As a dentist, your primary focus is on providing exceptional dental care to your patients. However, competitors have the same goal, and being a great dentist isn’t enough. More than 70% of the US start their search for a dentist online; you need to be there to attract new patients and grow your practice. That’s where dental SEO plays a role.
If you aren’t sure how SEO can benefit your dental practice, you’re not alone. You have a lot to learn, but it’s not digital sorcery. In reality, SEO is a powerful tool that can significantly impact your practice’s growth.
I originally started this article as a listicle—a sort of “here’s all the ways dentist SEO can solve your online problems.” Instead, I’d like to focus on specific challenges you’ll face in the digital space.
In this article, you’ll learn about a few of the challenges you’ll encounter in your journey to the top of the search results. You’ll see how SEO can help you overcome those challenges, what you can reasonably expect within six months to a year, and what you shouldn’t expect from any SEO campaign. Let’s dig in.
Your challenges, dentists, should you choose to accept them.
I don’t have to tell you that dentistry is competitive. The highest acceptance rate of dental schools (schools!) is 40%, and you haven’t even made it into the field yet! But as hard as that may have been, you’ll face even more challenges with search marketing.
For example, competitors aren’t always other practices or dentists. Sometimes, they don’t even have anything to do with dentistry (I’m looking at you, Wikipedia)! How do you combat that?
I have a real answer to that question.
What about actual competition–other practices in the city? According to SmartScrapers, there are over 4,500 dental practices in San Francisco alone. That’s a lot of competition for the same city, and standing out in search engines like Google or Bing for your search terms can be a slog.
Pop quiz: How many dentists and dental practices are there in your city?
Build your credibility.
Dentistry is one of the practices that fall under “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics. YMYL industries affect a person’s health, mental well-being, finances, or safety. They’re also the most likely to be subject to intense scrutiny from potential patients, the media, and regulatory agencies.
This is why understanding how to build credibility online is crucial for growing your practice.
One of those ways is by showcasing reviews. Over 70% of people looking for dentists online take the time to check out reviews. While they may look at your site and any reviews you show there, those reviews may be suspect – of course, you’ll show the best ones, right?
So, they look on Google Business and Yelp, like they would for other local businesses. But wait, there’s more! They’ll also look at Healthgrades, Zocdoc, RateMDs, and more; you want to have the best profile possible on those pages. Those reviews are the best social proof you can have after Word of Mouth.
Positive reviews can also boost your Google rankings in local search results. These reviews contribute to your site’s EEAT—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness—by showcasing real patient experiences and satisfaction. Consistent, favorable feedback builds trust with potential patients, and also signals to Google that your practice is reliable.
Cultivate review platforms to increase your visibility on search engines and grow your business. Respond to those reviews in writing, whether the review is negative or positive. More important to the reader is that you did respond and how you responded.
Build your E-E-A-T.
I might as well make this its own section. Being a YMYL topic affects your ranking because search engines, particularly Google, prioritize the safety and reliability of the information they present to users. They use the EEAT criteria as a framework to assess and rank content. Here’s why EEAT is so important for YMYL topics:
Experience: Demonstrates real-world engagement and patient interactions.
When your content includes reviews, patient cases, or expert insights, it raises the perceived quality and reliability of your information.
Expertise: Indicates the level of knowledge and skill.
As a dentist, showcasing your credentials, qualifications, and continuing education efforts can help establish you as an expert in your field, which search engines recognize and reward.
Authoritativeness: Reflects your reputation within the industry.
Positive patient reviews, endorsements from other dental professionals, and mentions in reputable dental publications all contribute to your authority. Search engines view these signals as proof of your credibility.
Trustworthiness: Builds confidence in your practice.
Transparent business practices, patient testimonials, clear privacy policies, and adherence to regulations like HIPAA demonstrate that your practice can be trusted, both by patients and search engines.
For YMYL topics like dentistry, search engines need to ensure that users are getting information from the most credible and trustworthy sources. Strong EEAT signals can significantly improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential patients to find your practice. This, in turn, drives more traffic to your site, enhances your online reputation, and ultimately helps grow your dental practice.
Retain your patients.
Attracting new patients is important, but your current patients also want a hands-on experience. These days, a lot of that “hands-on” is actually “hands-off” and happens all online. Of course, quality dental care is the most important aspect, but what do your patients say about you in their reviews?
Here few tips for retention from a marketer and a dentist’s patient:
- Provide blog posts, social media posts, newsletters, or videos to help patients learn about their oral healthcare. These platforms allow you to engage with patients in a more interactive way and build stronger relationships.
- Provide an easy-to-use online booking system. Patients can schedule, reschedule, or cancel appointments at their convenience instead of when your office is open.
- Provide flexible payment plans and financing options. Help your patients navigate their insurance benefits so they can get the most out of their coverage.
- Pay attention to the reviews you get and what they say. This is free market research, and each comment is worth thousands of dollars.
As you no doubt already know, regular patients provide the residual income you need to run, while new patients provide what you need to grow. Digital marketing, of which SEO is a part, provides support for both avenues.
Comply with regulations.
As a dentist, you’re subject to numerous regulations concerning patient data, the standards by which you can advertise, and how your practice conducts itself. Failure to comply with these regulations and meet the standards can lead to severe penalties and damage to your reputation.
Online, these regulations become even more important.
HIPAA Compliance:
- How secure is your patient data?
- Are your online forms encrypted?
- Do your online communications comply with security and HIPAA regulations?
- How do you protect your patient data from cybersecurity threats?
Advertising Standards:
- Do you follow the advertising and marketing guidelines set by the American Dental Association (ADA) and local regulatory bodies?
- Are you making any misleading claims or promises in your SEO and marketing content?
- Is your site accessible to people with disabilities?
Patient Consent:
- Do you obtain explicit consent from patients before using their testimonials or reviews in your marketing materials?
- How do you ensure compliance with privacy laws regarding patient information?
Transparency in Services:
- Are you clearly listing your services and pricing on your website?
- How transparent is your communication about services and costs to potential patients?
Following these regulations helps avoid legal issues and maintain your practice’s credibility. Compliance must be taken into account in your marketing and SEO campaigns.
Manage potential crises.
Even with the best SEO and marketing strategies in place, unexpected crises can occur. Whether it’s a negative review, a social media mishap, or a more serious issue like a data breach, how you manage these situations can make or break your practice’s reputation.
Although you might not want to think about it, you should always plan for it.
- What are the possible issues you might run into?
- What specific steps will you and your practice take in each type of crisis, and who will be responsible for ensuring that those steps are taken?
- Who is the designated spokesperson if it’s not you?
Your reputation is everything, and bad news spreads like wildfire online. It’s better to know what you’ll do in a disaster than to figure it out when one happens.
So, what does SEO do for dentists?
Well, “build reviews and stay compliant” isn’t exactly the best marketing strategy to move forward on. As an actionable insight, it leaves a lot to be desired. So, how does a dental practice increase its search engine rankings in the search engine results pages (SERP), draw traffic, and gain new patients? Despite the challenges, of course.
SEO optimizes your website structure and content.
There are several reasons you might not rank highly for your search queries in the local packs and local organic. The most common is simply that your dental practice has to compete online and needs search engine optimization (SEO). If you’ve already started SEO and you aren’t seeing growth, you need a professional marketing boost.
The way your site is built and how the information is navigated matters. A marketing and SEO audit digs through your digital web properties (your site, social media accounts, other profile sites, etc.). The audit will uncover where these vital pieces are missing their connections. It should result in a comprehensive plan for correcting the issues found.
Most often, that plan includes making sure your content addresses common patient concerns. It includes crafting solid search snippet titles and meta descriptions so when you do rank in the SERPs, people will want to click through.
It uses general, localized, and intent-based keywords.
Most private dental practices are local, but local SEO is for dental practices of all sizes. Case in point: even DSOs have local clinics. SEO uses localized keywords such as “dentist in [city]” and “dentist near me,” among others.
However, SEO also goes beyond “where” and starts looking at “what” and “why.” That is, what terms do people use to search, and why do they use them?
You can start broad, but the more you drill down, the more qualified your content will be to reach your target audience. For example, you might be a periodontist. You have a web page that says, “I’m a periodontist.”
But SEO asks, “What if they don’t know what that is? All they know is that they need ‘dental implants in [city].'” If your site doesn’t answer that question, SEO builds a landing page for it.
“Dental Implants in [city],” it might say. “Save your beautiful smile with XYZ Dentistry.”
The result is a robust information offer to potential patients, current patients, and search engines that starts solving the visibility problem. It addresses local SEO optimization, user intent, and all the possibilities connected to your practice.
If you implement SEO on your site and work on creating high-quality, targeted content, you should start seeing improvements. Within six months, you should also start seeing higher organic traffic and engagement.
It builds stronger EEAT signals.
As I mentioned earlier, dentistry needs to hit those EEAT signals. SEO directly addresses this need by targeting each area with dedicated content. It answers questions like, “What’s the best way to build expert insights? Should I do videos, blogs, or podcasts?”
Marketing will look at reputable publications and work to get you mentioned in some way. Making sure your content complies with regulations, that your testimonials are used to the best advantage, and your online presence is always exemplary are all actions of marketing and SEO.
Within 12 months, feeding your site with a regular diet of high-quality, informative posts will start paying off.
- Better educational materials will searchers answer questions and build trust.
- Review management will provide better visibility and credibility.
- Building backlinks will help you build authority from reputable dental publications and local websites.
- Higher ranking and stronger search snippets will drive traffic to your website.
It helps you capture the micro-moments.
“Micro-moments” are the moments when potential patients quickly search for answers or solutions. These are the times when someone might be looking for immediate information like “emergency dentist near me” or “how to relieve tooth pain.”
SEO helps you capture these micro-moments by ensuring your content is optimized for quick, relevant responses. If you meet these immediate needs effectively, you can attract new patients at critical decision-making points.
Each time you implement something to capture a micro-moment, you’re adding to the quality of content your practice delivers. This increases your authority and reputation as an expert.
It helps you build a strong reputation.
I say “helps” because you have to do the majority of the work with a high-quality practice. But SEO capitalizes on that hard work and squeezes every bit of goodness into making you shine.
All the actions above—building a repository of your expert insight, encouraging positive reviews and handling negative ones, showcasing your experience, and improving theirs—all lead to a stellar reputation online. They also make it easier to be agile if an event takes place.
But SEO isn’t all-powerful.
While SEO is a powerful tool, it has its limitations.
Results won’t be immediate.
SEO is not a quick fix. It takes time to see significant improvements in rankings and traffic. Some actions may not come to fruition for months, but the upside is that SEO is accumulative. Once those actions start working, the effects often won’t fade for months, either.
We can’t guarantee top ranking.
No legitimate SEO agency will guarantee top rankings on search engines. Why? Google, mind you, is only one of several search engines, and it makes thousands of algorithm updates every year. Sometimes, it feels more like a bleeding edge than leading, especially after one of those major updates that shake up the online world. Because of the increased level of competition in almost every industry, coupled with the ever-changing nature of SEO, guarantees of top ranking can’t be legitimate.
SEO doesn’t replace quality care.
Our team members are fond of saying that SEO can’t sell a bad product to people who don’t want it. I’ll add to that and say that SEO can’t replace the quality of care you provide. Ultimately, your practice and its reputation depend on the experiences of your patients. Ignoring reviews that say similar things, for example, is a recipe for disaster.
Here’s what to expect.
While initial improvements can be seen within the first few months, significant positive results from these actions typically take around 6 to 12 months. The key to success is consistent effort, continuous improvement, and adapting your strategies based on performance data and changing SEO landscapes. By committing to these efforts, your dental practice can achieve and sustain higher search engine rankings, increased traffic, and, ultimately, more new patients.
Get the help you need.
Partnering with an experienced SEO and marketing agency can help you navigate this complex landscape, ensuring that your dental practice stands out in the crowded online market. By focusing on short-term wins, medium-term strategies, and long-term growth, we can transform your dental practice and help you achieve your business goals. If you’re ready to take the next step, let’s discuss how we can tailor an SEO strategy specifically for your practice.
