When you are looking for a way to boost the appeal and reach of your dental surgery in 2023, many options are available.
The first step is to have a website put together. This website that represents your dental surgery has to be easy to navigate for users, it has to have a blog that is actively updated, and it has to be visually appealing. Why? Well, aside from the obvious, you will want to boost the SEO of the page.
In today’s digital age, having a robust SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and marketing plan is crucial for the success of any dental surgery. SEO ensures that your dental surgery page ranks higher on search engine result pages and ensures that more people see the page overall. So, if you don’t have a good SEO plan, your webpage may be dropping in the rankings, leading to fewer potential patients seeing your page.
However, it’s essential to approach these strategies with caution to ensure they align with your business goals and avoid potential pitfalls. Indeed, if you put all of your efforts into the wrong parts of SEO, your surgery may also fail to attract patients. Yikes!
With that in mind, this article explores 5 key things dental surgeries should avoid when putting together an SEO and marketing plan.
Table of Contents
Neglecting Local SEO
Local SEO is a fundamental aspect of any dental surgery’s online marketing strategy. Neglecting this aspect can significantly hamper your visibility in local search results, resulting in missed opportunities. To avoid this, focus on optimising your website and online presence for local searches. Ensure your business information (name, address, phone number) is consistent across all of the platforms you are using, claim your Google My Business listing, and encourage positive reviews from satisfied patients.
Indeed, dental SEO relies heavily on attracting patients that are in the local area, so always make sure that your dental surgeries’ local SEO is ticked when drawing up your SEO plan.
Overlooking Website Optimization
A well-designed, user-friendly dental website is the cornerstone of your online presence. However, many dental surgeries make the mistake of overlooking website optimization. To avoid this, ensure that your dental surgery website loads quickly (within three seconds), is mobile-friendly, and has a clear structure to its layout. Incorporate relevant keywords throughout your content, especially in titles, headers, and meta descriptions. Don’t forget to optimise your website’s images and include engaging, informative, and original content that educates and engages potential patients.
Also, while it may seem simple, you will need to make sure that your dental surgery webpage is also easy to navigate, not only for the people that are using it but for the Google bots.
Simply put, these are bots that are sent out when a search term is entered into the engine, and they scan the pages that have the keywords in a millisecond to get it ranked higher. If your website is laid out in an illogical fashion, the bots will not be able to scan it, and it will drop in the rankings.
Ignoring the Power of Content Marketing
Content marketing plays a crucial role in establishing your dental surgery as an authoritative source and attracting potential patients. However, many dental practices tend to overlook this powerful strategy. Avoid the mistake of ignoring content marketing by creating and sharing valuable and relevant content regularly. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and social media updates. By consistently producing high-quality, plagiarism free content, you can build trust, engage with your audience, and increase your search engine visibility.
Failing to Utilise Social Media
Social media platforms provide a unique opportunity to connect with your audience, promote your dental services, and increase brand awareness. However, some dental surgeries fail to harness the potential of social media marketing. To avoid this, identify the platforms that align with your target audience and create a strong social media presence. Engage with your followers, share informative content, respond to queries and comments promptly, and leverage paid advertising options to reach a wider audience. Incorporate visually appealing images and videos to make your social media profiles more appealing and shareable.
Disregarding Data Analysis and Tracking
Tracking and analysing the performance of your SEO and marketing efforts is vital to understanding what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, many dental surgeries disregard this essential step. Implement robust analytics tools like Google Analytics to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. Monitor metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, bounce rates, and keyword rankings to gain insights into your marketing performance. Use this data to refine your strategies, identify areas for improvement, and optimise your campaigns for better results.