Put yourself in your potential patient’s shoes for a moment. If you are experiencing a toothache and are unsure if it’s something to be concerned about or not, where’s the first place you look? Probably Google, right?
Approximately 80 percent of Internet users, or about 93 million Americans, have used the internet to research a health topic, according to a study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
This is the absolute best opportunity that you have for your potential dental patients to find you online. But how can you increase the chances of them finding you before they find your competitors? Here are some key SEO strategies to consider.
Claim and maintain your Name, Address, Phone (NAP) details
Claiming and upgrading your local listings on sites such as Google, Bing and Yahoo are important to help you rank whenever a user searches for ‘dentist near me.’ If your listing doesn’t show up or your listing details aren’t correct, your new patients may have a hard time finding you.
Once your listing has been claimed and verified, don’t hold back! Give as many details as you can to make your listing stand out and increase your chances of showing up in the search results. Add pictures of your practice, fill in hours and your particular areas of expertise, and add a brief overview of your practice. The more info you can give; the better chance you’ll get to rank in the coveted’ three pack of results that sit proudly at the top of the results page on Google.
Share useful dental advice on a blog
Blogs are a great way to keep adding content to your website on a continual basis. This content should be different from the website content currently on your page. Instead of explaining the dental procedures and services you offer, you can give tips for healthy teeth, talk about innovations in dentistry, give tips on the prevention of decay, or any other relevant topics that your audience would be interested in.
Start optimizing your content for voice search
Using devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, voice-only searches enable users to browse websites without having to visit websites on their desktop or mobile devices. And this method of finding your dentist may be closer than you think. By 2020, 30% of all website visits will be made without a screen.
How can you optimize for voice search? By writing the way you speak. When users browse for content on a desktop or mobile device, they tend to write short, snappy phrases that aren’t in full sentences. But using voice search, they might say something like “Where can I find a dentist near me?” These act long tail keywords and sound more natural. And it could be the way forward for your dentist’s SEO content in the future.
Moreover, keep your sentences as short as possible. The results of a voice search are usually written at 9th grade at most. Therefore, even if your information is complex, break it down in a way that is easier to understand for everyone.
Use LSI keywords in your content
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are words that are related to the topic you are talking about, but they have slightly different meanings to your keywords.
When you use LSIs, search engines realize that you are giving a fully comprehensive information on the topic, and will rank you higher as a result. For instance, if you’re writing an article about the importance of flossing to prevent gum disease, your main keywords would be ‘flossing’ and ‘gum disease’, and the LSI keywords would be words like ‘floss’, ‘gingivitis’, ‘gums’, ‘plaque’, and so forth.
Dr. Websites
It’s not just about patients finding you online – it’s also about them finding you in the right circumstances. By using the best SEO techniques, your patients will discover you as an authority in your field, increasing the chances of them picking up the phone and booking an appointment with you.
To really improve your SEO strategy, it’s a good idea to work with experts. We can help develop a plan to keep your website optimized as well as help you produce and update your content. If you would like some extra help with your SEO, talk to us today.