Introduction
If you’re here, then I’m guessing that you’ve just partnered with a dental SEO company, but are having doubts about achieving your desired results. Unfortunately, there is no definite timeline for any search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to take effect and show results. This might cause some worry and doubt when the dental SEO marketing company you hired does not show you promising results, even after a few months.
When is the right time to start worrying and how do you know if your SEO company is the right one for you? What should you look out for? Read on more to find out tips and tricks for identifying the best dental seo company.
What A Dental SEO Marketing Company Can Do For Me
Dental SEO marketing companies help to promote your dental practice by improving its online presence and visibility. This is done by bumping your website up the search results list across different search engines such as Google and Bing.
It might look simple, but there’s a lot of work done behind the scenes! Dental SEO often includes both on and off-page optimization to improve your site. On-page SEO refers to all internal web improvements, such as improving the user’s web experience, improving content quality, etc. Off-page SEO refers to external implementations that help boost your site’s authority, such as link building, content creation, etc. All in all, a dental SEO marketing company ensures that your website is more secure, mobile-friendly, contains high-quality content, and is fully maximized to generate client conversions.
What To Look Out For In A Dental SEO Marketing Company
It’s hard to identify what’s good and bad practices for a marketing company. Fortunately for you, here are some useful questions to bear in mind!
Do They Provide Various Forms Of Audits And Reports?
Whilst receiving a competitor analysis and website audit is one of the most fundamental things for all SEO agencies, your marketing agency must provide you with different forms of reports, especially in the initial weeks when the progress has just been started. The first report to note is a Keyword Ranking Report, which tracks your brand’s position with regards to the finalized keywords, and can be used to identify any potential flaws in the SEO process. The second report is a competitors’ ranking report, which helps keep an eye out for any potential spikes or strategy implementation amongst your competitors. The last one is an SEO analysis report, which provides you with link-building, page traffic, page speed, bounce rates, and conversion rate reports.
How Long Is It Taking For Your Site Rankings To Increase?
Whilst it’s common knowledge that SEO is not an overnight miracle, it shouldn’t take more than three months for your rankings to start showing improvement. Again, this doesn’t mean that you’ll be catapulted onto the first page of Google, but your site rankings should be better off than where you began. It may be a slow process, but this is a good sign that your dental SEO marketing company is on the right track.
Are You Using The Appropriate Keywords?
Choosing the proper keywords is the core to building a successful SEO strategy. For dental companies, using long-tail keywords that include your services and your geographical location are key to increasing your site visibility and attracting relevant traffic. Ranking for generic keywords won’t start the ball rolling!
Do They Recommend Other Digital Marketing Forms?
Dabbling in SEO is effective, but a well-crafted combination of marketing techniques has proven to be far more effective than just using it alone. Using a range of marketing tactics like content, social media, and even email marketing can help you build brand awareness even quicker and reach a wider target audience. For example, social media marketing is a good way to further enhance your online presence, improve social media engagement and boost Google reviews. These would help you rank quicker and grow your rate of returning visitors.
Have They Done On-Page SEO For Your Site?
Good dental SEO marketing companies should also optimize your website’s on-page optimization, in addition to off-page SEO. These include enhancing elements such as your website’s loading speed, content quality, and even keyword density.
How’s Your Site Traffic and Revenue?
We’ve finally arrived at the two most straightforward performance markers: your website’s traffic and revenue. Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. A sudden drop in site traffic and revenue may not necessarily be because your agency isn’t performing up to standard. There might be a variety of factors that have contributed to this change –– an algorithmic penalty, for example, which has nothing to do with your marketing agency. Plus, it’s important to remember that not all traffic is good traffic. You want relevant traffic that comes from long-tailed keywords generated by your ideal audience, which has a much higher chance of client conversions.
The Red Flags In A SEO Marketing Agency
Conversely, there are a few red flags that you should look out for and avoid SEO marketing companies like these as much as possible.
You’re ‘Guaranteed’ The First Ranking On Google
“With us, you’ll rank first on Google in no time.” If this sounds familiar, you should start running for the hills. Any legitimate SEO marketing company knows the unpredictability of search engine algorithms –– not even the Google CEO himself can guarantee you the first rank for any keyword. This can’t happen!
They Reached Out With A Spam Email
This should be common sense. If an SEO company has to resort to fooling customers with spam emails, it’s probably those who have failed to get customers organically or through paid advertising. It’s most likely a fraudulent company.
They Produce Content For Search Engines, Not Users
A good SEO agency should create content for the people, instead of for the search engines. This practice is known as keyword stuffing, where keywords are overloaded into content, and are unlikely to produce good results. One way to gauge whether the content on your website is created for users is to ask yourself whether the content is worthy of being shared on Linkedin. If it isn’t, then that content is probably of low quality.
They Ask For A Link Back To Their Site
Whilst this may be common practice among web designers, SEO marketing companies would never require you to link back to their website on your website as an ‘exchange’ to promote their company. Your website is yours, and you’re not entitled to disclose your digital marketing strategy to anyone.
You Receive Bad And Spammy Links
Not all links are good links, and having high numbers of linkbacks doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily beneficial. Bad SEO marketing companies often bring a temporary spike in rankings, based on low-quality spammy links back to your website. Unfortunately, because these links are not related to your industry, it will result in a negative impact on your SEO in the long term. One common red flag that fraudulent agencies use is to use their blogs to direct traffic to the client’s website. Once your contract ends, these links will redirect to the agency’s new client’s site, which may possibly end up being a competitor of yours.
They Offer You ‘Cookie-Cutter’ Packages
Stay away from SEO companies that offer cookie-cutter packages, which could resemble something like: ‘Premium Package: 30 pages on-site optimization + 200 directory submissions + 500 articles + 400 social bookmarks’. Companies that offer such packages give the impression that SEO is a mechanical process, which tells me that they don’t truly know what they’re doing. Each website is unique and requires different deliverables –– you can’t lump them all together in a one-size-fits-all premium package. In addition, beware of those offering too-good-to-be-true prices. A good SEO strategy is costly, and after all, you’re paying for what you get.
Plus, those that offer a gargantuan volume of articles are often ones that contain bad linking, spam comments, and spun content –– the three red flags that Google hates the most. As a result, you’ll be placed under significant risk of receiving Google’s penalty, which will take more than any SEO agency hire fee to get rid of.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to always look out for the above-mentioned features when assessing your dental SEO marketing company to determine whether they are the most suitable one for you and your dental practice.
