How to Hack Dental SEO to Show Up #1 on Google

Dentistry is one of those fields where people tend to seek out services with a great deal of urgency. Maybe they chipped a tooth playing soccer with their kids, or perhaps they have a persistent toothache that just won’t go away.

But when patients are in a pinch, how do you ensure it’s your clinic’s phone number they’re dialing? The answer is to make sure your business shows up on the first page of Google search results. And to do that, you need to go all in on SEO.

This comprehensive guide on dental SEO will teach you everything you need to know to grow your brand’s online visibility and ultimately, get more patients through your doors.

What Is Dental SEO?

When people search for a dentist, the first place they typically turn to is Google. They might search phrases like “dentist near me” or “best dentist in my city.” The search result they will get is largely driven by practices who focus on dental SEO.

Dental SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of improving your online presence in order to boost your rankings in search engine results pages (or SERPs). SEO tactics involve a combination of optimizing your website and creating online content that help search engines like Google understand what your business is all about.

Why Dental Practices Need SEO

By implementing dental SEO strategies into your digital marketing, you’ll be able to get more eyes on your brand and drive organic traffic to your website.

Here are some more ways that investing in SEO can give your practice an edge.

1. It Makes It Easier for New Patients to Find You Online

Nowadays, when people run into a dental issue, their first instinct is to pull out their phones and search for services close to them. Your goal as a dental marketing professional is to make sure your dental practice website shows up in that first page of search results.

A strong SEO strategy is an essential piece of increasing online visibility, because it makes it more likely that you’ll rank higher on the SERPs. That means when patients search for you, they’ll be able to find your dental practice website and contact you more easily.

Don’t forget to fill out your Google Business profile as well, so that patients can find your clinic’s phone number or email within a matter of seconds.

2. It Generates More Leads (That Actually Convert)

One of the best things about SEO is that it increases organic traffic to your website. This is because SEO leverages a blend of content marketing and highly targeted keywords to bring in people who are actually interested in booking at your practice.

But it’s not enough just to capture qualified leads. Your content marketing efforts should also nurture those leads into conversions who eventually become patients, meaning you’ll be able to grow your bottom line faster than ever before.

3. It Gives You an Advantage Over Competitors

It seems like every day a new dental practice opens in your area. And guess what? They’re all competing for the same patients.

The best way to set yourself apart from the competition is with content marketing campaigns that help your brand stand out and grab peoples’ attention. Producing fresh content that’s optimized for SEO can not only help you capture new patients, it also keeps current patients engaged and informed about the services and technologies your practice has to offer.

Plus, creating and sharing content like blog posts demonstrates expertise and positions you as a trusted dental provider. The more value you can offer through your content, the better your patient retention and the more likely that people will refer their friends and family to your practice.

4. It Saves Resources

Compared to traditional advertising methods like billboards and radio ads, SEO is much more cost-effective, especially for nationwide brands.

The power of SEO lies in the fact that it increases the amount of targeted traffic to your website. That means the people who are visiting your website are more likely to be interested in your services, which leads to higher conversion rates and a lower cost per acquisition. That means your practice can enjoy a higher ROI (return on investment) and increased profits flowing into your business.

Aside from saving you a significant amount of money on advertising, generating more traffic through SEO also saves a ton of time. Think about how long it would take to print flyers and hand them out to all the people in your area. For busy teams, that just isn’t realistic.

Save yourself the hassle and use dental SEO to generate more web traffic and new patients instead.

5 Key Components of Dental SEO

Like any SEO strategy, dental SEO consists of several components that work together to increase online visibility and attract more organic traffic.

Here are the 5 main components of dental SEO:

Keyword research and optimization: This involves identifying the most relevant keywords and phrases that prospective patients might use when searching for dental services. (P.S.: Here’s how to find 100+ great keywords in less than an hour.) Search terms like “dentists in my area” or “dental clinics that offer laughing gas” might be commonly searched by potential patients. Once you’ve figured out the keywords you want to rank for, you’ll want to incorporate them into your website content, meta descriptions, and blog content to give you the best chance of being discovered online.
On-page optimization: This means optimizing the content and structure of your website to boost your position in search engine rankings. This includes things like optimizing page titles, headings, and internal and external links.
Off-page optimization: Effective dental SEO is about more than just your website – it also includes strategies you can use to improve your brand’s online reputation and build authority. This can be done through tactics like white hat link building, listing your business on review sites like Yelp, and sharing links to your blog via social media in order to establish your practice as a reputable service provider.
Local SEO: Whether you manage one practice or hundreds, local SEO is essential for dental practices that want to attract patients through local searches. To put your practice on the map, make sure your Google My Business listing is set up and up to date, aim to build backlinks from several local sources, and incorporate location-specific keywords into your content marketing strategy.
Technical SEO: This involves optimizing the technical elements of your practice’s website in order to improve search rankings, such as page loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and schema markup. While these factors are important for SEO, they also help create a more seamless user experience, so it’s worth double checking that you’re following current best practices.

Together, these five components of dental SEO can boost your online visibility and get more eyes on your brand. The result? Attracting more potential patients and growing your revenue faster.

How to Leverage Dental SEO to Grow Your Brand

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the different components of dental SEO, let’s take a look at how and when to leverage them to best support your business’s growth.

Create Valuable and Informative Blog Content

Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools for dental SEO, yet it is often overlooked. Some dentists or office managers may not even understand why blogging is valuable.

Remember: When it comes to choosing a service provider, trust is everything. If patients don’t trust their dentist, they’re more likely to experience anxiety about their appointments, and even delay booking until absolutely necessary. The more likely that a dentist or hygienist can create high-quality blog content that positions them as an expert in their field, the more likely potential patients will trust them.

Creating content for your blog can provide answers to the questions that people are searching for and even attract backlinks from other websites, all of which are important ranking factors for search engines. Speaking of which…

Build Quality Backlinks

Link building is an essential part of dental SEO. Quality backlinks are an important factor in search engine algorithms because they indicate that your content is relevant and valuable. In your patients’ eyes, they help build your practice’s reputation and credibility.

The best way to secure backlinks is to create high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. You can also reach out to other dental websites or local businesses and offer to exchange links, or if you manage multiple dental offices, link to each others’ websites.

If you’re already creating great content, here are 4 signs you’re ready to give your content the backlinks it deserves.

Connect With Patients Through Social Media

When it comes to building relationships online, social media marketing is one of the best tools you have at your disposal. According to a dental industry report conducted by NexHealth, over 80% of respondents use social media to promote their practice, and 41% of booking services are found through social media.

From an SEO standpoint, social media is a great way to increase your content’s reach. You can even use your link in your bio or social media posts to drive traffic to your website directly.

Make sure the information on your practice’s social media profile is current, and connect with your audience by posting regular updates about everything from your team to your latest teeth whitening promotion. Your appointment book will be full in no time.

Use Paid Ads to Increase Brand Awareness

Paid advertising goes hand in hand with dental SEO because it allows you to target specific keywords and demographics with your website content.

Google Ads is Google’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising solution. Investing in Google Ads ensures that your content is seen by the right people, and can drive additional traffic to your website, which in turn boosts your search rankings.

Paid ads can also help your best pieces of content reach a wider audience, which increases brand awareness and can generate more organic traffic and backlinks in the long run.

Overcoming Challenges in Dental SEO

As with any industry, dental brands face a number of unique challenges when it comes to securing the top spot on the SERPs.

As a dental marketer, here are some of the barriers you might face (and how to overcome them).

1. Lots of Local Search Competition

As the number of dental practices grows, the competition for local search visibility is becoming hotter than ever.

This increased local competition means more practices competing for similar keywords, such as “dentist near me” or “teeth whitening.” This makes it challenging to rank for these keywords.

However, you can use more targeted and long-tail keywords to outrank competitors. An example of this is “best pediatric dentist in Portland.” Kids’ dentists in Portland will want to show up #1 for this search term. It’s easier to rank for this long-tail term when there are less people searching for it than the more generic “pediatric dentist.”

Google apps, like Google My Business (GMB) and Google Maps can also be powerful tools for boosting local search visibility. Make sure to optimize your GMB profile with accurate and updated information to improve your odds of securing that valuable real estate on the first page of search results.

One of the best ways for your brand to stand out amongst the competition is to make sure you’re at the top of your content game. Focus on creating fresh, original content that speaks to the needs and concerns of your local audience, as this will give you the best shot at outranking local competitors.

2. Lack of Quality Content

Many dental professionals struggle to create content that attracts potential patients. After all, you can only write so many blogs on the importance of flossing, right?

Creating high-quality content for your website or blog doesn’t need to be difficult. By understanding your patients’ pain points (literally) and needs, you can create content that’s both informative and useful.

For example, you might identify the most common patient questions or concerns, and turn that into an FAQ-based blog post. Or perhaps you can create educational content that helps patients learn about the various treatment options for different tooth and gum problems. This not only helps patients make more informed decisions about their dental care, it also positions you as a reliable expert who is ready to help them in their time of need.

Visuals are another great way to make your content more engaging and digestible. An infographic that demonstrates proper brushing technique or a video breaking down the benefits of fluoride can go a long way in engaging new patients.

At the end of the day, you don’t have to be an expert in everything. We’ll leave the dental work to you, and you leave the content creation to SEO experts like Growth Machine. With a team of over 7,000+ writers at our disposal, we’ll hand-select a dental SEO expert who understands the ins and outs of your niche and provide you with articles and traffic that converts.

3. Budget Constraints

Unfortunately, many dental practices have limited budgets when it comes to SEO and digital marketing.

We get it. Owning the search rankings in this field takes time, and that approach may be at odds with providers who want to see an immediate jump in patient acquisition.

Our advice? While it’s important to invest in marketing tactics that will bring quick returns, it’s equally important to invest in a long-term solution like SEO. Increasing your search rankings might not happen overnight, but it will pay dividends when you start to dominate the SERPs and are seeing more traffic and conversions for months and years to come — long after your Google Ad has stopped running.

To make the most of a limited budget, we recommend cutting straight to the chase and hiring a content agency that understands SEO for dental brands of all sizes. Check out some of our case studies to see how we’ve amplified our clients’ organic traffic and helped them grow their businesses.

Grow Your Practice With a Dental SEO Marketing Strategy That Actually Works

Dental SEO can be a challenging landscape to navigate. Working with a search-focused content marketing agency will give you the best shot at improving your search engine rankings, attracting more patients, and growing your practice faster than ever before.

Work with a content-focused SEO agency like Growth Machine to save time and effort, while getting the most out of your online marketing. We’ll focus on lead generation and driving potential patients to your website, so you can focus your energy on other aspects of your business, like patient care.