When potential patients look for a new dentist, the first place they usually turn is Google. They might search for phrases like “best dentist in [their city]” or “dental implants [their neighborhood]”.
Ideally, your practice should appear on the first page of search results for relevant keywords. While competing for these top spots can be challenging, there are several practical steps you can take to improve your practice’s local search ranking.
1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile is a free, easy-to-use tool that helps increase your visibility online and instill trust in prospective patients.
Here are a few things that you should do to make the most out of your listings:
- Respond to all reviews. Taking the time to address reviews, whether good or bad, shows that you take your patients’ feedback seriously.
- Make posts on your listings. Let potential patients know when you have special promotions or news about your clinic.
- Analyze data and insights. On the backend, Google will show data to help you understand how customers are interacting with your listings.
Make sure you include accurate information and visuals in your listings to make a great first impression:
- Address
- Opening hours, including holiday hours
- Phone number
- Website URL
- Brief description of your business
- Clear images of your practice (and staff if possible)
- Services your practice offers
- Answers to frequently asked questions
- Button that allows patients to book appointments online
- Links to your social media accounts
- Attributes like languages spoken, woman-owned, LGBTQ-friendly, wheelchair accessible
2. Encourage Patient Reviews
The more positive reviews you have, the more likely Google will show your listing in the top results. Not only is it important for improving your local search ranking, but it does wonders for instilling confidence and trust in your business, especially when it’s the first time patients are seeing your practice.
Here’s how to make it easy for patients to leave feedback:
- Deliver exceptional personalized care and service. From the first interaction your patients have with you—whether it’s through phone, email, or in person—your staff needs to make your patients feel comfortable and confident in your services. When your patients feel like their dentist, hygienist, and front office staff actually care about them, they’ll be more than willing, perhaps even excited, to spread the word.
- Ask for reviews. Providing great service alone isn’t always enough to generate a steady stream of reviews. Some people need a gentle reminder before sharing their feedback. Don’t hesitate to ask patients for a review as they leave your office. Make sure to ask politely and assure them there’s no pressure to do so. Additionally, you should send them a follow-up email or text thanking them for visiting your practice and asking for a review. Make it easy for your patients and provide a link that takes them directly to the page where they can leave a Google review of your practice. You can automate review requests through patient communication platforms like PatientActivator.
3. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that in the United States, approximately 94.6% of internet users browse the internet using their smartphones, while only 72.8% use laptops or desktops? Since most users browse the internet on mobile, having a high-performing mobile-friendly website is essential. A responsive website ensures a seamless experience across all devices–whether it’s a phone, laptop, desktop, or tablet.
A mobile-friendly site not only improves user experience but also gives you a greater opportunity for ranking higher in Google’s search results. Google indexes and ranks websites based on their mobile versions first, so while a mobile-friendly site isn’t mandatory to appear in search results, it gives you a competitive edge.
Here are two simple ways to check your website’s mobile-friendliness:
- Browse a few pages of your website on different devices: Is the text easy to read? Is the website responsive to different screens? Does it load quickly? Is it easy to book an appointment? Are photos and videos clear? Read more about Google’s mobile-first indexing best practices to see how you can improve your website.
- Enter your website URL into Google’s PageSpeed Insights: This tool runs a diagnostic report on your website’s performance, giving you scores for different categories and highlighting specific areas for improvement.
4. Keep Information Consistent Across All Platforms
Maintaining consistency across all online platforms—including your website, Google Business profile, Yelp, and social media—is essential for increasing local SEO for your dental practice. Ensuring that your business name, address, phone number, and other details match on each platform strengthens your online presence. For instance, if your practice’s name appears slightly differently on a dental directory compared to your Google listing, search engines might interpret them as two separate businesses. This inconsistency can dilute your SEO authority and negatively impact your organic rankings.
Not only does information consistency help improve the local search ranking for your website, but it also makes it easy for your patients and leads to find you. If potential patients struggle to find accurate and consistent information about your practice, they may grow frustrated and go elsewhere.
QUICK TIP: Centralize all key practice information in a single document—ideally a shared file in cloud storage—so you or your team can quickly access it when updating, making changes, or adding to new online platforms.
Boost Your Dental Practice’s Local SEO
Strengthening your online presence is key to attracting more patients to your dental practice. By optimizing your Google Business Profile, encouraging patient reviews, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly, and maintaining consistent information across platforms, you’ll improve your local search ranking and make it easier for potential patients to find and choose your practice. These simple steps can help you stay visible and competitive in your local market.
For additional support, PatientActivator can help streamline this process, enabling you to optimize your online listings, collect positive reviews, and automate appointment scheduling and patient communication.
