A dental practice maintaining a physical location would thrive with a large clientele of local patients. However, this is something easier said than done. With the number of dental businesses operating in each city or county in America, you need to stand out from the competition to win the hearts of the local community.

So, how do you do it? By targeting local patients with dental marketing. This can raise your practice’s web visibility within the local community, eventually resulting in more appointment bookings from local patients. 

The Importance of Local SEO

Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for dentists because it helps your dental office appear in the top search results when prospective patients look for dentists in your area. In this digital age, patients frequently look to the web for help when requiring dental care. Because of this dependence on search engines, local search has become essential to bringing in new clients for dental practices.

The act of searching for goods or services within a certain area, such as one’s city or neighborhood, is referred to as local search. When someone looks for a dentist, they are often searching for a readily available, nearby service. They look for “dentists near me” or “dentists in [your city],” and your practice has to be in an excellent position to draw them in.

You can do that by optimizing your website for local search, increasing your chances of ranking in the top search results. This can significantly raise your practice’s visibility and draw in new patients.

Strategies for Local Online Advertising

The success of your dental business in this day of growing digital marketing depends on how visible it is online, particularly in your local community. An optimized website can be a very effective tool for drawing in new patients. Below are the best strategies for local online advertising using SEO for your dental website.

1. Create a Profile on Google My Business (GMB)

What is Google My Business?

Google holds a commanding position in the local search market. The industry-leading search engine has customized its algorithms to deliver consumers the most pertinent local results. In the dental sector, Google Maps and other Google services have become indispensable resources for local SEO. As a result, you must comprehend Google’s capabilities and use them to advance your profession.

In particular, it’s best to set up your practice’s Google My Business profile. With GMB, you can control how Google Maps and Search present your dental business.

GMB is a great option because of its simplicity and lack of setup costs. You only have to fill out the required information, validate, and claim your company listing. Of course, to fully utilize its potential, you’ll also need to optimize it.

Accuracy is essential here. Your listing should include the practice’s phone number, address, and accurate business name. Remember to include information about your services, operating hours, and other important details that a potential patient might find helpful.

Google My Business Best Practices

Adding new photographs to your GMB listing frequently will keep it interesting and engaging. Photos can give potential patients a better impression of your office, whether before-and-after pictures highlighting your work, a behind-the-scenes peek at your clinic, or pictures of your amiable staff.

2. Optimize Your Dental Website for Local Search

Your website is the centerpiece of your internet presence. It serves as your calling card, initial impression, and online storefront. Because of this, optimizing your website for local search should be one of the most important aspects of your local SEO for dentists plan.

Naturally, include local keywords on your website. These are terms, such as “family dentist in [your area]” or “[your area] dental clinic,” that integrate your services with your location. Including them in your content makes it easier for search engines to determine where and how relevant you are to local search terms.

Though important, remember that local keywords must be utilized logically and organically. In addition to making for a poor reading experience, overstuffing keywords can have negative search engine results. Writing for readers, not search engines, is the golden rule.

3. Create Localized Content

Saying you are a local company is one thing, but proving it with your content is quite another. Content localization includes using localized keywords and producing content that appeals to your local audience’s needs, interests, and way of life.

  • Local Keywords: Use locally relevant keywords in headers, content, titles, and other areas. Pages that do this rank higher in local searches. For instance, optimize your website’s homepage with “dentist [city]” and the service pages with “[service] dentist [city].”
  • Location-specific Landing Pages: Creating separate pages targeting nearby towns and cities can help you rank higher locally. In addition to listing your services, like “dental cleanings in [city]”, also include keywords like “helping [city] residents” or “serving [city] community. Including common local problems can also be a good strategy, such as “toothaches in [city]” or “tooth loss in [city].”
  • Useful Local Information: Create regular blog posts that offer helpful information specific to your area. For example, you could write about “Teeth-Friendly Snacks in [city]” or “Oral Health Facilities in [city].” This will prove that you know the area.
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Include common local questions in your FAQs page. Some examples are:
  • Which is the best emergency dentist in [city]?
  • How much do dental implants cost in [city]?
  • How to get dentures in [city]?

4. Utilize Local Directories

More platforms are available to promote your dentistry practice besides Google My Business. Potential patients can also find you in well-known directories like the Yellow Pages, Angie’s List, and Yelp. When looking for directories specific to dentistry or healthcare, you should consider Healthgrades, Zocdoc, and EveryDentist.com.

Directory building can help you create a solid number of backlinks. What are backlinks? These are links pointing to your website from other websites. They function as online reputation signals for better SEO. The more high-quality backlinks your dental website has, the higher it ranks in search results. 

Building your dental practice profiles on these directories will increase quality backlinks to your website. This will serve as a steady stream of traffic referrals from consumers seeking particular services.

Once more, it is best that every detail you supply is the same for every listing. If not, your local SEO strategy for dentists will be harmed, and users may become confused. When there are any updates to your services, update your profiles, ask patients to give reviews, and take the time to reply. 

Successful Geotargeted Marketing Campaigns

Once you’ve applied these strategies to optimize for local search, your dental website pages will gradually appear on the first page of results when searching for local keywords. However, local SEO strategies require time, effort, and expertise to get the best results and beat the competition in your local community. It is best to get the services of experts in geotargeted marketing, like Omni Premier Marketing.

We have a team of Local SEO experts who have worked with dental practices around America and successfully executed their geotargeted marketing campaigns. Below are two of the successful campaigns that our team has executed:

1. Local SEO for Southland Smiles

Southland Smiles is a full-service dental practice located in Aurora, CO. After a geotargeted marketing campaign, the practice’s website pages have appeared on the first page of search results for keywords like “Fluoride and Sealants Aurora, CO”, “smile makeover Aurora, CO”, “Crowns & Bridges Aurora, CO”, “Traditional Dentures Aurora, CO”, “Laughing Gas Aurora, CO”, and “TMJ Treatment Aurora, CO” to name a few.

2. Local SEO for Woodall & McNeill

This dental practice’s website pages have taken over the top results for most dental-related searches in Raleigh, NC, after a successful geotargeted marketing campaign. Local keywords like “Porcelain Crowns Same Day Raleigh NC”, “Dental Check Ups Raleigh NC”, “Partial Dentures Raleigh NC”, “Implant Restoration Raleigh NC”, “Full mouth rehabilitation Raleigh NC”, and many others put the dental website’s pages on the first page of Google results. Woodall & McNeill is now a household name amongst Raleigh patients.

Work With Omni to Develop a Local SEO Strategy for Your Practice

For similar successful geotargeted marketing campaigns for your practice, wherever it may be located in the US, get the services from local SEO experts of Omni Premier Marketing. Our team can help improve your dental website’s visibility in search results to get more traffic, appointment bookings, and local patients for your practice.
Call Omni Premier Marketing today to learn more about local dental SEO or book an appointment.