Dental SEO Guide in Atlanta

Dental SEO Guide in Atlanta | How to Rank #1 in Google

Whether you’re a larger dental office or an individual clinic, ranking at the top, or near the top, of Google searches can make or break your business. In the below article, we are going to review the ultimate dental SEO guide in Atlanta and provide you with actionable tips and tricks you can take today to help your practice garner more website views and bring in more petients.

And while SEO, or search engine optimization, might seem inefficient or counter to your primary mission, not focusing on basic SEO foundations will make finding your office much more difficult for both new and existing patients.

Local Dental SEO

In the world of search engine optimization, there is broad SEO and there is local SEO. And, as a local business looking to serve a local clientele, you will be primarily focusing on local SEO.

Local SEO is the geographical relevance of a search intent. For example, when someone searches “dentists near me” or “best dentists in Atlanta” or “dental offices in Alpharetta”, that is local SEO and that is the SEO that you want to be focusing on.

And while SEO yields results on the Google search page, it starts on your own website. For starters, your website should be clean, modern, and easy to use on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

As Atlanta is a relatively large and diverse city, the SEO best practices are even more important. Setting up your SEO foundation and keeping up with the latest improvements, can yield greater returns. However, diminishing or ignoring the importance of your SEO strategy can yield extremely poor results and will result in less patients learning about your business.

However, it is crucial to understand that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. The tactics and strategies done today will likely yield results in months, not days, from now. Consistent, productive, and timely updates will yield results, but patience is key when it comes to SEO.

Before we jump into the best practices for your local SEO, we should first understand how local SEO is factored into Google’s ranking algorithm.

For Google, three main factors are deciding how to rank local business and services. Those factors are relevance, distance, and prominence.

From Google itself, they say that they rely on information from your Google Business Profile to determine whether your practice matches what a user is searching for. So, when it comes to SEO for a local dentists office, your Google Business Profile should be as complete and as detailed as possible. This will help Google to better match your practice to a users search intent.

Secondly, Google will always look to make a users search as relevant as possible to that user. So, if a user searches for “dentists in Alpharetta” it will show them the nearest dentists in Alpharetta, skipping over dentists in Atlanta, Duluth, and Dunwoody.

And, lastly, is prominence. Google not only wants to display dentists near a user but also wants to give them the best dentist near them. However, Google relies on user input and information to determine who is the best dentist in that particular area.

This is done and measured through your website, your reviews on Google, your online articles, your social media presence, and external links to your website.

These three factors combined help Google to better serve a users search intent and provide them with the information that they are searching for.

By-and-large, the majority of your SEO work should focus on your website and the elements within your site. Below, we’ll review a few key SEO elements you should focus on and consider tidying up to assist with your SEO efforts.

Keywords – the content on your website should not only be well-written and easy to understand, but it should also be written for the end user in mind. As we are focusing on the Atlanta metro region, you may want to consider writing blog posts which highlight geographic interests for the Atlanta community, such as “Go Dawgs! 7 Best Ways to Keep Your UGA Pups Teeth Clean” or “How to Ensure a Whiter Smile for the Upcoming Atlanta Olympics”.

Similarly, you can utilize a slew of different keyword research tools which will help you to navigate the keywords which users in your area are searching for. If you see an uptick or trend on a particular topic, be sure to write up a quick article and post it on your website for others to find.

Meta Descriptions – when you appear on Google, the search result usually includes one or two sentences of text beneath the title. This description helps the user with a bit more information on the search result. And while Google may rewrite the description, it is always advised to add your own and insert relevant information to help both Google and the user to better understand the context of the page.

Interlinking – interlinking your sites content is one of the best ways to showcase both relevance and authority. If you write two articles, one about brushing your teeth and the other about flossing, and link the articles, you are showcasing to Google that the content on your site is relevant and that you are an authority on that particular subject.

Outbound Links – outbound links are a bit harder to obtain than inbound links and interlinking. Outbound links are when a separate site links to your site, providing credibility to your site. Gaining these links can be done via manual outreach, writing and publishing on major dental journals, and speaking with local blogs and newspapers about your dental practice.

Another major focus in local SEO is the acronym NAP. NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. NAP is important as it establishes the business’s key contact details across the web. Proper NAP consistency is crucial for local SEO because search engines like Google rely on accurate and consistent NAP information to verify the legitimacy and trustworthiness of a business.

If you have a different phone number on your website and Yelp page, Google will have a more difficult time truly understanding which number to provide to potential patients and web searchers.

When it comes to local SEO, consistency is key and paramount to establishing trust with both Google and the end user.

Google, as a search engine, looks for signals from other users to determine ranking factors. And, when it comes to local SEO, one of the biggest ranking factors are Google reviews. Found within your Google Business Profile, these are reviews left my patients.

The more reviews that your office has, the more likely Google is to recommend your office to other, new patients. That is because Google “understands” that you are a reliable and real business through user reviews and the more positive reviews, the more likely that Google will recommend your office.

Be sure to try to encourage positive reviews from your patients. Having a QR code at your front desk or handing our business cards with a QR code that leads to your Google reviews section can be a great way to help patients to the review page and encourages them to leave one.

In life, rarely does anything remain static. When it comes to both local SEO and your own dental practice, remaining relevant and evolving through changes are crucial.

As such, be sure to continuously update your website to reflect changes and modernization of the web. Continue to post blog articles, utilize YouTube to provide more in-depth information, and update your site to newer, more modern themes.

As stated above, SEO is not a one-and-done task and continuing to update your site will help you to attain that coveted #1 rank on Google’s search results.

While many of us think of YouTube as a video site, it is also one of the most powerful SEO tools on the web. As YouTube is owned by Google, it helps to power Google’s own internal algorithms and search results.

By creating a YouTube profile for your dentist office and posting content frequently, you can look more legitimate and reputable in the eyes of Google.

And, again, creating content geared towards your area can be even more impactful. Content such as, “Giving Free Toothbrushes to People in Atlanta” and “Best Way to Brush Your Teeth After Watching a UGA Game” provide relevance and entertainment to your brand.

Be sure to think outside the box and to not only provide content that is relatable but also entertaining and “share-worthy”. In addition, once you have uploaded the video to YouTube, be sure to embed the video onto your website as an additional ranking signal to Google.

Ranking your dental office in Atlanta can be challenging but it is doable. Be sure to follow the below general outline. And, if you want even more tips, tricks, and assistance, be sure to reach out to us for more information.

• Claim and verify your Google Business Profile
• Optimize your website for local keywords
• Create local citations and listing
• Always use consistent NAP
• Encourage patients to leave positive reviews
• Aquire backlinks from local websites