Dental SEO Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginner

Do you know that more than 20% of new leads for dentists come through dental SEO? Yes, this is how important it is for every dentist out there.

More and more dentists are quickly learning the importance of having an online presence. They are investing in making websites or redesigning them if they have already.

According to one research, 46% of the searches on Google have local intent. It means if you don’t grab this opportunity then you’re missing a huge opportunity.

This is how much Dental SEO is crucial for every dentist out there struggling with ‘oh god, how do I get more patients and grow my business!?’

So, Considering how important it is for your dental practice, let’s understand its basics first.

However, In this blog, you will not only learn about basics but also why it is important and how you can have a converting dental SEO strategy.

Now,

Let’s start with the basics first.

What Is Dental SEO?

Dental SEO is a way to optimize your business website in such a way that your online patients or customers can easily find you on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo!

This will help you to bring in more customers to your clinic and generate more revenue for it.

Sounds profitably exciting, right?

However, SEO is not an easy task. It is combined with so many tasks that can overwhelm you.

But this guide will explain all the dental SEO key aspects to you in easy language so that you can kickstart your journey.

Your dental website is your best marketing tool in today’s era. 

If you want to generate more leads and revenue, you must invest in dental SEO. I bet, there is no better option than this to skyrocket your dental business.

Why is Dental SEO Important?

It matters because, as I said above, it generates more than 20% leads for your dental practice per month. 

It means,

If you are not working on dental SEO, you are losing 20% of your new customers. It is tragic.

No business can stand online without a strong backbone. And that backbone is SEO.

Incrementors.com

Here are the benefits that dental SEO can provide:

1. Dental SEO will help you to rank higher than your competitors. 

2. Your potential customers will find you online easily.

3. By implementing the right keywords you can directly attract your customers to your website. You can use keywords such as “dental advice”, “dental services”, etc.

4. By working with a dental SEO agency you can gain insightful analytical reports and understand and serve your customers better.

5. You will get more quality and targeted traffic for your website.

6. By implementing a smart SEO strategy, you can reach out to every prospect in your local area.

Steps for Effective Dental SEO?

Dental SEO is a carefully designed strategy that can drive an insane amount of revenue if followed with needed steps like website auditing, keyword research, content optimization, and local SEO etc.

Every step of the strategy holds equal importance in driving traffic, attracting an audience, and generating leads.

Here are the key steps of Dental SEO.

Technical SEO Audit

Technical audit help you to figure out major factors that can effect your user experience. You’ll get to know about the technical issues of your website that include crawlability, indexability, website speed, etc.

This will help you to give you website user great user experience when they come to your website.

You can also get online ‘do-it yourself’ SEO tools available in the market such as Screaming frog & Ahrefs.

Such tools can help you do a complete audit of your dental website in just 5 minutes!

By conducting a complete website audit you will be able to increase website speed, traffic, structure, texts, and so on.

These are the key area where you need to give your attention:

1. You will get a crawl report which will help you to know your site’s errors;
2. Get insightful report on HTTPS status codes;
3. XML sitemap formatting and protocols will be checked;
4. Site load time metrics will be done;
5. Your site will be checked for mobile friendliness; and 
6. Will help you indentifyRobots.txt files.

Backlink Analysis

Backlinks are critical part of SEO.

Now, the question is why do you need to do a backlink analysis for your dental website?

As you know, Google crawlers note everything on your website, including dead links, spammy links, This can lead Google to not ranking your website. Not only this, spammy links can penalize your website by Google.

However, a dental SEO specialist can identify any low-quality or dead links and will keep your site’s reputation ensuring your site’s authority is maintained.

Proper Keyword Research

That’s why researching keywords for dental SEO is crucial.

Keyword research is a very important part of SEO. You need to set clear goals before starting a keyword research process. So that your content can satisfy the user’s intent when they read it.

You have to perform in-depth keyword research by analyzing your potential customer’s queries or the phrases they type into the search bar. They look like:

You can see in the above screenshot I have taken from the Google search bar what people are searching for related to dentists or dental services.

Moreover, with the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence) enabled keyword research tools, you can find relevant keywords in no time!

Content Creation Process

Isn’t this quote simply right? Of course, it is because you can’t rule your customers but you can rule this area – your website content.

Website content is just about anything your potential client sees on your pages – all texts, images, videos, graphics, and tables are content. 

As you build or optimize it, ask yourself what your visitors want from it and how you can use it for dental SEO purposes. It is no longer enough to add multiple keywords to the text.

The more high-quality blog posts you write, the more traffic you will get.

Why so?

Because, marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell.

Yes, that’s right. You need to tell your visitors stories to engage them and eventually convert them into customers.

But how do you generate blog topic ideas for your dental business?

It’s so simple. Do you have your staff and dental hygienists keep a running list of questions your patients ask? So try to answer every question on your blog that’s asked by real-life customers.

Try to make each post of at least 300 words and aim for 1,000 or more if possible, as longer contents usually rank better. Use pictures to tell your story and be thorough. Case studies are just as great for blog posts as they are for research and the latest insights.

Read More: Expert Tips for Writing Quality Blog Post to Attract Visitors

As a dentist, you might consider commenting on major dental topics on the news, such as fluoride in water or whatever is being discussed in your local market. Use trends to increase your visibility. It can work wonders for your dental SEO strategy.

To find trending news, just go to Google, click “News”, and search for dentists or dental news. There are a number of stories that you can either comment on or that might spark an interesting blog idea.

As a dental clinic owner, you might be more focused on your clinic operational activities & can’t create content by yourself. Here the role of SEO agency comes into play.

Based on the right keyword research and the latest web development techniques, our dental SEO experts take the time to create concise, informative, and engaging content that will drive people to your website pages. 

A positive user experience and clear answers to your patient’s questions make them feel like part of your community. And this is what helps turn them into customers. 

High-quality content will not only help your dental practice rank higher in the SERP, but it will also act as a source of conversions and patient’s trust.

Read More: Step-by-Step Content Creation Guide [Writing To Publishing Content Successfully

Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO

If you are into local business you will find it hard to improve your rankings as there are so many competitors constantly trying to pull you down on Google. On the other hand, Google is constantly changing its algorithm so It is really hard to be on the top of the local search results.

Do you know near me mobile searches increased by 136%?

But the question arises how you can do the local SEO to your dental practice?

Create a Google My Business Profile (GMB)

Having a complete and accurate Google My Business listing is essential to be successful in your local search efforts, even if you have an excellent website with a brilliant dental SEO strategy.

Your GMB information helps you in appearing on top of the Google searches as well as Maps. Make sure you fill up only accurate information from your name, address, the phone number the payment methods you accept, and your business hours.

Also, for a better ranking, you need to log into your dashboard regularly so that other people and your competitors cannot suggest unwanted changes on your listing, as this may affect your ranking.

Plus, you should also take advantage of additional features of GMB such as choosing the best category and secondary category:

You can add up to 6 additional secondary categories. This could include:

1. Dental Clinic
2. Dental School
3. Dental Hygienist
4. Dental Radiology
5. Dental Laboratory
6. Dental Supply Shop

After this, you need to write a unique and catchy description about your business along with a Google Post. This can be about an offer you want to promote or just a general update you want to give your audience.

Plus, encourage your satisfied clients to write Google reviews about your business. This is the easiest ranking factor dental SEO needs but many seem to ignore this. Remember, never write a fake review or Google can penalize you.

Here are a few other important parts of Local SEO

1. Include Crystal Clear Location Details on your website

2. Get engaged in niche-specific forums & Q&A sites

3. Have consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) on Local business directory websites 

4. Focus on positive reviews & ratings 

5. Make the Website Design to Be Responsive

Bonus tip: You can use a ‘near me’ target keyword in your content and optimize your landing pages according to it.

Remember that people always search for businesses that are near them, and that’s why you need to be on the first SERP otherwise you will lose a huge number of your potential customers.

Link Building

Link building plays an important role in local SEO to drive organic traffic via search engines, especially in competitive industries like dental.

When combined with excellent content, and good user experience, link building transforms into a super-effective way of driving more organic traffic.

Link building refers to how your dental website earn links from another website. More links helps Google to considers you an authoritative resource & helps you in rankings.

The more high-quality niche websites links you get, the better is your search engine ranking. And of course, every dentist out there wants to rank higher on the SERPs.

Use Email Marketing

I know that email marketing is not directly related to your dental SEO strategy. But it can help increase engagement and brand awareness.

But how can you use it for your dental SEO strategy?

• You can send your patients a friendly newsletter once a week or month offering useful information.

• You can also include a CTA to direct them to your website to read your latest blog posts.

• You can ask for a review.

• You can also ask for referrals and offer some simple tips or advice. 

This way email marketing can help you to remain on top of your customers’ minds.

Conclusion

As you can see now, marketing your dental practice with SEO is definitely a lot of work, but it is not rocket science. You can do it by following some important steps that we talked about in this blog.

Follow these tactics and create a dental SEO strategy that will generate more and more leads for your dentist business. And if you need any further guidance on the topic, please comment below and let me know.

Wish you extraordinary business growth!

FAQs

What is dental search engine optimization?

Dental search engine optimization or SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to rank it on top of the search engine result page (SERP). It is about building and maintaining your business’s online presence.

How long does dental SEO take?

Dental SEO is a long-term work. Typically it could take at least 4 to 6 months to take effect and improve your search engine ranking. 

Why is SEO important for dental practices?

SEO is very important for dental practices because it provides your practice visibility, credibility, branding, traffic, reputation, and a high ROI. Dental SEO helps you to appear on the top of search engines when potential patients search online for your practice.

How do you measure the ROI of SEO for dental practices?

You can set up Google Analytics conversion tracking as a dental practice is all about generating leads. You can, then, sort conversions according to the channel and calculate the ROI of your dental SEO.

What is Dentist SEO?

Dental SEO is the process of ranking your dentist’s website on the top of the search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! so that your prospects can find you easily on the internet.