As a dentist, you rely on repeat business to ensure that your operation stays up and running and continues to see ongoing success. It is also important, however, for you to ensure that you are pulling in new customers on a regular basis. After all, they are going to form the foundation for your business that will continue to take it into the future and to do so in a successful way.
For many years, one of the best ways to drive traffic to your dental business is through the Internet. Many people are doing research online and looking for dentists in their local area. When you show up in the search engine results, you have a better opportunity of gaining those people, not only for their specific need at the time but as ongoing clients for routine dental maintenance and any other issues that may occur.
The process of getting your website into the search engine and showing up near the top of the results is known as search engine optimization (SEO). This particular method has been used for years to drive traffic to dental websites, and that factor is not about to change anytime soon. Over the past decade or so, there have been some changes in SEO that make a difference in how easy it is to rank and even the possibility that you will rank in the search engines in the first place.
Before we begin to discuss some of the changes in SEO that have taken place in the past seven or eight years, it’s important to discuss some of the things that have not changed. When it comes to good SEO practices, the factors are always going to be the same. The algorithms at Google and with the other search engines may change from time to time, but staying in good graces with the search engines is something that is never going to go out of style. Why is it important for you to consider that fact?
Dentistry is one of the biggest industries in USA. As technology changes so do we and your dentists. In this below video, it explains very shortly on what technology helps you.
It may be tempting to try to cut corners and to hire an SEO service that will use some “black hat” or “gray hat” SEO to push your website to the top. It may be possible to see some temporary benefits in doing so, but the fact of the matter is, you will eventually lose your rankings. It is very important for the Google Webmaster guidelines to be followed. Yes, it is possible the SEO a website and to see the benefits of doing so, but following good SEO practices is always going to be the best choice.
That is why it is important for you to choose a service that is going to follow those guidelines and to use legitimate methods to rank your website. In doing so, you will see long-term benefits for your website and ultimately, for your business.
That doesn’t mean, however, that there haven’t been changes that have taken place in SEO over the past several years. In fact, in the past few years, some algorithm changes have taken place at Google that shook things up in the search engine results. It seemed as if overnight, websites were disappearing from the index and others were suddenly ranking in their place. This got people wondering if it was still necessary or even possible to optimize for the search engines.
Those algorithm changes, which now rollout on a regular basis, were only getting rid of some of the old SEO practices that were not necessarily in line with the Google Webmaster guidelines. Those practices may have included unnatural linking schemes or buying links, which has gone out of style in recent years. Also, factors such as keyword stuffing, hidden keywords and other on page practices that were meant to game the search engines have been weeded out of the mix as well.
Linking is also a very important part of search engine marketing for dentists, and this is something that has changed substantially since 2010 and 2011 as well. Just a few short years ago, it was possible to get links from any website and the more, the merrier. If you had more links, you would rank higher, and it was a one-two operation at that time. That has changed, and now the focus is on getting quality links from websites, if possible, in a natural way.
Of course, an outreach program to obtain quality links is also still an important part of SEO for your dentist website. Those links need to be considered much more carefully today, but they are still an important part of ranking your website and doing so consistently.
When was the last time that your website was updated? It wasn’t all that long ago that people were using their home computers to look up websites, but today, they are using mobile devices more frequently. Google recognizes this factor, and that is why they are giving favor to websites that are mobile responsive. Your dentist website should be set up for viewing on mobile devices. If it isn’t, it is likely that Google is penalizing your website in the results.
One other factor that has come to the fore in the past several years is local SEO. This is especially important for dentists, who rely on a local audience to build their business. A good SEO service can rank your website for very important dental terms and drive traffic from a local audience through Google.
It is true that the search engines have changed since 2010, 2011 and SEO have changed along with them. As has always been the case, however, following the guidelines and doing things the right way has not gone out of style and it is not likely to change at any time in the future. Choose an SEO service that provides you with quality, and you will see your dental business grow as a result.
