Do you ever wonder whether you should invest in dental SEO for your business? After all, your colleagues keep saying that SEO for dentists is a great strategy, but you are hesitant.
Well, let us tell you that SEO is a great way to rank your website higher on search engines and drive traffic. More traffic means more patients, which will automatically result in higher revenue.
However, we understand the confusion that comes with it. So, let us clear it up with our guide that will teach you how to reach more patients with SEO for dentists.
Learn More: 10 SEO Examples to Implement in 2023
What is Dental SEO?
Dental SEO is the practice of helping your website appear higher on search engines. SEO strategies are all about making you visible to the search engine and ensuring you have top results without using Google Ads.
Let’s say your patient has had a toothache for hours that even medication isn’t fixing. First, they will go online and type “emergency dentist near me” or “dentist near me for toothache.”
These are search teams that your patients will be searching for on the internet. Your dental SEO strategy will utilize these terms to help you appear on the first page.
So, if you want your patients to easily find you online, you need a solid SEO strategy for dentists.
Who Can Benefit from Dental SEO?
You don’t have to be a specialized dentist to benefit from dental SEO. Instead, all types of dentists can benefit from SEO, which includes the following:
- Pediatric dentists
- General and family dentists
- Oral surgeons
- Periodontists
- Orthodontists
- Endodontists
- And more
If you have a dental practice, you can easily implement an SEO strategy for your business.
SEO for Dentists: What are the Advantages?
You might think paying for Google Ads will also get the same results. But let us tell you that organic traffic is much more long-lasting than paid ads, and here are a few reasons why:
1. Higher Traffic to the Website
One of the top advantages of SEO for dentists is that you will attract more traffic to your site. According to recent statistics, more than 50% of all website traffic comes from organic search.
Another research indicates that the average CTR (click-through rate) for the top three paid search results has decreased. This means people are skipping ads and clicking on organic results.
When you have more traffic to your site, you will:
- Have more opportunities to convince people to book an appointment with your dental practice
- Your patients will find you when they need you
When you use the right keywords to rank high, your patients will find you at the right stage of the journey. This means that you will get higher-quality leads, which means more conversions.
2. Building Trust among Patients
Do you know why people click on the results of the first page of Google? It is because they think these websites are trustworthy and have credibility.
To build trust among your patients, you must employ SEO for dentist’s practices. The higher you appear, the more likely people will trust you.
Such trust will lead to clicks and possibly conversions.
3. Stay Ahead of your Competitors
Other dental practices use SEO to stay on top of the search results, and so should you. After all, your city is crowded, and the internet is even more competitive and crowded.
A unique dental SEO strategy will ensure that you can stand out from the crowd in your local region. For example, if you operate from Toronto, then anyone searching for “dentists in Toronto” should be easily able to find your practice.
Improving your SEO will make this happen, leading to higher footfall in your dental clinic.
4. Better User Experience
When you optimize your website for SEO for dentists, users will automatically have a much better experience when they reach it.
SEO leads to:
- Mobile-friendly website designs
- Easy website navigation
- Informative content
- Fast page speed and loading times
- Structured data on the page, such as titles, headings, descriptions, etc.
These elements will translate to a better user experience, meaning more people will stay on your website and take the action you require.
The Cost of SEO for Dentists
Expect to spend at least $3,000 when you get started with SEO for dentists in Toronto. If you want ongoing SEO work, you will have to pay more.
While you might think this is a high price tag, you must also consider other factors to understand your return on investment.
These include the following:
- The value of your average patients
- Average lifespan of your patients
- Cost of the current SEO strategy (if you have one)
- Number of patients generated with the SEO strategy in a specific period of time
An Example of the Cost of SEO for Dentists
Let’s say the average value of your patients is $700 per year, and the average lifespan of the patient is 8 years.
Then, you must calculate:
$700 x 8 years = $5,600
What this means is that every new patient that comes into your dental practice will generate $5,600 in revenue.
Once you have your SEO for dentists strategy in place, you might get 4 patients each month. When you utilize the formula, these 4 patients will equal $22,400 in lifetime value.
Throughout the year, 4 monthly patients will also lead to revenue of $268,800 from SEO.
When you look at it this way, the returns of SEO are high, and you will reap incredible results and revenue. Paid search can have higher costs as you can look at our Google Ads Cost article to understand these costs.
So, implement dental SEO and get high returns on this strategy for a long time.
Ranking Factors for Dental SEO
There are various ranking factors that Google will look at when it decides whether your website should be on the first page. Google’s crawlers constantly go through websites, gather information, and decide whether you are worthy of being on the top.
We have discussed the ranking factors in two parts:
On-Page Ranking Factors for Dentists
Google will assess your site based on the on-page ranking factors. These include the following:
- What you have on the website pages
- How old your site is
- The quality and length of your copy
- Keyword placement in headings, URLs, meta titles, descriptions, image alt texts, and more
- The page loading speed
- Website layout and structure
- Trustworthiness of your website
- How easy it is for search engines to understand, access, and then index your content
These are many other ranking factors that Google takes into account. However, these are some of the most important that you can use to begin optimizing your on-page SEO.
Off-Page Ranking Factors for Dentists
Off-page ranking factors have to do with how other people perceive your website. So, even the activities you do beyond your website affect your rankings.
For example, a top off-page ranking factor is the number of websites or places linking to or talking about your website.
Factors that affect ranking for this strategy of SEO for dentists include:
- The popularity of the linking website
- How did you earn the link?
- How relevant is your link to the website linking your topic
- The authority of the linking website
- Number of links
- And much more
Ensure you have a strong backlinking strategy to enhance your off-page ranking factors. Once you do, Google will perceive you as an authoritative brand in your niche.
How to Get Started with SEO for Dentists?
Now that you know some basics about SEO for dentists, you must understand how to implement this strategy. Remember that SEO is a comprehensive strategy that covers a lot of things.
Make sure you implement the right tactics and avoid any common SEO mistakes to rank better.
We will cover each of them in detail to help you understand each aspect of dental SEO and how it can boost your business:
1. Focus on On-Page SEO
You must first focus on creating a website to have a digital presence. For this, you will have to implement on-page SEO practices to reap results for a long time.
You must incorporate a mixture of content and HTML well to gain more value from this strategy. Here are all the on-page strategies you can implement today:
Use an SEO-Friendly Website Builder
There are many SEO website builders, but we recommend you use WordPress. These sites are scalable, flexible, and are highly mobile-responsive.
It will not take long to load, and search engines can find your website and easily read it. When using this website builder, it is crucial to optimize each page’s:
- Meta titles and descriptions
- URLs
- The file sizes of images and videos
- Image alt texts
- No broken links
- The loading time of pages
You should optimize all pages on your website for these things.
Focus on the Website Design
When potential patients visit your website, the design can make all the difference in their decision-making. User experience is an important ranking factor that leads to people staying on your page.
We recommend hiring a professional website developer if you don’t know how to begin this process. They make sure your website:
- It is easy to navigate and understand
- Follows HIPAA & ADA compliant practices
- Has fast page loading times
- Is mobile-friendly
Professionals will ensure that the SEO of your website is impeccable. So, you can begin your journey of SEO for dentists with a professional agency.
Learn More: Top 10 Website Designs You Can Take Inspiration From in 2023
Finding the Right Keywords
Sprinkling the right keyword throughout your dental website will help you rank higher. These are the keywords people search on the internet that will help them in finding you.
However, finding the right keyword is not only about opting for keywords with the highest search volume. Instead, you must also check:
- Keyword difficulty
- Domain authority of websites already ranking for that keyword
- Relevance
- Trends
If a keyword has high search volumes and high difficulty with top results of high domain authority websites, you can forget about ranking for that keyword.
The ideal keywords will have a decent search volume, easy to medium difficulty, and lower domain authority website ranking for that keyword on the first page.
Most keywords will not give you an ideal balance of various factors. Because of this, it is crucial to have the right SEO tools to help you find keywords that can rank on the first page of Google.
Optimize the Content
Whenever you implement SEO strategies for dentists, it is important to optimize content. You can do this through:
- Images
- Videos
- FAQs
- Featured Snippets
- And more
The Google MUM (Multitask Unified Model) also emphasizes that you get to the point of the topic. Make sure you answer the question in the beginning and then give details later on.
Besides that, adding short videos, FAQ sections, and more will also enhance your chances of getting featured. You can create an FAQ section using questions from the People Also Ask section of Google to rank higher.
You can also review the Helpful Content System of Google to write, plan, and evaluate the content you write.
Publish Content Consistently
Consistent publication is another ranking factor that will help you crawl to the top of search engine results. However, this doesn’t mean that you publish content that is not high-quality.
Create more content, make sure it is high-quality, and publish it consistently. Every month, your dental SEO blog should have 15 to 16 blogs to rank better.
Once you begin doing this, your SEO for dentists strategy will begin reaping its rewards.
Follow EAT and YMYL Guidelines
SEO for dentists becomes complex because Google has strict quality controls for health-related fields. For example, Google emphasizes expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT) for websites that deal with YMYL (your money or your life).
As a dental practice, you offer services and medical advice that will affect someone’s life for a long time. You can destroy your SEO results if you provide inaccurate information.
So, it is crucial to follow these guidelines for dental SEO. It will save you from penalization by Google, and customers will trust you more.
2. Conduct Local SEO for Dentists
As a dental practice, you have a local region where your practice is located. Local SEO is all about helping you optimize your online presence based on your location.
For example, anytime someone searches for anything with “near me” in the searches, they are searching for places close to their location. In local SEO, you will be competing with other dental practices in your area.
Here are some important aspects of local SEO you must incorporate into your brand:
Add Your Dental Practice to Google Maps
People search for local businesses daily to reap their services. Add your dental practice to Google Maps, and then optimize it to ensure it ranks high.
Here are some things you must do to add and optimize your listing:
- Claim your business listing on Google Maps
- Add important information about your dental practice
- Upload real photos of your dental practice
- Utilize a local phone number or a call tracking number to help potential patients contact you
As you can see from the image above, the top results of dental clinics are the businesses that have added their listing on Google Maps. When people search for dental practices in your region, the top results will be optimized listings.
List your Dental Practice on Directories and Local Citation Websites
After listing your business on Google Maps, you must list your dental practice on local citation websites and directories. A local citation will be any mention of your practice on the internet.
For example, you can list your site on:
- Yelp
- Dentistry Directory Canada
- Dental Network
- And more
We have listed the directories for Canada, but you can list it on the relevant directories in your region.
Make Sure Patients Upload Reviews Online
If you want to make the most of local SEO for dentists, you must show Google that you are a trusted dentist. A good way to do that is to ensure that there are patient reviews for your dental practice on the internet.
You can have reviews in places such as Facebook, Yelp, and other such places. We recommend you develop a strategy for asking patients to review your practice.
Then, you can follow up to see whether they have posted the review. You can also feature these testimonials on your website to ensure potential patients can also read these reviews.
Build your Google Business Profile Page
Finally, if you want to do local SEO for dentists, you need to build your Google Business Profile Page. It will put you on the map as a local dental practice, and you will begin showing on Google Search.
You have to fill out information such as:
- Business name
- Address
- Phone number
- Website
- Category
- Hours
- Description
Follow best practices for each, and then create a business page that will allow you to rank higher.
3. Do Technical SEO for Dentists
Technical SEO for dentists is a tactic that will help the search engine easily crawl your website and read it. Search engines have virtual spiders that:
- Crawl the website
- Navigate the sitemap
- Go through internal links
- Figure out what your website is about
- Check if your site is easy to use
Slow site speeds that are not visible will not look good to the crawlers. A fast speed and easy-to-use interface will look good to Google crawlers and help you rank high.
Here are some practices you can incorporate to make sure your dental website has excellent technical SEO:
Have a Flawless Site Architecture
The way your website is built will affect its rankings on Google. For example, any orphan pages, broken links, 404 errors, and other issues will interfere with your site architecture.
As you can see from the image above, a good site architecture has proper categories and is divided properly. On the other hand, a bad site architecture is not sorted properly with random categories that stem from the home page.
You can always use site audit tools that will help you take a deep dive into the technical aspects of your website. Then, you can make relevant changes to optimize your site as much as possible.
Work on the Dental Website Loading Speed
If your dental website takes a long time to load, people will not stay for long. When people leave your website like this, it is known as a bounce rate, and high bounce rates don’t look good to Google.
Optimizing the site with compressed images and other practices will ensure that the loading speed is fast. It will help you rank higher when implement strategies of SEO for dentists.
Make Sure the Dental Website is Mobile-Friendly
More than half of the traffic on the internet comes from mobile. As a dentist, you must ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive.
It is better to have professionals by your side to ensure your site is mobile-friendly. You can opt for an SEO agency to help you rank high with these factors.
4. Off-Page SEO for Dentists
SEO for dentists is not only done on your website but also off-page. It is another essential aspect of your SEO success.
Google goes wide and far to track all the information related to your business, such as name, address, phone number, and more.
Here are some aspects of your off-page SEO for dentists that will help you rank higher:
Get Quality Backlinks
Backlinking is when someone links from their website to another domain. These links signal to search engines that your website is a good source to check out.
Think of this link as an informal vote of confidence in your website. For example, domains that end with .edu or .gov will have a positive and notable impact on your SEO for dentists rankings because Google trusts such websites.
So, a good practice is to have a good mix of backlinks from various relevant websites to help you rank better on Google. Remember that paid mentions and spam websites can hurt your rankings in the long run.
Work on your Social Media Presence
Social media is an important aspect of off-page SEO that can help boost your website rankings and lead to backlinks. Even social media listings show up on Google, which can help even further with your online visibility.
Make sure your dental practice is on top social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. Then, you can also create social media posts out of your blogs and link back to your site.
These tactics will help you rank better, as Google will know you are a legitimate dental practice that works on its presence and patients. So, make sure your social media marketing game is also up to date.
Opt for Email Marketing
You can begin an email newsletter to help boost your rankings. As a dental practice, you can use email newsletters to:
- Provide valuable information
- Offer the latest discounts and deals
- Connect with your patients on a personal level
You can also gather reviews through email marketing and post them on your website or other websites to further boost your rankings.
5. Track your SEO Results
Finally, all your efforts in SEO for dentists will go in vain if you don’t track your results. It will allow you to know whether your dental SEO strategies are working or not.
Here are some important metrics you can track to ensure your SEO strategy is optimal:
Conversion Rates
Conversions take place when a potential patient takes an action you want them to take. For a dental practice, these can include online bookings, calls, submitting forms, and more.
Keyword Rankings
These rankings will show the position and page your website is ranking for each keyword. The ranking will also change over time, so it is crucial to keep an eye on it to optimize SEO for dentists.
Website Traffic
When tracking website traffic, be sure to check the source of traffic, quality, and column. These will let you know whether you are getting high-quality traffic and leads.
FAQs
Do dentists need SEO?
Yes, dentists need SEO to show up on local searches and gain more visibility for their practice. You can use SEO to improve your visibility and get more patients.
What is SEO for dentists?
SEO for dentists is a marketing strategy to help potential patients find you online. It will ensure you can optimize your online assets in the best way possible.
How much does dental SEO cost?
Dental SEO costs can vary anywhere between $3,000 and above. It can also be lower depending on the region and the services you opt for.
Does Google Ads work for dentists?
Google Ads is also a powerful tool for dentists that can help more people click on your website. However, if you want a long-term strategy, then SEO for dentists is the way to go.
Final Thoughts
We hope you now better understand SEO for dentists, its importance, and the strategies you can employ. Remember that SEO is an extensive process, and you might not have all the resources to execute this strategy.
In this case, we recommend you opt for dental SEO experts who can help you stay ahead of the curve and gather new patients. These professionals have the knowledge, expertise, and tools that can help you soar sky-high on Google.