The Basics of Google Analytics for Dentists

 

The Basics of Google Analytics for Dentists

The number one priority of dentists that own a dental practice is to provide high-quality dental care to those in their surrounding community. Our digital marketing experts understand that in order to achieve this goal, there needs to be traffic driven to the practice’s website.

Increasing your website’s traffic can help increase your domain authority, which allows you to rank higher on search engine results. This may leave you wondering how exactly you can boost your traffic, and hopefully increase your amount of dental patients.

That’s where Google Analytics can help by providing website analytics for dentists. In this article we will introduce you to a data tool that can help you create a strategy for increasing traffic to your site.

 

What Is Google Analytics for Dentists?

Google Analytics is a data collection tool that can be used to track the performance of your dental practice’s website. This data includes the amount of visitors to your website, along with the amount of time spent on each page. It also collects data on the user visiting the site in order to track the amount of new and returning traffic is being generated.

All of this information and more can then be generated into reports that allow you to gain a better understanding of your online presence. The different report types are as follows:

  1. Real-Time Reports: This is a live report that shows you the user data from your site during the time you are viewing it. This is a great way to get an overview of your site traffic at any given time.
  2. Audience Reports: These reports give you insight on the demographics of your website users, including age and location. You can also learn the type of device they are using to view the site. User information like this will help you to cater your web, social, and advertising content to those specific audiences.
  3. Behavior Reports: This gives valuable insight over how users are interacting with your website, detailing which pages they view and the page they were on when they left the site. This can help you decide which of your website pages has the most engaging content, and determine areas for improvement.
  4. Acquisition Reports: This report type tells you how your website visitors came across your website. Having this information can aid you in determining your ad spend budget, and if you need to invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services. The acquisition methods include:
    • Organic – by searching on Google or other search engines.
    • Paid Ads (CPC) – when a user clicks on a paid “cost per click” ad.
    • Referral – a user clicks on a link to your website from another website.
    • Social – a user clicks a link from a social media platform.

How Does Google Analytics Benefit Your Dental Practice?

These reports along with other Google Analytics features enable you to analyze and monitor your website data and give you the means to visualize that information into deliverables you can easily digest. This allows you to take control and create an effective strategy to market your business and continue building an online presence.

No matter the size of your practice, people are using google analytics for businesses large and small.

 

Implementing Google Analytics for Your Website

In order to get started with Google Analytics, it is important to become familiar with one of their companion tools, Google Tag Manager. This tool works as the link to connect your website to your Google Analytics dashboard.

Within Google Tag Manager you can create an account for your business that holds the tags for your website within a container. For each container, a unique set of code is created (referred to as GTM code). When the container tags are properly set up with your Google Analytics properties and your GTM code is added to the backend of your website, you will then be able to start collecting data for your site.

Although the details for this process seem a tad complicated, we can assure you that it is well worth the time and effort. There is nothing more valuable than the opportunity to understand the needs and interests of our customers and patients.

Taking control of your online presence doesn’t just increase your amount of website traffic, but it also improves the overall user experience for those navigating the site.

 

Experts in Google Analytics and Digital Marketing for Dentists

We understand that your number one priority is providing the best possible dental care to your patients. That can sometimes mean that your experience with digital marketing tools gets left on the back burner. At Harris & Ward, we help dentists just like you remove the burden of digital marketing for your dental practice.

Our team is experienced in SEO for dentists and dental websites. We can even help you set up your own Google Analytics account. Sometimes it can be difficult knowing where to start, but we can guide you along the way.

Your focus should be on building relationships with your current patients and catering to their unique dental needs. That’s why you can trust having our marketing professionals in your corner to help find potential patients to help your practice grow.

Interested in learning more about Google Analytics and the services we have to offer? Don’t hesitate to visit our website for more information on dental marketing.

Link Building for Dentists Who Want to Grow Their SEO

A breakdown of the importance of a robust link building strategy for your dental practice.

Link Building for DentistsSearch Engines like Google and Bing have a complex algorithm in which they rank your website compared to your competitors. This article focuses on the importance of a link building strategy for dental websites.

High quality, white hat link building plays an important role in driving organic traffic from search engines like Google, especially in competitive industries. Combined with a strong technical SEO foundation, great on-page SEO, exceptional content, and a good user experience, link building can be effective at driving loads of organic traffic.

Today, the need for quality, relevance, and authenticity has never been more important. While low-quality, spammy link building techniques can work, they shouldn’t play a part in a strategy for an organization who is building for long-term organic search success.

Arguably, link building these days is more akin to great marketing, and the organizations who understand this are usually the ones who win long-term. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a technical aspect to building links or that all techniques need to revolve around your product. We’ll see that there’s still far more to it than this, and far more to understand than ever before.

Read More: The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building by MOZ

The Definition of Link Building

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. A hyperlink (usually just called a link) is a way for users to navigate between pages on the Internet. Search engines use links to crawl the web. They will crawl the links between the individual pages on your website, and they will crawl the links between entire websites.


What Is Link Building? Explain it to me like I’m 5…

Explain SEO Like I'm Five

Link building is the practice of acquiring links to your website from other websites. In SEO, these links are called backlinks. Getting backlinks from high-quality sites can pass authority to your site, as well as help you rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

According to Google, “After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify signals that can help determine which content demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

For example, one of several factors we use to help determine this is understanding if other prominent websites link or refer to the content. This has often proven to be a good sign that the information is well trusted. Aggregated feedback from our Search quality evaluation process is used to further refine how our systems discern the quality of information.”


What are Guest Posts?

Guest Posts are our method of securing high-quality, contextual links that lead back to your site. We do this by manually reaching out to relevant sites in your industry, securing a guest posting slot, and publishing an article on the site(s).

We use your top keywords for the highest authority posts and work our way down the list, maximizing your SEO results.

Other Areas of SEO to consider.

 

Technical SEO

Audit and recommendations for optimizing your website to help search engines like Google find, crawl, understand, and index your pages. The goal is to be found and improve rankings.

Blog Writing

Blog Writing in our program includes high-quality, SEO-optimized articles crafted for your site based on your competitive gap analysis. Adding content to your website shows Google that you are an authority. Blog posts are an excellent way to leverage your internal team as well.

The purpose of blog content is to increase the amount of keywords your website ranks for, as well as target mid-cycle buyer keywords that lead customers to purchase. This content is also a perfect inbound marketing tool, as it builds trust by sharing relevant and valuable info with your readers.

 

Should I hire a link building agency?

 

Acquiring high authority links for your dental website is something an seo agency is perfect for. You landed on our dental marketing blog for a reason! Hiring a link build company like Harris & Ward will guarantee your website gets the type of links needed to outrank your competitors.

Link Building improves your website brand signals and adds contextual relevance. These links pack a punch and mimic the path of viral content – channeling authority through multiple tiers of links back into your site.

We place diverse anchors (including, brand & partial match anchors) inside of contextually relevant articles.


Next Steps: How to grow your dental website organically

Ultimately, the most important step you can take is to gather data. Run a site audit or reach out to a local seo agency for support. They can give you a clear understanding of where your site currently ranks. Understanding your situation is crucial. And, most agencies would gladly run you a discovery report for free.

A Dental SEO Agency has the tools to provide high quality link building paired with a full scale campaign of content creation, technical seo, and more. Organic search is a data centric endeavor so gather everything you can. Harris & Ward provides 100% transparency throughout the process. So, regardless of who you partner with, be sure to ask questions and ensure that you have visibility into the process and deliverables. 

SEO doesn’t have to be a scary process. In fact, it’s so data friedly that the right partnership will make you understand and enjoy your SEO campaign.

 

How to Generate Inbound Traffic to Your Dental Website

About 65% of businesses say generating website traffic is among their top marketing challenges. Without quality traffic, you’ll never generate leads or sales. Your entire digital marketing strategy could suffer as a result.

Before that happens, use these tips to start generating traffic to your dental website. With these digital marketing tips, you can help your dental practice grow.

As more people find your website, they can discover the benefits of choosing your dental services. Then, you can book more appointments, help more patients, and grow your practice!

Read on to generate traffic to your website today.

Understand Your Audience

Before using the rest of these digital marketing tips, take a moment to gather research. Researching your audience will help you determine the best way to attract them to your website. If your content doesn’t appeal to their needs, they won’t visit.

Consider who your customers are by gathering demographic and psychographic research. For example, you can create buyer personas based on:

  • Pain points
  • Buying behaviors
  • Online behaviors
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Salary
  • Education
  • Career
  • Hobbies
  • Interests
  • Language

Focus on the pain points your customers are experiencing. Understanding their pain points can help you create content that aligns with their needs. You’ll have an easier time becoming a go-to resource for your customers if you offer them helpful solutions.

To strengthen your business marketing strategy, gather keyword research for each group. Keyword research can help you determine what questions your customers ask while online.

You can use these tools to develop a list of target keywords:

  • Ahrefs
  • SEMRush
  • Answer the Public
  • Google Trends
  • Keyword Planner

Focus on long-tail keywords that include four or more words. These are more precise, allowing you to understand the consumer’s needs.

For example, it’s easier to understand “how to tell you have a cavity” over the short-tail keyword “cavity.” The latter could mean the consumer wants to know what causes a cavity or how to treat a cavity. A broad keyword will make it more difficult for you to write content your patients want to read.

Create Informative Content

Consider three topics you want to cover on your dental website’s blog. For example, you might cover oral hygiene, cosmetic dentistry, and orthodontic treatment.

Then, select three subtopics for each main topic. Under cosmetic dentistry, you might choose teeth whitening, veneers, and implant dentistry. Make sure to gather a list of target keywords for each subtopic you select.

Use your keyword research to inform your content marketing strategy. Select a target keyword from your list before writing your content. Otherwise, trying to add the keyword into the post after the fact can make it sound awkward.

When creating content for your dental website, make sure it’s engaging and informative. Helpful content can help you generate traffic. If your content doesn’t provide patients with value, they’ll leave.

As people leave your site, your bounce rate will increase, impacting your search engine rankings. As your rankings drop, potential patients might struggle to find you online.

Use SEO

Nearly 70% of all online activity begins on a search engine like Google. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can appear as patients search for a dental practice. Improving your rankings will help you generate traffic.

Make sure to optimize each page on your website with a target keyword. Your target keyword should appear in the:

  • Page title
  • URL
  • Opening paragraph
  • Body text
  • Closing paragraph
  • An H1 header
  • SEO title and meta description
  • Image file name and alt text

The SEO title and meta description will appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). Make sure they’re engaging and attractive to boost your clickthrough rate. Improving your clickthrough rate will help your rankings improve.

Go Local

As part of your SEO strategy, it’s important to consider local SEO. Start by optimizing your Google Business listing. Your listing can help patients find your location, phone number, and website.

They can click on the link to your site to explore your dental services.

Ask your patients to post their reviews on your listing as well. Positive reviews can boost your credibility, encouraging more people to explore your practice.

Generate Backlinks

Backlinks will send visitors on other websites to your dental website. You can generate backlinks by guest blogging. Otherwise, consider hiring a dental marketing agency that offers link-building services.

Generating backlinks will further improve your organic rankings.

Design Eye-Catching Ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising will help you reach patients on social media, Google SERPs, and other websites. When someone clicks on your ads, they’ll reach a landing page on your site.

You can use your demographic and keyword research to ensure your ads appear in front of prospective patients.

Create both text and display ads. You can use display ads to generate brand awareness.

Start Using Social Media

You can reformat your blog posts for the social media platforms your patients frequent. Social media marketing can also help you boost engagement.

For example, you can host a live Q&A video session to answer questions and concerns your patients have about their dental hygiene. You can also use Story stickers to create polls, quizzes, and other forms of interactive content.

Add a link to your site to generate traffic to the full blog post.

Work With Influencers

Expand your reach on social media by working with an influencer. Influencers can promote your dental website to their existing audience.

Otherwise, consider posting user-generated content. Ask your patients to tag them in their photos when they talk about your dental services. Then, share their content to boost your brand visibility and credibility.

Analyze and Optimize

Analyze the results from your digital marketing campaigns to determine which strategies helped you generate the most traffic. Check Google Analytics to determine where consumers arrive from, too. For example, you can determine which visitors found you on SERPs or through social media.

Use your analytics to adjust and optimize your campaigns to generate more traffic in the future.

Brush Up: Start Generating Traffic to Your Dental Website Today

Developing a strong digital marketing strategy can help you generate traffic to your dental website. As you generate more traffic, you’ll have the chance to help new patients. Get started with these easy tips.

Otherwise, consider partnering with an experienced digital marketing agency. An agency can manage your campaigns while you help patients.

Eager to get started? We’re happy to help.

Harris & Ward has been selected among the Top AdWords Agencies by DesignRush. Contact us today!