Orthodontist SEO – What You Need to Know Now [2019]

The business world has drastically transformed. Gone are the days when people opened the yellow pages to find an orthodontist or got a reference from a trusted friend or family member. Today, patients can use the Internet to do extensive research to find the best fit for their needs. That’s why it’s so important part of your business plan includes the incorporation of the level of orthodontist SEO needed to put you at the top of the search results.

What Is SEO for Orthodontist?

You specialize in giving people confidence in their smiles. It’s unlikely you have the time needed to ensure people can find your website. All too often, busy professionals settle with knowing they have an online address to which they can refer their patients. However, what you really want is to show up first when people do a search for your services on popular search engines like Google.

Search engine optimization for orthodontists, or orthodontic SEO, is the process of increasing visitors to your site through search engines, and it requires not only skill and education in Internet marketing but also continued education as the algorithms used by search engines are always changing.

Capitalize on Your Industry Advantage

The Internet has allowed just about anyone to take a stab at their entrepreneurial dreams. The trouble is, this increases competition. For example, if you sell widgets, there are probably thousands of other people selling something similar. Since anybody anywhere can ship their products around the world, it’s hard to show up first in a search result.

As an orthodontist, you provide a service to a smaller region. It’s unlikely you’re trying to attract attention more than 100 miles away. This narrows down the competition substantially, and the right efforts can get you to show up first in a Google search for industry-specific keywords.

 

How People Search for You

When someone is looking for an orthodontist, some things they might type into the search bar include:

• Orthodontist near me
• Orthodontist in (city name)
• Best orthodontist in (city name)

These types of searches produce a Local Map Pack that features the top three results and the quick ability to visit their website or even make a call. If you’re not included, you’ll ultimately lose patients to your competitors. Does this mean they provide better services? Not necessarily. It just means they’ve taken the right SEO efforts to achieve a priority listing.

 

The Importance of the First Organic Position

When it come to getting your practice to show up in the search results, there are two primary avenues:

• Paid search results – You pay to have your practice show up in a primary position.
• Organic search results – You incorporate strategic, continual efforts to have your practice show up in the search results without having to pay.

Clearly, you want to take advantage of the latter option. Perhaps you’ve had a website for several years, and you do show up on the first page. Although this may seem like a great thing, it quickly loses its appeal when you consider the following statistics:

• 33% of people click on the #1 search result
• 15% of people click on the #2 search result
• 5% of people click on the #3 search result
• 1% of people click on the #4 search result

The hundreds of results that follow receive less than 1% of the business to be had. Depending on the competition in your area, this could leave you scraping the bottom of the barrel of the total business available. So, if you show up in even the fifth spot, you are only getting less than one click out of every 100 people searching for your services.

Can’t I Just Pay for Advertising?

Now that you know the scope of the importance of showing up in the top spot, the idea of investing in Google Ads might sound a little more appealing… just a cost of doing business, right? While it will improve your visibility, there are still a few issues:

• 70-80% of people scroll past paid advertising and move right into organic results
• Paid advertising doesn’t place you on the Local Map Results
• Paid results are temporary… unless you want to keep paying

Good things come to those who are patient and diligent. The sooner you begin incorporating the right SEO orthodontics, the sooner you’ll begin reaping the organic results your competition is now enjoying.

 

How to Achieve Organic Traffic

Okay, so it’s pretty clear you want to achieve organic traffic. That’s great, but how do you do it? There are many ways including:

 

Identify Your Target Keywords

When someone is looking for your services, what are they typing into the search engine? You need to know, because these are the words and phrases that need to appear in the content on your website. There are very advanced tools that allow you to do the research necessary to identify what people are typing to find you, how much competition each word already has, and how likely each word is to translate into a new patient.

 

Don’t Overlook On-Page Optimization

It’s important not to overlook on-page optimization. All the orthodontist SEO in the world is performed in vain when visitors are confused when they arrive on your website. Your content needs to be visually-appealing, properly organized, and easy to navigate.

Good Content Strategy

Once you put your initial content on your website, you’re good to go, right? Wrong. It’s critical you continue to update your site with fresh content to keep the search engines focused on the value you have to offer. A blog can be a great way to accomplish this.

 

Plenty of Links

Links to your site show that other people are referring you. This further proves to the search engine you have valuable information to provide. While there are plenty of black hat tactics that essentially cheat your way into gaining links, Google and other search engines are always keeping an eye out for these ill-conceived efforts, and they can get you penalized.

 

Continual Optimization

One of the primary efforts when it comes to achieving organic search results is to continue these efforts. Search engine optimization isn’t a one-time task.

Invest in Orthodontic SEO Companies

Until you reach the top 3 spots on the search results, you are losing a substantial amount of patients to your competitors. You likely don’t have the time, knowledge, and resources to accomplish this yourself. If you did, your patients wouldn’t be getting the attention they need.

Here at Blend Local Search Marketing, we specialize in SEO for orthodontist. Our skilled team is equipped with the tools to identify just the right strategy for you. In 2018 we celebrated 10 years in business. In the world of the Internet, that is a long time.

If you’re ready to take your practice to the next level, contact us today and start watching your results climb the search engine results ladder.

Orthodontist SEO – What You Need to Know Now [2019]