Local SEO for Orthodontists: 5 Ways to Boost Your Visibility

Quick answer: Local SEO for orthodontists is how your practice appears in Google Search and Maps when families search for braces, clear aligners or an orthodontist nearby. It relies on a verified Google Business Profile, a website with a page for each treatment, consistent listings and genuine reviews. Expect early movement in 2 to 3 months.

Local SEO helps an orthodontic practice show up when families search for braces, clear aligners and orthodontists near them. This guide explains what local SEO is and five steps to improve your visibility in Google Search and Maps. If you want help, see our affordable local SEO services.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO refers to the process of improving search engine rankings and visibility in a local city or area. It provides a way for local businesses to effectively promote their business online to their local target market. In contrast, national SEO refers to targeting a broad, national audience, often with the use of high-volume search terms. 

Local search is often more affordable than national and other large-scale SEO campaigns. You typically compete against other local businesses with similar sized companies and budgets. Some of the key aspects of an effective local SEO campaign include improving your website, optimizing your Google Business Profile, and creating an effective link building strategy. The combination of these strategies can help your website rank higher on Google Search and Maps. 

Reasons Why Orthodontists Need Local SEO

Local SEO can be a cost-effective way for orthodontic practices to improve visibility. Here are a few reasons it matters:

Provides a Local Marketing Solution

It provides local marketing solutions for local orthodontists. With orthodontic care, it’s extremely probable that clients receive in-person care, at a local office. In turn, this provides a huge opportunity for orthodontists to expand their business through local search. If you want to reach a specific area within your region, SEO provides precise targeting to promote your services.

Improves Traffic and Phone Calls

Orthodontists often rely on word-of-mouth and referral marketing to grow their business. Although this may work for some practices, having a reliable stream of new prospective clients provides a safe way to grow. Local SEO helps improve the amount of both website traffic phone calls your orthodontic practice receives.

When your potential customers need orthodontic services, it’s likely they will take their search to the internet. With an effective local SEO strategy, customers should be able to find your orthodontic practice online. Once they type in keywords like “invisalign near me” or “orthodontic office”, your business’ information should appear. Individuals will often look at both the organic (non-paid) search results and the local map pack. This can result in more visibility for your business, improved website traffic, and increased phone calls.

Long-Term Success

Orthodontics is a long-term practice, so your marketing should be too. Local SEO takes time to show results, but a strong website, Google Business Profile and steady reviews keep supporting new patient enquiries with regular upkeep.

What Orthodontic Patients Search For

Parents and adults search in different ways. Parents often search for “orthodontist for kids near me” or “braces for teens”, while adults search for “clear aligners”, “Invisalign provider” or “orthodontist open Saturday”. Give each treatment its own page, answer common questions such as how long treatment takes and what first visits involve, and show your location and hours clearly. See our local SEO for dentists guide for the steps both practice types share.

Local SEO for Orthodontists: 5 Strategies to Boost Your Online Visibility

1. Optimize your Website for Local Search

Create localized website content along with an easy-to-use layout that both customers and search engines can easily understand.

It’s best to create “location” website pages that include the target service areas for your orthodontic practice. Within those website pages, include the target location within the metadata and the website copy (text). For example, if your orthodontic practice is in San Marcos CA, you could create a “areas served” page titled “San Marcos”. This will help search engines easily understand which areas you service. In turn, this helps you rank higher within the SERPs (search engine result pages).

Within your main navigation bar, consider adding a “Locations” or “Areas Served” menu option. You can link your newly created location pages underneath this menu tab.  Additionally, it’s best SEO practice to always list your NAP (name, address, and phone number) on your website. 

These different strategies will optimize your website for local search, boosting your online visibility.

2. Create a User-Friendly Website Experience

Once you have an optimized website for local search, it’s important to create and maintain a user-friendly experience. UX (user experience) continues to be a focus in recent search engine algorithm updates. Edit your website so it includes easy-to-understand information about your business. Use engaging text and colors on your website that will look great on both desktop and mobile. Ensure your contact information is accessible so customers can easily contact you. Your website design, layout, and content should be the cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy. Our website development team can build and improve it.

3. Verify and Improve your Google Business Profile

One of the most important strategies you can use to boost your visibility is to verify and optimize your Google Business Profile. Google Business Profile is a free service that is designed to help individuals find local businesses within their geographic area.  If you want your orthodontic business to show up on Google Maps or within the Local Map Pack, verifying and optimizing a profile is essential.

 It’s great for your overall strategy, and can easily make a quick impact for your orthodontic practice. Business Profiles are often the first thing when users perform a search on Google. Once they see your business profile, they can easily visit your website or make a call. Overall, it provides a great opportunity to improve your visibility at a very small cost.

4. Gather Quality Reviews

Reviews influence which practice a family chooses. Gather genuine, positive reviews so your website traffic turns into new patient enquiries.

Use review sites like Google, Facebook and Healthgrades so potential patients see consistent information about your practice. Google reviews can also support your local rankings, because Google lists reviews among the factors it considers for local results.

5. Build a Backlink Strategy

Along with onsite content and business profile optimizations, it’s important to build a solid backlink strategy. Backlinks refer to when another website links back to your website within their site content. Quality backlinks help show search engines that your site is trusted (E-E-A-T), which can support rankings. See our white hat link building service. Also referred to as “link-building”, it’s a process that can take time but can reap significant benefits. 

One of the best places to start for your backlink strategy is to list your business online on directories. Start listing your practice on sites like Healthgrades or ADA to position yourself as a trusted source of information. As you incorporate backlinks and local listings into your local SEO strategy, it will help position you as a trusted business within your local industry.

Grow with greatinflux’s Local SEO Services

If you do not have a local SEO plan for your orthodontic practice, our affordable local SEO services can help. Our team has over 15 years of digital marketing experience.