So you’ve got your website up and going; that’s a great accomplishment. However, are you seeing the amount of traffic to your site that you’d like? Better yet, is that traffic turning into paying clients? If not, it won’t take long before you realize that just having a website isn’t enough of an online presence for dentists. Instead, it’s vital to be successful with search engine optimizationto ensure that clients can find you easily. Here are nine mysterious facts about dental SEO that will help you rework your plan for success.
Search engines need to see new content if you want to rank high in their results. Therefore, you must continually update your website and keep your content new for the search engines to recognize. If you want your practice to be the best, keep content coming in routinely at your website, which will keep your readers interested.
2. Keep your content unique
Just because you need to have content regularly updated on your site does not mean that you can just put out anything. Instead, your content has to be unique or you’ll suffer in the rankings. Google and other search engines are constantly scanning their database to avoid fraudulent material that’s already been posted. If you want to make sure that your site doesn’t take a hit, make your content as unique as possible.
3. Guest blogging helps you and others
If you are having a hard time coming up with unique content, or if you simply don't have the time to update your blog, consider hiring guest bloggers. This will get a fresh mindset while ensuring that your blog stays updated.
4. Your entire website impacts SEO
Your SEO rankings aren’t just taken from your blog. Instead, you’ll want to have a website that keeps your audience’s attention. Your bounce rate and viewing time will impact SEO just as much as the content you upload.
5. The better the content , the more attention you will get
Keep in mind that your website isn’t just something that people in your hometown will see. People from around the world will be able to view your website. Therefore, even if you don’t have clients from other continents come to see you, your website should include informative content that informs them of important dental practices.
6. It doesn’t take much to destroy your rankings
If you put in a ton of effort to build your website and improve your SEO rankings, keep in mind that it doesn’t take much to destroy it. If you get lazy or stop updating your content, you’ll take a huge hit in the rankings, and it’ll be even harder to climb back on top. Furthermore, do your best to avoid changing too much of your practice information. For example, if you change your phone number, address, or business name, you can harm your SEO rankings and make it difficult for prospective clients to find you.
7. It’s a continual effort
Much like you will have to see patients every day if you want your practice to stay afloat, you’ll have manage your website daily to ensure your success. If you got into dentistry thinking that all you had to do is see patients every day, understand that keeping your rankings up is a lasting effort that you’ll also want to keep up forever.
8. It will increase your revenue
If you put in the effort, you will see the rewards when it comes to your dental practice revenues. Working diligently at increasing SEO rankings makes you more noticeable online. That means it’s easier for prospective clients to find you, and also that you can generate money through online traffic. The more you do online, the more money you’ll be able to make from your efforts.
9. It will change the way you look at your practice
The dental industry has changed drastically over the last decade. Most industries have. You may have started your practice thinking that providing excellent customer service and that handing out business cards was the way to go, but being ranked highly on SEO and seeing its success will change how you view your dental practice.
Cynthia Witson, RDH, graduated in 2011 from Loma Linda University, School of Dentistry. Cynthia assisted Dr. Jonathan McNeil at his Clinic in Denali, Alaska. She wants to help patients achieve healthy smiles with oral health care solutions and lifelong cosmetic procedures. Follow her on Twitter!
