Conversion Optimization Strategies for Dental Websites
The one consistent rule of SEO and online marketing is that content is king, but even the best content can lose its effectiveness with age. On average, Google makes minor changes to the algorithm 12 times per day and rolls out a larger update once a month. The way users engage with content also naturally changes over time.
As a result, you need to periodically update your content with the latest engagement strategies and conversion optimizations to continue growing your business.
What’s Changed in 2023: The Switch From Informative to Transaction-Focused Content
Google has pushed the importance of Helpful Content (quality content that provides a positive user experience) for many years, but the way that users engage with Helpful Content has changed in that time.
In the past, Helpful Content mainly involved informative and educational content while leaning away from conversion-heavy pages. Google’s search results were less curated back then, so users tended to avoid transactional search result pages due to the risk of online scams.
“A one-time investment in a page or website does not make sense in this day and age, and competing businesses will not take their foot off the gas.”
Scams and cybersecurity are still ongoing issues, but now search users tend to feel more comfortable with transaction-focused content compared to before. The rise of shopping sites like Amazon may have influenced users’ expectations as well, especially with convenience systems like one-click checkouts.
Regardless of where the new expectations come from, patients need immediate and easy access to conversion opportunities throughout your content. Even a small delay in their navigation experience can cause a patient to lose patience and visit a competitor’s site instead.
Google’s Landing Page Requirements
Google’s landing page requirements will always match the guidelines for Helpful Content. In the past, the information-first approach forced dentists to create two types of pages:
- Informative SEO pages that are accessible from the main website
- Transactional landing pages for ads
Google requires you to have a landing page for each ad, and linking to an educational landing page wouldn’t make sense since ads are made for users who are ready to convert. As a result, dental websites needed to publish at least two pages for each service.
Eventually, Google realized how much work and site inflation the separate landing page requirements caused. After the shift to more transaction-friendly content, Google rolled back the multiple-page requirements so a single page can be an ad landing page and part of your main SEO content.
Why You Should Focus on Conversion Optimizations
- With the two-for-one approach of modern landing pages, you can increase your conversions across the board by optimizing one page.
- Google views a high conversion rate as proof that your content meets the needs of search users so more conversions also reinforce your paid, organic, and local rankings.
- Higher rankings will bring in more traffic and conversions, which then feeds into a potent cycle that generates leads and revenue.
Expand the Lifetime of Your Content
If you aren’t aware that your content can generate better results, then you’ll never take the necessary steps to improve it. That’s why determining the efficiency of your content is the first and most important step to optimizing a page for conversions.
How do I Know It’s Time to Update My Content?
How often you update your content will depend on your competition, budget, and market. You can opt for a more aggressive update schedule or choose to only update certain pages once per year depending on its SEO ranking and levels of engagement.
To truly understand what content is and isn’t working, you need data. Google Analytics can only get you so far, and it doesn’t cover in-depth user tracking on your site or for individual pages. At Einstein, we integrate CallRail and other third-party tools into each site so we can see how users interact with your content.
Once you collect this data, you can identify which pages are not as effective anymore and what information leads patients to contact your office. Then you can update the content according to what works in your market.
What changes should I make to my content?
If your content was written with a purely informative approach, you’ll need to update it in order for the content to bring in an optimal ROI. At Einstein, we call these updates “Evergreen Conversion Optimizations”.
With each optimization, we update existing content to meet the new transactional standards of online content. The only way to identify these standards is by studying data, especially how patients navigate your site.
For example, Einstein performed a series of A/B tests across several practices and found that our most recent batch of changes could:
- Increase ad conversion rates at a reduced cost
- Fuel conversions across the board (paid, organic, and local)
- Added early conversion opportunities to match the user’s transactional expectations
Ultimately, every optimization lines up the page with the way users engage with content before making a purchase.
What Pages Should I Update First?
If you have multiple pages in need of an overhaul, you may have trouble deciding which one to update first. While there are many factors to consider, we recommend approaching the decision based on two major points: what are your priority topics and
- What are your priority topics?
- Which pages need the most improvement?
Selecting Priority Topics
One of the first things we do with new clients is sit down and discuss which services and treatments are their highest priority. Each dentist’s answer will change depending on their specialty and range of services, but most dental professionals want to advertise services that they enjoy or services that generate a high ROI.
For example, a lot of dentists place dental implants high on their priority list because a single round of implant surgery can generate a huge amount of revenue.
You should force rank every treatment and service you offer in terms of importance and set realistic goals for each one. This list will help you determine which pages need an update now while others can wait.
“Content isn’t the only thing that you should update on a frequent basis; every year, you should revisit your topic priorities and adjust them according to changes in your market and business model.”
At Einstein Dental, we’ve developed an AI system called the eIQ Recommendation Engine to keep track of search engine results and ranking shifts. Our eIQ Recommendation Engine will begin monitoring topic search results using data from SearchMetrics, SEMRush, Yext, and more. Our engine then transforms these insights into concrete steps that clients can take to maximize their visibility and return on investment (ROI).
Wondering if Your Content Could Be Doing More?
Technology, best SEO practices, and user trends will naturally change over time. Revisiting and updating your content allows your site to roll with the punches while generating an optimal ROI. If you’re wondering if your content could be doing more, contact Einstein Dental for an SEO and conversion evaluation of your site.
