One marketing tool that Google offers to businesses free of charge is Google My Business (GMB). This tool has the potential to engage potential clients and provide a link to the dentist’s website. It is key to know how one can make the best use of their GMB if you want to have a high chance of people choosing your dental practice.
First of all, we will assume in this article that your dental practice has an already existing Google My Business listing and that you have verified it. In the following case, the aforementioned statement does not apply to you, or if for any reason you find it hard to verify your listing, this simple guide from Google might come to your assistance.
Upon logging in to your GMB account, complete as many fields in the info section as possible. The more information, the more good signs you are sending to Google. Next, we will focus on more specific things to do to take advantage of your GMB listing.
1. Focus on Your NAP
In the SEO world, we have always been told that it is of paramount importance to standardize your practice’s NAP: Name, Address, Phone number. Shockingly, a lot of dental practices have had difficulties with the NAP standardization, thus the existence of multiple variations of NAP across their digital properties. An instance in which one address appears on the website, a different one is used on the Facebook page, and yet another on the GMB profile, or sometimes the practice name may be different, has been noticed to cause duplicate listings on Google My Business, Yelp, or other directory sites; hence, it is sure to lower the rankings. Such variations are rare, though they may very well happen. In the image below, slight mismatches of the dental practice name and the address between what is on their GMB listing (above) and that of their website (below) are seen:
Take a good look at your NAP on each of your digital properties—a website, a Facebook page, a GMB listing, and any other social media accounts of your dental practice. Ensure that they are all exactly identical. If you indicate a suite number in one place, it should be listed in every location—we also suggest using the same abbreviations every time. Don’t have “Ste 101” in one place and “#101” in another place—pick one and use it everywhere. If you spell out “Street” on your website, spell it out on all other digital properties.
These differences may only be small, but in the ultra-competitive world of SEO, these small changes might mean that you will or will not appear in the local maps section and also will influence your position in the organic search results.
2. Reflect Positively
Your GMB profile stands to gain plenty from high-quality photo uploads. One thing is certain, and it’s that Google does not control the photos attached to your GMB listing, so the images may be posted by anyone, and the images may be of high or low quality. One way to enable people to have a clearer picture of your dental office is through the photo area of your listing. If necessary, you can even have the smiling faces of your employees also inserted. Apart from visible evidence of their presence, such as photos, the same data from Google points to customers being more likely to: 1. Request directions to your location and 2. visit the site…
This site gives you the full specifications and instructions on which image sizes and types are most recommended for GMB.
Not making use of the usual stock photos is a better idea. Turn on your camera, take photos of really good quality (or, perhaps, hire a professional to take some), and then add them to your GMB profile. If you keep adding new photos, part of the result is that Google will notice your regular profile updates, and, in turn, this will be a great signal for.
3. Post’s Timely Arrival
Features of Google My Business are the key to both potential and real patients. Here, the connection point is the post you create on a frequent basis. And in the posts, you have a wide range of topics. You can always choose from whatever you like when it comes to the category of the post you’d like to post:
It’s very likely that most of the time you will be posting “Add Update,” which is a general post about almost any subject, such as brief notes to remind people that they should go for regular cleaning, short pieces about various dental services you offer your patients, special holiday hours, etc. Another choice to post a special promotion you are doing during certain dates is the “Add Offer” option. The “Add Event” post type is for that time when you want to give a heads-up to your visitors at the dental clinic about a particular event that will occur there, like a coloring contest or a tooth fairy visit.
Just like adding photos to your listing, posting frequently is a good signal to Google. Would you believe that this post you are doing on your Facebook or Instagram page, you can use the content for the same post? You’ll have been saving your own hours and energy.
4. Respond to Reviews
Responding to reviews is another way to indicate to Google that your dental business is connecting with people and worth ranking high. The GMB listing has the owner (and many times the managers) who will receive emails when a new review is received. If you wish to reply, log in to your GMB account and visit the Reviews section, then click the “Reply” button near each review and write down your response. Knowing that the greatest part of the population reads reviews before deciding on a particular dental clinic, your reaction through the reviews will just be the right point that you care about your office.
The problem for dental clinics comes in when it comes to being HIPAA compliant. All responses have to follow HIPAA guidelines, which, in other words, means that no patient information can be disclosed in the process of replying, even if the reviewer has already mentioned that he or she is a patient. Therefore, this is not a HIPAA-compliant reaction from a dental practice, as it is recognizing the reviewer as a patient:
A better reply would have been, “Thank you for your review and your recommendation. We love to hear about positive experiences!” This doesn’t confirm the reviewer was a patient but communicates gratitude for the review. For more examples of how to respond to both good and bad reviews in a HIPAA-compliant manner, read this article from doctor.com.
5. Respond to Questions (and Even Prime the Pump with Some of Your Own)
Most dentists are cognizant of the reviews the business receives; however, only a few are people who are kept informed about the reviews that others place directly on the GMB listing. In order to check your practice listing for questions that the public posted, you have to go to Google.com and type the name of your practice (not the website address). Your GMB listing should be visible like it is for a member of the public. Scroll down where you should find the Questions & Answers part, and then click “See all questions.”
Everyone can freely answer any question for your practice. It is important to answer it yourself since the answers might be incorrect. In the case that you are logged in with the same Google account that your dental practice GMB account is owned by, then a response provided by you will be indicated in this way, and Google will consider this as an expert’s answer. Observe the difference in the answers from the dental practice and the “local guide”.
This is also very interesting because you have gotten the green light to write the questions and their answers in advance. You know that such subjects as the place of parking, insurance coverage, and allowing disabled people to be your clients are often what people are concerned about. You can still bring up these issues when no one has asked, and the message will be transmitted to Google in a positive way.
Engage with Inquiries and Proactively Address Concerns
Your use of the free Google My Business tool offers you a simple yet effective approach to enhance your dental practice’s digital marketing, which in turn makes it more accessible to numerous customers, bringing in profits. Should you require assistance in managing your practice’s Google My Business area or any other aspect of dental SEO or PPC, reach out to DDSRank to see how we can help grow your practice.
