Can SEO be useful for dental practices to invest in? 3 advantages SEO may offer

Can SEO be useful for dental practices to invest in? 3 advantages SEO may offer

why dentists should invest in seo

Running a dental practice means that you want to help provide healthy, bright smiles to as many people as you can. And while almost everyone knows how important dental health is, not everyone knows where to get it.

If a person is overwhelmed by searching online, they may just put off making an appointment, which can lead to further issues. However, taking appropriate marketing steps can help you guide a user along the patient journey. For example, investing in search engine optimization (SEO) can get them in your chair.

In this post, we’ll share what investing in SEO can do for your dental clinic, as well as SEO strategies worth trying.

What is SEO? The really short version

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a marketing process that aims to get your site and its content ranked as high as possible on relevant Google search engine results pages (SERPs). It can provide many advantages, including a boost in important metrics and cost-effective marketing. 

3 competitive advantages dental practices can gain by investing in SEO 

Every type of marketing approach can benefit your dental practice in some way. By looking at the advantages that SEO can have for dental practices, you can determine if SEO should be a part of your marketing plan.

Here are three advantages of investing in SEO as a dental practice: 

  • Higher search engine rankings

It pays to come out on top — and that’s what SEO is all about. With many other practices competing for attention on search engines, SEO helps give you a competitive edge by helping your website rank higher than others.

Pro tip: SEO works best when paired with highly effective content marketing.

Ideally, an effective dental SEO strategy will help ensure that your website’s content ranks at the top of the first page of search engine results.

A dental website that has content in this position has many advantages. Most importantly, being in the top position helps potential patients see your site as an authoritative and valuable resource. As a result, they’ll be more likely to click through to your content on dental services and dental care. Just keep in mind that your website and its content can only get to the top if you’ve optimized them for search engines

  • Increased website traffic

It’s one thing to get prospective patients to see your website on a search engine results page. 

It’s another to get them to click on it. 

When you’re trying to increase the organic traffic to your website, the proper SEO tactics can help by increasing your brand’s visibility in organic search results. By associating your site with a relevant keyword that’s been deemed as high quality and credible by the algorithm, a prospective patient is likely to click on the result to see how you can help them with their searched issue or question.

  • High return on investment (ROI)

Let’s dive into how SEO affects your budget. 

When compared to other marketing approaches, such as paid advertising with Google Ads or social media marketing, SEO has a higher return on investment (ROI) in the long run. 

Learn more about ROI and how high an ROI we were able to achieve for one of our healthcare partners.

SEO is a cost-effective investment for dental services because it provides you with sustained organic traffic over a long period of time, which increases conversion rates. It also boosts your lead quality, meaning that the people who are clicking on your site are more likely to become patients because they were specifically looking for your content.

3 SEO best practices that a dental practice should test out

Once you’ve determined how SEO can help your dental practice, you can start exploring different strategy options. By working with an SEO campaign guru — such as BURG+CO. — you can test out different approaches to see which bring the best results.

Here are a few SEO best practices you should test out that can benefit your dental practice:

  • Keyword research

When people search dentistry-related topics or dental professionals, they tend to get specific. They look for content related to long-tail keywords like “why my teeth hurt in the morning” or “dental professionals near Tampa, FL.” 

By using effective keyword research tools, you can see what people are searching for and if your competitors have covered them yet. You’ll also see which keywords will be easier to rank for if you create high-quality content. 

The relevant keywords you find can also be included in your practice’s Google Business Profile descriptions and FAQs on your site. A few of the tools we use for keyword research include Semrush and Google Search Console.

  • Content creation

As we mentioned in the previous point, having high-quality, engaging content on your site plays a significant role in your SEO strategy. By prioritizing high-quality, relevant content, you’ll be able to increase your brand’s visibility on SERPs and provide value to prospective patients. You will also have more success connecting the topic back to your dental practice website.

Here are some of the most effective types of content your dental practice should try out:

  • Informative blog posts
  • Effective link building
  • Relevant videos

You can also diversify your dental SEO strategy by creating other types of content, such as social media content and even podcast episodes. The goal is to see what your patients respond best to. Then you can prioritize making more of those types of content.

  • Local SEO optimization

When looking for services and resources, people tend to gravitate toward local businesses that are already known in their communities. Dentistry is no different. 

By targeting your marketing efforts to the needs of prospective patients in your area, you can tailor your website and its content to those needs.

Local SEO tactics enable dentists to do this sort of local need tailoring. One local SEO tactic you should consider using is using local keywords. Creating and updating a Google Business Profile is another local SEO tactic that can help you reach more local potential patients. 

Local SEO tactics like these make it more likely that your website and its content will be seen in local search results by potential patients who are just a short car ride away from your dental office.

Check out our blog post on 5 ways local SEO benefits healthcare practice owners to learn more about local SEO benefits.

BURG+CO. can show you why dentists should invest in SEO

Marketing has become more than newspaper ads and billboards. SEO is a common marketing approach for healthcare practices, including dental practices, because it helps you to meet people where they are: online. It’s a worthy investment that can bring you long-term benefits, such as a high ROI, boosted brand visibility and steady organic traffic. 

At BURG+CO., we use data-backed SEO strategies to get you the results you’re looking for. Contact our team today for more information about how we can help you build a high-performing SEO strategy or to schedule a complimentary consultation.

Read More Articles