Content forms an integral part of any SEO strategy. Your website simply wont rank on search engines without it. To make your content more SEO-friendly, your content should contain appropriate keywords and written to appeal to the specific type of customer you want to see walk through the door of your dental practice.
SEO optimization however can feel overwhelming to the uninitiated, so we’ve compiled some of the easy wins when it comes to optimizing your content for SEO:
Put your keywords into these four places
Assuming you have already found the keywords which work for your dental practice, there are four important places you should consider using them to help you rank in search results: title tag, headers & body, URL, and meta description.
- Title Tag – The title of your blog post will be the first stage for the search engine and the reader to determine whether your content is relevant. Therefore, it is essential to include one of your keywords.
- Headers & Body – List your keyword in your post and in the headers at a natural rate. The natural use of keywords is critical. You don’t want to overdo it, otherwise it will begin to look like keyword stuffing, which is penalized by all search engines. With all of your content, your attention should always be on what your audience will find relevant and useful, and not how often it can contain a keyword or keyword sentence. Concentrate on being useful and answering any common questions your client might have on dental matters.
- URL – URLs are the website address of your content. They are a small but significant ranking variable in determining the significance to a page to a search query.
- Meta Description – Your meta description is intended to provide readers and search engines with data on the content of your blog post. If you have a long-tail keyword, it’s wise to use it here so that your content is obvious to Google as well as your audience. At the same time, the copy must be engaging. Remember that this is what the user sees when they first set eyes on your search result. The more enticing the copy is, the better.
Optimize your images by including alt text
Blog posts should also include pictures to clarify and support your content. Search engines don’t just search for pictures, however. Instead, they are look for images with alt text attached to it. That is the extra text you get within the HTML code of a webpage that describes the picture. You will need to make sure your pictures have relevant alt text in your content.
Since search engines don’t have eyes, they can’t ‘see’ the pictures as people can, so the alt text of the photograph informs the search engine what is contained in the image. This enables the search engine to place these pictures in the image results section.
Write original content
Okay, this probably doesn’t qualify as an easy win when it comes to optimizing content, but it bears repeating. You should produce content that will make the public want to remain on your website. The first commandment is that it much be original content. Ideally, your content would have a fresh angle on the subject that hasn’t been considered before.
Original SEO content does not necessarily entail completely new content. Lending your expertise on the dental issues of the day also acts as original content. Your own take on the issue will automatically make your material distinctive.
Dr. Websites
Don’t know your meta tags from your headers? No problem! Here at Dr. Websites, we’re constantly staying up to date on the latest developments in SEO. Keeping up with the latest trends in dentistry is hard enough, so why not let us worry about your digital marketing campaign? Contact us today for a consultation.