A website without SEO is like a lighthouse without a light. Basically, nobody is going to know how to find your website unless they have something to lead them home. And with the competition of over 1.7 billion websites that currently exist, and with over 250,000 websites being developed each day, this is a vast ocean to be lost in.
No matter the business you’re in, having quality SEO is a primary key to the overall performance and function of your website. For those operating in the healthcare space, this could mean the difference between landing a new client or losing one to a competitor with better SEO. But if you want to make your light brighter and bring more people to your site, knowing how to enhance SEO is critical.
As a dental professional, you likely want to outpace your competition and build your marketing strategy to bring in new patients. This is where working with a digital marketing company can help. Because to enhance SEO, you have to know what search engines like Google are looking for in a quality website.
In this guide, we’ll unpack 5 strategies for enhancing SEO in the dental health space.
Do you want to learn more about local SEO and how you can improve your ranking? Reach out to Beacon Media + Marketing today and talk with one of our experts.
How a Digital Healthcare Marketing Agency Can Help Improve SEO
SEO is an ever-changing dynamic of the digital world. Just when you think you have it figured out, a new update from Google will send SEO experts scrambling into analysis mode. But despite new updates and market trends, there are a few elements of SEO that can be universally applied and enhanced. This is where a marketing company can be a huge asset.
Digital marketing companies that specialize in healthcare and dental marketing strategy have a clear understanding of how the industry operates. We understand and anticipate new trends as they emerge. And we know how to pivot when necessary to get the most out of any strategy. Most importantly, we have experts who know SEO and how to apply this knowledge to the health and dental spaces.
Improving your rankings can be simplified with a digital marketing agency that specializes in healthcare marketing. In fact, there are several ways to approach this type of strategy.
1. Website Copy Optimization
Perhaps the most important part of your website, aside from a sleek design, great UX, and fast loading speeds, is the content that lives on your website. Quality content is what people want to read, and it’s what Google likes to see. In fact, the content on your website should conform to Google’s E-E-A-T and hit all of the marks.
Google E-E-A-T regards how quality checkers rank your content. And if your content doesn’t conform to these standards, it will ultimately get ranked lower. Google EEAT stands for:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Google E-E-A-T is part of Google’s search quality rating guidelines. When crafting content, you want to focus on the first two E’s. Basically, all content should be written by a writer with experience in the subject matter, with verifiable expertise on the subject, i.e., content about a detailed medical or dental procedure should be written (or ghostwritten) by someone with verifiable experience, such as a medical doctor or dentist.
In addition to conforming to the standards of E-E-A-T, you’ll also want to ensure that you’re including city and service keywords in your H1 and H2 headers throughout the copy.
2. SEO Meta Tags
Meta tags describe your page’s content to search engines like Google and to those who visit your site and appear only in the source code of your page. Basically, these tags are the blinking lights that tell all search engines what the page is about.
Meta tags are critically important because they directly impact how your website appears on a search engine results page (SERP). These can also directly impact how many users will be inclined to click on your site and browse content.
Essentially, Meta tags impact traffic and engagement rates, thus impacting your SEO and page ranking. This is why Meta tags are such an integral part of a sound SEO strategy.
The most important Meta tags are:
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Canonical tags
- Alternative text (Alt) tags
- Responsive design meta tags
- Robots meta tag
- Social media meta tags
Understanding how to modify these tags and use them properly takes skill and strategy. And this is where utilizing the expertise of a digital marketing agency that specializes in your industry can be extremely helpful.
3. Google Business Profile (GBP)
As a dental professional, you probably want people in your community to know that you’re offering services in the area. And in today’s world, most people do a Google search for dental services. When you perform any search, local results will be displayed first – and this is right where you want to be.
Basically, Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free service designed for promoting local businesses online. A GBP listing shows search engine users how to visit your business. This also helps to enhance local SEO. For example, a listing for your business is likely to appear when users search for a nearby establishment using Google Maps.
Google Business Profile also impacts SEO by enhancing CTR, displaying the last 10 posts you’ve created, and showing direct links to your services.
Benefits of GBP include:
- Allows your site to appear in Google Maps and local pack listings
- Allows users to leave reviews
- Provides insights and info to help you understand the market such as providing reports for search queries, engagement, audience, and the number of clicks on your links
- High visibility – local pack listings are the first thing a user will see when performing a search
- It’s completely free!
All businesses should be using GBP. Not only will you be able to appear higher in search rankings, but by posting on GBP regularly, you’ll also be able to enhance your visibility and create greater brand awareness.
4. Strategic Blogging
One of the best ways to talk about your dental practice is to post regular blogs centered on topics that your audience wants to know. And these topics could range from the importance of getting regular cleanings to detailed guides regarding dental implants. But no matter the topic, you need to create blogs with a clear keyword and content strategy in mind.
Google loves when you use the right words. By understanding which keywords are high-ranking in dental blogs, you can craft your content accordingly. And this is the perfect job for a digital marketing agency that specializes in healthcare.
Creating a blog goes well beyond writing style and topic. No matter if you’re the best writer on the planet, without a blogging content strategy, you may as well be writing for yourself – because it’s likely that nobody will read your blogs. But by doing keyword research and finding the right content that your target audience wants to read, you’ll be setting yourself up for success as this type of content is much more likely to drive readers to your site.
For example, if a blog contains the right keywords, and these are correctly placed in the title and H1 or H2 headers, Google is much more likely to see your page and rank it higher. And this means that your website will be ranking higher as well.
5. Local Link Building
Links are a huge part of local SEO. This is because they work to boost local search ranking. Correspondingly, with a higher ranking, you’ll become more visible in search results and your target audience is more likely to find and visit your site.
Local link building refers to the process of building backlinks that are locally SEO focused. These need to be industry-specific links. For example, as a dental care provider, you don’t want backlinks on a website that sells Persian rugs.
Link building for local SEO also entails coordinating with other local businesses. In this case, you can contact local businesses that have a significant web presence and ask about getting backlinks for your business. This type of outreach takes time, and this is why – unless you have hours of idle time – you should source the help of a digital marketing agency with the tools to perform this type of outreach to get links the right way.
Building links also takes planning and precision. And blogging is a great way to build links by creating great local content. For example, if your community has a local function such as a job fair or a health and wellness conference, build a blog post around this and other businesses in your area are much more likely to link to it.
6. Reviews and Testimonials
The bottom line: reviews and testimonials improve your Google ranking. As such, staying focused on encouraging reviews and how to improve your business so that you have more positive reviews is crucial to SEO – because reviews enhance brand awareness, social presence, and authority in your field.
Keep in mind that there are several sites that offer for customers/patients to leave reviews. Google reviews are one such method and are extremely valuable for SEO. And a few of the benefits of Google reviews include:
- Improves local SEO
- Builds brand awareness
- Enhances transparency
- Gains customer insight
- Helps to improve web traffic
- Helps to increase conversion and ROI
- Helps to establish trust (responding to all reviews – whether positive or negative – can further boost trust)
The more reviews you have – and the more testimonials you include on your own site – only builds trust and enhances transparency. People want to know what it’s really like at your practice before they decide on your services. Reviews make this possible. This is why making the best impression possible on every patient is key to getting reviews that may entice prospective patients to choose you over your competitors.
Enhance Your SEO and Boost Rankings With Beacon Media + Marketing
Here at Beacon Media + Marketing, we have a proven track record for getting our healthcare clients the rankings they desire to boost brand awareness and increase profitability. With our SEO experts, web designers, and content strategists, we can enhance your website and boost your SEO through proven methods.
As a dentist, you probably have your hands full with taking care of patients. By partnering with Beacon Media + Marketing, you’ll be able to concentrate on doing your job while we do ours – getting you ranked higher so your dental practice can continue to grow and thrive.
Are you ready to outpace your competition and improve brand awareness by boosting your local SEO? Contact Beacon Media + Marketing today to learn more!
