If you have a dental website, you need a blog, and if you have a blog, you need to feed the Pigeon. That’s right. Feed the Pigeon. You see, Pigeon is Google’s latest, big algorithm update. All the changes this update will effect are not evident yet, but we do now the basics. They are exactly what I’ve advised for many years.
- If you don’t rank high for very competitive terms, try some less competitive terms.
- Focus on building your website content, incoming links, and backlinking in articles/guest blogs so that you build authority – a solid reputation for being a go-to information source online.
- Make sure you have solid, accurate citations. What this actually means is, your NAP (name, address, phone number) should be consistent everywhere that it shows up online. All those local directories we used to talk about – those are places where you have citations. However, just the mention of your name is a citation, and it does not have to be a link. A link does help, but it isn’t necessary for Google to know that the mention your name relates to YOU, your website, and your authority in your area of expertise. Yes, Google is that smart. (Pigeons not so much.) Consistency in NAP is key.
- Online reviews continue to be a solid influencing factor on rankings. On Yelp, Google+, Facebook, and other review sites, make sure that you have GOOD reviews and that you respond to poor reviews. The more positive reviews, the better. You should actively request online reviews from your satisfied patients.
- Google reassures us, in Pigeon, that your dental office’s customer service, quality, and patient relationships are imperative to your reputation, online and offline.
How often are you blogging?
In the past, blogging too much was thought to work against a blog’s credibility. This is no longer the case. In addition, any time you publish original, informative content, you’re doing GOOD for your website’s rankings. In fact, some companies publish multiple blogs each and every day!
Dentists hate to spend money on blogging, because honestly, if they had the time, they could write their own blogs. The issue is, most don’t have the time or desire to conduct the task with regularity. At Identiwrite Creative, we compose original, optimized, informational blogs for each of our client dentists. Every blog is unique, custom-written for the doctor’s target audience. Yes, we can write 1000 very different blogs about crowns, or implants.
- If you don’t have time to blog a minimum of once a week, every single week of the year, then you need a blog writer. From once-a-week blogs, expect a slow progression up the SEO rankings for your targeted keyword phrases.
- If you want your blog to help with SEO traffic and Google rankings, you need to blog a minimum of three times a week. At this rate, your site should have multiple page-one rankings in a matter of a few months. However, depending on the competition in your area, you may not reach page one for the most popular keyword terms.
- If you are in a moderately to very competitive region, you should blog five times a week. This will allow you the flexibility of focusing on high traffic, lower traffic, and long-tail keyword phrases, all of which are important to an effective SEO strategy.
- If you want to be aggressive in your content marketing strategy, also publish guest blogs and add pages to your website on a weekly basis.
Hire a professional dental writer!
If you’d like to discuss your dental practice’s website, blog, or SEO strategy, call me, Shauna, at 940-395-5115 today. I’ll analyze your site and blog, then provide you with a strategy for greater online visibility.
