The success of your dental practice hinges on your ability to not only make your current patients happy but also your ability to attract new patients. Using the right SEO strategies can organically drive traffic to your website, converting online visitors into your next appointment. 

SEO (search engine optimization) has multiple facets that work together to create a patient-generating ecosystem. The end goal is to keep your website at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) on Google and Google Maps so you can keep getting more traffic. 

Let’s break these 12 SEO strategies into three categories: Google Business Profile optimization, technical SEO, and SEO content strategies. When combined, these three focus areas can give you the results you need to grow your dental practice. 

Maximizing Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free tool that can be the key to getting your practice more traffic on Google Maps. See how your practice is ranking on Google Maps right now, and implement the following Google Maps SEO strategies for your practice’s growth.

1. Create or Claim Your Google Business Profile

Many dental providers don’t even realize what, where, or how their GBP actually works. If you are a new practice, you’ll want to prioritize your GBP at the top of your list so people can actually find your business. 

If your practice has a GBP already, but you can’t find access to it, there is an option to click “Own this business?” on an existing GBP. 

Google may ask for verification of your business when you create your profile or if you haven’t accessed your profile before. 

2. Optimize Your GBP With All The Right Words

Inaccurate information can discourage people from contacting you. So walk through each step and section of your profile to make sure that everything is correct. Check the following:

    
• Business Name
    
• Phone Number
    
• Website
    
• Business Hours
    
• Address
    
• Business Category

Your business category is an extremely important part of SEO for dentists. If you are a specialist, make sure you are selecting the right category for your practice. If you are a general dentist, select “dentist” over “dental clinic.” Dental clinic is a less commonly used search term and will likely result in weaker results.

3. Post and Update Regularly 

Just like social media and your website, your GBP needs to be regularly updated to be effective. This means adjusting holiday hours, adding new services, and posting at least twice a month. The good news is that Google will email you about setting holiday hours if you don’t do it ahead of time, but you can knock all major holidays off your calendar in one sitting if you wish. 

GBP posts are similar to what you would do on social media. Share a photo of your staff, add an update about a promotion, or highlight an upcoming holiday with a fun photo or graphic. 

Also, continue to add photos to your profile. These can be updates about your practice, staff photos, or patient photos (if approved). 

4. Get More Reviews Than the Other Guys

If you want to know our last secret for how to boost your Google Maps rankings, it comes with the simple goal of getting more positive reviews on your GBP than your competitors. Reviews can be the determining factor for Google searchers on the hunt for a new dental provider. Plus, they’ll help you land in the coveted top three spots of the Google Maps results. 

Make review acquisitions a regular part of your marketing strategy. Automation can absolutely be your friend here. You can set it up to automatically send a text or email with the link to write a review immediately after an appointment.

If you are working on updating your Google Business Profile, start with these 3 dental SEO tips and you’ll be in good shape. 

Successful Technical SEO Strategies for Dentists

The goal is not to get everyone online to visit your website. The goal is to attract high value patients who are specifically searching for your services with the intent to make an appointment. Technical SEO can help drive the right traffic to your website so you can see higher conversion rates from website visitors to new patients. 

5. Build a Website That Works Like Dream

It doesn’t matter how good your website looks; if it is slow to load and full of bland, unoriginal content you are not going to see any conversions from it. Your website should load quickly and be organized in a helpful and natural way that gets visitors the information they need without any trouble. 

Utilize functions like live chat and appointment scheduling to help answer questions quickly and get more patients in the door. Read more about how your website functionality impacts your SEO with this dental SEO guide. 

6. Put Keywords in the Right Place

Keywords are essential to a good SEO strategy because they help search engine algorithms connect your website to the right audience. For example, if you are working on pediatric dental marketing, you would want to use keywords like “pediatric dentist”, “dentist for kids”, or “kid-friendly dentist.” 

Your keywords should be used naturally throughout your website, but you’ll also include them in the meta description of your website pages, alt descriptions of photos, and even file names of photos. If you upload a photo on your website that is just titled “img_627”, rename it “pediatric dentist in (your town).” 

7. Use Location Pages

If you are working with a dental practice that has several locations, create individual location pages on your website to help improve your local SEO. Using location keywords alongside dental keywords can help you show up for searches in the right place. 

You can check your Google Map rankings for each location to make sure that each one is ranking well. If not, start implementing some of these SEO strategies and utilizing location-specific keywords. 

8. Get Smart with Link Building

There are two types of links that you need to improve your rankings: internal and inbound (external) links. Internal links refer to strategically linking back to important pages within your own website (i.e. a blog on taking care of braces that links back to your “Services” page). This helps the Google algorithm jump from one page to another in a way that makes sense. It’s also intended to help website visitors with a concrete next step or additional information that will keep them on your website longer or coming back for more. 

Inbound links or backlinks are links from external websites that link to your website. These are extremely valuable because they improve the legitimacy of your own website while also introducing you to new audiences. Examples of inbound links would be: 

    
• Registries like the ADA
    
• Local directories
    
• A link from a sponsored community event
    
•  Guest blog posts
    
• Community organizations
    
• Dental journals and publications

Link building can be tedious if you don’t know where to look. This is one instance where you might seek out help from a dental marketing company to improve your link-building strategy. 

Smart SEO Content Strategies 

Clever content plays a big role in how you rank for SEO. Play it smart and use original content to drive big results for your practice website. 

9. Blog Regularly

Yes, blogs still make a difference when it comes to SEO. Blogging helps you build authority, enrich your website with helpful keywords, and create linking opportunities. It also signals to the Google algorithm that you are actively updating your website with new content. 

For example, if you’re trying to figure out how to rank high for cosmetic dental services with more inbound links, create a blog strategy that includes writing for your own website as well as writing for referring dentists. This will actually benefit both you and the other dentist. 

10. Show Up On Social Media

Creating a consistent presence on social media actually helps your overall SEO strategy as well. It’s a natural inbound link that can drive traffic to your website. Not to mention it also helps you build your practice reputation, connect with your community, and communicate with your patients. 

11. Use Custom Copywriting

When it comes to your blog and website copy, it can be tempting to copy and paste from other sources, but both users and search engines can determine if you are producing low-value content. AI can be a tool that helps you brainstorm ideas and flesh out ideas but don’t use strictly AI-generated content either. Always put your own stamp on it. 

This is another space where you might want to choose a dental marketing company to come in and get your website and blog on track with custom, SEO-optimized content. 

12. Rinse and Repeat

SEO is not a one-and-done schtick. It takes consistency and current knowledge of best practices and trends to be truly effective. Keep actively creating great content and keep your website sharp. Take a look at this SEO guide for dentists for more ideas.