Before getting started, let us share an eye-opening stat about local or near me searches. 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours as per this credible stats blog. Knowing this, you would now be more interested to do local SEO for dentists.
You’ll not have to wait any longer!
Welcome to an easy guide that tells you all about the local SEO, strategies, Do’s and Don’ts and much more.
Let’s get started.
How Google’s Local SEO works different from General SEO
Google search results are shown by keeping the user’s intent in mind. To do local SEO for dentists effectively, you need to understand how Google search results are shown to searchers. Local search optimization algorithm works differently. Whenever Google’s algorithm thinks the search is done to get the local information, it displays such results.
For example,
When you search ‘dentists news’ – Google shows you this (see the image below)
This search query was not intended to get local business information so is the search result
2. Now, when you search ‘ dentists near me’ – you can see the result in below image
Google’s algorithm understood what you wanted and displayed information that’s most relevant for you- information about local dentists/ clinics based near your location.
If you notice, local search results will always be a combination of Google listings and general web page results.
And that means you’ll get a chance to rank your GMB profile as well as your website for the same local keywords.
Local SEO is important for dentists. But why?
You want more clients.
Okay!
But you can also choose to run ads, do social media marketing and many more marketing practices.
Why local SEO?
The answer is – Google has revolutionized the way people search for and do activities in their daily life. Google My Business has been a gift for local businesses around the world as it helped them get more business with zero money invested.
According to Think with Google, 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.
Whether it’s hand search or voice search, people prefer to buy and interact with businesses displayed to them in search results.
And you want to appear on the first page of the SERP (search engine result pages) to reach as many prospects as possible.
But that doesn’t happen overnight.
Let’s jump into the strategies that will help you ace the local SEO game for dentist
Boost your Local SEO with this easy step-wise Strategy
Getting most out of local SEO is easy, you just need to implement the following strategy from today.
Get GMB listing, if you haven’t yet
Listing your business on Google is the first step to reach customers searching for your dental services.
When you list your business on a physical location, you’ll get a verification code that verifies your newly created listing. You may get the code via phone or the mail at the location within 14 days.
Update your Google Business Profile page listing.
In order to get your listing shown to people searching for you, update your GMB profile or listing.
Add Business description, upload images of your shop, add service list, add business hours and a lot more important information that Google asks for.
This is important. Local search optimization algorithm gives advantage to an updated GMB profile when people search.
Make sure your website is mobile friendly
When it comes to SEO, mobile-friendliness is very crucial. More than half of the users will be interacting with your website on mobile devices. You need to make sure that your website loads fast, has good UI/UX, is easy to navigate, doesn’t pop up unwanted windows, etc.
You can check the mobile-friendliness of your website with Google.
Based on the result, you can improve the aspects that need some attention.
If you operate at multiple locations, create a different web page for each dental clinic
On your website, you should have different pages for each location. This gives an idea to the Google crawlers that your physical presence is at different locations.
Make sure you add addresses, nearby locations and services you provide at particular locations in their respective webpage.
Optimize for relevant local keywords
Whether it’s your GMB profile or web page, you need to optimize it for local keywords that you want to rank on.
For example – consider you’re a dentist in Florida. Now, keywords like Dentists in florida, dental clinic florida, dentists near me, etc. are relevant to you.
You can do various activities to reach customers searching for these keywords. Do basic things effectively like writing blogs around these keywords, updating your page meta title, content and headings. Over time, you’ll see the good results in your favor.
Encourage your clients to leave reviews on your GMB
Reviews are very important.
But you may think –
How are reviews crucial for local SEO?
As Google is becoming more user-centric, it’s best to have reviews on your GMB that tells why your business is good for new customers. Reviews are not for SEO, not for Google’s algorithm, they’re for users.
Ask your existing clients to leave reviews telling their experience with your services.
Invest time in doing Local citation
Local citation is one of the most effective steps in order to win the Local SEO for dentists and other businesses alike.
So, how do you do that?
Simple. Search for local business directories. List your business over there. They’ll ask for information about your business just like Google did when you listed your GMB profile.
There are a lot of business directories like Yelp and Foursquare where you should list your business to increase your local presence online.
Screenshot attached is of my client – when her studio was not listed at major big business directories.
Post Regular updates on GMB Profile
Post regular updates about your services, business, new clients on your GMB profile and give reasons to your audience to interact with you.
You can also post offers, special discounts. Content ideas for dental clinic business are endless
Get PR for your Local business
PR or press releases can be an added advantage to your effort to grow your local business presence online. It’s not a very necessary activity to boost local search for dentists, but you should consider doing PR if you can manage.
What to avoid while optimizing for Local SEO
Aah! You already know what you must do to boost your local presence. But, for your surprise, there are certain red flags that may wash away all your local SEO efforts.
Before we dive in, promise yourself you won’t do such activities.
Perfect, let’s go.
Getting paid reviews
Never ever buy fake reviews for your GMB. It falls under black hat SEO that you should avoid.
Having website that is poorly optimized for mobile
You should make sure that you don’t ignore mobile users. Google will penalize you and you will lose chances to rank for your industry keywords.
Ignoring negative reviews
All kinds of reviews are important. Whether it’s positive or negative, you should reply to each review as it indicates that you care for all types of feedback given by customers.
When to expect results in your Local SEO efforts?
As you know SEO is an organic marketing channel, you should wait for some months to get effective results. After a month or two, you will see your GMB profile presence increasing.
Going with an SEO services offshore company may also be your best decision when it comes to outsource all the SEO work for better results.
Conclusion
Hope you learned a lot with this guide and you will be able to optimize local search for dentists.
Want to increase your dental clinic’s local SEO but have no time?
We’re here for you. We have helped many businesses like yours to ace the local SEO game and they’re ripping the benefits of local search today.
Get in touch. Let’s schedule a call on Google meet now.
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Bhaskar Gupta
Bhaskar Gupta is a passionate digital marketing practitioner and has keen interest in SEO, Social Media Strategy, Business Digital growth, and Performance marketing. He has worked with multiple brands in different industries across India and abroad. In 2022, he has set up his own digital growth and marketing agency named Radian Marketing.