You're an amazing practitioner with endless business savvy. You're a go-getter who is always seeking a competitive advantage in your market. In 2021, you're also alert to the importance of shifting, as fast as a mongoose, in case of a foreseeable downturn.
SEO is a hot button amongst your peers because a few are winning big, but many see the cost rising without measurable results. The discussion amongst practitioners is often about the veiled curtain of SEO providers: are they actually doing the work, and if they are, are they really moving the needle enough, and creating significant ROI for your practice?
What is missing in this conversation is a prerequisite clarity about how to determine your spend for SEO at all--and by extension how to hold your SEO accountable for the results you should expect at different spend levels.
According to a national survey of dentists, 54% of dental practices spend $1000 or more on marketing each month, with 22% spending more than $5000. The biggest allocation of dental marketing is digital marketing with website design, Google (SEO, PPC), and Social Media (FB Ads) leading the charge. Other marketing like direct mail and print ads can be a part of the budget as well, though the cost is increasingly ephemeral in comparison to digital spending.
In short, 50% of your competition is spending significant money on digital advertising, and the benchmark for dental practices is somewhere between $1000-$5000 dollars to compete for keywords, clicks, traffic, and virtual real estate.
But wait! This also means 50% of your competition is spending LESS than $1000 per month. Not everyone sees digital marketing as the panacea of acquiring new patients, especially in smaller towns where there are fewer competitors and digital advertising isn't yet saturated.
Here's how you can use this information to accurately measure a spend of $1000 or less on SEO.
Currently, there are 7 organic listings on page one of Google, and 3 Google Maps Listings (which I'll cover next time). The reason there are 7 and not 10 is because citation sites like Yelp, Open Care, and PatientConnect365 typically swallow up additional listings. That said, for organic listings a search for a 'dentist' in your area can return 7 dentists on page 1 of a Google search, which means there is room for 7 practices on page 1. Woo hoo!!
Let's look at examples of where there are 10 practitioners competing for the same virtual real estate:
1) A dentist in Grain Valley, MO, where the population is roughly 15,000 people, with 10 dentists nearby.
2) A dentist in Hailey, ID, in Blaine County, where the population is roughly 20,000 people, with 10 dentists nearby.
Okay, in this example of 10 dentists nearby, you want to guage your spend on SEO for main keyword searches like 'dentist,' 'dentist near me,' and "dentist + area". Statistically, 5 of your competitors are spending less than $1000 on digital advertising with some portion allocated to SEO. This means if you designate your SEO spend for $1000 per month, you'll be spending more than half of your competition. As a result, when there are just 10 dentists nearby, it is realistic to expect to rank on page 1 somewhere between #1-10 in your area for organic listings. Reaching the top spot will depend on how effectively the 5 competitors that are outspending you are allocating their resources to SEO, and how good your SEO is versus their SEO. Your expectations of great SEO should be middle to upper half of page 1, with a realistic expectation that you may be able to rank #1, though this does not always happen due to competitors with deeper pockets.
Now let's look at examples of where there are 20 practitioners competing for the same virtual real estate:
1) A dentist in The Villages, FL, where the population is roughly 80,000 people, with 20 dentists nearby.
2) A dentist in Hell's Kitchen, NYC, near Midtown Manhattan, where the population is roughly 80,000+ people, with 20 dentists nearby.
Currently, there are 7 organic listings on page one of Google. This means that a search for a 'dentist' in these areas can only return 7 of the 20 dentists nearby on page 1 of a Google search. Statistically, 10 of your competitors are spending less than $1000 on digital advertising with some portion allocated to SEO. This means if you designate your SEO spend for $1000 per month, you'll be squarely in the middle of your competition. As a result, it is realistic to expect to rank on page one somewhere betwen #7-10 in your market for organic listings. Reaching the top spot will be more difficult because 10 dentists are outspending you, but yes, there are great SEOs who can do more with less. That said, a significantly bigger budget is not easily overcome, so your expectations of great SEO should be tempered by a realistic middle to lower half of page 1. Simultaneously, your expectation to rank #1 is unrealistic, though in rare cases, competitive cheats can, and do, occur (more on that below).
Now pause for a minute to consider.
If you are a practitioner in a city with a population of 100,000+, and/or an area where more than 20 practitioners are nearby, can you reasonably expect to spend $1000 or less on SEO and achieve page one rankings for 'dentist,' 'dentist near me,' and 'dentist + area'?
Answer: Only by strategic advantage, chance or cheating.
Let me explain.
There are many stories told by practitioners who are "killing it" with Google, and spending less than $1000. In reality, they've likely got a strategic advantage that is favored by Google's algorithim or use some form of black hat SEO. In either case, Google's algorithm is constantly being updated and will eventually nullify this edge if true SEO is not taking place. Let's look closely at how a practitioner could rank on page 1 with an SEO budget of $1000 or less when there are more than 20 practitioners nearby and/or a population of 100,000+.
1) Strategic Advantage
One of the clearest examples of this advantage is practitioners who use area, city or broad dental term in their URL. Let's say Batman's dentist wanted to rule Gotham. He might go out and purchase a URL like GothamDentist.com or GothamFamilyDental.com, and often he would rank at the top of the organic search results without additional optimization. However, Google's algorithm is steadily updating (most recently in December 2020), and some of this is shifting as I write, with a major update coming again in May 2021. Beware, at some point Google will nullify this advantage, and without effective SEO, these websites will drop significantly.
2) Chance
There are instances in every market that I call "head scratchers." This means that a certain practitioner is ranking without any apparent SEO advantages or optimization, and there appears to be no reason for it... other than chance. In actuality, Google's algorithm is picking something up about this website that only the finest eye can see and you'll need a great SEO to unlock 'the why,' in order to overcome such flukes.
3) Cheating
Many of the competitors who achieve #1 results with less than $1000, are benefiting from SEO techniques that Google's webmaster guidelines expressly prohibits. This is a complicated topic, but there are ways to boost your website in the rankings that are considered Black Hat SEO. Often this requires fewer dollars of spend and more manipulation of Google's algorithm to achieve the desired results. But be warned, Google does not like these tactics and if they find you, they can make your business disappear from search results. Yes, permanently.
In each of these cases, Google is a hawk that will eventually swallow up her prey. Competitive advantages, chance and cheats are great while they last, but eventually "this too shall pass." A great SEO is like a great accountant, helping you find the best (legal) competitive advantages that help you store more money to your bottom line. Your SEO will help you navigate algorithm changes, and identify where your competitors are winning by chance or cheating. Armed with this knowledge you'll know what's going on and how to strategize (and spend) accordingly.
Hopefully you now know more about what you can expect from a spend of $1000 or less on organic SEO in 2021.