The searches, and what answers each
| Patients search | They want | What answers it |
|---|---|---|
| “dentist near me”, “family dentist near me”, “dentist” and your town | A practice close to home | The office’s Business Profile on the map, and the page on your site behind it |
| “emergency dentist”, “dentist open now”, “dentist open saturday” | An appointment today, or on a Saturday | The profile’s hours and phone, and a page that says how to get an emergency appointment |
| “pediatric dentist near me”, “orthodontist near me” | A specialist | The specialist’s profile under that specialty’s category, and their page |
| “dental implants near me”, “Invisalign”, “veneers”, “teeth whitening near me”, “braces near me” | A treatment, close to home | A page for each treatment, and the treatment listed in the profile’s services |
| “dental implants cost”, “dental crown cost”, “dentist that accepts Medicaid” | To know whether they can afford it | A cost and payment section on the treatment page, and a page for the insurance you take |
| Your practice’s name, a dentist’s name | You | Your homepage, each dentist’s page and the profile |
| “how often should you floss”, “best electric toothbrush” | An answer, and no dentist | No page: this reader is not choosing a practice |
An orthodontic practice answers both kinds: “orthodontist near me” looks for the specialist, and “braces” or “Invisalign” for the treatment. Orthodontist SEO covers what each of them needs.
“Near me” and your town
“Near me” does not need to be written on your pages. Google measures the distance from where the searcher is to each office, so the office’s address, on the profile and on its page, does that work. It also means an office has no single position for “dentist near me”, and a dentist SEO company should show you where it appears from the parts of town your patients come from. Your town’s name belongs on the pages of the office that is there. A page for each nearby town where you have no office is what Google’s spam policies call a doorway, and it puts the whole site at risk.
One page for each treatment
Phrases that name the same treatment share one page: “dental implants”, “tooth implants” and “implant dentist near me” are all answered by your implant page. A second page for the same treatment competes with the first for the same searches, and neither ranks as well as one page would.
Before a phrase gets a page, search it on your phone near the office. The map at the top goes to profiles, and the practice pages under it go to treatment pages. Where health sites and news fill the results instead, the searcher wants to understand something before choosing, and the answer goes on your treatment page.
Where to find your own
The Performance report in each office’s Business Profile lists the searches that found that office. Search Console lists the searches your pages already appear for and how high, so it shows which treatments Google connects to your site and which it does not. The rest your front desk hears on the phone: “Do you do Invisalign?”, “Can I get in today?”
Dental content marketing covers what each treatment page says, and the dental SEO strategy puts them in order with the profile and the reviews.