SEO Blog Writing for Dentists: Guide for Blogging and Improved Rankings

The Basics of SEO Blog Writing for Dentists

Dental SEO blogging isn’t complicated. Once you know the basics, you can get started right away. These 10 strategies will get you about 90% of the way. Once you master these you can delve into more technical aspects later on.

1. Keyword Research

First and foremost, it’s important to find out which dentistry terms people are searching for most often. Rather than blogging about whatever you want, you should cater your posts to match these queries. SEO keyword research lets you know which specific words or phrases to include in your blogs in order to rank higher. 

For example, pediatric dentistry keyword research might list “young child dental sedation” and “how to get kids to sit still at the dentist” as the #1 and #2 most searched phrases. You can take that information and include these terms in your next pediatric dental SEO blog. Using targeted keywords allows you to target specific types of dental patients.

These keywords can change often, so continue to draw new topic ideas from your keyword research tool. Google Keyword Planner is a great starting point.

2. Quality Content Creation

Once you know which keywords to use, it’s time to start creating high-quality content. This means using your own words (no, you should not copy and paste a blog post from ChatGPT, sorry!), adding a fresh perspective, and writing with authority. 

Your dental SEO blog posts should adhere to Google’s E.E.A.T guidelines—content written with Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. 

Google also implemented a “helpful content update” to improve blogging for small business. The search engine automatically detects content written “by people, for people,” and ranks it higher than generic spammy content.

Show credibility in your blog posts by involving subject matter experts, colleagues, and industry-specific references. The more genuine your content feels, the higher Google will rank your posts.

Once you’ve gotten into a good rhythm with SEO blogging, don’t forget to update old content as well. A good rule of thumb is to refresh blog posts after a year, but you should always update them if additional information is needed, or if something becomes outdated.

3. Easy-to-Read Blog Post Structure

Another important point to keep in mind is the readability of your dental blog. As web crawlers scan the internet for content, they are able to recognize when posts are well-organized, visually appealing, and easy to understand. 

Your blogs should contain elements that break up your text into easily digestible portions:

• Headings and Subheadings

• Bulleted Lists

• Images and Videos
• Short Text Blocks

Online readability tests show how a reader’s eyes move along the page and can help determine if you need to add or subtract visual elements from your blog post. 

Another way to test for readability is to read your post out loud. Ask yourself: Does this sound awkward or clunky in places? Did I include too many technical dentistry terms that aren’t defined? This beginner’s guide to dental SEO blogging talks more about mastering the tone of your blogs.

It’s also a good idea to have a second set of eyes look over your blogs before posting them. 

For more tips on making your dental site shine, check out these website designs that help with SEO

4. Technical SEO

Along with writing actual blog posts, there are a lot of technical aspects involved with SEO blogging as well. These factors require a bit more in-depth understanding, but they are crucial if you want your practice to rank higher. Following technical SEO best practices will also boost the presence of your Google Business Profile.

5. On-Page SEO

One technical element you’ll need in order to optimize your dental blog is on-page SEO. On-page or on-site SEO refers to the optimization of your blog content within the search results page and your HTML code. 

HTML dictates how your web pages look through a series of notes and marks that the reader won’t necessarily see at first glance. However, HTML code is read by web crawlers, and you can edit it to reflect your keyword research.

6. URL Structure

First, determine what you want the URL for each blog post to look like. URLs should be short and descriptive. For example, if you wrote a blog post about oral health tips, the URL might look like this: www.mydentistry.com/oral-health-tips

7. Setting Correct Title Tags

The title tag is the blue, underlined link text that shows up after a web search. You can edit this to be different from the actual title of your blog post, and include your target keyword in the title tag. Try to keep title tags under 60 characters if possible, because tags longer than that may be cut off by the search engine results.

8. Meta Descriptions

The meta description of your blog post is the text that shows up beneath the title tag in a search result. This is another place to insert your target keywords to help boost SEO. You can either create a summary within the 150–160 character limit or highlight a relevant section of the blog and let the text trail off like in the example below. 

Find more info about metadata in this ultimate dental SEO guide.

9. H1 Tags

The H1 tag is located in your web page’s HTML code. The H1 is the first, largest text heading below the title of a blog post. It’s always a good idea to include SEO keywords in the H1, as this will help search engines identify the most relevant information on the page.

10. Effective Internal Linking

Include links within a blog post that direct users to other parts of your dental website. This is called internal linking and helps boost your rankings. Use keywords as anchor text, but make sure they relate to the linked page. The more internal links your website has, the more Google will see you as an authority on your subject matter.

11. Alt Text

Alt or alternative text is a description of visual elements found on your web page. Alt text is very important for accessibility, but it’s also another way to incorporate keywords into your on-page SEO. Optimizing images in your blog posts will help your practice rank higher.

12. Backlinking

Another technical aspect of SEO is backlinking. This is when a different website includes links that lead back to your website. The more backlinks a website has, the higher Google will rank them in search results because they show that you’re a credible source.

One way to gain more backlinks is to try the broken link strategy. Use an online tool to search for broken backlinks from your competitors, then ask the site they’ve been featured on if they would consider linking to your blog post instead. 

Another backlinking marketing strategy for dentists is to provide product reviews on your dental blog, and then reach out to the product manufacturers to see if they will feature your review. You can also reach out to other small businesses with an SEO blog to see if they will mention your practice.

Explore The Possibilities of Dental SEO Blogging With My Social Practice

About the Author: Adrian Lefler is a dental marketing expert and a key member of the dental marketing team at My Social Practice. My Social Practice is a dental marketing company located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Adrian is passionate about helping practices grow through SEO for dentists. If you’d like to book one of the members of My Social Practice’s speaking team, you can do that HERE. Interested in learning more about the benefits of dental SEO or our dental website service, please give us a call.