5 Local SEO Myths That Are Hurting Your Dental Practice

You’re following outdated SEO advice—here are the 5 myths that could be costing your practice patients.

Stick with me to learn about these SEO myths and how you can avoid them to attract more local patients.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Kelsey and I’m the Chief Strategy Officer here at Roadside Dental Marketing.

I am also a complete geek for metrics and marketing. Google certified for Analytics, Ads Management, Search, and Video, and last year, I won the ‘Who’s Who in the World’ Award for Marketing.

Why These 5 SEO Myths Could Be Costing You Patients

Local dental SEO is one of the most important ways for patients to find practices online, but outdated advice is holding many practices back.

And with A LOT of punches at Google lately — like the evolution of AI and its court battle with becoming a monopoly — it’s more important than ever that you get a firm understanding of what you exactly need to focus on in your marketing so you get found online.

Myth 1: Keywords in Review Responses Impact Rankings

Our first myth is that keywords in responses to Google reviews impact ranking. Keywords in the reviews themselves? Yes, 100%! You want those. They definitely impact your ranking.

But what doesn’t impact ranking is for you to respond to those reviews and be like, “Thanks for using our best dentist in Seattle.” That doesn’t help. Adding keywords to your responses? Nope, it’s not a factor.

At first, I thought, “We know keywords and reviews work. Why don’t you just put keywords in the responses?” I was really excited about it. I tried it, and it was just… sad trombone. Nothing happened; it fell flat, and it had zero ranking impact.

Do respond to every review, but make your responses sound like you were speaking to a human. Tell them how thankful you are for their review. Just kindly respond to them. However, ensure you follow HIPAA regulations and do not stuff it with keywords because they will not help you rank.

Myth 2: Ranking #1 Is ALL That Matters

Next up, ranking #1 is all that matters. Some people put so much effort into ranking at the top that they don’t think about the optimization opportunities. Sometimes the practice ranking #1 gets fewer leads and calls than the business ranking #4 if the lower ranking practice has taken the time to really build out their GBP listing.

The gist is to fill out everything, add photos, regularly publish Posts, maintain your listing, and keep it up to date. So, it’s not all about rankings—that’s a myth.

Myth 3: Call Tracking Numbers Negatively Impact Rankings

Some people seem to still think – still, to this day! – that adding a call tracking number to your GBP listing can negatively impact your rankings. No, it does not! You just have to do it the right way. If you keep your regular number in there, then it’s no problem.

The primary number becomes the call-tracking number, so anyone who goes to your listing will call the tracking number, and you can track it in your tracking software.

So go ahead and track those calls so you know which channel is driving the most leads.

Myth 4: Keywords In Description Impact Rankings

This is a big one. I literally hear this all the time, “Keywords in the Google My Business description impact rankings.” People and other agencies think this will work and think, hey Google gives me this field for the description so I’m just going to stuff that with keywords.

You see this quite regularly in GBP listings. They are wasting that space because Google does not look at that field for ranking purposes. So many people have tested this. Put whatever you want in there; Google does not consider it for ranking.

The best thing to do with this field is to use it as sales copy. You want to convert somebody reading it, get them interested in your practice so that they pick up the phone and call you or click on your website. Ensure you’re using this field for conversion purposes, not ranking purposes.

Myth 5: Local SEO Is One and Done

“Design a solid SEO plan, implement it, and you’re set for life.”

This is an age-old SEO myth, but it’s sad to see new practice owners falling for it.

There’s always new competition entering the market, and existing practices are starting to level up. This leaves you in a position to constantly work on your SEO, research new keywords, craft new content, build better backlinks, and improve your site’s ranking.

You must maintain a good relationship with an experienced strategic agency. Do not hire freelancers. You need someone who can navigate your practice requirements, understand the existing SEO plan and efficiently improve it to deliver better results.

So, now that you know these 5 SEO myths, it’s time to focus on what works to boost your local visibility and attract more patients.

If you need help implementing a solid SEO strategy for your practice, get started with personalized support from our team at Roadside Dental Marketing by filling out the form below.