# SEO for Dentists Learn how to rank higher on Google and attract new dental patients. People used to search for dentists on Yellow Pages. Not anymore. These days, everyone searches for dentists on Google. So, if you want more patients for your dental practice, you need to be on the first page of Google. Learn the basics of how to get there below. Learn more: [Healthcare SEO: 7 Strategies From Medical SEO Pros](/content/blog/healthcare-seo/index.html) --- ## Local SEO People who search for local businesses like dentists will usually see two types of search results: regular and "map pack." You can rank in both of these types of results, making it possible to show up twice on the first page of Google. To rank in the regular organic results, you'll need to optimize your website. That's what the rest of this guide focuses on. To rank in the "map pack," you'll need an optimized Google Business Profile. How to get started 1. Get a free Google Business Profile Head over to [google.com/business](https://www.google.com/business/) to set one up. 2. Optimize your profile Fill in as much as you can, including the types of dental services you offer. 3. Get reviews Reviews help you rank higher, so ask customers to review your clinic. Learn more: [Local SEO: The Complete Guide](/content/blog/local-seo/index.html) --- ## Keyword research People won't always type "dentist" into Google when they need one. Some will search for more specific services like teeth cleaning or fillings, and others will search for solutions to problems like how much is invisalign. Unless you rank for these keywords, you're missing out on potential customers. To find dentistry-related services and topics people are searching for, you'll need a keyword research tool like Ahrefs' [Keywords Explorer](/content/keywords-explorer/index.html). These tools pull keyword ideas, estimated monthly search volumes and other SEO metrics from a database of billions of keywords. How to get started 1. Enter a few industry-related "seed" phrases Example: dental, dentist, tooth, teeth 2. Choose a keyword ideas report Example: "Matching terms" shows all ideas containing your seed keywords. 3. See keyword ideas Example: "How much is invisalign" gets an estimated 33k monthly searches in the U.S. Learn more: [How to Do Keyword Research for SEO](/content/blog/keyword-research/index.html) --- ## Content creation Knowing what people are searching for is useful. But unless you create pages to target those terms, there’s little point in doing keyword research. For example, there are an estimated 185K monthly searches in the US for "teeth whitening." Given that your homepage will be more of an overview of what you do, it's unlikely to rank for this term. It's more likely to rank for broader, more popular terms like "dentist" or "dental services." The same goes for questions like "why do my teeth hurt”. If you want to rank for such terms, you need to create content to target them. How to get started 1. Create landing pages for services Examples: teeth whitening, dental implants, wisdom teeth removal 2. Answer questions with blog posts Examples: how much does invisalign cost, what to eat after wisdom teeth removal, how much are dental implants Learn more: [SEO Content: The Beginner’s Guide](/content/blog/seo-content/index.html) --- ## Link building Backlinks are clickable links from one website to another. As they're one of Google's strongest ranking factors, getting more high-quality backlinks typically leads to higher rankings and more organic traffic. In fact, you'll almost always need backlinks to rank for competitive keywords. For example, the query "what are veneers" has a Keyword Difficulty (KD) score of 54 out of 100. As this is quite high, you'll almost certainly need backlinks to rank on the first page for this term. Unfortunately, link building is one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. But there are tried and tested tactics you can use to get them. How to get started 1. Look at the top 10 ranking pages for your target keyword Search for your keyword in Google, or check the SERP overview in [Keywords Explorer](/content/keywords-explorer/index.html). 2. Find their backlinks Enter their URLs into [Site Explorer](/content/site-explorer/index.html) and check the Backlinks report. 3. Find replicable backlinks Look for links you can easily replicate for your website, and think about how you could get more links like them. Learn more: [The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building](/content/blog/link-building/index.html) --- ## Technical SEO Everything above is a waste of time unless Google can find, crawl and index your pages. That's because it's impossible for them to show up in search unless they're in the index. For example, say you wrote a post about sensitive teeth to target the keyword "why do my teeth hurt." Even if it's the most useful guide to the topic on the web, Google won't index the page if it contains this code: Luckily, it's quite unlikely that the pages you create for search will contain that code. But there are plenty of other common technical issues that can hinder the performance of your pages in search. You can find these issues by regularly auditing your site. How to get started 1. Audit your website. Get a free [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](/content/webmaster-tools/index.html) account and crawl your site with [Site Audit](/content/site-audit/index.html). 2. Check your Health Score. Get a sense of your site's overall SEO health. 3. Investigate and fix technical issues. Delve into individual issues and fix them. Learn more: [The Beginner’s Guide to Technical SEO](/content/blog/technical-seo/index.html)