What exactly are local citations for dentists? How do they help your practice? How important are they to your website’s success? These are questions that dentists should be asking themselves.
Also known as local business listings, citations are one way Google ranks your website. In short, citations are references to your practice’s name, address and phone number (known as NAP) from another website. Google sees these NAP citations as a signal that your local business is legitimate. As a result, local citations for dentists have a significant effect on their local SEO ranking.
To help you better appreciate their worth, here are the top five benefits of local citations for dentists:
1. Local Citations For Dentists Means Google Will Like Your Website Better
Google has a long list of things it wants to see when it crawls websites. Some are content-oriented. Some are more technically oriented. Among the list of things it wants to see is websites that have no NAP issues of any kind. When they see NAP issues, it’s like a blinking red light that something is questionable about a website. Such a red flag could easily lead to a website declining in its Google ranking.
The objective here, as it often seems to be, is to make Google happy with your website. A proper citation profile is definitely one way to do that. For that reason, it’s a good idea to work with SEO professionals. They have the knowledge and experience to complete these and other marketing tasks that your office probably doesn’t have the time to do.
2. Citation Profiles Help You Rank in Local Maps & Organic Rankings
Things like links and citation profiles are what helps Google rank your dental practice against competitors. If another practice succeeds in procuring citations and more links, they are likely to outrank you. There’s no magic number of citations you have to procure. Simply try to get as many as you realistically can.
We’ve been talking mostly about citations but links are important as well. Again, there’s no magic number you need to achieve. However, having 10 to 20 authoritative links is a good objective. The actual number of links you’ll want could have a lot to do with the market you are in. Some markets are far more competitive than others.
The true advantage you’ll enjoy when you have excellent link and citation profiles is that your practice will rank well in local maps and organic rankings. That’s what you definitely want. Now, factor in a PPC campaign and your presence on page 1 search results goes up considerably. As you can see, local citations for dentists rely on many factors.
3. Consumer Directories Add to Your Profile
When search engines crawl local business directories, they are seeing local business information. Local directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc. serve as a benefit to your dental practice’s citation profile. Consequently, it’s important to make absolutely certain all of your information is up to date. Sometimes, it’s obvious things like this that get ignored and cost you later.
4. Enhances Your Local SEO
Your local SEO strategy depends greatly on well-built and well-maintained citations. When we begin work with new clients, verifying the accuracy of their citations is one of the very first tasks we perform. If that isn’t right, anything else we do for them in terms of SEO could be compromised. Local citations for dentists have to be right. Otherwise, their whole SEO strategies are in jeopardy.
5. Citations Help Bring in More Prospective Patients
While citations may be important to Google, that’s not the only reason you have them. Citations also generate more website traffic. More website traffic means more prospective patients. More prospective patients means more production. It’s a simple marketing equation, and one you should always keep in the back of your mind.
With that in mind, here’s something else to think about. Your competitors are benefiting from being listed on such sites as Facebook, Yelp and the Yellow Pages. Make sure you are as well.
Local Citations for Dentists Are Good For Your Local SEO, Web Presence & Search Visibility
Is your dental practice link building all it should be? If not, there is a solution. Dreamscape Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency. We help dentists increase search visibility with professionally managed SEO campaigns. Call us today at 888.307.7304, and let’s discuss your practice’s unique SEO needs.