SEO Blogging for Dentists

I often get clients asking me how they can write blogs for SEO and what they should be doing. To address this, this month’s article is about SEO Blogging.

Google is a big fan of blogging and loves fresh content on your website. When Google sees you adding content on a regular basis, it sees you as a frequent advocator of your topic. And when Google sees people visiting your articles and spending time viewing them, it can tell Google you’re an influential advocator. If you get a big enough following, Google will consider you as the go-to person your visitor’s location (for local SEO).

Blog articles tend to be read and stored in Google’s memory faster than web pages. With the new Hummingbird update, they’ve become even more important as good articles directly answer search queries. Suffice to say, I could write an article on the benefits of blogging alone. But today I want to discuss how Dentists can blog.

Initially Dentists should be following these core rules:

– Article content needs to be a minimum of 350 words
– Article should contain an image
– Keyword and location (if used) should be in the title and appear in the body of the article
– The article should never be discussing more than 2 treatments ever. When 2 treatments are used they should ideally be semantically linked i.e. Ortho and Invisalign
– The core keywords should appear as high up as possible and link to the relevant treatment page to help deliver on the user’s search
– Content should be unique – absolute minimal duplication of text
– Do not overuse a keyword – max 2-3% occurrence in the article (remember to use semantically related words)
– Try to create articles to cater to 3 common types of searches

1. Informational – Patient FAQ on the treatment
2. Navigational – Article about your practice, the history, the plans, competitions etc
3. Transactional – Promotions, competitions, the value of your services and pricing

I recommend creating a story out of a testimonial (providing you have the patients consent) to cater to one of the 3 searches.
For example:

Patient X’s success in choosing Dental Implants in Herefordshire.

Dental Implants HerefordshirePatient x for a number of years had suffered from missing teeth. They’d struggled with certain types of food and had to eliminate XYZ from their staple diet. They had considered dental implants in Herefordshire but were unsure where to go. They were concerned with finding a trusted dentist and had spent a long time considering their options. Through word of mouth they found out about Dr Christopher Brown at Warrendale Dental Care. They carried out their research online and were happy with the evidence and testimonials so they contacted Christopher 3 weeks ago.

From the initial call, they had a consultation booked in with Christopher to discuss their Teeth replacement needs and options.

Create a story that can show that each patient is unique, their experience and story, why did they wait so long for the treatment, why did they choose you? Add a small testimonial from them. Did they travel across the globe for you? Did they experience anything above and beyond the call of duty, would they recommend you to anyone?

Use these points to create a compelling story to satisfy your potential patient’s queries and answer the questions they may be searching through Google for. I’m sure a question could be how many times can I spin a story? Well with a bit of practice, creativity and building rapport with clients, you should be able to create good SEO blog articles.