September 9, 2021
Top 5 SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Search engine optimization (SEO) can help you get the attention of dental patients, boosting your business and helping you grow. But it only takes a few little mistakes with your dental SEO strategy to cause your website to stagnate, or to even harm your rankings.
Because SEO can be a long, ever-changing process, it’s important to know what to do and what to avoid to help your site grow. Here are a few things to avoid when working on your dental website.
1. Outdated SEO Methods
Google already understands human language to an incredible extent, and it only gets better as time goes on. That means old SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing, no longer have the same impact they once did. In fact, Google may penalize sites that use these outdated tactics.
2. Ignoring Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) is a useful tool to help potential clients learn more about your services. A completed GMB profile can help visitors find your hours and your business’s location, set up an appointment, and more. Google also takes note of your use of your GMB, making it an important ranking factor.
3. Difficult or Non-Optimized Content
When visitors come to your website, they may not stay if your content is difficult to read. The average American reads at an eighth-grade reading level, which means simplifying the language you use may be vital.
It’s also important that your content is optimized correctly for the web. That means using the right keywords, among other steps your SEO specialist can cover.
4. Slow Site Speed
If your site isn’t up to date and streamlined, it can hurt your rankings just as much as other ranking factors. If your site is slow or even fails to load often, many users will “bounce”—or leave your page—right away. Typically, you only have a few seconds of load time before the average user will leave.
The worse your bounce rate, or the amount of time users stay before leaving your site, the more it can hurt your rankings. This action indicates to Google that your site isn’t worthwhile or isn’t what people are looking for, which hurts your rankings, even if it’s not true. Don’t let slow load time hold back your good content.
5. Looking Only at On-Page SEO
Some people look only at the on-page SEO, or the keywords and other tools used to rank on the page. But if you want to boost your site in the rankings, you may need to look deeper.
Focusing on other aspects of SEO, such as backlinks for your dental website, may be vital to your rankings. Without these tools, you may have a difficult time beating other local businesses in the rankings. Talk to your SEO team about other efforts that may be a key part of your SEO strategy.
Avoid Mistakes—Speak with an SEO Expert
When you’re working on your SEO strategy, a mistake can be costly in the rankings and, in turn, costly to your business. But that’s where the SEO team at ApricotDental can step in. We can help you make the right choices the first time to maximize the impact of your SEO strategy. We even offer free website consultations. Reach out by calling 877-491-6981 or by filling out the online contact form below.