Google reviews

Now more important than ever…..

I’m regularly asked how the members of the dental practice team can contribute to the overall marketing effort rather than the practice simply relying on an external marketing partner for everything. Whilst there are some overarching fundamentals, for example developing the team to become “brand ambassadors” for the the business, at the other end of the scale, there are some much more specific tasks which also need to be tackled.

One of these tasks relates to how the business is marketed via the Internet and specifically, how it appears in Google’s local search results which appear on page one. For those who are unsure, these are the results which appear on the first page of Google, usually associated with a map and brief business details, when a user searches for a business in their local area. Google (and other search engines such as Bing) always include several results for local business, prominently on page one. These attract lots of clicks and it’s easy to see why they are very important for all businesses, not just dentists.

Bottom-line is that any business which is serious about their Google positions and the large number of new patient enquiries which originate from there, needs to secure entries in their local search results on page one.

Why should a dentist secure local ranking results?

When it comes to local search rankings, there are factors which you can control and factors which you can’t. One of the key factors is your physical business location in relation to a central point e.g. a city or town. So if a searcher used the term “dentist Bristol” the businesses located close to the centre of Bristol are at an advantage compared to the businesses which are further away. It is also thought that Google also looks at the location of the searcher when determining which results to show. These factors (unless you decide to move premises!) are not easy to control.

Another important factor which you can control to some degree, is reviews. These act as very strong signals, in some senses a validation of business credibility, for Google, and those practices which have a number of good quality Google reviews have a much better chance of local search penetration than those which don’t. Once you get five reviews or more, Google will also embellish your search entry with little gold stars – very eye-catching for searchers and known to prompt click-through to your website.

So the incentive to go out and proactively encourage your patients to leave Google review is very strong indeed. I would put it near the top of all of the online marketing priorities which can be carried out at the practice.

How do you go about it?

Like any priority activity, the quest for online reviews needs to be planned, resourced and reviewed. Whilst an increasing number of dentists understand the importance, many are still treating it a little “hit and miss”. What they don’t realise is that it will inevitably become a numbers game and those who get a good start now, will be very difficult to overhaul in future. It’s a numbers game and there are only a few local search results place to be grabbed. So it really is time to get the ball rolling.

The main hurdle to gaining Google reviews is that the reviewer actually needs a Google account. We hear lots of feedback where patients have promised to leave reviews then failed when they realised that they needed to do a bit of work to achieve it. So you need to identify those patients who really trust you and start the process of encouraging them to help. At Dental Media, we also provide a “crib” sheet for our marketing clients, which guides a patient through the process of setting up an account in an effort to make it as easy as possible for them.

We also recommend a team briefing and regular review of progress to ensure that everyone at the practice understands just how important this is. Whilst all of the team can contribute, including the clinicians as part of the chair-side discussion post treatment, some practices are making good progress by nominating a “reviews champion” to coordinate the overall effort. These guys tend to be highly customer focused and able to establish a great rapport with patients. Also the ability to be gently persuasive and persistent without becoming off-putting.

Can you incentivise?

In short, this is not recommended and against the general Google guidelines. However, it’s also fair to point out that lots of practices do incentivise and seem to get away with it. How ethical this is and what the risks are, I’ll leave you to decide. Whichever route you take, it’s important to understand that Google uses very sophisticated filters to detect any fabrications and so the review process must look natural. For example, you cannot add multiple reviews from the practice PC as this can be identified and potentially penalised. It’s also not a good plan to try to gain too many reviews too quickly as, even if these are bona fide, you may trip a filter and lose the lot.

Summary

Google reviews are very important to help gain local ranking positions and also to make those results eye-catching for searchers. Seeking reviews should be a priority for all dentists and suitable resources need to be made available to achieve this.

Failure to do so will leave the practice behind the curve as web-savvy businesses forge ahead.

If you would like to know more about the review process and how to get up-and-running with it, please call the Dental Media search marketing team on 01332 672548 for assistance or complete our contact form.