Keyword Research for Dental SEO

Optimizing your dentistry website for search engines requires creating a top-notch keyword strategy. To do this, you need to master the art of keyword research for dental SEO. 

Google and other search engines prioritize websites that produce regular, high-quality content. If you want to rank your dental website at the top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), then you need a strong content strategy. 

But, you cannot create engaging content without having the right set of relevant keywords. If you’re focusing on mastering keyword research to optimize your dental site for SEO, this blog is for you!

Highlights

• Keyword research is essential to optimize dental websites for ranking higher on SERPs
• Google autocomplete, related searches, competitor analysis, and Google Trends are a few approaches for dental keyword research.
• Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Ubersuggest are some online keyword research tools.
• Include the most relevant keywords in various components of dental websites, such as service pages, blogs, etc. 

What is Dental SEO?

Enhancing various components of your website to make it rank on top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) refers to SEO. Similarly, when you apply the same techniques to optimize your dental practice website, you can term it dental SEO. 

Dental SEO enhances your dental clinic’s online presence. Consequently, Google will perceive your brand as credible and rank you at the top results in SERP. This helps you increase your website traffic and attract more patients. 

Why is Keyword Research Essential for Dentists?

Inserting keywords in your dental website helps optimize it for Google and other search engines. But you can’t just add random phrases without prior research! 

Your potential patients are searching for your dental practice online. When you figure out exactly what key terms they’re writing on Google’s search bar, getting their attention becomes easier. For that purpose, you need keyword research. 

Researching for keywords is crucial because it helps you find the most relevant phrases to include in your website. Proper use of keywords will help potential patients find your content via organic search. 

5 Steps to Find Relevant Keywords for Dental SEO

Finding the right keywords for your dentistry website requires you to follow various approaches. Here is a list of five crucial steps to research relevant keywords for dental SEO:

1. Understand the Target Demography

The first thing you need to understand is the demography of your target audience. It depends on your clinic’s location and your dental services. Then, you can search for relevant key terms based on this information. 

For instance, you might be providing cosmetic dentistry services in Denver. So, your target audiences might be adults in Denver and a few nearby towns in Colorado searching for teeth whitening, gum reshaping, and or similar other services. 

2. Utilize Google Autocomplete 

The next approach is to enter some key terms based on your target demography in Google’s search bar. Google displays many key phrases that are closely related to it. These are autocompletes based on search terms inserted by previous users. 

Google autocomplete lets you know what your potential patients are already searching for. You simply need to pick the keywords that match your location, services, etc. 

3. Observe the Related Searches

Another helpful section on Google’s results page is a list of similar key phrases users have searched for. They appear on the bottom under the title: “People also search for”. 

You can list out all the relevant phrases in this section. If you want more inspiration for keyword ideas then keep on searching for more dentist-related phrases and scroll down to the bottom of each result page. 

4. Conduct Competitor Analysis

Before you create a keyword strategy, it’s crucial to analyze what the competitors are implementing. If your competitor is ranking for a trending keyword but you’re not, then you need to include them in your content strategy as well. 

5. Explore Google Trends and User Behavior

Google Trends is a platform where you can search for relevant trends based on your target demographic. It shows the popularity of search terms and information about trending keywords in a specific location. 

Similarly, Google Search Console and Google Analytics give you an idea about how well keywords are performing on your website. Using that information, you can figure out what categories of keywords to emphasize more. 

6 Best Tools for Conducting Dental Keyword Research

The keyword research process is incomplete without the use of appropriate resources. Here is a list of 6 online tools that’ll help you select the best keywords for your dental website:

1. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free platform for finding and analyzing the most relevant keywords. It provides you with various insights about key phrases, such as how often users have searched the keyword competition, etc. 

Google Keyword Planner is a perfect beginner tool as it provides an uncomplicated interface. However, its services are limited as compared to other paid tools. Also, you need to create an active Ad account to utilize all of its features. 

2. SEMrush

SEMrush claims to have the largest keyword research database in the market. It provides a comprehensive analysis report. Some of its keyword metrics include search volume, competition, CPC, intent, and trends. 

This AI-powered tool lets you review the top-ranking dental websites for your selected keywords. Also, you can determine the personal keyword difficulty for your domain so that you can optimize your content strategy accordingly. 

3. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that can generate and cluster thousands of keyword ideas. You can pick the best options using its reliable metrics. 

They claim to have filtered 28.7 billion keywords from around 110 billion discovered to date. They’ll provide you insight into the most popular key phrases based on your dental services, location, and other business information. 

Also, Ahrefs displays traffic potential for a certain keyword if your dental website ranks on the top of SERP for it. 

4. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest provides keyword ideas for your dental brand based on your competitors and your target audience’s needs. It’ll also show you volume, competition, and seasonal trends for all the keywords that you want to include in your content strategy. 

5. Moz

Moz’s industry-leading keyword tool lets you perform in-depth analysis for relevant key phrases. You can sort keyword suggestions, analyze the SERP performance of a particular keyword, and more. 

6. KW Finders

KW Finders is a super effective keyword research tool with a simple and easy-to-use interface. They provide you with exact search volumes, analyze keywords’ SERP performance, and even perform competitor analysis for your dental site. 

How to Select the Most-Relevant Keywords for Dental SEO?

Here are a few approaches to follow while selecting the most relevant keywords for your dental website: 

1. Understand the Intention of Users

The first thing you need to focus on is the reason why a user is searching for a particular keyword online. Understanding their intention helps you know what they want to achieve after doing a Google search. 

When you pick a keyword for your clinic’s website, make sure its intention matches your dental practices. 

2. Prioritize on Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords refer to phrases consisting of 3 words or more. These longer key terms are more specific regarding the user’s intention. You must select only those long-tail keywords that include your most relevant dental practices. 

Your dental website might receive less traffic if you create content based on long-tail keywords. But they’ll help you easily convert the website visitors into your patients. 

3. Analyze Search Volume and Competition

An important factor to consider while picking a keyword for your dental website is the search volume. Your priority should be the phrases that users have searched most frequently. 

However, make sure that the keyword doesn’t have high competition. A keyword with lower competition is easier to include in the content strategy to rank higher on SERPs. 

What are the types of keywords to include on dental websites?

Based on the above-mentioned techniques, you can easily gather a list of keywords most relevant to your dental practice. After that, it’s important to categorize the phrases so you can create a content strategy effectively. 

Here are a few keyword categories for your dental practice:

1. Service-Specific

These keywords are targeted to the dental services that you provide. For instance, if you specialize in cosmetic dentistry, then service-specific phrases are “dental bonding front teeth”, “veneers before and after”, etc. 

2. Location-Based

If a certain key phrase includes the geographical location of your clinic, then its a location-based keyword. Some examples include “dental clinics in Sacramento” and “periodontist near me”. 

3. Symptom-Based

Your potential patients might be searching for some symptoms in Google that you have a cure for. They refer to symptom-based keywords. Examples include “treatment for toothache”, “tooth sensitivity issue”, and “gum disease cure”. 

4. Patient Intent

Patient intent keywords are the ones that your potential patients search for when they are searching for a dental action. For instance, they might be searching for emergency dental care, booking a dentist appointment for a certain date, and so on.

Examples of patient intent keywords are: “book a dentist appointment”, “schedule teeth cleaning”, etc. 

5. Educational or Informational

Educational or information keywords are the ones where users want to learn about tips and tricks about dental habits. It could be related to dental hygiene tips, symptoms of certain gum problems, or more. 

Examples of such keywords are “signs of tooth decay”, “tips to avoid tooth sensitivity”, and “best toothpaste for strong teeth”. 

How to Create Content Strategy Based on Keyword Research?

Keyword research helps you craft a strong content marketing strategy for your dental brand. This involves strategically including the most relevant keywords that you pick in your existing content. 

Some of the website content to include these keywords are service pages, home pages, blog posts, and about pages. Inserting them in meta descriptions, headings, body text, and titles will enhance your SEO performance. 

Another important use of these keywords includes planning out a content creation strategy. For instance, blogging is a great method to publish regular content with relevant keywords on your dental site. 

Make a content calendar and plan out blog posts to write and publish a month in advance. Each of these blogs should focus on a primary keyword that has high traffic and low competition. 

Other content that you can generate after keyword research are ebooks, infographics, podcasts, case studies, videos, etc. 

How to Know if a Keyword is Too Competitive for a Dental Website?

Targeting dental keywords with high competition makes it difficult to rank on SERPs. But what should be the optimal competition for a particular keyword? 

If you’re facing this issue then you can get help from keyword research tools, such as SEMrush. It displays keyword difficulty level based on percentage range. The higher the percentage, the more effort you need to seize your competitors’ position. 

As a beginner, you can start with keywords with a difficulty level of less than 30%. As you start ranking for most of these keywords, you can pick from keywords to the range of 50%. 

After a while, you might master the art of content marketing and gain quality backlinks from authentic websites. Only then can you optimize your dental site for keywords with a difficulty level of more than 50%. 

What Common Mistakes Dentists Make During Keyword Research?

You might focus on the best practices for keyword research, but a single mistake can ruin your effort. Thus, here are a few mistakes often made by dentists that you should avoid:

• Avoiding the question-based keywords. (This is because around 8% of search queries are phrased as questions.)  
• Ignoring branded keywords that include their own or the clinic’s name
• Targeting broad and generic keywords
• Not updating the keyword strategy based on new trends

What is the Difference Between Short-Tail vs Long-Tail Keywords?

The major difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords is their length. Short-tail phrases include only one or two words, whereas long-tail has more than three words. 

In terms of SEO, targeting long-tail keywords is much more beneficial and easier. This is because short-tail phrases are too broad and don’t specify a certain intent. So, the competition becomes stiff making it difficult to rank in the SERPs. 

Conclusion

Choosing the right set of dental keywords is crucial for growing your clinic’s online presence. After reading this blog, you must be excited to start keyword research and create relevant content for your website. 

The initial phase of keyword research might be confusing and time-consuming if you’re a beginner. But, as you master its concept, you’ll learn to generate the most relevant keywords within no time!