What Dentists should know about local search
Date: June 29, 2015Category: Author: Jaren Martineau
Google is continually trying to improve its search engine and is routinely tinkering with better ways to deliver the results that people are looking for. With the rise in the number of searches that are being made from mobile devices and Google’s increased ability to detect searchers’ locations, local search is gaining importance. It is important for Dental practices to start paying attention to the value of local search.
What is local search?
There are many factors that influence local search and local search rankings. Local search optimization can impact both if and how prominently your practice shows up when people search for keywords using Google Maps such as what you see in the top right corner of the image below. Your local search optimization can also impact how your practice will show up in general searches and in what are often called “local packs.” Below is a sample Google search for the search term “Encino cosmetic dentist.” The area highlighted in blue is the traditional general search. The area to the right in red is Google paid advertising. The “local pack” is the area in green.
Local search results are also prominently displayed when doing a search from a mobile device. These local search areas provide additional options for dental practices to be found online other than through paid advertising or through the traditional general search, which is becoming more difficult to rank for as time goes on.
Historically, people could search for a cosmetic dentist on Google and end up having to wade through pages and pages of results for cosmetic dentists who are nowhere near where they are physically located. To get around this limitation, many people search for a location modifier. Instead of simply searching for “cosmetic dentist”, many people would search for a location, such as “Encino cosmetic dentist”. Google is now becoming much more savvy about the locations that people are searching from and many people are now simply typing in searches such as “cosmetic dentist near me”.
Why is it important for Dentists?
Local search is designed to help local residents find local businesses and local services. A dental practice is an establishment with a local presence. Patients who are seeking dental services generally want to find dentists who are not only good at what they do, but also who are within a reasonable driving distance from where they are. People who look at the local search results are interested in the products or services that are provided by local organizations. This creates a great opportunity to be found by local patients looking for your services and treatments! This makes it much easier for those who are actually interested in what you offer to be able to find you. If you are not showing up in local searches, these potential patients are going to find other practices who are easy to find.
What does it take to be successful in local search?
As with Google’s algorithm for general search, there are many factors that have been identified that contribute to a strong presence in local search. Below we will briefly discuss some of the main contributing factors. There are many other factors in addition to those outlined below and definitely many others which Google has not disclosed or that have otherwise not been identified.
NAP
One of the most important of all local search ranking factors has to be NAP authority and consistency. NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. How many websites show your practice’s name, address, and phone number contributes to your overall local search ranking. It is very important that this information be consistent. Many practices have at some point changed their locations, have changed their phone numbers, or have even changed their practice name. This leaves old outdated information online that doesn’t effortlessly go away. When Google sees that your practice is listed with differing addresses, phone numbers, or practice names it lowers the level of credibility that Google has in this information. This inconsistency definitely will harm your rankings. What makes it even more complicated is that having this outdated or incorrect information listed on one online directory can cause it to be duplicated and spread out to other websites on the Internet as well. Correcting outdated information in one place may only temporarily solve the problem. If the source of the outdated information is not identified and corrected, you may find that the same bad information is re-created and once again found in the same online directory from where you had previously removed it. Keeping your NAP consistent and up to date can be a laborious task.
Take a look at this diagram provided by Moz, which outlines the complexity of how your online NAP information is promulgated online. You will see that many online sources of your NAP data receive information from multiple other sources and may also share this information with multiple other data providers:
On page indicators
As with universal search, local search is also impacted based upon what is actually on your website. The content on your website and the way that it is presented is an important factor in your local search rankings. Each page of your website should have your NAP information on it. The footer is often a good place for this. You should have a local telephone number (with a local area code that Google can recognize) on your website. If you have a toll free number or a call tracking number that may be fine, but it might be better to have those numbers displaying as images instead of actual text and having your main local telephone number visible as actual text on your website. The content on your web pages should reflect the fact that you are part of a local area. It should mention local places, communities, and make references to local landmarks or even link to other local websites. Title, H, and meta tags should also reflect the location of the practice.
Local links
What would SEO be like without links? Yes, local search ranking is also impacted by links to your website. Specifically what we are looking for are links with local importance. The more quality local links you have to your website, the better it is going to rank. Some types of links that would benefit you would be links from local newspapers, magazines, radio or television stations, schools, blogs, businesses, or other dental or professional websites. Legitimate links from outside of your local area won’t hurt, but you will particularly benefit from links from the websites that share your same local area.
A note of caution: Many SEO companies in the past built all sorts of spammy and irrelevant links, or participated in shady link schemes. You should still avoid these types of links like the plague. You only want legitimate, quality links that are acquired naturally.
Reviews
The final factor that we will cover that impacts your local search efforts is online reviews. The number and quality of your reviews as well as how many reviews sites you have reviews on also impacts your local search rankings. Reviews, and how to acquire them, is an important subject that cannot be fully covered in this blog post. Your practice can greatly benefit from reviews from almost any online reviews source, but Google and Yelp reviews seem to have the greatest impact. Yelp reviews can be especially difficult to acquire. Both Yelp and Google have mechanisms in place to remove reviews that they consider unnatural. The benefits of having these reviews can be tremendous. Not only can they impact your local search rankings, but they can also impact the ability of your website to convert new patients and your click-through rate from Google local search results. Our internal data is showing that over 50% of patients are checking online reviews before making an appointment with a new dentist. Lets look again at just a portion of our local search results from up above.
Looking at the image of the local search results below, which listing catches your eye more than the others? I am guessing that immediately your eye is drawn to the result that shows the reviews. The nice yellow review stars that show the 4.9 rating that Encino cosmetic dentist Smile Studio LA has, make this listing much more prominent and visible than the rest. These reviews most certainly have an impact on which local dentist website the visitor ends up clicking on. Having these reviews—or not having them—will certainly impact your click-through rate from the local search results.
Conclusion
Local search optimization should not be overlooked. Dental practices have plenty to gain and little to lose from pursuing a local search optimization campaign. To be effective at local search requires consistency, patience, and close attention to detail. For more information about how we can help you with your local search campaign, please visit our Maps SEO page.
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