With the ongoing pandemic, the growing trend has been to support local small businesses before the ‘big guys’ to help local economies. By ensuring your on-page and off-page dental SEO has been properly setup and following daily check in’s, you will see your search engine results improve.
Proper On-Page SEO
Prior to working on any off-page SEO tactics, you should ensure the on-page SEO has been accurately completed. There are a few key tags which should be filled out on each page and serve a specific purpose for both consumers and search engines.
These tags include:
- Title Tag: this is the most important SEO tag. It tells the search engine what your page is about and is displayed in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It should be 60-70 characters in length.
- Meta Description Tag: this summarizes the contents of your web page; search engines may display the results in SERP and should be between 155-160 characters in length.
- Header Tag: according to Woorank, this tag shows relevant keywords and helps make content more readable. All pages should have an <H1> tag.
- Image Alternative (Alt) Tags: these describe an image for screen readers and search engines. If an image is missing this text will be displayed. These tags are no more 125 characters.
Develop a Daily SEO Check-In Routine
Spending a few minutes each day checking your Google Analytics and Google Search Console allows you to spot any errors, missing information or red flags that can cause Google to flag your website as not being relevant.
The key metrics to watch in Google Analytics include:
- Overview: this page tells you how your site is doing overall for the past week. You will be able to see if site traffic is up or down, your current bounce rate and session duration.
- Unique Pageviews: provides you an accurate count on the number of sessions when a page has been viewed.
- Users: shows the amount of traffic your website has received.
The key areas to monitor in Google Search Console are:
- Overview: quickly see if Google is registering any errors on your website that can have an effect on your SERP.
- Performance: this report shows your key metrics for search within Google such as total clicks, total impressions, average click-thru-rate, and average position in Google SERP.
Create More Evergreen Content
When it comes to supporting your dental website SEO, content is still king. You should focus on building your evergreen content. Evergreen is any content that remains relevant throughout the year and is not tied to a specific dental marketing campaign. According to Search Engine Land, education content is key when it comes to building trust with consumers.
Local SEO
Local SEO for dentists has never been more important than it has been during the pandemic. Many consumers have been stuck at home and unable to travel far. As per Ahrefs, here are the three directories you should focus on when working on your local SEO:
- Google My Business page: this is Google’s business directory and the listings are displayed in search results. Claiming your page is free and easy to do. Here is a link from Google on how to do this.
- Bing Places: this is Bing’s business listing directory. You may think that Google is king when it comes to search engines, but a whopping 129 million unique PC users in the USA alone use Bing. Thus, making it important to claim your listing. Here are instructions on how to do this.
- Apple Maps: According to Statista.com there are over 23.3 million users using Apple Maps each month. To ensure your business shows up for these users you will need to claim your Apple Maps listing.
In addition to supporting your dental practice’s SEO efforts, listing your opening hours and available services, will allow nearby consumers to know that you are open and treating patients (even if only for emergencies) during the pandemic.
Read More: 5 Key Reasons Why SEO Is Important for Businesses
Reviews
Receiving online reviews serves two purposes. Not only does it provide consumers with social proof that your business is trustworthy, it also helps your Local SEO by telling search engines that you are a credible business worth recommending.
With the increased search for local services, it is more crucial than ever that you ensure your SEO has been set up correctly by dental marketing Australia. These are a few easy steps dentists can take to improve their dental practice SEO. Once set up, some of these recommendations need only be reviewed every few months, while others require a brief daily check-in to manage.
