There are many elements to SEO and many ways to strategize when it comes to your dental website. One of the most important parts of a good SEO strategy is finding the right keywords for your practice. Keywords are the words (or sometimes, phrases) that you want to appear in the results of when someone searches them.
For example, “dental practice” can be a keyword, though it’s very vague and probably has lots of competition. If you were to rank high under “dental practice” you’ll get lots of visibility, but not necessarily from people who can reasonably use your services.
This is why you must target the right keywords. You need your keywords to be specific and relevant and with low competition. Read on to learn more about finding the right keywords for your dental practice.
Short vs. Long Keywords
There are two main types of keywords – short and long-tail. Both are important to your SEO strategy as they serve different purposes.
Short-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords have one or two words only and are general. Most of the time, shorter keywords have a higher search volume and more competition. Ranking for short-tail keywords can be pretty difficult, but can be worth it – for some.
Examples of dental-related short-tail keywords can include:
- Dental Office
- Best dentist
- Dental practice
- Dental work
- Teeth cleaning
- Dental crows
Most of these general keywords aren’t as useful for local, location-based businesses. This is because your main goal is to attract local customers. But, you can still use some of them to your advantage.
“Teeth cleaning” for example, could be a target keyword in a blog post about keeping teeth clean at home. Those in your area who search for this may still find your practice through this keyword.
Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are phrases that contain three to five words, sometimes more. These keywords often make a full sentence or close to it and are much more specific than short-tail keywords.
These keywords allow you to be more specific in your targeting, and they often have lower competition.
Some examples of long-tail keywords for a dental practice can include:
- Best dental practice in (city)
- Best dentists in (city)
- Dental practices in (city)
- Best place to get teeth cleaned in (city)
- Where to get a dental crown near me
These are terms used exclusively by people in a certain town, city, or geographical area. These are good ones to focus on as they’ll bring in local business.
How to Find the Best Keywords
It’s often easy to come up with a few relevant and useful keywords for a local practice. The examples above are always good candidates to target your local area. Beyond that, though, you must get a little creative to find additional keywords to benefit your SEO.
The following are some of the best methods:
Determine Relevant Topics
First of all, you must determine some relevant topics or categories to use as your base. For example, location-specific keywords are a great place to start, especially for use on your static service pages.
It’s also highly recommended that you publish a blog on your website for SEO and ranking purposes, as well as to provide value to your customers. Good categories to start with here could include teeth-cleaning products or at-home tips.
Search the Internet
Once you’ve determined some base topics to work with, you can start your research on the search engines themselves. Google is a great choice as it’s the most widely used.
Start by searching for some of your base keywords – such as “best teeth whitening products.” This is a great keyword in itself, but you can use it for additional ideas. Scroll through the results and see what other types of content come up, and take note of everything.
Next, look at the “people also ask” section that usually shows up after a few results. This suggests some other questions that people often search for. For the “best teeth whitening products” keyword, these suggestions may include things like:
- What is the best cleaning product for teeth?
- What is the healthiest way to clean your teeth?
- What do dentists recommend for cleaning teeth?
- How can I deep clean my teeth at home?
From these frequently searched questions, you can create more keywords. For example, you can reword “best teeth whitening products” slightly to “best teeth cleaning products” and target both in a blog post. Another keyword you could garner from this list could be “healthiest way to clean teeth.”
You can also check the “related searches” tab in Google. Here, you’ll find search suggestions that already look like keywords. Take note of everything you find here, as well.
Once you’re finished this process, rinse and repeat with another idea or phrase!
Study the Competition
Next, take some time to study your direct competition. This can apply to both general, short-tail keywords and location-specific long-tail keywords. To do this, put the exact keyword you want to use into Google and search for it. Open the top ten results, and read through them.
This tells you a few things:
- What type and style of content is ranking well
- What content your direct competition has already published
- What your competition is lacking, and how you can improve on it for even better content
- How they’re using the keyword in question
- Which keywords have lots of competition, and which have very little
Keyword Research Tools
Lastly, there are some keyword research tools out there you can take advantage of. Many are free, and some have the option of a paid upgrade. These tools are quite handy for getting a quick overview of keyword ideas you have. Once you enter a keyword, these tools reveal a variety of information all at once, such as:
- Keyword quality
- Competition
- Search volume
- How many other pages are ranking for that keyword
- Difficulty level
- And more
Different tools will offer different information. You can shop around and see which tool you like best – should you choose to use one!
Strong Keywords Make Good SEO
Conducting thorough keyword research takes some time and effort, but it’s always worth it. Creating high-quality content also takes time and effort, and the last thing you want to do is make that investment into a useless keyword that’ll drive no traffic.
If you’re unsure where to start with keywords, SEO, or even creating your website – don’t hesitate to contact us today and we’ll help you get started!
