There is a lot to balance when it comes to running a successful dental practice. Gone are the days when you could neglect an online presence and still see the same results from an ad in the newspaper. Now, you have to successfully attract new patients by optimizing your website so you are easily found. Here are a few easy things you can do to get on the right track when it comes to your dental practice SEO.

1. Focus on your location

If you owned a business that could service people from all over the world, you wouldn't have to worry about focusing on your location. However, when you own a dental practice, you have to make it a point to be location friendly. When you interact on social media, be sure to include a sense of community. Pay attention to location keywords and register your business with Google's business listing.

2. Craft the right content

For the text portion of your content, you'll want to add words and phrases that people search for when they are need of dental services. You can easily find these words by looking at other sites that are similar to yours. You can also search for commonly used phrases in the Google search bar. When you plug in a phrase like, “dealing with a tooth,” pay attention to the other phrases that drop down. Those are the most commonly searched phrases. So you can build content around multiple keyword strings such as “dealing with a tooth abscess or cavity or ache.” All will give you results when someone is searching for that particular dental issue, and don't forget to include your location in the text.

3. Content is more than text

Once you have the content keywords gathered and you have written a few articles for your website, don't forget to pair them with images. Content has come a long way and you'll want it to be more than just words. Videos have been very effective when optimizing websites. Infographics are another very popular way of getting people to share your content on social media.

4. Pay attention to Google tools

Google wants people to be able to better optimize their business websites because this makes them a better search engine for their users. When you have a quality dental practice that you are promoting, Google wants you to succeed. They offer you Google Analytics so you can gather information about how your customers interact with your website. You'll have a better understanding if they use their phones or tablets to reach you and if they stick around, or leave right away.

5. Focus on your reputation

There are some people who hire reputation management companies to monitor their online reputation. If you get a bad review from a disgruntled patient, you'll want to address it immediately. A bad review can actually rank higher than your website if you're not careful. Ask patients to review your dental practice online and pay close attention to what people are saying.

Don't let fear of a bad review stop you from asking at all. Users are getting more and more used to reading reviews for all types of purchases and decisions these days, and no reviews can sometimes be worse than a bad review. If you do get a negative review, how you (or your 'customer service rep') handle it can make even more difference than the review itself!

Your website can be a powerful tool for growing your practice; start giving more consideration to search engine optimization!