll also have more control of your branding and marketing funnel.

You can also jumpstart your Yelp presence by investing in pay-per-click search ads. Yelp’s pay-per-click platform uses geographical and category targeting to ensure ads are seen by relevant audiences. Ads are served with an auction system, which means the higher you bid, the more views you will get. Ads can be complemented with review snippets and customized text.

Paying for ad space does not replace the need to cultivate a strong, organic Yelp presence. Businesses still need positive customer reviews to attract the right kind of attention. However, Yelp’s advertising platform offers enhanced visibility for Web and app users. It is a great investment if there is room in your budget.

Yelp is the most prolific and credible review site on the Web, and building a strong Yelp presence is vital for dental offices. Yelp is popular among all age groups and especially reputable among tomorrow’s new customers. It is great for scheduling appointments, generating leads and even providing directions to your clinic. Yelp pages can also rank highly in Google’s organic search results, meaning a strong Yelp presence is literally good for dental SEO. All businesses eventually get some negative reviews, but the benefits of cultivating a presence on Yelp far outweigh the drawbacks.