The search for the right dentist starts online. It’s why having a strong dental SEO strategy is so important.
77% of patients turn to search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo to find the perfect dental professional or practice. Your dental website needs to rank highly in these places in order for patients to find you and get in touch.
This article looks at the benefits of SEO for dentists and outlines SEO tips that will increase your search visibility so you become more discoverable to new patients.
What is dental SEO?
Dental SEO involves improving and maintaining your website so it ranks well in search engines. Optimising your dental website will increase your visibility amongst people researching online. It will also help you to drive more traffic to your website, build trust in new patients and stay ahead of competitors.
Do dentists need SEO?
There are many benefits of SEO for dentists. And with increasingly more dental professionals recognising the positive impact of SEO, you don’t want to be left behind.
SEO will increase the visibility of your dental website
Search engines are more likely to rank optimised dental websites. The higher your website ranks for the right dental keywords, the more visible you will be to the right patients.
SEO will drive more traffic to your website
Higher rankings in search engines equate to more people clicking on your website. When your dental website ranks highly in search engines and becomes more visible to patients, this will result in more people visiting your website.
SEO will produce a better online experience for patients
SEO involves optimising your website to improve your search engine rankings and user experience. This includes adding quality content, enhancing its navigation and boosting its speed.
SEO will help you stay ahead of the competition
SEO is one of the best ways of outpacing your competitors online. It means your website will be seen before others and gives you the opportunity to wow patients with a great online experience.
SEO will help you build trust and credibility
When your dental website ranks well, it has the trust of Google. In turn, this helps patients recognise that you are a credible dentist or dental practice they can confidently turn to.
Dental SEO ranking factors
When deciding where your dental pages should rank, Google will pay attention to factors on and off your website. There are over 200 ranking factors that Google is said to use when making these decisions, including:
On-site SEO ranking factors for dentists
On-site SEO ranking factors are the elements on your website that you can change to improve its search engine ranking, such as:
- Content on page
- Click-through rate
- Website structure
- Mobile-friendliness
- Page loading speed
Off-page SEO ranking factors for dentists
Off-site SEO ranking factors are the elements outside of your website that you can change to improve its search engine ranking, which include:
- Backlinks from relevant sources
- Reviews
- Local SEO
SEO tips and advice for dentists
Are you ready to get started building your dental SEO strategy? Looking at the on-page and off-page SEO ranking factors mentioned above, here are our top recommendations for your website.
Focus on producing helpful content for your website
Google states that “websites and pages should be created to help users.” Your content needs to have a beneficial purpose, whether that is sharing dental advice, providing information on your location or letting patients know more about your treatments.
A way to find out what content will be most helpful to patients is by researching the keywords and phrases they search for online. That way, you can discover the questions and queries you need to focus on within your content. We recommend using a tool like Ubersuggest to research and pinpoint the correct dental SEO keywords and questions.
With a list of the right keywords and phrases, you will have a clear understanding of the content you need to produce. When writing this content, you want it to be optimised for search engines and read well to patients. Key points to remember include:
- Don’t overstuff your content with keywords – Google doesn’t look favourably on websites and pages that try to ‘beat the system’ by stuffing their content with too many keywords. Only use them where they naturally fit.
- Make your content easy to read – keep sentences and paragraphs simple and brief. Don’t put patients off with unreadable blocks of text.
- Use subheadings – these can help to make your text more readable. Subheadings also encourage patients to read further down the page and stay on your website for longer.
- Use bullet points – similar to subheadings, bullet points help to break up content and make it easy to digest.
- Add visual imagery – graphics and photos will make your content more engaging and impactful for readers. It will also allow you to rank in Images Searches, especially if you include relevant keywords within the image file names and alt texts.
Improve your click-through rate
Search results pages are competitive. Your website is contending with many other pages, so you need to do everything possible to encourage people to click on you.
One way to do this is with captivating title tags and meta descriptions. These are what patients will see first in the search results.
Title tags
First impressions count – for Google and new patients – so take the time to write title tags that are right for both.
- Research the websites that are ranking well for your keywords. Use this inspiration to create even better title tags.
- Include your primary keyword and a longer related keyword if possible. Add the keyword to the front of your title tag to catch the eye of patients.
- Keep it short and simple – don’t exceed 50-60 characters as any additional characters will be cut off and unreadable.
- Describe what will be on your page – is it a guide, location page or treatment page? Let people know what to expect when clicking through to your website.
- What makes your content unique? Are you providing an in-depth article, a quick read, a listicle or the latest advice? Let people know your USP to encourage them to click on your website.
Meta descriptions
While not a ranking factor, meta descriptions are one of the first pieces of content that people will see on the search results pages. People use these descriptions when deciding whether to click through to your website.
- Keep descriptions to 130 characters – stick to this length to ensure they display fully on mobile and desktop devices.
- Add in the right level of information – a clear summary will show searchers what to expect from a page.
- Make it actionable and include clear calls to action to motivate people to visit your page.
- Add in your keyword and try to do so at the beginning of the description. Make it clear to people that your page contains the information they are searching for.
Strengthen your website structure and navigation
A robust structure enables Google to crawl your website and find your most important pages. It also helps patients to navigate your website and have a richer online experience.
Here are our top tips for improving your website structure and SEO:
- Make your website journey and layout as simple as possible. Website visitors and Google should be able to find what they are looking for.
- Make your valuable content and pages reachable. People should be able to locate your most important information in three or fewer clicks.
- Include links to important and relevant pages within your content. But remember that too many internal links on the same page dilute their value, so stick with three to five internal links per 1000 words.
Make your website mobile-first
Most patients will be searching on their phones, so your website should be mobile-first.
It is important to note that a responsive website is Google’s recommended format. This is where the design and development of your website render differently on different screen sizes. This ensures that every person has access to a well-designed and formatted website page regardless of whether they are on a phone, tablet or laptop.
You can test whether your website pages are mobile-friendly using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. The test will inform you of the steps to take so that your website can be used effectively by people searching on their phones.
Improve your page loading speed
If your website page is slow to load, it can increase the probability of a person leaving your site. Sluggish load times can also impact your rankings, with Google recognising its importance to searchers.
Google research found that when a page has a loading time of one to three seconds, the chance of a person exiting the website right away increases by 32 percent.
Google’s PageSpeed Insights allows you to measure and test the speed of your website pages. You will get a score of 1 to 100 and suggestions on how to improve your page speed. As some of these recommendations can be quite technical, we recommend working with a specialist engineer or developer to complete the tasks and improve your page speed.
Get backlinks from relevant sources
Backlinks continue to be an important ranking factor for Google.
What exactly is a backlink? A backlink is when another website mentions you and links to your website. Google pays close attention to backlinks and views them as ‘votes of confidence’. When a page has quality, relevant links from other websites, it will likely rank well in the search results.
There are several link-building opportunities suitable for dental websites. These include:
- Directories can be a good source of links. But the quality can vary so make sure you select reputable ones to appear on. Avoid general directories that accept links from businesses as long as they pay a fee, as these will be low in quality.
- Building relationships with journalists. Journalists often need expert comments and quotes for their articles. Research into the top journalists in dentistry, health and wellbeing and let them know that you are available to provide advice, education and information for their articles. A journalist you provide advice or information for will typically reference you and include a link to your website.
- Appear on podcasts. When you are a guest on a podcast, you will often be referenced and linked to on their website. Research podcasts relevant to your area, see what topics they cover and get in contact to pitch yourself as a guest.
Backlinks dos and don’ts
- Do make sure the websites are relevant to yours.
- Do check the other links the website includes. This can help you to determine its quality.
- Do make sure you are linking to a relevant page on your website.
- Don’t get links from websites that have no connection to your own.
- Don’t buy links.
- Don’t get any links in headers, footers or sidebars. They’re often a bad idea.
Collect patient reviews
Online reviews give people an unbiased perspective on your dental practice. They help to boost your credibility and guide patients towards getting in contact.
Reviews from platforms like Doctify can be displayed in your Google Business Profile. They provide people with further information in the search results, increasing the possibility of them clicking through to find out more about you.
At Doctify, we help you to collect and publish reviews online. We can embed these reviews into your Google Business Profile and include your overall star rating within search results. That way, people looking for dentists and dental treatments can quickly recognise your expertise, quality and trustworthiness, encouraging them to get in touch.
Find out how to get more patient reviews and boost your dental SEO with Doctify.
Improve your local SEO
As a dentist, you want to increase your search engine visibility and build trust with local patients. If someone searches for a “dentist near me” or “emergency dentist”, you want your dental practice to appear.
Here are ways to boost your local SEO strategy:
- Firstly, claim your Google My Business and create your free business listing. You’ll need to provide your dental practice name, address, exact location, business category and contact details. Once your listing goes live, you’ll be able to optimise it by uploading photos of your dental practice and providing your business hours.
- Add regular updates and content to your Google My Business profile to boost your visibility in local searches. For example, tell patients what’s new at your practice or share your latest blog posts. Google loves a consistent flow of updates!
- Collect patient reviews on trusted platforms and add them to your Google My Business profile to enhance your reputation. Verified and meaningful reviews help Google to recognise your dental practice authority and improve your visibility. At Doctify, we help dentists automate their patient feedback collection to boost their organic search presence on Google.
- Ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Research shows that people predominantly use their phones to search for services nearby. Patients will also use their mobiles to find directions to your dental practice, so make sure your Google My Business profile is fully optimised to provide patients with all the information they need.
- Optimise your page titles and meta descriptions to include your location — for example, Dental Clinic in Uxbridge | Uxbridge Dentists.
Dental SEO FAQs
How much does dental SEO cost?
SEO is free. You can hire a marketing expert or an agency to help, but you can see results without a paid marketing approach.
Is SEO necessary for my dental practice?
When patients look for a dentist online, 78% click on the websites that rank in the top five positions. A dental SEO strategy is a must if you want to stay ahead of your competition, grow your practice and reach more new patients.
How can my dental practice rank as #1 in search results?
It can be challenging to rank as #1, so focus on appearing on the first page instead, as over 75% of people never go to the second page. You can rank high in search results with the right dental SEO strategy and consistency.
What other dental marketing strategies should I introduce?
Dentists use several different digital marketing tactics to improve their online presence and generate more enquiries. Read our in-depth blog on dental marketing strategies to discover new ways to differentiate yourself from competitors within the digital landscape.
Improve your online presence with Doctify
Are you looking for more ways to improve your online presence and reputation?
With us, you can collect patient reviews easily and publish them across your Doctify profile, website and social media channels. Patients researching online will quickly be able to recognise your credibility and feel confident about getting in touch to book appointments.
For information on how to become more discoverable to patients online with Doctify, visit our Provider Centre to read more about the ways our features will benefit your practice.
