Digital Dental Marketing for New Patient Acquisition

Demystifying social media marketing, local seo, and paid search advertising for your dental practice.

Blog By:
Chris Barnard

Will Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update Affect Your Dental Practice Local Rankings?

You may have even missed the often overused (guilty as charged here) industry jargon term,“SoLoMo,” standing for, you guessed it…Social, Local, Mobile.

To illustrate this symbiotic relationship between social media, local search, & mobile compatibility let’s consider the example of what impact the social media content you post onGoogle+ will have on your local rankings.

And we already know that if your website is NOT what Google considers to be “mobile-friendly,” then your dental website will be SOL come April 21st 2015.

Mobilegeddon is actually the industry coined term warning of the impending doom awaiting the not so mobile-friendly crowd.

But will that mobile-friendly ranking signal signal a situation critical for your Google+ Local listing in those coveted “local pack” search results?

In review, this being the “local pack” – basically just another jargon term used to describe these search engine results:

Lots of dentists refer to these results as “map listings” or “local results” but it’s all the same jumbled mix of 10, 7, 3, 1 or none listings – in which having your practice visible in this high-value real estate is certainly more desirable than not.

Being found THERE when prospective patients search is highly dependent on local search terms used, the location of the person doing the searching, in addition to other on-page & off-page SEO criteria.

That’s just a high-altitude general overview; now back to the $64,000 question local businesses, marketing ninjas, advertising agencies, & surely scamming spammers are trying to answer…

Will Google’s Mobile-Friendly Ranking Signal Update Impact These “Local Pack” Results?

 
Should we be on the lookout for the mobile “Snak Pak” showing up for local searches after April 21st?

Now I prefer to only bet donuts but I’d be willing to wager a dozen Boston Creams to your one American dollar that it will.

Since we’re looking into the crystal ball here we can afford to go long on the prognostications despite the lack of proof – after all, we are talking about an event which has yet to occur.

And to report the other side – which may very well be where the smart money lies – I learned from this local seo post that Jennifer Slegg over at the SEMPost reports that Gary Iyles, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, said at the Brighton SEO conference that Google’s Mobile Friendly Ranking Signal Will Not Affect Local Pack Listings:

According to Illyes, if a local business is appearing in the Google Pack results, but does not have a mobile friendly site, their listing in the Pack results will NOT be impacted.  Those Google My Business listings will remain.

So Should Dentists Worry About Mobilegeddon Affecting Their Local Rankings?

Worry, maybe…show concern, most definitely.

But you should already be concerned about your mobile-friendliness & your local rankings anyway – just like you’re concerned about paying the bills, seeing patients, & enjoying time away from work, among other things.

And in case you haven’t been so concerned in the past with Google’s updates, reviews changes, or moniker modifications, sometimes Google makes it pretty tough for small business owners to even understand & follow, let alone adapt to, these historical changes.

As stated earlier, this mobile-friendly ranking signal update begins on April 21st – so we’re looking into the future here at the time of penning this prognosticating post.

So basically dentists, business owners, marketers, ad agencies, & everyone else actually have no idea if Google’s mobile-friendly ranking signal update will have any effect on local rankings.

But there’s something to be said about history repeating itself…

However, if you’re a dentist who still needs to verify & optimize your Google+ Local listing, the good news is…there’s nowhere to go but up!