Practice marketing for dentists - That's how it's a seal success!

Marketing and advertising — doctors are also concerned with these days. In fact, the view of medicine has changed. Patients are increasingly using medical services as a service. Their expectations of information and availability are also changing accordingly.

The best advertisement is still personal recommendation. But only someone you have already treated can recommend you personally. But how do new patients find their way into your practice? Regardless of whether you are a self-referrer or an assigned patient; today, the first contact usually takes place online. And often long before the first visit to you. This is exactly where you can score points with targeted marketing — not only for patient acquisition, but also for image and trust.

We'll show you which tools you can use to improve your online presence and attract new patients as a result.

Search engine optimization for dentists

SEO (search engine optimization) includes all activities that result in your website ranking well on Google for specific search terms. A successful SEO strategy consists of so-called on-page and off-page optimizations, which ensure that Google regards your website as particularly relevant and trustworthy.

This not only gives you more website clicks, but also generally strengthens the visibility of your practice and your name. There are several advantages of good search engine optimization.

‍They are easier to find on the Internet

‍In order to attract new patients as a dentist, you can no longer avoid search engines like Google. This is because around 90% of Internet users who want to find out about services, such as dental examinations, do so via search engines.

Everything must be done as time-efficiently as possible. In the rarest cases, searchers click on the second page of Google results. You're probably familiar with this yourself: A service that isn't on the first page of Google probably won't even make it onto your radar.

‍You get local attention

‍For you as a dentist with a local practice, local attention is particularly important. For example, if you have a dental practice in Munich, search terms such as “dentist in Munich” or “dental practice in Munich” will want to rank for you. It is also possible that the potential patient may also specifically search for practices within the residential district (for example “dentist Munich Maxvorstadt”). Such specific and longer keywords usually make a high ranking even easier.

‍Patients rely on your service

‍A website that has made it into the top 10 search results on Google automatically gains greater trust and credibility among its readers. Well over half of all searchers even only click on the results for positions 1-3.

How search engine optimization works for dentists

As already mentioned, an SEO strategy is divided into so-called on-page and off-page optimization. OnPage optimization includes all SEO measures that directly affect your website. Offpage optimization is essentially about making the website highly relevant through external links (so-called backlinks).

The two sub-areas are explained in more detail below:

On-page SEO optimization for dentists

• Keyword research: The starting point of every SEO strategy is a detailed search for suitable keywords for your practice website. You may offer special services in your dental practice, such as root canal treatments. Then you should find out if there are matching keywords for that niche. With the help of appropriate tools, it is possible to determine very precisely how often a search term such as this is Googled and how strong the competition is already for it.
• SEO content creation: Based on the identified keywords and your target group, the content of the website should now be adapted accordingly. The aim is to optimally meet the needs of potential patients and thus leave a positive impression. Ideally, the patient will be accompanied on your homepage until an appointment is made in your practice. In addition to text elements, appealing images and videos of your practice and practice team are becoming increasingly relevant in order to create an optimal customer experience.
• Technical SEO optimization: A number of technical aspects can also have a significant impact on your Google rankings. We're talking about, for example, optimizing Google snippets, title tags and avoiding “Google penalties.” Unfortunately, it quickly happens that certain pages are permanently punished by Google due to minor technical inaccuracies (no longer rank). At this stage at least, it's worth having an expert look at it.

Offpage search engine optimization for dentists

In order to achieve so-called “authority” on Google, building backlinks is essential. The more external websites link to your website, the faster you will rise in the rankings. But it is not only the number but also the quality of these links that is decisive. Here, too, extreme caution is required not to annoy Google by only collecting backlinks from low-quality websites with low reach. Ideally, your backlink profile consists exclusively of well-known websites that also have something to do with dental topics.

Since building backlinks is extremely time-consuming, we recommend that you hire experts at this point. Agencies often have the necessary networks to provide you with valuable backlinks.

Our contribution to SEO optimization.

Google My Business

Google My Business is an important but still underrated tool for regionally active companies and service providers such as a dental practice. As a practice, it allows you to manage important information centrally and without technical know-how and transfer it to Google in a structured manner free of charge. This makes it easier for Google to provide this information to potential patients. Google My Business gives you a quick and flexible way to provide your patients with basic information such as address, contact details and even office hours. It is particularly important to provide the address. Google prefers regional search results and shows results close to the searcher when searching. When you enter the address, your dental practice appears with a marker in Google Maps. Interested parties can therefore easily have their way to you shown. Special office hours on special days, such as bridging days, can be stored here without necessarily having to update the website every time.

Reviews as an important marketing tool

Reviews are a very powerful marketing tool for a medical practice. Many patients are guided by the opinions and experiences of others. These don't always have to be friends and acquaintances through “word of mouth” - the recommendations of complete strangers on the Internet also play a major role in choosing dentists. Whether on Jameda, Google or Facebook: Reviews are important for the (online) reputation of your practice. In order to maintain your good reputation, the right valuation management is worth its weight in gold. Because the better your Google reviews are, the higher your practice appears in search results.

With the WLAN marketing package from Socialwave, collecting positive valuations It's never been easier. Positive reviews from your patients are forwarded to a review portal of your choice, such as Google or Jameda. The reviews from dissatisfied guests are emailed to you as feedback. This gives you the opportunity to constantly improve without damaging your reputation.

Social media for dentists

Many patients are using mainstream social media more and more frequently. Young people in particular travel there every day. Portals such as Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn can therefore be useful. The motto here is: Adapt your choice of words depending on the platform and target group. Be more reputable on LinkedIn than on Facebook and Instagram. On social media, it is useful to regularly publish articles about news from practice or trends in dentistry to keep your patients up to date. With Instagram as a medium that acts strongly through images, the importance of visual stimuli is increasing. Perfect for topics such as dental photography or insights from practice.

conclusion

Successful practice marketing for dentists is not enough to put a website for the dental practice online and hope that it will serve its purpose. With the right use of Google My Business, SEO optimization, etc., you can get your practice into the top 10 on Google and thus attract new patients.

With our WLAN marketing package, your customers/patients/guests advertise for you, are happy and recommend you to others.