SEO, Site Rankings, and the Orthodontic Practice

One facet of Ingenuity’s orthodontic marketing plan is to help its clients garner top ranking in the search engines.  In light of the more “glamorous”   parts of the plan, such as social media marketing and online orthodontic contests, the more mundane is often overlooked.  But make no mistake, it is of critical importance that your site rank at or near the top of the search engines for a search of “(your city) orthodontist” and the like.  

The main reason we place high search rankings as such an imperative is for the sake of brand alignment in helping to increase your case acceptance rates; let me explain.  You, as an orthodontist have worked ardently to create the atmosphere and structure of the practice itself.  This appearance reflects the overall quality and prominence of the “brand”.  At the initial consultation and case presentation, you strive to impress upon the would-be patient this quality image of your practice, the “brand”, and make it easy for them to accept on the spot.  But yet you have some percentage that do not.  The oft-heard statement of “let me talk to my husband/wife” is often code for “I’m going to do more research before I accept.”  Thus the patient/parent goes online and searches “(your city) orthodontist”.  If you rank at the top for that search, then your presentation and marketing message are aligned, and the patient subconsciously deems you as “the best.”  If you are second page, near the bottom, then the reverse may yet be true, your brand image does not align with your case presentation.  And the patient/parent then becomes a “shopper.” 

We can definitely help our clients’ search engine rankings and we bundle SEO into our overall marketing agreement with out client orthodontists.  One of Ingenuity’s key strategies in promoting the practice via social network marketing and online orthodontic contests is to generate a substantial increase in traffic to the practice’s main website.  This increase in traffic helps to boost the practice’s search engine ranking, but is often not enough to move a client site to number one.  At the core of SEO is the way in which your site is structured (at the programming level), backlinks, social mentions, etc.  And Ingenuity has an on-site and off-site search engine optimization package that focuses on all these aspects to drive its clients to the top.

SEO alone is no marketing plan.  But no orthodontic marketing plan should exist that doesn’t place an imperative on search engine rankings.