SEO for Dentists: A Practical Guide to Ranking in Local Search

When was the last time that all your 10 patients for the day made appointments because they found your business on Google? Never?

The truth about SEO for dentists...

I get it; you want to be understood. That’s why I have used short, punchy sentences with fewer words than standard technical terms.

If you want to improve your chances of attracting new customers and converting them into patients, you can start by giving your site a thorough SEO audit. In other words, you need to make sure it’s well optimized. And you've done everything the so-called SEO experts tell you is necessary to raise your site to the top of the search results. You've probably had the experience of investing a significant amount of time in research and experimentation, only to find that the results aren't what you want. But when you search online and see how much better your competitors are doing — especially dentists that have ugly websites and lousy practices — all you can do is ask yourself why they're winning and you're not. With so many things to be aware of, we understand how frustrating it can be to find the time to understand SEO for dentists. Many dentists are curious about online marketing and the value that a strong online presence can add to their practice. A recent study showed that the best way for a dentist to generate new patients is by advertising online through websites and social media.

Why? Because...

While the rise in mobile devices is increasing the demand for location-based services, the number of consumers searching for these services has been increasing by over 200% in recent years. The Think with Google study found that the demand is so high that people are now searching for "___ near me today/tonight" in mobile searches, and "Open" + "now" + "near me" searches have increased by more than 150%.

What is SEO for dentists?

Knowing the purpose of SEO is crucial in determining your next steps in the development of your dental practice website. You will want to focus on things that drive traffic to your site, rather than those that are just for show.

1. Building Trust

The credibility of a dentist can be built by offering the best services and treatments, making sure the website is user-friendly and easy to navigate, and providing high-quality images. All of this builds trust with the people who matter most – the patients and their families!

2. Getting More Traffic

A lack of trust in your business can keep you from getting appointments, and it can keep you from attracting new clients. But that's not all. When customers don't trust you, they're less likely to tell others about you. Most of your future customers will click on the first five results on Google, so a carefully-crafted dental SEO strategy can help you get more traffic.

3. Defeating Competition

The third reason is the fact that you’ll stand out among the competitors. In the overcrowded dental market, there is little space for you to shine. Optimising your site means getting on top of the dental SEO game and staying ahead of the competition.

4. Center of Expertise

Another reason you should invest in dental SEO is the fact that your dental site can become a hub of knowledge for future and current dental patients. This makes it easy for people to find your website by doing a simple search.

5. Offering a Better User Experience

A well-designed and attractive website is a great way to get people to know about your practice. But, even more importantly, a website that’s user friendly is the perfect way to let potential patients know that you are the right dentist for them. https://dentalreach.today/marketing-and-teamwork-recipes-7-dental-market-situations/

What’s the ROI of SEO for dentists?

To determine the ROI of a search engine optimisation strategy, you need to consider how much a new patient is worth to your practice. This will help you determine if SEO is worth the effort! Here’s an example. If you are curious about how the data can help you: The formula, $500 x 10 years = $5,000. That means your new patients will generate around $5,000 in lifetime revenue. You need to know how much money you’ll be able to earn from each patient, and an important way to do that is by optimising your website for search engines. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of using certain techniques, tools, and strategies to increase the amount of visitors to a web page through the use of Search Engines. By doing so, we can potentially generate more money for our businesses. There are different methods you can use to track your progress towards your SEO goals. So 5 patients will get you $25,000 in their lifetime and what will be your ROI if you keep getting 3 to 5 new patients every month?

But here lies the issue...

Dentists need to get a bachelor's degree in order to practice. Most people, however, can make a website and call themselves experts in dentistry with nothing else to back up their claims.

“Happy internal clients mean happy external clients!”

Internal marketing is a part of the overall strategy of a company that focuses on motivating and empowering their employees to help build better relationships with the customers of the company. This will help ensure the success of the company's efforts to succeed in its core business and keep the customer base happy and growing. Having a strong sense of corporate culture is critical to the success of any business. You can't just put a bunch of people into a room and expect them to get along. The core of a company is what it is made up of. It is comprised of employees, processes, technology and culture. All of these components are inextricably tied together.

If you don't have internal marketing in place, you can STOP reading here and scroll down to the bottom.

You can’t expect a FMR or a Smile make-over patient to slide through your clinic just by SEO right away!

Here is the thing that I have learned recently, that is the whole point of writing this article :)

What Is a Value Ladder?

I get asked this question a lot: what exactly IS a Value Ladder? Here is an example:

Your first goal should be to get your product or service in front of as many people as possible. You want to have the widest distribution. This is your opportunity to show your product or service to as many potential customers as possible. You may be able to reach some of them through direct marketing, but it will be difficult to gain access to the remainder. Your Value Ladder helps you recognise the increasing value of your services as you move through it. You do this by placing your product into ascending order, as shown in the diagram above. The diagram above shows a typical Value Ladder for a dental practice. At the bottom of the ladder, they might offer free content, which draws interest in their services, but not necessarily the customer is ready to buy. Free content is a vital part of the sales funnel. Content can be used to get people onto a website and give them a taste of what they’re getting, then drive them towards your paid products. Get them in the dental chair in the first place!

What is Up-selling and Cross-selling?

Up selling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question, while cross-selling invites customers to buy related or complementary items. Though often used interchangeably, both offer distinct benefits and can be effective in tandem. Source: Practicebuilders

Here is an typical example of cross-selling and up-selling:

You can turn things around with a Value Ladder

Value Ladder is a powerful tool for assessing your current and future prospects. You should use it to guide your decisions. In doing so, you will improve your revenue and provide more value to your customers or your audience.

Sure, it might cost $100 to acquire a customer that brings in $50 at the beginning of the ladder, but over the lifetime of that relationship, that on-going provision becomes profitable.

Disclaimer: If your internal marketing is not right or exist then, there is no point of getting external marketing done.