SEO Strategies for Dentists:

SEO Expert

If you work in an industry requiring a robust web presence in order to bring in new customers, such as dentistry, hopefully you heard about the D-Day your website experienced about a month ago, on April 21^st. This ultimatum required your site to be mobile-friendly, or else it would be buried under all the mobile-friendly sites when people search for it on their mobile devices. If this does not seem terribly serious, consider:

At least 1 out of every 4 searches is done on a mobile device and that number will only grow
A client base that doesn’t use mobile devices (typically seniors) is an unsustainable client base
An urban/suburban location could find dozens more clients if it is high on a list of search results

But how exactly does a mobile-friendly site translate into more patients for your dental clinic? The primary way is through Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Here are some of the principles at play when working with SEO for a dentistry website:

Have a strong Google+ page. All of the SEO in the world is going to be all but ineffective if your dental practice does not keep its Google+ page up-to-date. Nothing is worse than losing a potential client because—rather than going to your beautiful, mobile-friendly website whose SEO brought it to the top of their search results—they go the easy route, to the Google+ page and cannot find a number to call. Many people will just give up at this point and try the next search result.

Determine your keyword focus. This process is twofold: the first part is figuring out which of your services you want to emphasize and the second part is how people in your area area searching for that specific service. For example, your clinic specializes in dentistry for those who have fears about dental work or have had bad experiences. Unless you are able to match that service to the specific string(s) being sought online by potential clients in your area, you will be less than successful in bringing clients in from the Internet. Google Keyword Tool is one means of obtaining this match, letting you know if people are searching for “pain free dentistry Saint Paul” or “painless dentistry Minneapolis”, for example. Talk to your Internet marketing specialists for guidance on this, as well as on how choose analytical tools other than Google’s to assist with this process. Button: Beyond Google Key Words- Insights Keyword function

Build high quantity and quality content. The greater the number of reputable sites (especially those in the healthcare industry) linking to your website, the higher your search results will skyrocket. This sort of thing is a common offering of Internet marketing firms, who take the time to contact relevant websites and get them to add your site to their lists. It is also critical to add keyword-optimized content to your own website. These keywords should all be aiming at the keyword focus determined above, but it may take twenty or moresuch pages in order to achieve results through Google searches. However, if these twenty pages only take 10 seconds to read, they will not be nearly as effective as carefully-written, instructive material that takes 2 minutes to pore over.

While the first suggestion is fairly easy to implement, the other two will require a significant amount of strategy and fine-tuning. Working with an internet marketing firm like Digital Solutions (sponsor of his site) that has experience with utilizing SEO in the medical industry will be essential to giving your dentistry practice the web presence you desire. Dedication to the process of building that kind of website will not only bring in new customers, it will also give you a website that stands out in your industry