Search engine optimization for cosmetic dentists

Cosmetic dentistry may not seem like the most challenging vertical to compete for in search engine optimization but apparently a few people are looking for information on search engine optimization for cosmetic dentists and search engine optimization for dentists. Dentistry and cosmetic dentistry share some search visibility needs but they also have their own special circumstances when it comes to search engine optimization and Internet marketing.

Dentistry is one of the few professions where other people willingly pay for the services we need. Those other people are our fellow insurance subscribers. If you participate in a dental insurance plan then you share the costs of your dental care with other people, potentially thousands of other people. Those shared costs don’t really have anything to do with search engine optimization but the insurance itself does.

Dentists who accept specific types of insurance should make sure they put four pieces of informaton on their Web sites:

1. Office location(s)
2. Days and hours of operation
3. Telephone numbers
4. Insurance plans accepted

Medical and dental Web sites need to provide consumers with as much information as possible about where they are, when they are available, how to reach them, and who is most qualified to get their services.

In our hearts we know that a good doctor or dentist won’t turn away a patient in need, but if people cannot tell where the good doctor or dentist has his office, they are less likely to call for an appointment. If people cannot easily find that phone number, they are less likely to call for an appointment. If people cannot tell when the doctor or dentist is available, they are less likely to call for an appointment. If people cannot tell whether their insurance will be accepted, they are less likely to call for an appointment.

Of course, medical and dental insurance plans fall into two categories: HMO plans (Health Management Organizations) and PPO plans (preferred provider organization). But many people also have Supplemental Insurance Benefits (AFLAC, Allstate, Colonial, TransAmerica, et. al.). Also known as Worksite Benefit plans, Section 125 plans, and Cafeteria plans, Supplemental Insurance policies may make the difference between someone calling a dentist or doctor and not calling a dentist or doctor. Supplemental insurance patients often have the ability to assign payment directly to the service provider, so if a dentist or doctor works with supplemental insurance plans they should say so on their Web site.

Cosmetic dentists may be able to work with as many insurance plans as regular dentists but search engine optimization for cosmetic dentists needs to focus more on the specific services provided by the cosmetic dentist. A family dentist can rank for “family dentristry in Redmond, WA” but a cosmetic dentist should be looking at a larger market. Cosmetic dentistry may focus more on interventive dentistry (which insurance is more likely to cover) or on aesthetic dentistry (which insurance may not be likely to cover).

So while it’s a good thing to tell visitors which insurance plans are supported, a cosmetic dentist should also provide information about which types of procedures may be covered by insurance and which types may not. People may choose a dentist on the basis of location, convenience, and coverage but they’re more likely to choose a cosmetic dentist on the basis of cost, availability, and courage.

The more invasive procedures a medical or dental care provider offers, the more information the provider should include on their Web site. People have questions and they want to know what the costs are, the risks, and the potential consequences. Instead of trying to provide exhaustive information, it’s okay to link out to reliable and authoritative resources (medical associations, government Web sites, educational institutions that offer specialty resources, etc.). Including a brief summary of questions and how to find more information can satisy the need for the dentist or doctor’s search engine optimization. The link anchor text you use can also help manage the Web site’s search visibility because outbound link anchor text still helps establish a page’s relevance.

Notice I haven’t said anything about page titles, URLs, domain names, links, or optimizing copy.

Why is that? Now, most of the people reading this blog understand the basic search engine optimization principles. But when you’re optimizing for a highly specialized vertical you can kill yourself by playing all the SEO cards. Your first priority should be to embed the information people need the most. Search engines are not nearly as important to these types of verticals as are telephone directory sites, specialty directory sites, and special vertical resource pages. You need to make absolutely certain that anyone who is going to document the medical or dental Web site understand where it fits geographically, for services, and if necessary for costs and cost management.

You’re not likely to get many links that are relevant to “cosmetic dentist in Sao Paolo, Brazil” but you’ll get plenty of good links for the doctor’s name. Those links are every bit as valuable as typical SEO-preferred links. Why? Because the doctor or dentist’s name is the brand you have to manage. SEO for dentists and SEO for doctors is not the same as SEO for your retail shoe business. You don’t have a brand in shoes, you sell shoe brands.

Now, some people will go out and chase “relevant links” from “relevant sites”, playing the SEO game and getting links with anchor text for “cosmetic dentist in Houston, TX” but that isn’t where an SEO’s priority should be. Once you have the service-specific information in place you need to brand every page with the query-specific information. You brand a page with margin text, secondary body text, internal navigation text, page titles, page URLs — you know, all that basic on-page optimization stuff that most SEOs don’t really pay attention to because they’re too busy asking people for links.

Multi-city organizations or organizations with lots of offices can follow pretty much the same pattern. They still need to provide service-specific information to their visitors, they need to provide service-specific information in their directory listings. Those directory listings will appear in local search results as well as Web search results. You can brand the company or organization through indexable mastheads, margin notes, footers, disclaimers, terms of service and “about us” pages (assuming you don’t yourself or your client in the foot by using nofollow on those pages), and so forth.

An organization is more likely to need an “About Us” page with a “Management Team” page or section, an internal directory with office locations and doctors, etc. Remember, in a service-oriented vertical, the more information you provide, the better. Keyword optimization is not efficient for service-oriented verticals. Information optimization is critical for service-oriented verticals.

And while it may not seem that medical or dental organizations have much need for press release sections, a health events calendar would be a really great way to build out some community interest. Also, show organizations, events, and charities where the doctors provide support.

If you’re dealing with a multi-office business site, don’t shy away from the use of sub-domains but don’t assume you need them. If the client wants to rank well in multiple city queries sub-domains will work better than multiple domains or sub-directories. You need shared functions between the sub-domains (like site search and directory). You don’t necessarily need shared page designs and templates (as long as all the required information is there). Sub-domains represent a good compromise between various “I think this tweak works best” SEO philosopies. Where service-related verticals are concerned, you have to pay less attention to the search engines and more attention to people because those people are coming at the site through a variety of sources.

Which is to say that search engine optimization for cosmetic dentists and search engine optimization for doctors are not nearly as important as “web site design for cosmetic dentists” and “web site design for doctors”, as the basic Web marketing is more driven by the design than by the visibility of the service-related Web site.

We’ll come back to service-related optimization and marketing somewhere down the road….