Dental SEO

You're here because you want your clinic to be ranking first on search engines. Over the course of this article, we're going to share the strategies we use to get our clients ranked time and time again.

Search Engine Optimization isn't just about understanding search engines. It's about understanding how people work and what their needs are. Carrying out research on what people are searching for online, the solutions they're in need of and the type of content they're likely to engage in can drastically help businesses and Practices. Search engines are essentially answer machines to the questions your consumers have, so implementing the right SEO strategies helps increase traffic (in terms of both quantity and quality) to your website. With the right strategies in place, the brand exposure your company can get through ranking organically (via non-paid methods) on search engines is immense as SEO is the only online marketing channel that will continue to give results over time.

This is a question many clients ask us. Fundamentally, Dental SEO is no different to normal SEO. The most important thing is to select the right search terms to attract quality dental patients to your clinic.

Utilizing an in-depth knowledge of the dental industry and using internet tools such as Google Analytics, Adwords, Keyword Planner, Searchmetrics etc. can help you streamline the process of getting more patients to your clinic. Dental-focused SEO is important as it gives your marketing campaign a more focused and tailor-made approach that guarantees results.

User experience incorporates many different aspects that we will continue to cover below such as quality content, load times, ease of navigation, and is measured through time-on-site. User experience doesn't just help you rank higher, it helps your users stay longer on your website, leaving a significantly better chance of your patient picking up that phone to schedule an appointment. Great user experience helps transition a user into a patient.

So, how do you make your website more user-friendly?

Focus on good page speed, timeless website design, compelling Call-To-Actions (contact information such as emails, numbers & link), engaging text formatting with attractive content instead of lengthy paragraphs and much more. We'll break these points down further to help you understand what gives way to the best user experience. These will essentially be the fundamentals of SEO.

Quality content directly increases time on site. Quality content that is optimized is easily shareable and increases your exposure. This is content that is engaging enough to keep your users on your website long enough to increase the chance of an appointment being made. Poor content joins the other hundred of articles on the Internet that nobody ever sees, shares or pays attention to. You can:

• Use multimedia content to keep your users more engaged
• Showcase related content through links.
• Make navigation easy across all devices, and content easily readable.

Website navigation is the process of moving across different pages and websites on the Internet with ease. Much like how the labeling of aisles and organization of goods helps you buy your groceries at the supermarket, having a well-organized website simplifies the process of scanning through content.

• Make sure your website is uncluttered and has a clean design with strategically placed content.
• Categorize your content and interlink them as you create your content hierarchy.
• Create cross-links between pages of different categories that still contain similarities.
• Create shareable blogs that link to your dental service pages to direct more traffic to your website.

Load time is a measurement of how fast content loads on a website/page. 47% of consumers expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less. But it doesn't end there. 40% of users will also leave the website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. By not paying attention to your load times, you're losing nearly half your potential patients.

There are four common elements to stay clear of when trying to maximize load time:

• Large media files - Large images (>100Kb) should be used strategically. Using a compression program helps you compress the image to a lower size while maintaining its quality. You can reduce between 30 to 60% of your file size by using compression programs to get rid of unnecessary data.
• Server Location & Quality - Hosting your site on a local server rather than an overseas server will help deliver your content faster. Use of a Content Distribution Network will make sure your site is cached (temporarily stored) on servers near your users to reduce load times. Skimping on a quality hosting provider to save money will severely cost you your site's performance.
• Plugins and Add-Ons - Plugins are great because they allow your website to do things it usually wouldn't be able to, but the key to remember here is that less is more with plugins. If each active plugin can slow down your site by 5 milliseconds (this can vary), having several active plugins will significantly reduce load time. Make it a point to never exceed 20 plugins.
• Inefficient Site - Deliver content to your users faster by maximizing efficiency of your site. For example, caching is an easy way to improve the performance of your website by allowing the storage of frequently used data points, which means each time a user visits a page on your website, it doesn't have to be downloaded again. Minify your site's CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of files on each page. Generally, the browser is made to perform several requests to load each of these files, which reduces load time. Lastly, third-party sites that provide information to your website such as advertising, maps, and social media widgets usually take the longest time to load. Make sure to prioritize the order in which your elements load, making these load last. WP Rocket is an excellent plugin that helps improve your site's performance.

Quality content positions you as a point of authority to readers. Being an authoritative figure helps users be less price sensitive and makes for more phone calls at the end of the day! At its best, quality content can boost your website to the top of any major search engine's rankings. At its worst, you can get a lot of penalties that will be quite difficult to recover from. .

Content covers a variety of information in different forms, including text, videos, images etc. Search engines focus on delivering the most useful and relevant content to consumers so content is essentially ranked according to how beneficial they are for searchers. In order to create content that is beneficial, you need to make sure it is:

• Informative: There are key details you need to include about your practice such as location, hours of operation, contact information, services offered, a blog, etc., that will answer your users' questions.
• More Useful than Competitor Websites: If there are plenty of websites offering the same services you do, figure out how you can deliver your content in a fresh angle that is more useful or engaging.
• Credible: You can increase your site's credibility by using more links, reviews, and testimonials that position your website as more trustworthy.
• High in Quality: Remember that your main goal is to give your users the best experience, since maximizing this will ultimately lead to ranking highest on search engines. Pay attention to quality rather than mass-producing content that isn't unique or tailored to your specific practice.
• Engaging: You can make your content more engaging by putting up images, paying attention to a timeless website design, and interacting through comment boxes. Avoid distracting your visitors with ads.

However, there's more to content than quality control. You need to understand the technical side of it as well! Here's how you can create optimized content:

• Carry out extensive keyword research: Use a keyword research tool to do this and focus more on “long-tail keywords.” They are keywords that contain at least three words or more, making them more specific in nature. For example: "dentists near me," "best dentists in Melbourne," "emergency dentist Melbourne," etc. Avoid immediately targeting keywords with the highest search volume, as these have the highest competition and can quickly drain your budget. Instead, target keywords with local-specific terms (such as the name of your city) and a medium search volume.
• Improve readability: Readability measures how easy it is for users to read your content. Internet readers have short attention spans, so your content needs to be concise and engaging. Large volumes of content can drive potential patients away. Ideally, use paragraphs that are 3-4 sentences long and break up content further with subheadings and images.
• Include backlinks in your content: Search engines value credibility. Linking your content to trustworthy and authoritative sites helps position your practice as a credible website. However, the words you link must be relevant to the topic at hand.
• Optimize Your Title Tag: A title tag is the headline that appears when a search is performed. Ideally, your title tag should be under 60 characters and specific to the page's content. Place the target keyword near the beginning of the title tag.
• Optimize your Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions are the small snippets of text under a title tag in search results. While they don’t directly affect SEO, they help attract users to click on your page. Keep your meta description under 160 characters, provide a brief overview of the page, and include target keywords, as they will be highlighted in search results.

This is a measurement of the percentage of people who enter and explore your website versus those who enter and leave without any action. High bounce rate is a sign of poor content, design and user experience, which will have your website ranking lower on major search engines.
A patient's dental experience no longer begins once they walk through your Practice's doors. Most often, it all starts with a search and perusal of your website. Don't let it end there. Get your patients to your door by keeping an eye on these problematic factors:

• Poorly designed headers: The header of your website (at the top of the page) is what grabs the attention of your users first. Avoid an unappealing header; make sure your elements are uncluttered with minimal graphics.
• Poor website design: Your website should be interactive and visually appealing. It needs to look modern and clean rather than cluttered and bland. Don't forget essential elements such as a call to action (prompts like “Click here for more,” “Call us today on xxxx,” “Book now,” etc.).
• Complicated navigation: The menu is usually found at the top of a webpage. Ensure it is easy for users to navigate from one link to another to find the information they need. This is closely tied to design.
• Technical issues: Aspects such as smooth user experience, fast load times, and relevant internal/external linking should all be considered. If your website experiences technical hitches, you risk losing potential patients. Remember, internet users want information that is easily accessible and quick to load.

Technical issues:Aspects such as smooth user experience, fast load times and relevant internal/external linking should all be looked into. If your website is experiencing any technical hitches, this is a sure way of losing potential patients. Remember, users on the internet want information that is easily accessible and fast to load.

The quality and relevance of your usage of keywords matters far more than quantity. In order to optimize your webpage and improve your organic reach, you need to carry out extensive keyword research, as we covered above. With prioritized keyword mapping, you'll be able to form a website that significantly contributes to your Practice's goals. You also need to strategically place these keywords throughout your content for an optimized page, however. Keep this guideline in mind when creating your content:

• Title Tags: Your title tag should definitely contain the primary keyword as early as possible in the sentence.
• Subheadings: Fitting your keyword into at least one subheading would be ideal.
• Opening Paragraph: Get straight to the heart of the matter by starting off your content with the primary keyword.
• Images: You should use the keyword in any image file name and image alt text where possible.

When search engines analyze your domain, you'll get a score on how much authority your domain has. This will depend on:

• Number of quality backlinks: The number of quality backlinks to your website from relevant sources. Not all backlinks are created equal, so it's important to source relevant and top-quality articles.
• Offline Traffic: When users come directly to your website, it indicates you are a reputable and popular practice as mentions of your website have spread through word-of-mouth. This increases your domain authority.
• Social Traffic: People arriving at your website through social channels also indicate that you have a legitimate practice.

Over 75% of the traffic we're seeing for major search engines to dental websites comes from mobile devices. Each year more and more people spend an increasing amount of time on their phones. Despite this, we see several websites that still aren't designed to account for such devices. Mobile Optimization of your website is incredibly important so you aren't losing patients who search for your site from mobile devices. Your website should be built and designed “mobile first” or you'll be missing out on a vast customer base that could potentially bring in more than half your patients. Here are some things you should keep in mind:

• Page Speed: Mobile users appreciate good load time as much as desktop users, perhaps even more so. Improve this by optimizing your images, minifying code, leveraging browser caching, and cutting down on redirects.
• Avoid blocking CSS/JavaScript/Images: Back in the day, mobile devices couldn't support these elements, so they were blocked. You don't have to hide them anymore, and they play a critical role in improving SEO.
• Avoid Pop-Ups: These are incredibly frustrating to deal with, and many users have problems closing them on mobiles. You stand to lose a significant number of potential patients by using pop-ups.

Your website security is another key Google ranking factor. If not secured, you risk data being stolen, your search engine ranking being destroyed and being locked out of your website. Here are some steps you need to take to make sure your site is secure:

• Get SSL certificates: Ensure hackers cannot access sensitive information by installing SSL certificates. Once enabled, your URL will shift from "HTTP" to "HTTPS."
• Create backups: Regularly back up your WordPress site so you have a way of recovering all your website data in case of an emergency.
• Keep your site up to date: Regularly check for updates. While most updates are installed automatically, major releases may require your manual attention.
• Create stronger passwords: Use stronger passwords to improve your defense against hackers and secure your website.

The bulk of people online that find themselves in need of scheduling a dentist appointment will search for “Dentist + Suburb”. 9 times out of 10 a Clinic of that suburb will want to rank for this particular keyword.

Keep in mind that 80% of search traffic on Google goes to organic results, the remaining 20% are paid ads.

• First Position: The first organic search result receives 30% of search traffic.
• Second Position: The second position receives 17% of search traffic.
• Third Position: The third position gets 8% of search traffic.
• Bottom of Page 1: The bottom of Page 1 gets 4% of search traffic.

Just by ranking at the lowest of Page 1 for a particular suburb, you can still get a healthy amount of visitors to your website.

Another great way of getting patients is to target specific keywords with a lower search volume. The reduced competition gives you a far higher chance of ranking on the first page. For example, other keywords such as “Dental Implants + Suburb” or “Cosmetic Dentistry + Suburb” will still be able to drive a healthy amount of potential patients to your website. As mentioned earlier, there are valuable internet tools such as Google Analytics, Adwords, Keyword Planner, Searchmetrics etc. that can be used to help you identify which keywords to target in your campaigns.

How efficient is your website at converting visitors to bookings? The key to converting visitors is a persuasive website in terms of both design and content. All the above SEO fundamentals need to be taken into consideration in order to create high-impact content that motivates your patient to schedule an appointment.
Optimizing your content doesn't just include the keyword optimization across your content but the consideration you put towards the technical aspect of your content such as Call to Actions, meta descriptions and title tags as well. We recommend hiring professional content writers that are familiar with the dental industry, who can provide you with informative and persuasive content that will convince readers to make a booking/inquiry or phone call.

Maintaining your online reputation is no longer a choice. Major search engines take into account if users have a good experience with your brand when ranking websites. Use online reviews to boost your Practice and ensure your online reputation is conserved at all times.

If you are using an approach that caters to all of the above, you'll have a website that is in tiptop shape while giving your visitors a great user experience. There is a lot of untapped potential in your Practice if you aren't fully reaping the benefits of digital marketing. Make the change and watch your Practice grow as you implement the best SEO tactics.

Want results but can't afford to spare the time? Simply contact our experienced digital marketing team and we'll have your Practice consistently ranked on major search engines with the best SEO strategies.

That concludes the first of a series of "How to market a dental clinic" articles Bizgrow will be providing. If you are interested in receiving the subsequent articles in the series which include How-tos for Social Media targeted marketing, Increasing patient referrals, Paid ads etc, sign up to our newsletter and you will be automatically emailed a link to each new article as they come out in the coming weeks