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Welcome to this week's Monday Morning Marketing episode! Today we're joined by, Sabrina Disney, from Wonderist Agency. We are going to dive into the exciting topic of expanding your business beyond its current borders by tapping into nearby markets.
From mastering the art of local SEO, to ensuring your practice's name and location feature consistently across web platforms, we explore the fundamental strategies to gain a competitive edge. Learn how honing in on your primary tag for Google Business listings and then exploring secondary offerings can boost your online visibility. We also uncover ingenious ways to scope out and analyze your competition's tags to stay ahead of the game. Plus, discover the power of crafting a compelling "Geo Page" to win over new markets and supercharge your success!
If you've been ranking highly in your primary local market, listen in to this episode for tips and tricks on expanding with SEO!
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Michael: Hey, Sabrina, so talk to us about s e O. How can we utilize this, or what advice, suggestions, or methods can you give us that will help actually attract new patients through s E O?
Sabrina: Great question. You know, when we talk about effective like local SEO strategies for both new and established dental practices, the list essentially never ends.
It's always ongoing. There's always more to do, right? Mm-hmm. So today I'd kind of really like to talk about boosting your local dental presence, not just in that immediate market, but you know, the potential to expand into surrounding markets. I'd love to kinda just start with the one and only Google business profile, right?
So optimizing your Google Business profile is the best strategy for enhancing your local s e o and increasing brand awareness in that target area, right? So I'd love to kind of just talk about some known ranking factors. First, of course, pretty self-explanatory. This is gonna be your practice name and your location.
We wanna make sure that your practice name reflects that of your website as well as your address to make sure that you know name brand consistency is key, right? Second, we're gonna dive into a little bit more of the fun stuff. So this includes primary and secondary categories. So what is a primary category?
So this essentially will explain like your dental practice as a whole, right? this is known to be one of the top ranking factors that goes into ranking your business on Google. dentists can choose from about 13 different primary categories. So, This is anything from, you know, dental clinic to dental hygienist to cosmetic dentistry.
where do you start with these, right? There's so many to choose from our recommendation, and mine always is, you know, unless they're a specialty practice, like pediatric cosmetic, the most effective primary category that you're gonna wanna go for is dentists. Why is that? Why do we wanna just do dentists?
It seems a little bit more basic, right? So the term dentist almost always has more search volume, right? So for example, if you're in a new area, you're searching for a dentist, chances are you're gonna start with those core dental keywords like dentists. Dentists near me, dentists around me, right? So we wanna make sure that, you know, we're really optimizing your Google business profile in line with both your practices, values, as well as what's really highly searched in your area.
So, secondary categories, right? You get a maximum of nine different extra categories to put on your Google profile, which is also insane. Of course, these secondary categories, they don't hold as much weight as your primary, but it's still really important to build these categories out. So kind of where to start with this, right?
My main thing is pick the ones that really make most sense to you. You know, if you do teeth whitening, add that, you know, if you offer emergency dentistry services, add that as well. also a pro tip from Sabrina Tru. This is from me. there's some really awesome chrome extensions that you can add to your web browser to see exactly what secondary categories your competitors are choosing.
So this way, if. You know, there's an competitor. They're ranking number one for dentists near me. In your area, you can actually see what primary category they're using and what secondary categories they're using. So there's a lot of really awesome research tools that you can also hone in on your competition while also making sure you're focusing on your practice's values.
Nice.
Michael: Real quick, I wanted to ask on the, where do we add these secondary, like where can we find that and then where can we find the chrome extensions?
Sabrina: Yeah, for sure. So for the secondary categories, all you're gonna go is go to your Google business profile. It's gonna be right under that primary categor, so it'll be like add additional categories.
So you can go ahead and just hit that and add up to nine extra categories. So this is also really great if you wanna give your profile a little bit more boost on those other categories. And then for Chrome extensions, all you have to do is go to the. Extensions. You can just type it right into Google.
You can say extensions and a Chrome extension, GM B, spy, which now it's G P P, but GM B Spy is a really awesome tool to use. It essentially, um, will analyze competitors. All you have to do is search them in the local map pack, click on them, and it'll show them all
Michael: that data. Interesting. Okay. Awesome.
Sabrina: so let's talk a little bit more about attributes. attributes are really important as well when you're ranking, right? So, including from the business attributes. So identifications of your business. You know, if you're a woman owned dental practice, if you're veteran owned, it's really important to add these to these, your profiles, of course, not just if people are searching for them, but also to differentiate your practice.
This includes also service offerings in the attributes section as well, so, Kind of diving into whether or not your practice offers online care, if your practice offers language assistance. These are also really great differentiators that can help you stand out from your competition. Heading on to reviews.
So it's known that you should have a maximum of 10 reviews to see a ranking boost. Right now, if you're in a really competitive area, chances are those established practices if your new practice are gonna have hundreds of reviews. So it's really important to come up with a consistent strategy for gaining those reviews naturally and consistently.
And then of course we all know this. Number five service offerings. Add all applicable service offerings that your practice offers. This is anything from dental cleanings, dental crowns, dental implants. If you offer it, add it. there are a lot of other really important factors when, when it comes into, you know, optimizing your Google business profile.
But you know, the ones of course that we discussed, and I'm sure that you've heard, Over and over again. This is a really great starting point for your practice. So I'd kind of love to get into expanding your local SEO presence with Geo Pages. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, this is a really interesting. Thing and something I think a lot of practices don't really utilize as much.
So let's say you're a dental practice and you're really crushing your primary market, right? And you're looking to expand into surrounding markets near your location. This is where Geo Pages a k A, this is just a really fancy name for targeted location page. So with these targeted location pages, practices can actually begin to show up outside of their primary market.
And of course, before I jump into this, it's always important to note that s e will always work best in your primary market where your practice is physically located. However, that doesn't mean that ranking outside of your market is impossible, and factors are all determined by, you know, what your competition is like as well as where you're located.
So let's kind of get into what is a Geo Page? Mm-hmm. A geo page is a page that your site is essentially focusing on a specific service in a city that your practice isn't located in. So these pages are different from your location pages on your site. So your location pages are where your practice is actually located, right?
These geo pages are targeting different markets. In different cities. So these pages should really target keywords that are more highly searched and, you know, services that your practice would actually like to offer to potential patients in the surrounding areas. So I love my examples. So for example, let's see your practice.
Who's really crushing it in their primary market? We'll call that market Market a Let's say you really wanna start to capture clear aligner patients in a city nearby. We'll call that market B in order to hit you know your target patient goals. This is your chance to create a geo page.
Google really loves pages that are to the point and dedicated to a specific city and service. It's honestly a really simple strategy. Google does have, so creating a Geo page titled, you know, clear Aligners in Market Fee is a great way to start showing up on Google in this market.
Michael: if we wanted to start locating the geo page, where do we kind of go from there?
Sabrina: Yeah. Are you talking about kind of like where, where you're looking to expand? Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so normally when we suggest expanding into, you know, different markets, it's normally markets that are fairly close to the practice and we really wanna make sure that we're really authoritative and ranking really well in that primary market at first.
So, for example, if, if you're in market a, you're in a rural, rural area, you're, you're doing really well. And, you know, market B is maybe, you know, 20 to 30 miles away and it's also a more rural area. expanding into that market, into that new patient base is gonna really help. Potentially drive, you know, new patients to your practice.
And now if we're kind of talking about what content we should add to this page and where to start, it's really important to think about if you were a potential patient and you arrived on, you know, this page, right? What would you wanna see? If it's a little bit out of the way, if you know I have to drive a little bit, I'd probably wanna see, you know, some directions, uh, from, you know, that location to, you know, the practice.
I'd also like to see what makes that dental practice different from maybe others that are already in my area, that are maybe offering clear aligners. So really showcasing your practice is gonna be the best way to help drive new patients from other markets.
Michael: Hmm. Okay. that's good. So then anything else on Geo page?
Sabrina: honestly offering something special, making it special to that people will drive, will call, will come to your practice. is the bottom line.
Michael: What have you seen, Sabrina, from your area of expertise like this is the offer.
Speaking from like, or looking at it from a general, cuz for example, if it's like a, a dentist right? Or somebody in the dental industry, we're easily like 5% off, 10% off. Oh my gosh, that's a great deal. But if we're just walking down the street and we see it, we're not gonna be like, oh my God, 10% off, we gotta, or we're looking at it.
Right? 10% off my first exam, yes. It's, um, and that is enticing so to you. Yeah. What have you seen where it's like, these are the offers that we've seen Yeah. Work really well? Yeah, I think
Sabrina: having free consultations is a really great benefit. Um, and maybe even having consultations that, you know, Patients can schedule virtually.
I think if your practice is a little bit out of the way, it'd be great if a patient could, you know, see her face virtually versus having to drive all that way. I also think something that is really important to have is having. Before and afters, on those pages. Any practice can, take so much money off and, you know, have all these great offers.
But really showcasing your work and what you do is gonna make me as a patient, feel like, oh, you know, they do really great work. They know what they're doing. I'd rather go to them versus another practice that maybe is giving me a better offer because I know for a fact that they're gonna do a great job.
Michael: And you want us to showcase these before and afters on the Google My Business page, or,
Sabrina: uh, you can showcase it on the Google My Business page. You can showcase it on your site, on these Geo Pages, really anywhere that you expect people that are gonna actually come to these pages, right? You wanna really showcase who you are as a practice.
Michael: Gotcha. Do you think, I know we, let's, we rewind a little bit. We talked about putting, review the attributes, reviews, service offerings, right? And we wanna mention everything. does it kind of apply to like, you know how mill and postcards, they're like, Hey, just give us like your three best, four best things, right?
If you put everything on that postcard, then Do you feel like it applies here too, or, no? We should put everything, everything
Sabrina: on here. I think when it comes to services, Put everything, because that's gonna be the main ranking factor in terms of if people are searching any type of service in your area.
Right? So for example, if you add dental checkups, but maybe you don't add dental cleanings on your site, Google might be like, oh, well they didn't actually add dental cleanings, you know, maybe. They actually don't offer it, even though you offer dental checkups. Right. So it's really important and for Google to be as specific as possible because that's what essentially is gonna, you know, drive more people to see that you're offering these services.
Gotcha.
Michael: Okay. And so any final advice for the listener listening right now who wants to optimize their seo? They're gonna start doing this, which you said, but any final advice?
Sabrina: Yeah, I think really starting from square one is gonna be, The best bet for you. There are so many different things that you can do, and it can be of course, overwhelming at times, but really honing in on, you know, your Google business profile, being active on there, consistently updating it, is gonna really help with just driving local.
Traffic and then of course, you know, trying new things. if you see that maybe geo pages are something that you wanna do and maybe you're looking to expand into a new market, try these geo pages out. See if, you can rank in another area. It's really fun to try, you know, different things and d different strategies.
That's, you know, the brilliance of SEO and what we do every day, because some things might not work in certain areas that they work in others, but, It's really important to just be creative and try different ideas while also, you know, honing in on things that actually do still work.
Michael: Awesome. Awesome.
Sabrina, I appreciate your time and if anyone has further questions, you can definitely find her on the dental market or society Facebook group or where can they reach out to directly? Yeah,
Sabrina: um, you can reach out to me at my email. Um, I work at agency, so, um, yeah, we can totally link my email in here. That would be great.
Awesome.
Michael: So guys, that's gonna be in the show notes below as always. And Sabrina, thank you so much for being with me on this Monday morning marketing episode. Thank you so much.