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Local SEO for Dentists: Boost Your Rankings with Dental SEO Services
Maximizing your dental practice’s online presence starts with mastering local SEO for dentists. A well-optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) is crucial for ranking high in local search results, driving more patients to your office. Our local SEO guide for dentists covers everything from selecting the right GBP categories to leveraging specific strategies that increase visibility. By implementing dental SEO best practices, you can ensure your practice stands out in local search results, helping you attract more clients and grow your business.
Dental SEO Tips for GBP
When it comes to local SEO for dentists and the number of available GBP categories, the dental vertical wins first prize (the insurance vertical may be a close second).
TLDR:
Maximizing GBP for dental clinics involves strategic selection of categories and optimization techniques.
- Primary GBP Category: Selecting the right primary category (e.g., “Dentist”) is crucial as it has the most ranking power. Focus on categories that align with high-volume keywords like “Dentist” for better visibility and conversions.
- Utilizing Secondary Categories: Use the remaining 9 GBP categories strategically or create individual practitioner listings with specific primary categories (e.g., “Orthodontist” or “Cosmetic Dentist”) to compete in niche services.
- Leveraging Hygienist Listings: Consider creating GBP profiles for dental hygienists if there is notable demand and positive patient feedback in your area.
- Service Area Pages: For rural clinics, creating service area pages targeting neighboring towns can help attract patients from farther away and improve 3-pack rankings.
- Best Practices: Link GBP profiles to relevant service pages, and monitor GBP Insights and reviews for optimization opportunities.
What Google Business Profile (GBP) categories should dentists use?
As of my most recent count, I am seeing 13 available GBP categories. This seems like a wonderful thing for local SEO for dentists at first glance. But it also presents two challenges.
Challenge #1: The primary GBP category matters the most
The primary GBP category carries the most ranking power when it comes to SEO for dental clinics, compared to the secondary categories, by a long shot. In fact, in the 2020 Local Search Ranking Factors study it was ranked as the number one Local Pack ranking factor.
This means that the first order of business is selecting the best primary category. So which one do we pick? Dental Clinic? Dentist? Cosmetic Dentist?
In our experience, the most effective category in 99% of cases is Dentist. Why? Because the keyword Dentist and its explicit version Dentist + City gets the most search volume. Most patients start their journey with that search, even if they need a specific procedure, and it seems to drive the most conversions. As you can see in the ranking graph below, once we changed the primary GBP category for this dentist in NYC from Cosmetic Dentist to Dentist, they started to rank better for Dentist and didn’t lose rankings for Cosmetic Dentist. Win-Win.
Challenge # 2: You can only select 10 categories total
After deciding on a primary category, the second challenge becomes what to do with the remaining 9 available categories. Luckily, for those looking to capitalize on their local SEO for dentists, there are a few strategies available to you.
- Just pick the 9 that make the most sense. This is the simplest option. It’s also the least effective. For instance, if you are a general dentist, you likely do dental implants, teeth whitening, and perhaps some cosmetic work. Let’s say you want to rank locally for Dental Implants Near Me. The challenge you will face is the fact that you will be up against dental clinics that specialize in dental implants and are using that as their primary GBP category. The chances of outranking them are close to zero. Strategy number two is how to overcome this.
- Google allows businesses with practitioners to create separate GBP listings for each of the practitioners. If there is more than one dentist at the location, create a listing for each of them and optimize each one with a specific primary GBP category. Want to compete for dental implants near me? No problemo. Create a practitioner GBP and select that as the primary GBP category. Want to rank for ceramic braces near me? Google has you covered. Create a practitioner GBP and select Orthodontist as the primary category. Want to get some visibility for cosmetic dentist near me? You get the picture. Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure to link the Google Business Profile listing to the relevant service page on the website for each one. For instance, when you create a practitioner listing to rank for dental implants near me, use the dental implants page on the website as the GBP landing page.
- What if I am a solo practitioner? You can still take advantage of this strategy. Check out this article on how Google handles solo practitioner listings.
Don’t forget the hygienist
A seemingly lesser-known category related to dentists is the Hygienist GBP category. Depending on the market, searches for things like best dental hygienist near me and dentist hygienist near me get a decent search volume. And for some dental clinics, hygienists are one of the main reasons why patients make return visits to a dental clinic. One of the things I like to do if I am determining if I should create a GBP listing for the hygienist is to:
- Check the Search Queries report in GBP Insights to see if you are already getting visibility for people searching specifically for keywords related to hygienists.
- Check the Google reviews place topics and reviews snippets to see if patients are already mentioning the hygienist.
If you notice a trend where patients are saying great things about the hygienist you might want to consider creating a GBP profile for them.
Local Dentist SEO for the Website
I wanted to share a tactic for local SEO for dentists that worked well for a dentist in Grand Prairie, Alberta that we work with. We don’t typically think of creating service area pages, or city pages for a dental clinic. This is especially true if you are a dentist in a major city like New York or any other metropolitan area with a large, dense population. Simply owning your local area and focusing on that can be enough. However, how does SEO for a dental clinic work if your clinic is located in a rural area with a small population and you need to attract patients from farther away? This is where a service area page strategy can make a difference.
This particular dentist had this exact challenge to solve. Located in Grand Prairie, AB, they needed to attract patients from surrounding areas that, in some cases, were quite distant. In order to meet their growth goals, they turned to SEO strategies that involved creating service area pages. Over the course of three years, we built optimized pages on their website, designed to rank locally in these surrounding areas.
And they performed well!
They started driving relevant organic traffic from those areas.
We also started ranking in the 3-pack in those areas. It’s typically pretty challenging to rank in the 3-pack outside of the city that you are physically located in, but if you are in a rural area, with smaller surrounding areas, it can work very well.
Need some inspiration to implement this strategy for your own SEO for a dental clinic? Here’s an example of one of the service area pages that we created for them.
That wraps up part two of the 99 Problems series. Stay tuned for the next episode on SEO for car dealers.
Get Started with Local SEO for Dentists
If you’re a local business that needs help with your Google My Business listing, review strategy, or online presence on Google and other search engines, at Sterling Sky we can help. We offer SEO audits, consulting, or monthly local SEO services. Contact our office today for more information.
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Thank you for the info! How does the local filter work in cases where there is a practice and practitioner listing? Is it less likely to be applied if they have different primary categories?
Hi Melissa, yes exactly. If the categories are different they won’t filter each other because they will rank for different queries.
Thank you for the info! How does the local filter work in cases where there is a practice and practitioner listing? Is it less likely to be applied if they have different primary categories?
Hi Melissa, yes exactly. If the categories are different they won’t filter each other because they will rank for different queries.
Thank you for this article! Really helpful info. If we have a dental office with more than one practitioner where the name of the practice is the same as one of our dentists, how would we go about creating a separate listing for that dentist? Ex: Cole Smith DDS is the name of the business. 2 dentists work there – Cole Smith and Ryan Phillips. So we want 3 listings. How would we differentiate the name of the dental clinic from the name of the practitioner, Cole Smith DDS?
Hi Kylee, I would skip the practitioner listing for Cole SMith in that case. You’ll likely run into ongoing issues with the listings getting flagged as duplicates. Just do the main practice listing and one for Ryan Phillips.
Thank you for this article! Really helpful info. If we have a dental office with more than one practitioner where the name of the practice is the same as one of our dentists, how would we go about creating a separate listing for that dentist? Ex: Cole Smith DDS is the name of the business. 2 dentists work there – Cole Smith and Ryan Phillips. So we want 3 listings. How would we differentiate the name of the dental clinic from the name of the practitioner, Cole Smith DDS?
Hi Kylee, I would skip the practitioner listing for Cole SMith in that case. You’ll likely run into ongoing issues with the listings getting flagged as duplicates. Just do the main practice listing and one for Ryan Phillips.
Brilliant strategy and an often overlooked one, especially for dental practices in less densely populated or rural areas. Creating service area pages or city pages tailored for specific locations helps bridge the geographic gap and is an excellent approach to cast a wider net. Not only does it cater to search engine optimization, but it also demonstrates the clinic’s willingness to serve broader communities, which can foster trust.
Thanks, Ihor!
Brilliant strategy and an often overlooked one, especially for dental practices in less densely populated or rural areas. Creating service area pages or city pages tailored for specific locations helps bridge the geographic gap and is an excellent approach to cast a wider net. Not only does it cater to search engine optimization, but it also demonstrates the clinic’s willingness to serve broader communities, which can foster trust.
Thanks, Ihor!