Dental SEO Marketing Study: Shady Grove Pediatric Dental
PROBLEM: Dr. Bana Ball at Shady Grove Pediatric Dentistry wanted to grow her practice by finding new patients through dental local search marketing strategies, which is a dentist SEO strategy.
CASE STUDY: Prior to working with My Social Practice Dr. Ball had never optimized her Google My Business listing. She had done some of her own website optimization and also worked with other dental marketing companies on website SEO, but she was looking for a SEO strategy that would be inexpensive and effective in order to keep her new patient acquisition costs low. She thought the idea of optimizing her Google maps listing was an interesting opportunity since she also uses Google maps to find local businesses.
A Bit About Local Google SEO?
Local SEO or what we like to call Google Maps SEO, is a dental SEO service that focuses on increasing phone calls directly from Google maps search results. Studies have shown that approximately 2/3rds of dental patients find a new dentist in the map rather than in the organic website section. The organic SERP section is below the Google map.
Studies have also shown that more than 50% of all website visitors are on a mobile device and many use the Google maps app to find local businesses. This means that potential patients are completely skipping traditional Google search and going straight to the Google map to find results.
Dr. Ball had never heard about this type of optimization but she did know that most of her community looked for local businesses using the Google map and so she agreed to be included in the case study. The test was to see if we could increase new patient phone calls by being found in Google maps.
SOLUTION: When My Social Practice first started working with Shady Grove Pediatric Dentistry, their local search results were sub-par. We began focusing on the top two phrases that potential patients would search when looking for a pediatric dentist. Which were ‘pediatric dentist’ and ‘children’s dentist.’
Start Of The Marketing Campaign
The initial Google maps ranking report uncovered that her practice was not showing up in their immediate area for many of the pediatric keywords. In the local SEO search grid below you’ll see how well her practice was ranking around her area. Her practice is located in the center of the grid at the blue marker. Each one of the circular nodes with a number is the position of where Shady Grove shows up in the Google map while searching from that location.
Meaning, if you were standing at one of the green nodes you’d find her practice listed on the front page of Google in the map. But if the node is yellow or red you would not find her on the first page.
When considering the fact that 92% of people searching for a local business do not look past the first page, having more green nodes is a big deal. If you rank well in Google maps you get new patient phone calls, if you don’t rank well, you won’t.
A little more detail on the grid report: The nodes are separated a half mile from each other, giving the size of the map a 3.5 mile to 4.0 mile radius. This particular grid is for her main keyword ‘pediatric dentist’, and as you can see she’s not ranking very well.
Middle Of The Marketing Campaign
The shifting of the colored nodes from a random pattern (above) to more of a condensed and centered pattern (below) is part of the local SEO marketing process. As you being to do the optimization, Google recognizes the practice as being more relevant for dental searches in that area. The circular pattern is typical of what happens in the beginning of a SEO dental campaign.
I read in an ADA article once that a little over 80% of all dental patients come from a 3 mile radius around the practice. I believe that that data is not completely correct, but I can’t imagine it being too far off. That stat puts ranking on the first page a big deal. Any dental practice wanting to increase phone calls would find ranking in a 3 mile radius a big win.
End Of The Marketing Campaign
After 12 months of optimization this is what her report looked like. As you can see the green nodes have expanded in a circular pattern and she’s ranking in about a 3 mile radius for the keyword ‘pediatric dentist’.
Above the dentist SEO report is telling us, is that for about 1.5 miles North and West of her practice, and about 2 – 2.5 miles to the East and South, her practice is ranking on the first page of Google maps.
After working with hundreds of practices on this type of optimization a dental SEO tip is that every grid report and optimization is a little bit different. Factors like, competition, geographical limits like mountain ranges and parks, density of population, the keywords that we’re optimizing for, all have an effect on how the grid report looks over time.
After about three months into the study I spoke with Dr. Ball and I recorded our call. Check out in her own words how she felt about the dental local search marketing service at that time.
“I’m getting so many new patient phone calls from Google maps that I’m hiring a new hygienist.” Dr. Ball
Dental SEO Marketing Results
This SEO for dentists case study spanned a six month period from March 18th 2021 to September 18, 2021. When comparing the data of the dental marketing case study against the prior 12 months statistics, we find these results:
- Organic search impressions: 18,380, 265% increase.
- Google maps impressions: 12,630, 250% increase.
- Clicks from Google maps to website: 925, 223% increase.
- Phone calls from Google maps: 373 calls, 230% increase.
- Increased revenue: $12,682*
What are organic search impressions? This is how many times Dr. Ball’s website showed up in the organic section of Google search results. These are the results below the map. So, even though we were not optimizing for that location we found that there was definitely some transference benefit.
*Estimation on increased revenue. Calculated at a 9% schedule rate of new phone calls and $671 per new patient.
ONE MORE THOUGHT About Dental Local Search Marketing
In the example above I’ve only shown the grid report for the keyword ‘pediatric dentist’. But, we focused on two keywords and saw improvement with both of them. But one really important SEO research tip was that we also saw her traffic go up on long tail keywords. Long tail key words are long phrases like, ‘Who is the best dentist in Miami Florida’ or ‘How much does a dental implant cost without insurance?’.
Long tail keywords don’t get as much search traffic as other phrases but they are highly specific and therefore valuable.
All in all, we saw an uptick in about three dozen long tail keywords.
Need Some Help? We Got You Covered
The first step is to see where you are currently ranking. We are happy to offer you a complimentary grid ranking report. Go to Google Maps SEO Grid Reports and fill out the form, or request a demo.
About the Author: Adrian Lefler is an expert dental marketer and a key member of the dental marketing team at My Social Practice. My Social Practice is a dental marketing company located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Adrian is passionate about helping dental practices grow. If you’d like to book one of the members of My Social Practice’s speaking team, please give us a call or fill our the form on our speaking page. And, please read our Google My Business reviews.
