Dentist SEO takes work, an eye for detail, and patience. It also takes knowledge of what SEO tactics work for dentists. That’s one of our specialties, and we want to provide you with a comprehensive overview to properly optimize a dentist's website.
If you’re looking to do it yourself, this is your 7-Step Dentist SEO plan overview. It will give you the basic steps, and tools, along with a sense of what topics to study further for improved search engine rankings. Alternatively, if you like our approach, reach out, and let's discuss your needs.
This is common sense, right? And the simple answer is, “we want more business.”
There are a few things to consider when establishing your SEO goals. Newer marketers make the mistake of thinking that SEO is a numbers game. They think you need to attract all kinds of visitors to your site and then sift through the unwanted calls. We urge you to think differently. Be specific in your goals, and Google will reward you for your specificity.
Let’s dig deeper. What types of clients are you looking for? Do you specialize in implants, orthotics, or general dentistry work? Imagine you are ranking high for all your dream phrases. How many calls can your company handle? Are you willing to sift through unwanted calls to find the gems?
Keep your specific business goals in mind as you work on the following steps.
Once you are clear on the types of leads you want to receive, you have to do your research. First, you'll need a Google account. Then, log into the Google Keyword Tool. This tool tells you what people are typing into Google, called a keyword phrase or search term, and how often. Google refers to this as traffic, and you'll need traffic to make your phone ring. Start making a list of phrases you think are good.
Traffic numbers aren’t the only factor.
Think about the intent someone has when they type a keyword phrase in Google. For example, imagine someone who is searching just the word dentures. It's possible someone searching for this is looking for your company's service. In our experience it is much more likely they are in a fact-finding phase, and aren't ready to hire a dentist. It is better to target someone searching for cost for dentures or dentures near me.
Google wants its users to find what they are looking for. As you build your list of keyword phrases, cross off any term that doesn't match what your company offers.
If you’ve never done SEO before, your site has very little trust with Google. So find phrases that you can rank for quickly. Evaluate how much online competition you have for the phrases you want to rank for.
Think about it like running a marathon. If your goal is to finish top 10, or even #1, you stand a better chance of winning a race of only 100 people as opposed to a race of 10,000.
In this step, we find the races you can win. Here's what to do:
First, take a keyword phrase from your list. Then, on a desktop computer, go to Google.com and type intitle:"phrase from your research" and hit enter. Replace the words phrase from your research with an actual keyword phrase that you found. This command asks Google to display all the pages in its index that are targeting your phrase in the title tag. Then, under the search bar, it will tell you how many pages there are. That is your online competition.
Unless Google already views your site as an authority, you want phrases with as low a competition number as possible. Create a list with several low competition phrases, and you have the basis for your SEO campaign.
Although we can occasionally get results in a matter of weeks, this is not typical. It takes months to generate consistent SEO results. In this step, take a look at what Google ad costs are (this is also found in the keyword tool). Even small budgets can generate the right phone calls for your business, and the calls can sustain you while you build up your SEO rankings. A skilled marketer will use these calls to gauge the search intent I mentioned above.
You need to make sure you are properly tracking your results. At a minimum, use:
Google Search Console - this free tool tells you how Google views your site. It also shows what people are searching for to find you and where you rank in the search engine results. There are many reports we use in this tool. The top 2 are the Performance Report & the Links Report. You can use the Performance Report to compare monthly results for changes in your rankings, therefore tracking your campaign's progress.
Google Analytics - this free tool tells you how many people are coming to your site, roughly how long they stay, how they found you, etc. Use it to track your results, i.e.; someone filled out a form, called, or initiated a chat. You'll need to learn how to set up goals to do this. The top 3 reports we use are the Source/Medium Report, the Landing Page Report, and the Device Report.
Bonus Tip: If you run a search ad campaign, look at the search terms report. If you've properly linked your Analytics and Ads accounts, you will find terms in this report that are hidden in Google ads.
CallRail - this paid tool helps you track the phone calls mentioned above. We recommend using the call record feature and listening to the calls to ensure you are generating quality leads. Listening to the calls also helps your marketers understand your business and how you position yourself in the marketplace.
Once your tracking is in place, the “real work” begins.
This is what many people think of when they think of “SEO.” Site optimization means taking the keyword research we’ve done and sprinkling them throughout your site in ways that signal to Google what your site is about. Most people think of this as doing your "metadata."
But site optimization doesn’t end there.
Today’s search engines are leaning more towards schema. Think of schema as the new meta. You can have schema for more than just keywords; it can signal your addresses, social profiles, reviews, services, and more. At a minimum, you want to add dentist schema to your site.
Make sure your site is organized properly. This involves a technical site audit as well as a content audit. If you’ve been learning about this stuff, this is where industry terms like “clustering,” “siloes,” and “internal links” get thrown around.
Lastly, you want to pay attention to whether your site is mobile-friendly and how fast your site loads. You can find some of this information in your Google search console, or you can use these tools to determine if you need help in these areas:
Most dentists want to start ranking in their local area. Therefore, most of the terms people search to find you will trigger a Google map result at the top of the organic search results, and you want to be on that map.
To get there, you’ll need to build your directory profile. First, get your name, address, and phone number on the main directories, like Google maps, Apple maps, Yellow Pages, or Yelp. Next, list your business name, address, and phone number on your social profiles as well.
Don’t forget your local chambers of commerce might give you a page where you can promote your business.
Once you’ve built 15-20 of these kinds of signals, that’s often enough.
After you have your local signals built, focus on getting reviews for your company. Be consistent with reviews. Getting one or two reviews every month will generate much better results than getting 15 reviews all at once and then nothing else for a year. Start with getting reviews on Google, and after you’ve got a few dozen, you can get a handful on a couple of other sites, then go back to getting them on Google. It's hard to be specific with numbers for you because larger companies have the ability to get more reviews. Do your best, and if you must, you can explore review software to help you automate this. Smaller companies and solo businesses should not go the software route.
Most people think of this as “link building.” Now, this is where the SEO rubber meets the road.
Again, if ranking your site is like running marathons, building your site’s authority is like building endurance. Do this step well enough, and you’ll be able to win the easy races and compete for national terms.
Quality trumps quantity when it comes to building site authority. What you really want are links from the right sources. So ask yourself, what are the sources that Google will trust for links about dentists?
We’ve found that the best links are those from local media and industry publication websites. So when you work with us, your SEO strategy often looks a lot like a PR strategy.
If you are doing it yourself, find ways to position yourself as a source to local media. Most media sites will have reporters’ emails listed. Alternatively, you can offer to write an expert article for your local or national trade association site.
If you are in a small town, you have an advantage because often, you only need a small handful of these kinds of links to boost you to the top of the search engines.
If you are in a larger city, you have an advantage because there are more local publications that you can pitch to.
If you get an article published that mentions your brand but doesn’t link to you, don’t fret. This happens more often than you’d like, but we have found that this still will help to improve your overall rankings.
Keep working on this step, and you’ll reap the rewards of ever-improving search rankings.
This is where you put it all together. If you have followed these steps well, you can open up the tools mentioned in step 3 and see the results you are generating. Over time, you will get a better feel for which terms send you better clients, and you can adjust your tactics accordingly.
You can also see how changes in Google’s search algorithm may be impacting your site.
Use this data to adjust your initial site optimization. You may also use it to create new pages on your site to target terms you hadn’t discovered initially.
Now that you understand the basics of a dentist’s SEO plan, you might choose to hire someone with experience to do this all for you.
To make Google rank you above all the dentists in your city or your specialty, one cannot overly rely on cookie-cutter SEO tactics. Instead, your goal is to make your website stand out to attract the kinds of clients you want and to get Google to see you as different and better than your competition.
Your pitches for the articles should also be unique to you, your offering, and your expertise. Therefore, we limit the number of dentists we work with and tailor the search engine marketing plan to your needs and strengths.
If this approach interests you, let us help you get started. Feel free to call, text, or fill out the following form.
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