Want people to easily find your dental practice in an online search? You may have heard that search engine optimization (SEO) can solve your problems. Unfortunately search engine marketing is an ever-evolving beast that can make doing it well very difficult and time consuming. Where does that leave you? It’s time to find a SEO provider to focus on your business’ needs which will give you time to focus on your patients and simultaneously help you grow your business.
Finding the best SEO agency for your dental practice can be difficult. Before you begin you should first learn to separate SEO fact from SEO fiction.
FICTION: SEO can guarantee specific results. First page here we come!
FACT: If a company guarantees you first page placement, they’re lying. SEO cannot guarantee specific results. However, a legitimate SEO firm can implement white-hat SEO strategies based on your business goals, specialties, geographic location and competition.
FICTION: Optimize keywords and add meta-tags – you’ll be at the top of searches in no time.
FACT: First, there is no such thing as a quick fix in SEO. Second, it’s important to find a SEO provider that stays up-to-date with SEO standards. While updating meta-tags won’t hurt your visibility, search engines don’t place as high of a priority on all meta-tags. The ones that do still carry weight are title tags, H1 (heading) tags and alt tags.
Hire a SEO firm that can speak to changes in search engine algorithms and the associated impact on your SEO campaign. They should be able to communicate in layman’s terms the essential components of their strategy and what are the associated key performance indicators. You should expect to receive regular reporting that shows you metrics on traffic, visits, referrals, bounce rates, keyword ranking, and top performing pages. They should also be able to explain positive or negative trends and actions taken or recommended to achieve strong performance.
Remember, SEO is not magic. Rather it is part art, part science. A solid SEO strategy takes three to six months to gain traction with the search engines, reveal trends, and produce competitive results.
FICTION: SEO is SEO. If we did it for one company we can do it for any company.
FACT: One size does not fit all. Every industry has different clients, competition and regulations. If your agency doesn’t understand one of these, how will they understand your practice? Your SEO agency should grasp the specifics of your industry and your business goals. Don’t waste valuable time bringing them up to speed on what is, and what isn’t, acceptable in your industry. If you choose a SEO agency that’s well versed in your business niche they can show you case studies from businesses similar to yours and clearly explain what it takes to get results.
FICTION: The more links the better.
FACT: Yes – links are good, but an improper link strategy can actually get you banned from Google. Your SEO agency should have a plan to engage appropriate third-party sites. Blindly blasting out links, spamming forums and making comments on blogs will only raise red flags and could get you penalized by the search engines. Make sure links are relevant to your business, and then accumulate them naturally. It will take time to do it right.
FICTION: Cool site. It looks like a winner!
FACT: Looks can be deceiving; they can also be wasted unless you have relevant content, written for the user experience, not just to attract the search engines. The search engine algorithms place incredibly high value on relevant content. This also makes the difference in terms of site visitor engagement. First you need to get them to your site, then you need to keep them. Make sure your pages include appropriate calls to action and multiple methods of contact. After all, what’s the point of increasing traffic to your site if you can’t convert that traffic into new patients?
The more users engage and click through your site the more your SEO will improve. These are measurable indicators.
BE CHOOSEY
Don’t put off finding a SEO firm. You’ll only be putting off business growth. Do your research and ask direct questions to gauge whether they’ll meet your expectations. A qualified SEO firm won’t be intimidated. If you’d like to learn how ProSites can tailor a SEO strategy for your dental practice, contact us to schedule a personal consultation at 888-932-3644
