The Ultimate Guide to Dental SEO for 2024

Dental SEO for Dentists

No one can deny the impact of SEO on your business. In the age of Google and internet searches, it’s impossible to ignore business SEO. Everyone running a business, whether online or physical, needs a solid SEO strategy — including dental practices.

Dental SEO is what helps your clinic rank higher on search engine results pages, including Google.

Failing to optimize or update your clinic’s local dental SEO strategy can mean losing potential patients and business opportunities. If you are in that situation, it is best to work with a reputable digital marketing agency like 2740 Consulting. You need an agency that is well-versed in current dental SEO best practices and trends.

Here’s a quick yet comprehensive guide to local dental SEO for 2022 to guide you in improving your search results rankings and marketing strategy.

How to Rank Higher on Search Results

You can no longer simply stuff a blog post with keywords in an attempt to rank higher. Proper keyword usage is now only one of the many factors that Google and other search engines use to determine your search results page ranking.

Important on-site or on-page ranking factors for dentists include:

Website copy and blog posts
Keyword usage throughout the website, such as in the copy, headers, URL, metadata, and more
Length and quality of the written content
Website layout
Optimization for mobile browsers
Page loading speed
The average length of visitors’ stay on the page
Number of repeat visitors
Page visit bounce rates
Content engagement, such as watching videos posted or leaving comments

There are also off-site ranking factors you need to consider when optimizing your dental clinic’s website. Two of the most important off-site ranking factors are the number of backlinks your website gets and the authority or popularity of the linking sites.

Optimizing On-Page Content Using Dental SEO Best Practices

Now that you know what factors are important to rank high in search engine results pages, here are a few simple dental SEO best practices we follow to optimize our clients’ websites.

Create High-Quality Content

There are one mantra digital marketers and business owners have learned and followed in the past few years — and it’s that “Content is King.” This includes your website copy, blog posts, social media posts, and more.

Search engine optimization largely hinges upon the content your dental practice puts out online. The quality of your online content is linked to other ranking factors, such as link building, visitors’ length of stay, and keyword usage.

High-quality dental website content should be:

You may take inspiration from other content but it still needs to be your own. You can put your own spin on it, use your own voice and tone, and give more information.
Focus on your patients’ needs. You can do this by answering common patient questions, addressing their needs or problems, and providing timely and relevant information.

Engaging content can make visitors stay longer and remember your website or business better. However, simply having original and compelling content alone doesn’t make you rank higher on Google search results.

Keyword Research and Optimization

Great content should always be paired with proper dental SEO keywords. It is imperative to incorporate your keywords into your content without lowering its quality.

Keyword research lets you know what potential patients are searching for and to find the “money” keywords or terms. Using these same terms or keywords helps you get into the results list Google gives them.

A good way to find “money” keywords is to take a look at what your competitors are using or focusing on. For local dental SEO, use your services together with the location of the clinic as keywords.

Include Content Headings

Always remember to use headings in your content. These are the content marked as H1, H2, and so forth on your website.

Headings allow you to prominently highlight keywords in your content. Additionally, proper heading usage makes your content more scannable — both for Google’s algorithm and for readers.

This can make it easier for search engines to read or recognize your keywords. For readers and potential clients, it makes it easier to find the information they are looking for and leads to a longer stay on the page.

Link to Other Pages of Your Website

Internal links, or links to other pages on your website, encourage visitors to stay longer. This can help improve engagement and your search results ranking.

Moreover, internal linking helps Google and other search engines crawl or index the content of your website more easily. This, in turn, can also help your other web pages appear in search results.

When making internal links, make sure to use relevant keywords and phrases as anchor links. For example, if you mention braces or Invisalign on your home page, make sure to link those words to the page dedicated to those services or your main orthodontics service page.

Limit Your Outbound Links

Outbound or external links can help build your dental practice’s reputation within the local community. They can also help you rank better for dental-related keywords and other local or location-based keywords.

These links serve as a relevancy signal to search engines but are best used sparingly, especially compared to internal links.

The Dangers of Overly Optimizing Websites

In theory, SEO can be quite easy to understand. In practice, though, it can be hard to find the perfect balance. Overdoing your website optimization can be just as bad for your business as not optimizing it at all.

Link farms, irrelevant or unpopular blogs, and other questionable strategies can just as easily cause your search results rankings to fall. Higher rankings and more web traffic help but do not automatically guarantee business.

It’s important to remember the reason why you are optimizing your website — to get better lead conversions and new patients. Your strategies need to not only bring in traffic but also naturally lead them to the next step of the customer journey.

Expert Dental SEO Services for Better, Balanced Results

You need a reliable and expert agency that knows dental SEO for dentists and digital marketing to guide you in optimizing your online presence.

2740 Consulting offers high-quality dental SEO services and search marketing strategies that are proven to improve overall website performance and convert visitors to new patients. More than that, they stand the test of time, ensuring your dental practice’s website will remain optimized in the distant future.

Let one of our expert digital marketing consultants review your current on-page SEO practices, check your rankings, find ways to further improve your SEO strategy, and help you improve your dental practice.