![\"budget](\"https:\/\/www.dental-media.co.uk\/marketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pound-300x165.jpg\")
Dentists are regularly approached by on-line services who offer to advertise their practice and treatments online for a fee. The advertising service then typically requires a link back to their website from the dentist’s own website. In exchange, the online service “promises” to deliver treatment enquiries to the practice and\/or help to improve their search rankings.<\/p>\n
But in reality, do these types of directory services actually deliver, or are they simply building up big subscriptions and not really delivering any meaningful new patient enquiries<\/a>? In most cases they prosper but deliver very little.<\/p>\n In this blog we’ll tell you what to watch out for so you can make an informed choice about whether subscribing to the service is valid or not.<\/p>\n General dentist directories<\/strong><\/p>\n There are numerous versions of these with names similar to “FindADentist”, “DentistyGuide” and so on and so forth. A lot of these are actually run by dental marketing companies who set them up years ago with the intention of providing links to their client’s websites for SEO purposes. At that time, before Google clamped down on such practices, there may well have been some benefit in such subscriptions and lots of dentists jumped on the bandwagon. However, there is little or no benefit these days, for several reasons 1) the directories only provide “no follow” links which have very limited SEO benefit and 2) virtually all of these directories are nowhere in the Google results anyway. So members of the public looking for dental services aren’t going to find you via that route for sure.<\/p>\n The easiest way to check this, other than asking new patients when they sign up, is to have a look in your Google Analytics data to see how much referral traffic you received from the directory sites – you’ll find that it’s negligible. Near zero traffic usually means zero enquiries – but you paid your subscription anyway!<\/p>\n Niche dental directories<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spurred on by the subscription model, more and more directories have sprung up “promoting” services in certain treatment niches, particularly short-term orthodontics, implants and sedation. Lured by the promise of lots of new patients, particularly in these high-value niches, dentists have stumped up subscription fees in droves, even paying more for “premium” listings. But as noted above, if you check your Google Analytics data, you see that the benefit from such directories is minimal. They simply don’t rank in the search results and consequently the general public doesn’t use them to find dental services.<\/p>\n Some of the services are actually questionable from a regulatory perspective as they claim to validate the dentist’s competence and experience before “allowing” them to join. However, there is no bone fide, approved validation from any regulatory body actually in place. No doubt the dentist feels that they are joining some form of an elite group when they subscribe – but really this isn’t usually the case.<\/p>\n Comparison dental websites<\/strong><\/p>\n Comparison sites have also sprung up which offer to supply you with new patient leads and provide a “feature” page for your practice. But do they really work and do you want your prices to be ultimately pushed lower by such comparison services? Similarly to the other dental directories, none of these sites rank well in searches and comments from clients who have subscribed suggest that they yield very little. So if you do decide to subscribe, I’d recommend pushing for a “pay for results” type of deal.<\/p>\n Why you shouldn’t link back to directory sites from your own website<\/strong><\/p>\n Many of these directory type sites insist that you provide a back-link to their website from your own. This may sound innocuous but it may not be the good idea you think it is. Any link you get from the directory site to your own site will be “no followed” and hence will not provide any real SEO benefit<\/a> for you. Conversely they hope that you will implement a “do follow” link to them from your website so they do gain SEO benefit.<\/p>\n The other important thing to note is that if you do click on the link they want you to put on your site, you will invariably land on a page showing all of your competitors in your area too! Not a great plan.<\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n When the directory salesmen call or email you with promises of lots of new patient enquiries if you subscribe to their online service, then you need to be very cautious. The vast majority of such directories and services are virtually worthless and simply designed to extract a monthly or annual fee from you. Worse, you can end up leading users to your competitor’s details if you add the links to you own website which they will request. The data in your Analytics console will tell you this, so please don’t ignore it.<\/p>\n If you need any assistance in trying to determine how to spend a dental marketing budget i.e. what works and what doesn’t, please get in touch with the team at Dental Media on 01332 672548<\/strong> and we’ll be pleased to advise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why submitting to most dental directories will benefit them – not you. Dentists are regularly approached by on-line services who offer to advertise their practice and treatments online for a fee. The advertising service then typically requires a link back …<\/p>\n