As we’ve discussed on this dental marketing blog in previous posts, a website is really only of any use once it starts to rank on page one in Google searches i.e. when you actually start to be found. The benefits then increase as the site progresses up to the top half of the results page with the main goal being a place in the top three.<\/p>\n
Whilst position one is still clearly the best, we know that people who are searching for services typically want more than one option – so they are very likely to take a closer look at the top three results and often further down the page too. So even if you’re not in the top slot, then at least you’re “in the mix” if you are there or thereabouts.<\/p>\n
So the initial objective for a new dentist’s website<\/a> is to get to page one and then upwards from there. But how long should a new website owner expect this to take and what factors affect it?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is quite a broad question and one which doesn’t have an absolute answer unfortunately. There is no “tick-sheet” for the ultimate SEO website, however, it is possible to give guidelines and also try to clarify the factors which affect the process of improving search ranking.<\/p>\n This is an important factor. If the new dental website is published on an existing domain which is several years old and which already ranks reasonably well, improvement can be made quite quickly; likely in three or four months. This is because the domain is already recognised by Google and has a degree of “authority” and trust. So as long as the new optimisation work is not too aggressive, upward ranking movement can be expected reasonably quickly as new links are generated and new content is added to the site.<\/p>\n Whilst this is not always the case, larger websites tend to rank better than smaller ones where all other elements are equal. Google seems to prefer lots of high quality content as opposed to just a few pages. So if you have a site with a broad architecture and lots of useful information, then generally we would expect it to be easier to rank than a site with minimal content. This is why we always recommend that you build a larger site if your budget allows.<\/p>\n All new websites need to be built to the latest web authorship guidelines as Google now uses these as “quality” indicators for ranking purposes. So a site needs to be fast-loading, mobile-friendly via the use of responsive design and in conformance with the the current W3C coding standards. If you get the architecture right and then add great information, then you have a decent platform on which to build.<\/p>\n Google is all about delivering the best experience and results for its users and hence rewards websites which offer this by improving their ranking positions. Think of it as a virtuous circle. Google has ways of measuring how users interact with a website, e.g. how long they stay on a page, and aggregates such information to work out which websites are delivering the best user experience. These are the websites which then move up the rankings.<\/p>\n So it’s important to make regular reviews of your website and bring new and interesting content to it periodically. Other techniques, e.g. the use of video, are also known to increase user “dwell time” on a page which helps send all of the right quality signals back to Google.<\/p>\n Some websites have a poor history with Google, for example where they have been subject to bad SEO and perhaps received a ranking penalty. Depending on the extent of the penalty, sites like these will take much longer to rank than “clean” sites as the damage first has to be rectified. This can take many months and sometimes it makes sense to start again on a fresh domain. If you know your website has had problems historically, you must share this information with your design\/marketing partner before a new website is launched on the same domain.<\/p>\n This may sound obvious but it is often not understood by practice owners who have just started out with internet marketing. In areas where there are a lot of dentists, e.g. larger towns and cities, expect the process to be much harder and take longer than where competition is less severe. The key point here is to remember that several of the websites on page one will likely be undertaking SEO to some degree and could have been for many years. Some will be good, some will be bad. Whilst it is possible to overtake the guys who are doing it badly, displacing the guys who know what they are doing is much harder. Google easily spots over-aggressive SEO and will penalise accordingly – consequently a lot of patience (and budget) is needed where competition is fierce.<\/p>\n Fortunately these days you can gain very good positions if you have a great website and some carefully crafted off-site SEO work (good links etc), so whilst it is still possible to get a new site into the top places, don’t expect it to happen quickly.<\/p>\n I firmly believe that the days for 100% outsourced dental marketing are over. These days there are factors which the practice team can impact way better than any third-party marketing company; for example, seeking out patients reviews (extremely powerful!) and adding personalised content to the practice blog and social media channels. Practices who are willing to get involved with this, tend to make faster progress.<\/p>\n A very good question and again there is no definite answer. Two main factors are completely unpredictable; we simply don’t know what Google will do next in terms of changing its ranking factors and we can’t predict how your competition will act. Usually we see the competing websites step up their game when the new guy appears – so be prepared for that.<\/p>\nSo which factors affect how a website ranks in Google?<\/h3>\n
Age of the domain<\/h3>\n
Does the new website have a broad foot-print?<\/h3>\n
Is the website constructed to latest web standards?<\/h3>\n
Is the website content unique and does it add value?<\/h3>\n
Has the domain got a chequered history?<\/h3>\n
How strong is the competition?<\/h3>\n
Is the practice team willing to get involved?<\/h3>\n
So how long will it take then?<\/h3>\n