Dentist SEO Case Study

This dentist is a family-owned dental practice with several locations across Ireland. They offer a wide range of dental services, including high-value cosmetic procedures. Despite their established presence, the practice faced significant challenges in terms of online visibility:

• Poor rankings in local map searches across all locations
• Low visibility for high-value services in Google’s search results
• Lack of a content plan
• Low-quality content that didn’t fully address searcher intent

SEO & Business Results

The SEO campaign yielded impressive results:

• Traffic increase:
  • 100% increase in organic traffic over the initial 6-month period
  • 300% increase in traffic to date
• Keyword rankings:
  • Keywords for all locations now rank on the first page of Google
  • Two locations rank most of their keywords in the top three results
• Local Google Map pack appearances:
  • Improvements began to show in months five and six
• Conversions:
  • Significant increase in patient inquiries for high-value services
• Technical improvements:
  • Core Web Vitals scores are now all high in the green

We approached the SEO in the following way.

1. Objectives

The primary goals of the SEO campaign were:

• Improve rankings in local search results for each location
• Increase visibility for high-value cosmetic dental services
• The initial timeframe was set at 6 months, but due to impressive results, the monthly SEO efforts have been continued

2. Initial Audit

A comprehensive website analysis revealed several issues:

• Extensive duplicate content, both internal and from external sources
• Hierarchy issues: subpages for locations were poorly linked within the site and excluded from the menu
• Keyword cannibalization between pages
• Incorrect use of HTML elements (e.g., headings used inappropriately)
• Very low Core Web Vitals scores and slow site speed
• Confusing site structure with numerous 404 errors and 301 redirects

Keyword research was conducted on a page-by-page basis and by analysing competitors. The audit revealed that competitors were ranking better for certain key terms.

3. Strategy

Based on the audit findings, the following strategies were developed:

1. On-page SEO improvements:
   • Resolve duplicate content issues
   • Improve site structure and internal linking
   • Optimize meta tags and HTML elements
2. Content strategy:
   • Develop a comprehensive content plan based on keyword research
   • Improve existing low-quality content that was worth keeping
3. Local SEO tactics:
   • Build local links to location pages
   • Enhance location pages with more relevant, original content
4. Technical SEO enhancements:
   • Prioritise improving site speed and Core Web Vitals
   • Fix crawl errors and improve mobile optimization

4. Implementation

The implementation was carried out over several months:

• Month 1:
  • Improved site speed and Core Web Vitals
  • Started rewriting duplicate content
• Months 2 -3:
  • Continued rewriting duplicate content
  • Improved existing low-quality content (low word count blog posts)
• Month 4 onwards:
  • Began creating new blog posts based on the content plan
• Throughout:
  • Optimised location pages by adding information about services offered and ensuring original content
  • Built local links to improve local SEO

Challenges included getting internal sign-off for rewritten pages, which required coordination with the practice.

Conclusion

The SEO campaign for this dentist demonstrates the power of a comprehensive, strategic approach to search engine optimisation. By addressing technical issues, improving content quality, and focusing on local SEO, the practice dramatically improved its online visibility and attracted more high-value patients.

Key achievements:

• Tripled organic traffic
• Significantly improved keyword rankings, especially for location-based searches
• Enhanced visibility for high-value services, leading to increased inquiries
• Resolved technical issues, resulting in improved user experience and search engine performance

Moving forward, the company plans to continue its SEO efforts, building on this success to further solidify its online presence and attract more patients across all its locations.