As an Edmonton SEO agency, we’d be remiss if we didn’t provide local businesses with a few tips on getting ahead with their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
Not sure what SEO is? Check out our piece on choosing the right Edmonton SEO agency – we cover what SEO is at a high level.
Once you’ve read that, come on back here! In this piece, we’re focusing on how dental professionals can improve their SEO — all to boost rankings, increase traffic, and convert more people into patients. Yet, even if you’re not a dentist, most of these tips still apply to businesses looking to boost their online presence.
It might sound a little overwhelming, but the good news is that if you run a dental office in Edmonton, there are a few simple tasks you tackle immediately without special software or advanced expertise that will help improve your search engine rankings.
Always remember that SEO is a long game that can take months to see results — but it’ll be so worth it for your business.
Now, without further ado, let’s dive into our top five tips for boosting your SEO.
Tip #1 – Local listing management
Local online listings refer to platforms like Google Business, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, LinkedIn and Yellow Pages. These are places where potential customers look for dental services, read reviews, and find your business information.
At the very least, you should claim your listings and update your name, address, and phone number across these platforms. The more information you can add, the better.
While managing and maintaining your online listings is a relatively simple task, it can be time-consuming. Thankfully, you don’t need to do this every single day. Instead, we recommend dedicating a few hours every quarter to local listings management.
Tip #2 – Post and engage across social channels
We live in an incredibly social world, and the link between a robust and engaging social media channel and improved SEO is a strong one.
According to Datareportal’s 2022 Global Review, 59% of the world’s population uses social media, and the average daily usage is 2 hours and 29 minutes.
That means you have roughly two and a half hours a day to interact with potential new customers on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and LinkedIn. Sign up for a business account, then focus on growing your audience by creating authentic, informative, and engaging content.
Said engaging content will drive users to your profile and onto your website – and conversion.
For social media content, think hygiene hacks, dental office reels, before and after photos of cleanings and repairs, and snippets of your daily office antics. Save time by working in advance and planning content out on a weekly or monthly basis.
Don’t have time to create daily content, respond to inquiries, and engage with your audience? We can help.
Tip #3 – Become an expert source
A significant part of the SEO equation is backlinking efforts. While more challenging than it once was, as a dentist, you already have a leg up in the SEO world — you are an expert in your field.
Reporters, bloggers, and copywriters want to interview you to get your perspective on all-things oral hygiene. Connect with them by signing up for services like Help a Reporter Out (HARO) or Qwoted. With a little effort you’ll get quoted as an expert source, and a backlink to boot.
Tip #4 – Reputation management
If you’ve ever looked up reviews for a restaurant before booking a reservation, you’ll be familiar with how devastating a bad review can be. But what happens if your business is the one with a negative review? What do you do?
Hubspot reports that “Reputation management is centred around monitoring and protecting your brand’s online reputation in reviews, social media, and Google.”
These days, it’s a critical component of a larger SEO strategy.
You need to schedule regular time to review and respond to customers across all the platforms that matter (Facebook, Yelp, Google, and more). Be consistent, be polite, and be open to criticism so you can continually work to improve your service.
Tip #5 – Focus on local SEO
If you take only one tip from us, let it be this: focus on local SEO efforts. Local SEO revolves around the algorithm for Google’s Map Pack and Local Pack listings.
Essentially, this is SEO work that focuses on searches for “dental hygienist near me,” “dentist in (your city),” or opens Google Maps to find a local “Emergency dental service.” It’s a massive opportunity for all businesses, like your dental office, with a brick-and-mortar location.
Why? Google reports that more than three-quarters of people who search for a local business on their mobile phone then visit that business within the next day.
How do you improve this ranking? It requires a considerable ongoing effort – incorporating all the tips above and more.
But that’s where the savvy team at Get Social YEG comes into play. We are an Edmonton SEO agency that can audit, evaluate, and improve your local SEO.
Connect with Get Social YEG!
Want to learn more about what we do? In a nutshell, we’re an SEO agency in Edmonton. We help our clients organically grow their online presence using the power of social media and a highly targeted content strategy.We love to talk – reach out to our team today!
