Make reviews part of your dental business model
Google reviews – why they are essential for dentists.
It’s reasonable to suggest that most dentists understand the importance of the Google search engine when it comes to acquiring new patients. It’s also fair to say that most also know that you need a range of search terms prominent on page one of the results for your particular location. However, this is as far as some dental business owners go and relatively few fully understand how page one of the Google results is split into different sections i.e. paid adverts, traditional organic results and “local” (or map) results.
It’s the third area, the local results, which we’ll look at today and in particular, how Google business reviews can affect your placement in there.
A quick recap on Google “local” results
These are the three results which appear prominently on page one of the search results, typically just down from the top organic result and the paid adverts. They are typically embellished with other features which are eye-catching e.g. map segments, “star” ratings etc. Consequently a position in the local results on page one is very important to any business, dentistry included.
The image below shows a search for “dentist Burton” and in this case, the local results actually appear right at the top of the page and would be the first section that a searcher would see.
What factors influence inclusion in the local results?
The answer to this is that there are many and only Google themselves really know. However, there have been many studies which have tried to reverse engineer the algorithms which dictate the positioning and there are some factors which are accepted to influence this more than others. One of the factors considered to be the most important is the number of reviews that the dentist has for their business. In the screen shot above, you can actually see that once a practice has gained more than 5 reviews, their result gains a “starred” rating which is particularly eye-catching and great for attracting clicks.
Whilst there are many examples where websites with few or even no reviews still manage to appear in the local results, there are far more examples where established websites with lots of reviews have gained a sustainable foot-hold. The bottom line is that reviews are extremely important.
Seek reviews as part of your business procedures
Hopefully I’ve established just how important Google reviews are for a dentist (or indeed any business) and with that said, it is highly recommended that you build the review seeking process into your business procedures. The more web savvy dentists have realised just how important this is and there is now somewhat of an “arms race” when it comes to local ranking and how reviews influence this. It’s not a one-off project and needs a concerted effort from the practice team to make the consistent progress needed.
Elsewhere on this blog I’ve discussed the mechanisms needed to put a review process in place and how allocating a reviews “champion” on the practice team can reap rewards – so I won’t go into that detail again. Simply enter the word “reviews” in this blog’s search engine and you will find a number of articles about the topic. The purpose of this article is to reiterate how reviews contribute to the all-important local rankings and hence why you need to install the review seeking process into your business procedures and team training.
Summary
A prominent position in the local results on page one of Google is very important for dental practices. This particular type of result is eye-catching and a good source of clicks through to the practice website and as such, is well worth pursuing. One of the most important factors considered to influence local ranking results is reviews of your business on Google and those practices with a high number of ethically obtained reviews will typically fare much better in local searches than those practices without.
Seeking reviews is not a one-off project and needs to be a disciplined process within the day-to-day routine of the dental team and fully supported by the practice management. The sooner you begin, the better! If you need some help to get moving, please get in touch.
If you would like to understand how Google works in more detail and how the digital marketing team at Dental Media can help your practice show up well in all forms of search results, please call 01332 672548 for a no-obligation discussion.