Mobile searches now exceed the amount of searches performed on desktops, and 68% of all searches conducted in the healthcare field come from smartphones, according to Hitwise. With the proliferation of healthcare searches on smartphones, it’s imperative that you optimize your dental practice website for “near me” searches.
What is a “Near me” search?
Near me searches are search queries typically made by someone on their mobile device while they are outside of their home searching for an answer near them. If you’ve ever been in the car and Google searched “best burgers near me,” then you’ve conducted a “near me” search!
According to a report conducted by Google in 2015, “near me” search queries occur 35 times more frequently than they did in 2011. This makes them tantamount to capturing mobile traffic.
Get Your NAP in Order
“Near me” searches are geographically based, which means that your NAP information plays a pivotal role in delivering results. In SEO terms, NAP stands for the name, address and phone number of your dental practice. Not only do you need to have this information listed on your website, but it also needs to be the same across all third-party listings like Yelp and Dentists4kids.com. If your information is not accurate, then your SEO rank, and results for “Near me” searches suffer. This is particularly true if you have more than one practice location.
Need help fixing inconsistent or incorrect listings? Check out our Local Search and Reviews service.
Check Your NAP on Google My Business Pages
Most mobile devices performing “near me” searches use Google to carry out the query. To appease Google, you need to make sure that your Google My Business page is claimed, and verified. Additionally, you need to fill in your NAP information as outlined above, so that your practice can show up when someone in your neighborhood performs a “near me” search.
Generate More Google Reviews
This general SEO rule of thumb also applies to “near me” searches: the more positive reviews that you can generate, the higher your dental practice will show up on search result pages. Generating reviews can be tough, but it’s doable. Check out our guide to generating more meaningful reviews here.
Check Your Maps
Geography plays a pivotal role in capturing “near me” searchers when they’re searching on-the-go. This means that you need to make sure that any mapped listings of your dental practice are accurate and up to date. Check your website, Google listing and any other third party directory that maps your dental practice for accuracy. Showing up on mapped results requires that your dental practice is prominently and accurately listed.
Local Search Practices Effect Near Me Searches
To capture “near me” searches, your site must be optimized to show up well in local searches. It can be difficult to take the steps necessary to capture “near me” searches and the full extent of local optimization goes far beyond surface-level actions and actually involves back-end coding.
If you would like to score better on local search, and obtain more “near me” searches, then contact Smile Savvy. We provide digital marketing solutions for pediatric dentists that want to improve their SEO scores and generate more reviews.
