{"id":2340,"date":"2014-08-10T21:58:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T01:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rojaweb.com\/?p=2340"},"modified":"2014-08-10T21:58:02","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T01:58:02","slug":"137-seo-ranking-factors-dentists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rojaweb.com\/137-seo-ranking-factors-dentists\/","title":{"rendered":"137 SEO Ranking Factors for Dentists"},"content":{"rendered":"
While we know that Google uses more than 200 different factors in their complicated ranking algorithm, they have never released a full list, making it difficult for any type of website to efficiently and effectively climb the rankings ladder. SEO for dentists<\/a> is important because a high search ranking is especially important for dentists who often rely on their websites in order to draw in new patients and educate current ones. Even the best website will only be useful if it can be found by potential patients.<\/p>\n Though this list of ranking factors cannot be called comprehensive, as Google has closely guarded their factors, this list does provide an excellent starting point for any dentist office looking to leverage Google\u2019s own search algorithm in their favor. You are going to see the word \u201crelevant\u201d many times in this list. This is because peppering your site with keywords unrelated to the actual content of your site (but may have great Google rankings), will lower your ranking overall.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Domain Age<\/strong> – While the span of time your domain has been in use may slightly affect your ranking, it is not the most important factor.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Keywords in Domain Names<\/strong> – While it is of course important to have your website full of relevant, well-used, dentist-related keywords, it is equally important to ensure that your domain name contains a relevant keyword. Some argue that it should hold the foremost position, while others say that it should simply make an appearance in the domain. Either way, it would be beneficial for your domain name to contain the word \u201cdentist\u201d and your location, along with other oft-search keywords.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Sub-Domain Keywords<\/strong> – Another great way to work keywords into your domain name is to use them in your sub-domains. If your website splits into sub-domains, ensure that each of these at least contains (begins with is better) a ranking, dentist-relevant keyword.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Keywords in Exact Match Domains <\/strong>– The best way to leverage keywords is with an exact match domain name. These are, for example, if someone searches \u201cdentist new york city,\u201d and your domain name is \u201cdentistnewyorkcity.com.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>Length of Domain Registration<\/strong> – According to Google\u2019s own patent: \u201c”Valuable [legitimate] domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway [illegitimate] domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain.”<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>History of the Domain<\/strong> – Unless you are using a domain that has never been registered (unlikely, especially for keyword-rich domain names) it is likely that another practice owned the domain before it was registered for your office. If websites have been hacked, were used maliciously, or were owned by someone whose other sites were malicious, it may restrict your ability to rank well. Before purchasing and registering a domain, you can check what is called \u201cthe whois.\u201d This will show you if the website has any mark against its name.<\/p>\n 7. Country Extension<\/strong> – Using a .cn, .eu, or other country extension can help you find a better domain name, especially if other dentists offices have used all the keyword and exact match domains. It may, however limit your search results to a certain geographic area. For example, you would not want to register for a .cn domain if your office is in America.<\/p>\n 8. <\/strong>Title Tags<\/strong> – All webpages are required to have a title tag, and Google relies heavily on title tags to establish page rankings. Tags that incorporate keywords will be the most effective for driving traffic to your site. Aside from page content, title tags are one of the best indicators of search phrase relevancy. Ensuring that your title begins with a keyword is essential, as the graph to the right reveals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 9. <\/strong>Description Tags<\/strong> – These are the short page descriptions that show up under a website\u2019s link in the search results. Keywords here, as well as a short, accurate description of the dentist office, can increase click-through rates.<\/p>\n 10. <\/strong>H1 Tags<\/strong> – These tags often work like the title tags, driving relevant traffic to your site through the use of proper keywords.<\/p>\n 11. <\/strong>Density of Keywords<\/strong> – Keyword density was once the main focus of all SEO strategies, so much so that pages were often stuffed with awkwardly worded search phrases. While keywords in page content are still vitally important, the density of these keywords is now less important than how well they are incorporated into the content and how relevant and useful that content is for users.<\/p>\n 12. <\/strong>LSI Keywords<\/strong> – Keyword density is now less important thanks to Latent Semantic Indexing keyword recognition, which enables Google to see how relevant page content is to a search phrase. This means that \u201cA dentist\u2019s office in New York City,\u201d can rank highly in search results for \u201cnyc dentist office.\u201d Besides being present in page content itself, it should also appear in title, description, and H1 tags where possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n 13. <\/strong>Copy and Paste Content<\/strong> – Before Google began cracking down on this practice, one of the easiest ways to climb the search rankings would be to copy and paste content from a relevant high-ranking site onto your site. For example, if you search for \u201cdentists nyc,\u201d copied the content from the highest-ranking site, and pasted it onto your own site, Google would treat it almost identically as the original site. These days, however, this practice will see you losing footing in the rankings and eventually being pegged as a spam site.<\/p>\n 14. <\/strong>Keyword Frequency vs. Other Phrase Frequency<\/strong> – Though keyword density is not as important as it once was, it is important to ensure that keywords outnumber any other commonly-used phrase on your website, or you may see yourself ranking for \u201cdental chair rentals\u201d instead of \u201cdentists nyc.\u201d<\/p>\n 15.<\/strong> Length of Content<\/strong> – In general, longer content is preferred in search rankings over shorter content. This may be because it offers more opportunities for keywords to find their way into the content naturally, and that the content overall will be more useful to potential patients. The graph to the right shows that most top rated pages have over 2,000 words of content.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 16.<\/strong> Loading Speed<\/strong> – This is probably one of the least recognized page ranking factors. How quickly your page loads can affect your ranking, and it rated by Google\u2019s algorithm, based on the size of your website and the efficiency of its code.<\/p>\n 17. <\/strong>Rel-Canonical Tags<\/strong> – Though these tags may be difficult to use correctly, when they are properly implemented, they enable Google to distinguish several similar pages on your website, and only list the most relevant one. For example, if your page contains more than one page that discusses what dental treatments you provide, a rel-canonical tag can ensure that these are not seen as duplicated pages, but rather allow one page to be listed as \u201ccanonical.\u201d<\/p>\n 18.<\/strong> Update Frequency<\/strong> – While not the most important ranking factor, how frequently and how recently a page has been updated does play a role in rankings. Google even uses the date of the most recent page update beside the description tag in the search results, as pictured to the right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 19.<\/strong> Update Extent<\/strong> – How much of a webpage is updated is just as important as how often it is updated. How new the entire page is, and how often the website is and has been \u201cfreshened\u201d can affect rankings.<\/p>\n 20.<\/strong> Individual Keyword Placement<\/strong> – Using a keyword within the first hundred words of your webpage will increase the likelihood that Google will see your page as relevant.<\/p>\n 21.<\/strong> Order of Keyword\u2019s Words<\/strong> – Though LSI has largely alleviated the burden of exact match keywords, some believe that keywords that more directly match the most common search phrases will rank better than those that use a slight variation.<\/p>\n 22.<\/strong> Content Quality<\/strong> – Not only should the quality of the content<\/a> itself be high (meaning that it both provides relevant information and is well written), the grammar and spelling should be carefully watched, as misspellings and egregious grammar errors could signify a low-quality page.<\/p>\n 23.<\/strong> Supplementary Content<\/strong> – One of the ways that Google identifies quality pages is by what kind of supplementary content it contains. These are generally interactive features, which for a dentist\u2019s office, may include treatment cost calculators, dentistry-related games, or even interactive education tools.<\/p>\n 24.<\/strong> Images<\/strong> – The images themselves, along with how they are tagged in your pages HTML increases both click-through rates and page rankings.<\/p>\n 25.<\/strong> Other Heading Tags<\/strong> – Besides H1, keywords should appear in all heading tags.<\/p>\n 26.<\/strong> Links<\/strong> – Links that take users away from the page should be quality connections. For example, a dentist\u2019s office could link to information on WebMD<\/a> about a specific ailment. These kinds of links are not only useful to site visitors, but also help to build an authoritative image for your website. These links should be highly relevant to dentistry, however, as linking to non-relevant pages could actually hurt rankings. In that same vein, too many outside or broken links will also harm rankings.<\/p>\n 27.<\/strong> Page Media<\/strong> – Though Google mainly looks at content, including videos, slideshows, and images not only increase the likelihood a patient will contact your office, but also that Google will tag your website as a quality one.<\/p>\n 28.<\/strong> Coding<\/strong> – Even if your page looks great on the surface, error-riddled coding will communicate to Google that your site is not quality.<\/p>\n 29.<\/strong> Pages Relevancy<\/strong> – All pages should hearken back to the original content. Never include an unrelated page, even if it somehow relates to your interests, or to a side business. This will flag your website as lower-quality and less relevant to search results.<\/p>\n 30.<\/strong> Keywords in Individual Page URLs – <\/strong>Each page of your site will have its own individual URL, and each of these should include a keyword.<\/p>\n 31.<\/strong> Citing Sources<\/strong> – Just like in school, citing the sources of your information makes your look more authoritative. If quotes or borrowed content is properly sourced, it will not hurt your page ranking as it would if it was a simple a copy-and-paste job.<\/p>\n 32.<\/strong> Internal Links<\/strong> – It is important for pages to link to one another, not only making the website easier to navigate, but also pointing Google to the most relevant pages in order to establish rankings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 34.<\/strong> Host<\/strong> – Who hosts your dental website<\/a> matters. A reliable, well-known host can help your rankings, while a novice or slightly shady host can hurt your rankings.<\/p>\n 35.<\/strong> Length of Your URL<\/strong> – Elongating a URL just to include several different keywords can actually hurt ratings. Shorter URLs, with dentistry-relevant keywords do better in rankings.<\/p>\n 36.<\/strong> WordPress Tags<\/strong> – If using WordPress, effective use of the tagging system can show Google that your page is relevant to a certain category or set of keywords, when those words are included in the tags. In addition, it helps to more closely relate your pages, allowing your page to appear more authoritative.<\/p>\n 37.<\/strong> URL String<\/strong> – How pages are categorized and linked together affects how they appear in search results. Proper labels and positioning of individual pages can help them not only be easier to find, but also find higher search rankings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 38.<\/strong> Sitemap<\/strong> – How a specific page is categorized in the sitemap may affect how likely it is to appear in the search results.<\/p>\n 39.<\/strong> Quantity of Keywords<\/strong> – The number of different keywords may help a page\u2019s ranking overall, as high ranking for one keyword can help to lift the page for another keyword\u2019s rankings. This is different from keyword density, as several different keywords are implemented, instead of a singular keyword several different times.<\/p>\n 40.<\/strong> Layout<\/strong> – Though Google does not have the power to specifically rank pages based on the quality of their design, having a maneuverable webpage, which makes the content easy to find, is more likely to have a better ranking than a site which does not have a navigable design.<\/p>\n 41.<\/strong> Lists<\/strong> – Using a numbered list or a set of bullets not only makes content easier to read for viewers, but also helps Google pick out keywords. A bulleted list of dental treatments is a great way to incorporate keywords and make them easy for the algorithm to find.<\/strong><\/p>\n 42.<\/strong> Age of the Page<\/strong> – Though it is vital to regularly update and refresh page content, the page itself should remain intact, as older pages are preferred over newer pages in the rankings.<\/p>\n 43.<\/strong> Parked Domains and Masked Forwards<\/strong> – Once used as a way to dominate the search results with several pages that all redirected to the main page, these kinds of domains can now harm search rankings for the legitimate page.<\/p>\n 44.<\/strong> Valuable Content<\/strong> – While it may be tempting to write generic content and stuff it with keywords, Google\u2019s algorithm prefers sites that offer real value to readers. If your site provides real information about your office and the kind of treatments you provide, it is more likely to rank higher than webpages that are thin on value.<\/p>\n 45.<\/strong> Trust<\/strong> – Websites build their trust factor by linking and being linked by other trusted websites. The more trustworthy your website is, the more likely it is to have a high ranking. This can be done by submitting your webpage to trusted dental-site databases<\/a>.<\/p>\n 46.<\/strong> Site-wide Updates<\/strong> – Refreshing the entire site is just as important as refreshing individual pages. Regular updates, across the entire website will affect rankings.<\/p>\n 47.<\/strong> Sitemaps<\/strong> – Making sure that your website has an easy-to-find sitemap not only makes it easier to use, but also makes it easier to index, so that SEO can begin to take hold.<\/p>\n 48.<\/strong> Geographic Location of Server<\/strong> – Where the server is that hosts your website is vitally important to your rank. Especially because searches for dentists offices are often very geo-specific, it is important to have a local server.<\/p>\n 49.<\/strong> Types of Pages<\/strong> – Along with the educational and information content that will be important to patients, Google looks for \u201cPrivacy\u201d and \u201cTerms of Service\u201d pages in order to establish legitimacy. Especially for a healthcare-related field like dentistry, these pages are vital to assuring both your patients and Google that you are a trustworthy entity. \u201cContact Us\u201d is another page that is very important to building legitimacy, as real contact information shows that you are a real business and not a scammer.<\/p>\n 50.<\/strong> \u201cBreadcrumbs\u201d<\/strong> – Also sometimes known as \u201cpage navigation,\u201d this allows users to quickly and easily see where they are in your site and navigate where they want to go. It often looks like this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 51.<\/strong> Maneuverability<\/strong> – Not only will a difficult to navigate site turn away potential patients, it can also harm your rankings. Time spent on the page matters when it comes to rising through the rankings, and if your website is hard to navigate, if it is difficult to find the information users need and want, it will make your SEO less effective as users quickly click away in favor of a site that is easier to use.<\/p>\n 52.<\/strong> Site Structure<\/strong> – A website that is put-together, will easy to find information, great navigation, and valuable content not only makes it easier for Google to index the site, but also to begin picking out relevant keywords.<\/p>\n 53.<\/strong> Uptime and Downtime<\/strong> – Though how much downtime your server experiences is nothing you can control, experiencing too much downtime can actually cause Google to delete your site from its index, meaning it will be impossible to find. If your server is down too often, switch to one that guarantees 99.99% uptime.<\/p>\n 54.<\/strong> SSL Certificates<\/strong> – Though dental websites rarely actually sell anything online, you may allow your patients to schedule appointments online. This means that their information and yours will be exchanged online, so an up-to-date SSL Certificate is necessary, and signifies to Google that your site is trustworthy, which improves rankings.<\/p>\n 55.<\/strong> Optimization for Mobile Devices<\/strong> – With the proliferation of internet-enable mobile devices, it is more important than ever that your website be just as navigable on mobile as it is on the desktop. Not only does Google prefer websites that are have mobile optimization, it also increases page views and time spent on the page.<\/p>\n 56.<\/strong> YouTube<\/strong> – The fact of the matter is that Google owns YouTube<\/a>, so they like to see YouTube videos being used on webpages. Simple videos about your office, the dentists, your hygienists, or dental hygiene can boost your rankings and increase the time people spend on your site.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\nDomain Factors<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Page-Level Factors<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
33.<\/strong> Level of Writing<\/strong> – As the chart to the right reveals, Google does rate their indexed pages by reading level, and these ratings can affect ranking. Intermediate reading level content seems to be the most common, but some argue that basic is better.<\/p>\nSite-Level Factors<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n