SEO for Dental Practices: Effective Strategies to Grow Your Patient Base

Search Engine Optimization is a complex and multi-faceted thing, but ultimately it boils down to ensuring that search engines can find your website and connect it to users who are looking for the services you offer. Search Engine Optimization is a must for any 21st-century business which seeks to thrive in an evolving and competitive marketplace, and this includes your dental practice. Implementing appropriate SEO is a vital part of your marketing strategy, and at Dental Systems Optimization we know the best approaches to get the job done.

As we develop your SEO and your web presence, it’s helpful to start with an explanation of what SEO really is and how it works. Let’s dive in!

What is SEO, Really?

Search engine optimization affects both the quantity and quality of the traffic coming to your website. It does this by shaping the ways in which search engines–particularly Google–find and interact with your site and its content. Back in the early days of the internet, this was much simpler: keyword searches ruled the day and it wasn’t uncommon to see websites with blocks of appropriate keywords in fine print on their homepage. Now, both search engines and users have gotten much more sophisticated and a wider variety of techniques and approaches are needed in order to ensure that your SEO strategies are a success.

So, how does SEO help search engines find you? In general, search engines find and index content via a process called “crawling”, in which a dedicated piece of software called a crawler or a spider bot browses the internet with the goal of finding and categorizing new content. This content is then subject to an SEO analysis, which in turn pairs the content with the right search query when someone uses the search engine. Every day, millions of these digital spiders explore the Web, looking for updated or new content in order to ensure that the search engine delivers the best and most appropriate results.

Search Engine Optimization is our way of getting the attention of the crawlers. We want them to notice your website for all the right reasons, pair it with the appropriate search queries, and move your site to the top of the list when someone does a web search. This is easier said than done–a lot goes into ensuring that your website’s content is crawler-friendly.

Finding the Right SEO Content

So with the basics of how SEO works out of the way, what kind of content is best for SEO these days? Well, that varies from business to business and industry to industry, but in general, there are a number of approaches that are used, often in tandem.

  • Crawl optimization: The right content and the right website design ensure that search engine crawlers can find your site, quickly and easily, and will correctly recognize and categorize your content. This is the first step towards SEO success, and foundational to everything that comes later.
  • Keyword optimization: Another critical component in your SEO strategy, the right keywords in the right places ensure that crawlers and users both can find and engage with your site. Page titles, content headers, and the body text all must contain appropriate keywords in order to get the best results.
  • Compelling and engaging content: All the keywords in the world fall short if no one reads your content. Web browsers pay attention to traffic and engagement, too, so you’ll need to ensure that your site content is both readable and informative in order to get the best search engine results.
  • Optimized user experience: Your site must offer a smooth, easy to navigate experience for the user. Search engines again pay attention to engagement, and if your site isn’t easily navigated and simple to use, you’ll pay the price on the SEO site.
  • Social media integration: Search engine crawlers also pay attention to how much attention your site is getting. The irony isn’t lost on us, but you’ll need to ensure that your content is both engaging and shareable. Integrating your site with your social media efforts makes it easy for users to share your content across the platform of their choice. This in turn pulls web crawlers, and ultimately search engine results, to your homepage.

It’s a lot to take in, we know–and that’s why our team of experts at Dental Systems Optimization is here to help you navigate the SEO requirements facing your business. We’ll help you move your website to the next level in search results, every time.

seo chart

Content for SEO Purposes

So now you understand that you need the right content, the right keywords, and the right site layout. But what goes into those things? How do you know what you need?

It starts with keywords, and this is where our work begins. We’ll make use of our suite of sophisticated analysis tools in order to analyze your keyword needs and compile a list of the most effective keywords for your site. With that in hand, we’ll do further analysis in order to determine where they need to be, the length of the needed content, and the content structure best suited for optimal results.

Our content creation rests in the hands of our experts, with our SEO content falling under the purview of our team of professional writers. They’ll take your content needs and create compelling text and blog posts that both capture your voice and brand and fulfills the SEO requirements we’ve targeted for you. Marrying your SEO needs with compelling and engaging content that both informs and entertains your audience, our content creators ensure that your site will not go unread, either by crawlers or by the public.

This is only part of the branding and marketing expertise we bring to bear. We’ll ensure that every aspect of your brand design and marketing efforts work in harmony to deliver the results you need, expand your audience, and ultimately grow your business.

SEO Marketing for Dentists and Dental Practices

With that out of the way, let’s move on to the specifics: what are the benefits of SEO marketing for dentists and dental practices?

SEO and SEO marketing are still vital tools for dentists and dental practices, as the majority of potential patients find their way to a new dental care provider via an online search of some sort. The days of consulting the yellow pages are long gone; your website is your digital storefront and SEO is the tool that gives people directions to your business, plain and simple. A robust online presence incorporation text, visuals, SEO, and social media is a must for the success of your practice in the 21st century. This is especially true if you or your practice seek to engage with new patients who are 40 and under; they’re far more likely to look for you digitally than in any other form, and more likely to respond to online marketing efforts including SEO than to conventional print or broadcast marketing.

In implementing SEO and SEO marketing for a dental provider, there are a number of factors that must work in harmony. Content, site design, and implementation have to come together as part of a whole. When they do, however, there are a number of benefits that transcend the right keywords or an engaging blog post. We’ll help project the atmosphere you create in your office–welcoming and caring for patients and their needs. We’ll explain and amplify your message, including the services you offer, to your target audience. The benefits are many, but here are the main advantages that SEO marketing offers dental practices:

  • Growing your patient base: A stronger web presence via well designed and well-implemented SEO brings your practice to the attention of more potential patients. Combined with an effective marketing and branding campaign, this in turn grows your business by bringing new patients to your door.
  • Ease of implementation: Your passion is dentistry and using your skills and education to enhance your patients’ health and well being. This is the core of your practice; everything else just supports your success. Dental Services Optimization understands this, and our team of experts will ensure that your SEO and your digital marketing are as easy for you to manage as possible.
    An efficient approach to business growth: LIttle does more faster to drive traffic to your website than well-designed SEO, and in turn website traffic is the primary means by which dental practices find new patients. By building the SEO marketing you need, we’ll help your practice grow.
  • Increased trust and confidence: Marketing research has shown that consumers are more likely to trust businesses that appear at the top of search engine results, and in turn have negative reactions to those which appear on the dreaded “second page.” By ensuring that your SEO is on point, we’ll keep you at the top of your profession.
  • Optimal ROI, for both time and money: There are many marketing tools and approaches available to dentists and dental practices, and few offer the return on investment that SEO does. For the time and money invested, you’ll expose your practice to a world of new potential patients and help introduce them to your quality care.

We hope this has helped enhance your understanding of what SEO is, how it works, and what it can do for your practice. It’s one facet of our approach at Dental System Optimization, and part of how we help your brand and business grow, develop, and thrive. SEO is a vital tool, which will work for you and your practice around the clock as search engines find and compile your content. The time to implement a new, effective approach to SEO is now, so get in touch with us today and we’ll start on the road to success.