Introduction

I remember my earlier days in marketing and when I learned about the mystical SEO to increase my Google rankings. During those times not many people had heard about it unless they were in the digital marketing industry. However, its popularity began to grow quickly as knowledge of how it could increase your business significantly seeped into the minds of business owners.

Nowadays dentists have not only heard about optimizing their dental office website but are already implementing it or are thinking about it. Several are even familiar with meta tags and keyword research and how they should be used to help their Google ranking. This is good because with 75% of users never scrolling past the first web page of the search engine results pages the importance of optimizing your website cannot be understated.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the practice of working with all variables, on-site and off-site that serve as ranking factors with the search engines to get a website’s organic ranking for specific keywords to improve.

SEO, still very young in conception, is believed to have come about somewhere around 1991 and has been evolving more and more rapidly with time. So much so that if you look at the ever-evolving algorithm updates from the primary search engine, Google, you will see multiple updates occurring each year.

There are essentially two scopes, National and Local SEO.

• What is National SEO?

  National search engine optimization targets its people anywhere without any geographic limitations. Google, in particular, has done a good job of determining whether certain types of businesses fall under local or fit into the general category of National SEO. Some examples of companies that are well suited for this are online business such as SAAS, software as a service providers and marketing agencies ;-).

• What is Local SEO?

  Local search engine optimization is the more geo-targeted version of National SEO where the goal is to be in the top results when people are doing local searches for products or services that your business provides. Local searches usually include zip codes, cities, near me, etc. For eg. “dentist near me” or “dentist plantation fl”. As mentioned above Google has done a good job of determining whether a user’s Google searches require/desire local results or not. Eg. if you are searching for dentists, plumbers, doctors, lawyers, restaurants, etc. Google will serve up local results.

While both of these are important strategies the one you will need to focus on depends on your business. SEO for dentists is local as most people that are looking for dental services are looking locally.

The practice of SEO has given birth to two different methodologies, White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO:

• What is White Hat SEO?

  “White hat” search engine optimizers often improve the usability of a site, help create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and search engines. Good search engine optimization can also mean good marketing: thinking about creative ways to make a site more compelling, which can help with search engines as well as social media. The net result of making a great site is often greater awareness of that site on the web, which can translate into more people linking to or visiting a site. – Google

  The direction white hat SEO has taken us has been towards Google providing higher quality results that are in line with the searcher’s intent.

• What is Black Hat SEO?

  The opposite of “white hat” SEO is something called “black hat webspam” (we say “webspam” to distinguish it from email spam). In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked. We see all sorts of webspam techniques every day, from keyword stuffing to link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings. – Google

  While some black hat strategies still work, over the years Google has been clamping down on sites that utilize them. Some major penalties have been given out over the years to sites practicing Black Hat SEO in some cases these penalties meant the end of the business.

  Two of the more popular Google updates, that have focused on penalizing sites that haven’t been following their guidelines, have been Panda and Penguin.

Why Your Practice Needs Local SEO

Here are some reasons why you need local dental search engine optimization for your practice.

1. 46% of Google searches are for local businesses.

   

   With over 90% of searches on the internet being made on Google, its is definitely one of the places you want to be when people are searching for dentists. When you take in mind, however, that almost half of these searches are for local businesses, now you should begin to understand the true potential for more business if you achieve top rankings in their local search results.

2. 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of their current location.

   

   People want what they want, when they want it and they want it to be convenient. When people are looking for a dentist practice, they want one that’s convenient to their location and one who has dentists they can trust. Local SEO focuses exactly on that, ranking well for searches that are seeking nearby providers.

3. 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase.

   

   The majority of local search produces actual visits to brick-and-mortar businesses such as dental offices. If your practice ranks on page one in relevant local search results you are getting in front of people that are ready to act and who are highly targeted.

4. Local searchers are ready to act. Many visit a nearby location within a day and complete purchases at a higher rate than consumers who conduct non-local searches.

   Conversion rates of local searchers are higher than non-local searches. Dental offices target users are typically those in their local area, same city, zip code etc. With local SEO dental practices gain exposure to their target audience, people

5. 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours.

   

   Local SEO is much quicker to achieve top rankings than National SEO all else kept equal. However, once your website claims a spot on page 1 for your main keywords, get ready to have the phone ringing with calls from people looking for your services.

6. 80% of local searches convert

   

   So we know that local searches produce high conversion rates. What this means is that if you are able to rank within the top 3 results you will be getting lots of “free” traffic that equates to lots more dental patients. I put free in quotes because its not really free since it you can pay for an SEO service or you can spend the time doing it but even then, time is money.

7. “Near me” or “close by” type searches grew by more than 900% over two years.

   Think about the times you have searched and used the term “near me” or “close by”. Weren’t you ready to act? The growth in frequency of these terms shows the trend for more people qualified leads coming to your business each day if you had a top ranking.

8. 92% of searchers will pick businesses on the first page of local search results.

   

   Ever hear the saying, “If you’re not first, you’re last”? Something similar applies with local search. If you are on page 1 you have the best chance of gaining most of the valuable traffic, traffic that converts into business. If you’re not on the first page then you’re missing out on that 92%.

9. Over 50% of ‘near me’ searches result in a physical store visit.

   

   If your Local SEO is on point and pushing your business to the first page of the local search results then when people search using the term “near me” then it becomes more likely that they will make an appointment and come in for a consultation. How much is that worth to your practice?

10. Position 1 of local search rankings get 24.46% of all clicks, with position 2 getting 13.38% & Position 3 getting 10.12%. After the 6th ranking position each local listing get less than 2% of the clicks.

    

    I cheated on this one and squeezed two in here instead of 1 but they go so perfectly together. You’ve now heard this before but #10 ends this listicle with one of the main reasons why Local SEO is done, why SEO in general is done. The goal is to be the #1 site. #2 is good but its no #1 and #3 while still a good traffic provider means that two of your competitors are getting more of the business than you are. This is the pinnacle of SEO, being THE site, THE business.

If you are looking to grow the number of dental clients to your practice, local SEO is a proven strategy to gain visibility when people looking for your dental services are ready to act.