Navigating SEO Basics: Getting Your Clinic Visible Online
Unlocking the magic of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is like having a spotlight on your dental practice in the online world. Think of it as a special code and when you use this code wisely, your practice shows up higher when people search for dental services.
You must make your website super-friendly for both visitors and search engines. Just like a tidy clinic, an organised website is inviting. Taking care of technical stuff, like how fast your website loads and if it works well on phones, is like giving your website a strong foundation.
Picture search results as a race, and SEO is your training plan. By crafting content with the right keywords and keeping your website in top shape, you’re getting ready for a medal – the medal of showing up on the first page of search results.
Understanding the basics of SEO empowers your practice to shine in the online crowd, helping you connect with those actively seeking your dental services.
Here’s some simple basic steps to improve your search visibility
Get your Title Tags and Meta Descriptions right
This is the information that is shown on search results about your clinic and gives you an opportunity to outshine the others.
If your search result looks a bit like the dummy example above. You have some work to do. Make sure your relevant keywords are in there, so if we’re talking about your clinic’s home page, include your company name and suburb/location at the very minimum. Remember, you’re helping google find and align the users search query with your web page.
Bonus points if you can include your unique selling points to entice patients to click your link instead of a competitors! Think about what advantage your clinic has over the others.
Where’s your sitemap (wait, what’s a sitemap?!)
Upload your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console. A sitemap gives Google a guide on how your website is structured and what pages it should be showing in search results.
It also helps spot any critical issues that can impact your search performance. Here’s some ways to find your sitemap.
Mobile first — and make it fast
Remember, always think mobile first when designing a website.as 60-70% of searches happen on a mobile device!
Google loves fast websites, so design it as fast as possible to give you a step up on your competition.
The two biggest culprits are are usually:
- Large images — we recommend to upload smaller compressed versions to your website. Some website platforms have plugins that you can add to automatically do this for you.
- Shared server — if you have very cheap hosting, they put your website with many others on a slow server sharing resources making it very slow to load.
Talk to your web developer about your options!
Get your website linked to directories
Try get your clinic linked to as many local directories as possible, basically anywhere relevant that there is a connection to your business in some way.
These are called backlinks and the more trusted backlinks you have from good, reliable websites, the better for your rankings.
Examples of trusted backlinks can include Neighbourly and directories such as NZDA etc.