Is your dental practice showing up on the first page of the search results? If not, then prospective patients won’t even know that your practice exists. They’ll make an appointment with a competitor instead.
How can you get your practice showing up on the first page of Google’s search results?
In the article, we’ll walk you through the 7 keys of Local SEO. These are the same steps we use to get our dental SEO clients ranking on the first page of Google.
Step 1. Create a responsive Website
If it’s not responsive, consider a new website that utilizes Dentalfone’s exclusive Hybrid-Responsive™ technology, which provides advanced responsive technology that adapts specifically to the device being used by your patient.
Step 2. Optimize Your Website For Relevant Keywords
For example, if you’re a general dentist that offers cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, and pediatric dentistry, then you’ll want pages on your website for each of those services. Similarly, if you’re a periodontist, you should have separate pages for each of your specific procedures.
And then, it’s important to make sure that these sub-pages are properly linked up on your website, so visitors (and search engines) can find these pages.
The next step is to optimize these pages for relevant keywords. First, you need to be aware of the phrases that people are searching for – and then you need to incorporate those phrases into the content of your pages. Specifically, the most important places to incorporate keywords are in the title tag, header and website body copy of the page.
For example, if you’re an orthodontist in Boston, your patients will search for you using phrases like “orthodontist boston” or “boston orthodontist.” And for that reason, you’ll want to make sure that the word “orthodontist” and the word “Boston” are in the title, header and copy of your homepage. Likewise, if you also offer Invisalign services, then you’ll want to have an Invisalign page optimized for relevant keywords.
In addition, you also want to make sure that your contact information is easily found on your website. Specifically, you should include your practice Name, Address, and Phone number — known as your “NAP” — in the footer of each of your pages. (As we’ll see a bit later, this has an impact on your local rankings.)
By taking these steps, you’re putting your website in the running to show up in Google when prospects are searching for you. But there are still more steps in order to rise up above your competitors in the rankings!
Step 3. Optimize Your Google My Business Profile(s)
And if you have multiple locations, make sure that you have a Google My Business profile for each location.
Creating your Google profile is a necessary step to rank in Google’s results, but as we’ll see, we’re not finished yet…
Step 4. Ask Current Patients For Reviews
People generally don’t take the time to write reviews and testimonials for services they’re happy with unless prompted. Ask current patients to add a Google review about your dental practice.
Step 5. Get Listed in Online Directories
By getting your business listed, and using consistent NAP information across your listings, you communicate to Google that your business is a real, trustworthy business. Each time your NAP is published on a webpage, this counts as a “citation” for your practice. The more citations you have, the higher your business will rank in the local search results.
Step 6. Promote Your Website With Press Releases
The next step is to promote your dental website, so you continue to generate new citations and links to your websites.
One promotion method in particular that we recommend for dentists is online press releases. By publishing press releases, you can build even more citations for your practice. Done correctly, a single press release can generate up to 200 citations for your practice!
We recommend getting into a regular schedule with press releases so that you are consistently announcing and promoting news about your practice. For example, you can promote new services, seasonal specials, new hires, new office locations, rebranding, and new websites, as well as other announcements.
Step 7. Tracking
Need Help With SEO?
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.
We are sometimes asked why we develop cloud based applications for the dental industry, versus building apps for native phone operating systems. Here are some of the reasons why we feel cloud based apps are the best solution for our clients.
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Application Store Limitations
Some companies do not allow “web based” applications in their application store. Doing so would crowd the store with custom applications that don’t generally apply to the public at large. It’s not necessary to have them in the application store as they can be easily loaded through the use of the URL or QR Code.
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Cross Platform
The application would have to be developed specifically for each platform. Therefore the cost would be very high as much of the work would have to be done separately for each platform, iOS®, Android®, Windows®, Blackberry®, etc. Having a web based app allows us to run across a variety of phones, tablets, and computers, allowing you to reach a much broader audience.
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Updates
As updates are made to the operating system of the phone it can and often does “break” apps, causing a need for significant development time to accommodate the changes. This could be extremely costly to keep up-to-date, especially when dealing with multiple OS platforms.
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Approval Process
There is no guarantee that an app would be accepted into the app store by Apple® or other phone OS companies. They can block an app at any time for any reason. Rules for an application store can be updated and changed at any time by the companies that control them.
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Storage Space
Traditional apps take up space on the device. A lot of users select devices with the lowest amount of memory space. It is less likely they would keep a dental app on their system if it is using precious storage space. A web based app only puts an icon on the home screen, it is not taking up additional space on the users device and more likely to be kept on their device if trying to save storage space.
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Ease of Use
End users often forget the passwords to their application stores making it hard to assist them with loading the app when they are in your office. Being web based allows easier adding of the app without having to go into the app store.
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Updates
A web based application is much easier to update with changes than one that must go through an app store. Also, see item 4, a revision could be blocked for an arbitrary reason, even if it is had been allowed before. Many users do not keep their apps up-to-date, being web based means users are always accessing the most current information.
These are some of the reasons Dentalfone® decided to use a cloud based app as opposed to an app designed for and limited to a particular device. To learn more about our services please contact us for more information. Our excellent sales team can share more great reasons why Dentalfone is the solution you’ve been looking for.
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.
Quick Points About the Impact of Mobile:
- The new billboard of today’s world is the 3 X 5 inch screen on your patient’s mobile phone.
- Smartphones vs. Desktops: 57% of all internet search is now done from mobile phones.
- Facebook stock recently soared 9% due to a surge in ad revenue (82% was from mobile).
- Google changed their “7-Pack” local search results to “3-Pack” to fit mobile screen sizes.