We often hear from dentists who really aren’t interested in the “techy” side of promoting their dental practices. The know it’s important to have a website — and even a Facebook presence — but their eyes glaze over when we talk about “SEO.”
(If this is you, keep reading. We promise not to be too boring!)
Let’s start with the basics: SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. Search engines, like Google, are designed to pore over the millions and millions of words on the Internet to deliver the best results — all in a matter of microseconds. Pretty impressive, right?
For a search engine to find your practice — your website, your Facebook page, your address, anything at all — it needs to be able to “read” the right words and find you.
Here are a few reasons why SEO is important for your dental practice ...
Imagine a person moving to a Los Angeles where they don’t know a single soul. They need to find a dentist, so they pull up Google and type in “dentist” and “Los Angeles.”
Immediately, their screen fills up with the contact information of different dental practices in Los Angeles. Some of them will pop up because of their address, and others will appear because the text on their website includes phrases like “Los Angeles dentist” or “dentist in Los Angeles.”
What about the practice that has an ancient one-page website with barely any words? It might be 10 or 15 pages into the results … but the person searching would never bother clicking that far.
If a potential new patient is looking for a new dentist, you want to be high in the search engine results so you get a fair shot at their business.
We can help you build an SEO strategy by determining what people are using as search terms and what kind of wording leads to the most clicks. By putting the right keywords in the right spot on your website, you can see a huge increase in new patient leads.
People are always on the run and not everyone’s good about storing numbers in their phone. If a patient needs to make an appointment when they’re sitting in traffic, how are they going to find your number? Through a search engine.
If your practice name is Bright Dental, for example, and your online presence isn’t solid, they’re going to have to sift through results showing many, MANY practices all over the world that are also called Bright Dental.
Wouldn’t it be easier to use SEO to make sure your website, your Facebook page, your address AND the practice’s phone number are among the very top results?
SEO isn’t just about your patients. When it’s time to hire, you want to know the very best people have already found your practice and sent in their resumés.
Sure, job sites are important. But dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, front desk staffers and practice managers also look for new employers using search engines. What if your website had a dedicated page with exactly the right keywords to attract them?
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Any more questions about SEO and how it can transform the future of your practice? We’re always here to help!