Tips for successfull SEO strategies
For the last five years Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has grown to become big business for companies and essential for dentists looking for new patients and enquiries via online marketing to build their existing or new private practices. Here’s our top 5 tips for successfull SEO strategies…
1. Focus your efforts and use tactics
It is unrealistic to think that any practice can be top of Google for everything they do. Instead, practices should identify their most profitable treatments and focus on optimising these.
Trying to organically optimise your website in Google for general treatments will be timeless and costly if the competition is fierce and have bigger budgets than you. That isn’t to say don’t aim for this but you can try other tactics. Potential patients will also be searching using keyterms that other websites don’t use. Google can help you with this. It can indicate which keyterms are being searched for in high numbers with low competiveness. This way you can achieve a high position with terms that are being used and win hits off the right patients. It can be particularly effective to back up any competitive areas with pay-per-click advertising.
2. Don’t damage your brand
Ask yourself… What website would your patient prefer to make an enquiry with? A website that looks trusted, professional, well designed and genuine? Or a website with random keywords and links everywhere?
Some websites are losing patient enquiries by littering keywords to reach the top. Placing key terms in sentences that make little sense to read and detract from the brand positioning of the practice. You can achieve the best top positions without compromising the integrity of the website. Remember, you are competing for the same patients with other practices on the same page.
It’s easy to optimise your website without thinking about the part that the look, feel and brand is playing in the decision-making process. No one just clicks on the first result in Google and calls to make an appointment; most of us click on a few links on page one of Google and make our final choice on how we feel. Don’t forget your website has just seconds to make the right impression.
3. Page 1 Psychology
Making several appearances on page one can reinforce a patient’s positive assessment of your brand. A carefully formulated pay-per-click campaign through Google AdWords can effectively increase your presence with little expense, ensuring that your business appears at the top of and throughout page one of Google. By appearing more than once and with rankings spread about, you can create a psychological advantage that you are more established and experienced.
4. Using analytics
Ongoing SEO is ineffective if dentists are unable to know where their website traffic has come from. Having Google Analytics on your website enables you to ascertain where your traffic is coming from and to review the effectiveness of your search engine optimisation.
Your Google Analytics reports are invaluable for SEO because they tell you the top search terms your web visitors have used to find you in Google. If you are paying for SEO, then it’s beneficial to compare these reports against the key terms that are being used to optimise your website. You can then adapt your website content accordingly.
5. Testing your website
There are plenty of tools available to review and improve your website’s SEO and online marketing performance. At H&P Design we offer clients a full search ranking test that checks how highly your website performs in Google and other top search engines for your desired keywords. With over 80% your of web traffic originating from search engines, this is a crucial marketing tool for your website.
The test also compares your website’s performance alongside that of your competitors. It automatically looks for other websites that rank well for your keywords, so you can see who’s got the top spot and which of your competitors are doing best.
Contact the team at H&P Design today for more information about our SEO and online marketing services.