Hello Dentist Beat Your Competitors with Smart SEO

The competition among dental clinics is fierce in the digital world. So, how can you outrank the competing dentists and appear on top of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs)? For this purpose, you need to implement a smart SEO approach. 

Due to the overuse of traditional SEO from thousands of dental practices worldwide, it’s getting harder to get the desired result. That is why you have to start making a smart SEO strategy and stay updated with the ever-evolving search engine algorithms. 

But, how to implement smart SEO to rank on the top results and outrank your dental competition? And, is smart SEO more effective than traditional one? 

If you’re confused with any of these questions then you’re landed in the right place! In this blog, we’ve explained the technicalities of smart SEO and how it benefits you in the long run. 

Highlights

• Smart SEO combines traditional SEO with modern technologies, like AI, automation, voice search, etc.
• Smart SEO utilizes comprehensive keyword research, the creation of high-quality content, schema markup, and more.
• Optimizing your website content and blog for voice search helps voice assistants refer your brand to potential patients.
• The use of AI and automation tools can help you audit websites, get valuable insights, optimize content, and so on.

What is Smart SEO?

Smart SEO is the modern way of optimizing your brand presence online using efficient and intelligent techniques. It combines traditional optimization methods with voice search, automation, and other modern technologies. 

Traditional SEO is limited to optimizing the website for the present search engine algorithm. On the contrary, Smart SEO helps your website adapt to the evolving algorithms of Google and other search engines. 

Smart SEO leverages various AI tools, such as Google RankBrain, AI Search Grader, INK, etc. With these resources, you can strategize your SEO effort based on the recent algorithm updates. 

How Can Smart SEO Help in Outranking Competing Dentists?

Since Smart SEO is effective in producing better results than traditional SEO, you can implement it for your dental practice. It helps you outrank other competing dentists in your region using the following strategies:

1. Comprehensive Keyword Research

Keyword research is about optimizing your website content for the relevant keywords that align with dental services. When implementing smart SEO, you have to identify the keywords based on your potential patient’s search journey and intent.

Your potential patient’s search journey has three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Their intent varies for each stage. 

During the first stage, the searcher wants to get general information. Whereas, their intent is commercial at the second stage where they’re researching for options before making a decision. 

Finally, your potential patient is ready to make their decision in the third stage. 

Here are a few keywords that you can include on your website content and blogs based on the stages: 

• Awareness: “How to relieve a toothache?” “What causes cavities in teeth?”
• Consideration: “Best dental clinics for implants,” “Private dentist for braces.”
• Conversion: “Book a dental appointment near me,” “Teeth strengthening reviews.”

Make sure you include local keywords in your strategy. For instance, if you’ve set up a dental clinic in Dubai, you must prioritize keywords targeting your location. Some of them include:

• “Emergency dentist in Dubai”
• “Teeth cleaning near Palm Jumeirah” 

Besides, you have to perform competitor keyword analysis to find out which of their approach is working. Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, and Mangools are some of the tools that display the keywords for which your competitors rank.

2. Create High-Quality Content

Once you complete keyword research, you have to create high-quality website content and blog posts. Some of the web pages where you can insert the keywords are Service, Pricing, About Us, Landing Pages, and so on. 

Creating blog posts is crucial for your smart SEO strategy to produce productive results. Your blogs should be educational, easy to read, and captivating. Besides, you need to focus on various customer stages while generating the content. 

For instance, the blog that you write for the awareness stage will have more general information about dentistry. Your readers are aware of the dental issue they are having but don’t know about the solutions yet. 

Meanwhile, in the consideration stage, your potential patients have become conscious of the available dental solutions. Now, your blogs should clear out the remaining doubts about the dental procedure. 

Lastly, in the decision stage, the potential patient is ready to undergo a certain dental procedure. So, you have to publish blogs that help them compare different dental service providers and review the options. 

Make sure you update your blogs regularly and publish posts covering the latest innovations in dentistry. 

3. On-Page SEO Enhancements

To compete with other dentists in your region, you need to focus on strong on-page SEO optimization. This includes all the changes that you make within your website. 

For instance, you need to add both internal and external links to your content. Internal linking is when you connect relevant service pages and blog posts. It helps in creating a strong topic cluster around various dental services within your website. 

Similarly, external linking is also crucial so that you provide statistics and facts with proper references. 

Site structure should be another major on-page component of your smart SEO strategy. A well-organized structure of services by categories makes it easy for audiences to interact with your website. 

Additionally, your website speed determines whether audiences will continue browsing your website or leave. Based on research, 83% of web users expect a website to load within three seconds. 

4. Utilize Schema Markup

Schema Markup helps in displaying crucial information in the search engine results. Then, your potential patients will get valuable information before even entering your website. 

You can help search engines understand your website content easily with the help of schema markup. Some of the types of schemas that you can use for your dental practice are:

a. Local Business Schema

Google displays your clinic’s information on its search pages and also on Google Maps for local keywords with the help of local business schema. Some of the details that it displays are address, phone number, service hours, etc.

Here is the Local Schema format for Dentists:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "name": "",
  "image": "",
  "@id": "",
  "url": "",
  "telephone": "",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "",
    "addressLocality": "",
    "postalCode": "",
    "addressCountry": ""
  }  
}
</script>

b. Service Schema

You can use service schema to help Google understand your dental services easily. For instance, if you provide information about your dental whitening service, Google may display the duration, pricing, and other details in its rich results. 

c. Review and Rating Schema

Review and rating schema is a way to display the reviews provided by your patients directly in search results. The star ratings and other information help stand out from the competitors by increasing click-through rate (CTR) and boosting credibility.

Here is the Magic of Review Schema:

d. FAQ Schema

If you mark up your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, then Google can include it in its rich results. You can answer some of the most common queries that your patients ask in your FAQ schema.

Here is the FAQ schema format:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": {
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": ""
    }
  }
}
</script>

5. Focus on Voice Search Optimization

A crucial part of a smart SEO campaign is to optimize your brand for voice search. A majority of your potential patients are searching for dental services using Siri, Google Assistant, or other voice assistants. 

If they listen to your clinic’s information on these tools, they’ll associate your brand with authority. So, you have to focus on enhancing your website, Google Business Profile, and other online presence to get picked by voice assistants. 

For that, you to start by creating website content and blog posts using conversational keywords. Some of the examples include: “What is the price of dental implants?”, and “Who are the best periodontics near me?”.

Besides, search assistants will pick a website only if it performs superior to its competing dental alternatives. So, you have to optimize your website for technical aspects, such as page speed, responsive design, etc. 

Voice assistants also rely on local directories to provide their results to their audiences. So, make sure you optimize your profile with detailed information on Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing Places, etc. 

Continue auditing your website and keep on enhancing its performance based on voice search analytics. 

6. Implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps streamline the SEO process, provides insights to outrank dental competitors, and more. You can use several AI and automation tools to improve the accuracy of your strategy and get results faster.

Starting with the AI content optimization tools, there are Clearscope, MarketMuse, Dashboard, etc. They make it easy to structure your dental blog posts by suggesting keyword density, content length, and other elements. 

You can use automation tools like Sitebulb and Screaming Frog to audit your website. This way, you’ll get regular automated reports on your SEO performance and optimize your site’s health if required. 

AI will help you optimize your brand for voice optimization with the help of tools like Frase. Moreover, there are several tools such as Ahrefs, that determine the content gap by comparing your dental clinic’s website with your competitors. 

Similarly, Buzzstream and Pitchbox are some of the automated backling building tools. They help you enhance the off-page performance of your website. 

And, if you want to optimize your brand for future algorithm updates, then AI has got you covered. Google Analytics 4 and HubSpot are some of the tools that analyze user behavior and current traffic patterns to make SEO predictions. 

7. Optimize Google Business Profile

A well-optimized Google Business Profile helps you stand out among the competitors. For instance, a dentist clinic profile with accurate information makes it easier for potential patients to know about your services. 

You also need to upload before-and-after photos of your patients regarding their dental procedures. This helps your future patients build trust around your clinic, thinking that they’ll get the same benefits. 

Its Q&A allows you to resolve some of the major queries that your patients may have. You can provide information about your address, service hours, pricing plans, and more in this section. 

Moreover, you have to encourage your patients to provide honest feedback about the clinic. You have to reply to all of their reviews and try to improve the services based on their constructive feedback.

Tip💡: Business profile enhance your Local SEO

8. Leverage Social Media

Social media optimization is crucial to strengthen the smart SEO campaign for your dental clinic. If your competitors have gained a significant engagement in social channels then it’ll be easier for them to outrank you in search engine results. 

Google doesn’t take social media optimization as a direct ranking metric. However, a well-optimized social channel has several indirect SEO benefits. 

For instance, when you share blog posts, infographics, and videos on your social profiles, it results in higher traffic to your website. Consequently, your domain authority improves and Google sees it as a positive factor. 

You can also expect to receive honest reviews from patients on Facebook or other social channels. You can share them on your website or other platforms. Potential patients will view your brand with trust when they see such social proof. 

Moreover, when you share educational content on social channels, your potential patients will appreciate it. So, they comment and share your posts increasing your social engagement. 

When your audiences engage with your content more often, they grow trust in your brand. As a result, Google understands that your brand has a good reputation and will rank your website higher in search results.

Why Smart SEO Outperforms Traditional SEO for Dental Practices?

Smart SEO is a more dynamic and effective strategy compared to the traditional SEO. One major reason is its approach to prioritising user experience aligning with the patient’s journey and search intent.

You’ll also leverage data-driven insights using AI tools, advanced analytics, and more. This helps you refine your SEO strategies in real time based on traffic patterns, search behaviors, and competitor analysis. 

Moreover, smart SEO helps you adapt to frequent algorithm changes. This way, you can optimize your brand for the latest search engine updates and keep on outranking your dental competitors.

How Often Should I Update My SEO Strategy?

We recommend updating your SEO strategy every 3 to 6 months depending on your goal and other factors. However, if there’s a change in the search engine’s algorithm then you have to revise your plan immediately. 

Apart from algorithm changes, you need to look out for the shift in user behaviour and any emerging SEO trends. You may have to even create a whole new strategy if there’s a major update in the market. 

What Are The Common SEO Mistakes That Dentists Should Avoid?

While you’re optimizing your website using a smart SEO strategy, you should not ignore the mistakes others are making. Otherwise, you might waste your time and effort without getting the desired result. 

Here are some of the SEO mistakes that dentists are making:

• Ignoring mobile optimization
• Keyword stuffing
• Neglecting local keywords
• Lack of quality content
• Ignoring page speed
• Not utilizing analytics

What Tools Can I Use to Monitor My SEO Performance?

You need to constantly monitor your efforts to make sure your dental SEO strategy is resulting in productive outputs. Some of the tools to help you measure your performance are:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Ahrefs
• Moz
• SEMrush 

How Long Does it Take to See SEO Results for My Dental Practice?

Usually, an SEO strategy takes around 3 to 6 months to see the enhancement in search engine rankings after implementation. But, since it depends on several factors, the timeline to get your desired results may vary. 

Some of the factors that determine the timeline of SEO results are competition, the effectiveness of your strategy, and your optimization consistency. 

Conclusion

Outranking dentist competition requires consistent attention to your smart SEO approach. With proper optimization, the use of relevant tools, and frequent updates in strategy, you’ll easily gain the trust of your potential patients. 

Smart SEO provides an innovative approach to building a long-term brand in dentistry. With proper implementation and constant adaptation based on new updates, you can easily gain the trust of new patients.