Dental SEO – 10 Strategies to Optimize Your Website

By: Frank DePino | May 18, 2023

Dental SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the best ways to increase your practice’s revenue. As a dentist, you know that having a strong online presence is important, and SEO  (in particular local SEO) is one of the most effective ways to get your dental practice in front of as many local customers as possible. 

When you invest in local SEO, you’re investing in your dental practice’s future — you can guarantee that people will be able to find you when they need a dentist and do it quickly. SEO is a powerful way to get your dental practice in front of people already looking for what you have to offer.  

In this post, we are discussing:

• What is local SEO?
• What is dental SEO marketing, and why is it important for dentists?
• How can SEO services reduce costs?
• What are local SEO strategies for a dental practice?

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is about ranking your business website for local searches. Local SEO refers to techniques used by businesses to improve their rankings on Google’s “local pack,” which is the section of search results that shows up when someone searches for something like “dentist near me” or “dentists in [city name].” 

The goal is to attract more people who live within driving distance of your dental clinic (or are willing to take public transportation there) and people who are already interested in seeing a dentist but haven’t made an appointment yet. 

What Is Dental SEO Marketing and Why Is it Important for Dentists?

SEO is a strategy many businesses use to make sure that their name appears at the top of search engine results. With good SEO, customers will be able to find your business quickly and easily.

Dental SEO marketing is the process of making a dental practice’s website rank higher on SERPs or search engine results pages. Dental SEO marketing is essential because it makes sure that you’re getting your name out there on the internet. If people are looking for a dentist in your area and don’t see your name when they Google “dentist (your city)”, you’ll lose out on potential clients! 

How Can SEO Services Reduce Costs?

Good dental SEO marketing can help you reduce the cost of traditional forms of advertising (like TV or radio commercials). You won’t have to spend money on paid ads because your business naturally shows up first, and when people find you through organic searches, they’ll be more likely to trust you and use your services.

What are Local SEO Strategies for a Dental Practice?

As a dentist, you’re probably looking for ways to make your services more visible to prospective patients in your local area. You might also be wondering how to expand your reach and bring in new customers from neighboring communities. Whether you’re just starting or you’ve been in the business for years, growing your practice can be an ongoing challenge. 

However, there are local SEO strategies that you can incorporate if you want to take your dental practice to the next level. In the following section, we’ll discuss the steps you should take to optimize your site for local search. 

Here are ten strategies that will help your practice stand out from the crowd:

1. Keyword Research 

Keywords are the phrases and words people type into search engines, so they’re integral to any successful SEO strategy. Keyword research is at the core of any SEO strategy because it allows you to figure out what your clients are looking for and how to attract them with the right words. Look at what phrases your potential clients are using when looking for a dental practice like yours, and then make sure those words show up in titles and headers on your website.

The first step in improving your local SEO is identifying which keywords you want to rank for. For example, if you are a dentist practicing in New York City, you will want to rank for keywords like “dentist NYC” and “dental office NYC.” Once you have identified your primary keywords, it’s time to incorporate them into your website content. For example, you could write a blog post about dentists in NYC titled “Dental Office NYC Near Me.”

2. Work on Your “Google My Business” Page 

If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business page yet, do it now! Google My Business is an extremely important part of local SEO—it helps Google figure out what kind of business you run and then ranks you in the local region where you do business. Filling out all the information in your Google My Business account lets Google know how to categorize you and how close you are to potential customers.

Google Business Profile is where people will be able to find your practice’s hours, location, and phone number. It’s also where people can leave reviews about your office. All you have to do is make sure all of your information is accurate and updated. 

3. Reviews

Reviews are essential for any business’s success. By getting positive reviews from satisfied patients, you can show that they had a great experience at your practice and would come back again. Plus, this helps boost visibility on Google Maps, which is one of the biggest search engines today. Don’t be afraid to ask patients if they would be willing to leave a review on Google after their appointment. Most people are happy to oblige if they had a positive experience at the dentist!

4. Yelp Listings

Yelp has become one of the most popular websites for finding local businesses. 89% of consumers searching online for local businesses find Yelp useful. So it’s essential to be listed on their website. 

Use NAP – You should ensure that your dental practice’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) are all up-to-date on your Yelp listing. This will help Google localize your business and put it in front of searchers looking for dentists in their area.

Include relevant key phrases in your description and add photos so patients can see what your office looks like before they come in—and get contact information on there as well. Also, make sure to include your hours and services so customers can find out when they can visit and what they need before they arrive at the office.

5. Practice Technical SEO Analysis

If you want to get your site ranked high in the search engines, you must ensure that it has an excellent technical setup. That means ensuring that it has the right title tags, description tags, and other important elements like meta titles, descriptions, and keywords. A technical SEO analysis will help you understand where and how your website is being indexed by search engines like Google and identify anything wrong with your website’s structure or coding. 

A professional SEO company can do this with years of experience helping companies optimize their websites for better search engine rankings. Technical SEO analysis should be conducted regularly to ensure your website stays at its best and doesn’t fall behind the competition!

6. Join Reputable Dental Forums

Forums are a great way to increase your exposure in the dental industry. Joining reputable forums on dental topics will allow you to participate in discussions about topics related to your business and give people the chance to see what you have to say about them. This can also help your business gain credibility because people will know that you are an expert in the field. You can join existing ones or create your forum and drive traffic to it through social media and other channels.

7. Be Present on Social Media

Having social media accounts will help build awareness of your practice among potential clients who may not have heard about it yet or who may not have access to information through other channels like word-of-mouth referrals from friends or family members who use your services regularly. This is especially true if they’re also active online users who frequently post about their experiences with local businesses like yours (not just dentists but also other types of health care providers).

So you must have a strong presence on social media. If you don’t have social media accounts set up already, it’s a good idea to make profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reach as many clients as possible.

8. Publish Educational Dental Content

Publishing educational dental content is an excellent way to position yourself as an authority in the dental world. Patients who have questions about their oral health can read up on your site, which helps you build credibility and increases the number of time users spend on your site. 

You can use blogs, infographics, and slideshows to address pressing issues for potential patients, such as what to do about a toothache or what happens during a root canal. This content is beneficial for dental SEO because search engines love pages that are regularly updated with new information.

9. Build High-Quality Links

Building high-quality links will not only help you increase your search engine rankings, but it will also help drive traffic back to your site. Once your website has great content, it’s time to start sharing it with other people! The more people share your content through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the more likely they are to click through to your website. 

When other websites link back to yours, it shows Google and other search engines that you’re a credible source of information (and yes, this still works!). Start with any partners or past clients who may be interested in linking back to you on their own sites.

Other ways you can build high-quality links include posting blog comments on other dental blogs and participating in online forums. As long as you provide valuable information, other dentists and patients will start linking back to you, which will help boost your site’s authority in Google’s eyes.

10. Have a Mobile-Friendly Website

It is also important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Google prefers websites that are easy to view on a mobile device, so if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you won’t rank as high as other sites in searches conducted by people using a mobile device. Luckily, it’s easy to update your site to be mobile-friendly, especially if you’re using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress. 

You can also talk to a web developer about revamping your site to look great on any device. A mobile-friendly site will not only help you rank better for local SEO terms, but it will also help you convert more visitors into patients by providing a user-friendly experience for those who are on their phones.

To Conclude

If you’re a dentist, you know how important it is to have a strong online presence. The internet has become the #1-way patients find dentists near them. In fact, 90% of patients use online resources to find a dentist. That’s why we’ve put together this list of strategies for ensuring your local SEO efforts pay off. 

Contact now Mediaboom to boost your dental SEO.

By: Frank DePino

Frank DePino is Principal and Founder of Mediaboom. Since 2002, Frank has led Mediaboom’s award-winning staff of creative and technical professionals, building the most effective marketing and advertising solutions for its clients.