Why Is It Important for Dentists to Invest In SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is the backbone of any online advertising strategy. It makes any business, either local or international, visible to its prospective online customers. If Google, Yahoo, or Bing do not rank your website high enough in their search result pages, then you may not achieve much online traffic. That is, of course, to tell you that because most consumers turn to search engines such as Google for information, your offline business will also be affected by low SEO rankings.
By GENC EMINI
The significance of SEO to businesses can never be overlooked, but why is it particularly important to dentists? This article answers this by explaining 7 compelling reasons why your dental office needs SEO.
1. Staying a step ahead of your competitors
Let’s assume that you have no idea what SEO is and neither you want it for your dental practice. Let’s also assume that your dental office is the best in your region and that you have its future all figured out. But what if we told you that your closest competitors are investing heavily on SEO in a bid to topple you over? As a good business owner or manager, you must identify the weapons that your competitors are using to kick you out of business, get a better version of it, and then use it to hinder their efforts. The Bottom line here is that If your direct competitor is investing in SEO, it is wise to do that as well.
2. Increased online traffic and conversions
As we already mentioned, SEO for dentists ensures their visibility to their prospective patients or clients. If you are managing your website on your own, you may miss out on a huge chunk of your prospective patients because of two reasons. First, you may not have the necessary expertise to know what to post, when to post, and which keywords to use. Secondly, you may not know how to blend visual and static content in order to attract new online traffic, to retain visitors, and to persuade them to convert into loyal customers.
“Hiring the right expert for your SEO is the only way of covering for such loose ends. Such experts will sort out your website, tweak your content, and do everything else that is needed to appeal to your target market.” say SEO experts of KS Outsourcing.
3. Defending your online reputation
As a rule of thumb, patients looking for dental services in your area trust online reviews about a given dental office more than anything else. If your competitor goes rogue and decides to tarnish your reputation online, you may have a hard time convincing your target market otherwise. With an SEO expert managing your content, you are always confident that any malicious online attack from your competitors will be countered early enough. That is the surest way of maintaining your brand reputation, which is actually the base on which you build an even stronger reputation.
4. You have a lot in your hands already
As much as SEO is important for your dental office, it isn’t the only thing that your mind should fixate on. You still have IT issues to think about, staff to manage, meetings to attend, and patients to treat. That means that even if you are experienced on matters of SEO, you need someone else to do it for you so that you can concentrate on the core business of your dental office. What’s more, spending too much time on SEO will attract new patients, alright, but failing to optimally attend to them will be counterproductive.
5. Managing your social media
If you haven’t realized this yet, social media is the trendiest thing in town. Businesses which gain massive followership on the main social platforms – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube- end up attracting more traffic to their websites which then translates to increased revenue. But that’s not all! With a good social media strategy, you do not only attract new patients to your dental clinic but you also succeed in creating more loyal customers.
Loyalists advocate for your clinic to their friends and peers without charging you a dime, thus making your website attractive and busy just like search engines want. This is among the most effective ways of ascending to the top SEO rankings. This again increases your online visibility and attracts more customers. You will definitely love this vicious cycle but you will need the help of a qualified SEO expert for that to happen.
6. It lowers your overhead cost
In whichever way you think of an SEO expert for dentists, you will realize that it saves you a lot of money on a daily basis. First, hiring a professional SEO expert means that you will not need in-house web management and content development teams. Such an expert will handle everything regarding your online presence and content at a fee way below what you would spend on an in-house team.
Secondly, such an expert knows exactly who to target with your content, either on the website or on social media. That minimizes your advertising budget because you will not be spending money on people who will never come to your dental office or paying social media influencers whose appeal to your target audience isn’t as strong as they would make you believe.
Thirdly, your SEO expert will help you gain more online visitors organically so you will not need to spend your money on black hat SEO techniques. Such techniques are often expensive, can get you in trouble with the search engines, and can really mess your finances up.
7. It is your only chance of becoming a global authority in your niche
We have already mentioned that the modern dental patient is getting most of his/her information online. Now, having a good website and explaining everything that your prospective and existing customers need, is not good enough. You need to explain your services and products to them and also ensure that that information reaches them. How it reaches them depends on the keywords you use for your content. What information do most people search about the dentistry industry? Which keywords do they search for? Which answers do they actually need?
An SEO expert has all these answers and will certainly make your information visible to those who need it. Even if they won’t visit your dental office in their lives, you will position yourself as an authority in your niche. If you are recognized globally, your local competitors will never have a chance against you. What’s more, you may wish to expand your practice globally later in life. This pre-acquired authority will come in handy when that day finally arrives.
Cover photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
