With nearly 186,000 United States-based dental practices in 2023, the average consumer has more options than ever for where they’ll get their teeth cleaned and receive other dental procedures, from crowns to fillings.
If you don’t make your presence known online now, your dental practice risks being swept away by the continual wave of more businesses.
Utilizing dental keywords can help you carve out your nook in the digital marketing landscape, improving your search engine visibility, enhancing your online reputation, and attracting more potential patients.
In this blog post, we have 93 dental keywords, actionable strategies, and tips to make your dental practice shine brighter and outrank competitors effectively.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Dental keywords are a critical part of a successful digital marketing campaign, especially in areas like patient acquisition.
- Continuously researching, adapting, and strategically using keywords will help your practice stay competitive in the dental industry.
- Measuring and analyzing keyword performance will help you refine your SEO strategies over time.
Understanding Dental Keywords
Keywords are used in online marketing and SEO to connect with audiences and improve your rank.
As a professional, consider how you find other businesses to which you can give your hard-earned money. There are referrals, but you rely on internet searches if you don’t have those. Depending on what you type into a search engine, you will get results based on the keywords the website targets.
This is how your dental keywords connect with patients actively seeking dental care.
The keywords you select should be implemented across your online presence, from your website copy to your blog, social media posts, emails, and SEO elements like meta descriptions and alt tags.
So, considering all you now know, using dental keywords can elevate your SEO, putting you closer to the first page (or the first rank if you’re already on the first page) and bringing in more patients.
Not all keywords your dental practice uses are the same. There are three types, so let’s explore them in more detail.
Procedure-specific keywords
When people seek dental services, they usually have a specific one (or several) in mind. Many patients will want a standard checkup and dental cleaning, but others will search for procedures like cavity treatment, crown placement, and wisdom teeth removal.
Your dental firm should create keywords crafted around various dental procedures as follows:
- Teeth cleaning
- Dental caps
- Dentures
- Tooth reshaping
- Tooth contouring
- Dental bonding
- Veneers
- Braces
- Teeth whitening
- Dental bridges
- Dental implants
- Teeth alignment
- Overbite treatment
- Underbite treatment
- Teeth straightening
- Periodontal disease treatment
- Periodontal disease surgery
- Crowns
- Extractions
- Fillings
Location-based keywords
The next type of dental keywords to explore are arguably the most popular. Location-based terms are long-tail keywords tied to a specific place, like a city, town, or state.
These keywords may combine the procedure-based terms above or symptom-related keywords, as I’ll discuss momentarily. For example, a location-based keyword could be “crowns in Chicago” or “toothache pain relief in New York City.”
Symptom-related keywords
The last group of keywords common for dental practices is symptom-related. Most oral health issues are quite painful, so people seek eager relief. They might begin typing their symptoms into a search engine in the hope that they can get quick treatment.
How to Research for the Right Dental Keywords
You had never realized the importance of incorporating the correct terms into your dental practice copy. Now that you know, you’re ready to begin adding them.
You need to find the right keywords for your dental practice first. Here’s an overview of how it’s done.
Step 1: Determine your goals
Before researching, sit down with other company representatives to discuss what you want to achieve with your next marketing campaign. Are you geared toward increasing your customers, introducing a new dental service, or announcing an expansion?
Some keywords will suit you better than others, depending on the crux of your campaign.
Step 2: Plan seed keywords
Early on, you won’t narrow down the keywords in your campaign yet. It’s all about loose brainstorming, where you and other team members will plan the seed keywords.
Like the gardening concept it’s named after, a seed keyword produces a yield. Instead of flowers or plants, it’s keywords.
Determining a few seed keywords shouldn’t be hard in a dental practice. Use the last section’s symptom-related, location-based, and procedure-based keyword categories.
This shouldn’t be a drawn-out process, as seed keywords are only meant to be the beginning of your research. There’s no need to agonize for days over your seed keywords. Give this part of the process maybe an hour tops.
Step 3: Review your competitors’ keyword rankings
Next, it’s time to dig into what your competitors have been up to and which keywords rank well. Determining which keywords have a proven track record of driving traffic will help you gauge which seed keywords are viable.
Step 4: Identify your keywords using tools
Simultaneously, use keyword tools to help you build your keyword list and see it flourish. Some top tools to try are SEMrush, Conductor, Zapier, WordStream, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Backlinko.
Many of these tools are free, so you can still conduct in-depth research even if your dental practice is on a budget.
How do you use a keyword-planning tool? Usually, it’s as easy as inputting information about your upcoming marketing campaign and allowing the tool to recommend relevant keywords.
Step 5: Analyze your keywords
You shouldn’t use every keyword listed by a research tool. Discerning will help you identify only the most optimal terms for your campaign.
So, what makes a keyword good? Here are some must-haves:
- Relevance: The keyword must relate to what your dental audience wants to know about. They won’t find your website if they don’t search for it.
- Specificity: Long-tail keywords especially need specificity, such as “dental cleaning in Orlando, Florida.”
- Search volume: All keywords have search volume, which refers to how much people look up those specific terms. Keywords with higher search volume appear more regularly, but they’re also oversaturated by the competition. Oppositely, terms with a lower search volume are less saturated but not as visible. Your keywords should straddle the middle ground, with at least 100 monthly searches.
- Competitiveness: Keyword competitiveness relates directly to a term’s search volume. A high-search keyword will be competitive because it generates so much online traction. Low-search keywords have less competition.
Read more: 11 Dental Marketing Strategies to Implement in Your Dental Marketing Campaigns
How to Implement Dental Keywords in Your Marketing Efforts
The following best practices are geared toward dental practices, implementing keywords into FAQs, blog articles, service pages, and other forms of website content.
Combine dental keywords with local SEO
Take your keywords further by merging them with local SEO strategies. For those not in the know, local SEO targets a smaller, more concentrated, and location-based audience. It’s ideal for dental practices operating in only one city or town.
An example of a dental keyword with local SEO in mind is “crowns in Philadelphia” or “wisdom tooth removal in Raleigh, NC.”
Local SEO helps you reach potential patients in your target area, expanding your patient roster.
Incorporate dental keywords into your social media bios
Review your dental practice’s current bios. It’s good to refresh them every few months to keep the information current. Although you’re under a tight character limit for most social media bios, you likely have the room to insert a dental keyword or two.
I wouldn’t cram in too many, as that waters down the value of all your keywords. If you can find a way to naturally insert the keyword, that’s fine, but you can also write a bio and then add the keyword after as a hashtag.
Here’s an example to show you what I mean.
Use a keyword density checker for blog content
Blog content is longer-form, affording you much more space for writing to your heart’s content. This allows you to insert your keyword not only once but several times.
However, there is a limit. Google and other search engines punish keyword stuffing or inserting a keyword into text as much as you want to signal to search engines that you deserve to rank for that keyword.
That’s why keyword density tools are so handy. Check the keyword tool you selected (or purchased); it likely already has a feature for measuring keyword density.
Make a dental keyword a social media hashtag
Besides your social media bio, you should also insert dental keywords into your posts as a hashtag.
If you always post with the same hashtag, your posts will appear when a user searches the tag. If they see your name often enough, they may be inclined to follow you. Then, it’s all about getting them from your social media page to your email list and converting them.
Write FAQs centered around your keyword
People usually have questions about dental procedures; you’ll have a captive audience by providing answers to the information they seek. That makes an FAQ section the ideal location for dental terms.
However, treat the FAQs as you would an article, avoiding keyword stuffing by checking the keyword density.
Incorporate dental keywords into a web page’s title, alt tags, and meta descriptions
Each landing page you create on your website for a dental service or product should have an accompanying keyword. Inserting the term into the copy is only the beginning of how you can use it.
You can incorporate a keyword into the page title (like Dental Cleanings in Chicago), anchor text, and meta description. If you add images or videos, write alt tags describing the media and insert the keyword there as well.
Read more: Say Aaah…11 Jaw-Dropping Dental Marketing Ideas
Advanced Strategies for Dental Keyword Optimization
The strategies above only scratch the surface of efficiently using dental keywords. The following are more advanced tactics that can further propel your keyword optimization efforts.
Incorporate more long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are a must when targeting specific locales, such as in local SEO, but they have uses outside of that. The specificity of these terms can connect your dental practice to more potential patients in need.
If they search for a dental service and a general area and your name pops up first, you’ll likely get a booking.
Unite keyword intent and search intent
Search intent is a must when producing content today, especially considering Google’s ever-changing rules on what ranks. When you write with search intent in mind, you answer a user’s main question succinctly, then consider what related information they’d want to know and provide that.
Your dental keywords must align with search intent. If there’s a disconnect, you can hurt the intentions of your content, as you won’t seem as patient-focused as you intended.
Rely on patient feedback + refine your dental keyword strategy
Your patients keep your dental office open, so pay attention to their opinions. Periodically, review reviews and gauge what your audience says about you. Use that feedback to revise and improve your keyword strategy.
Metrics will also clearly show how your dental marketing campaign has performed. Your campaigns are on the right track if you’ve accumulated more website traffic, social media followers (and engagement), email open and click-through rates, conversions, and bookings.
Read also: 180 Best Real Estate Keywords & Tips To Outrank Your Competitors
93 Popular Dental Keywords to Create More Visibility for Your Dental Business
The following keywords will help you prepare a list of potentially usable terms. We’ve carefully curated this list to cover location-based, condition-based, and treatment and symptom-based dental keywords.
- Walk-in dentist
- Wisdom tooth extraction
- Cavity filling
- Invisible braces
- Urgent care dental clinic
- Dental office
- Chipped tooth
- Teeth whitening treatment
- Teeth whitening system
- Teeth whitening dentist
- Western Dental near me
- Cavity
- Teeth alignment treatment
- GEHA dental
- Sensitive teeth
- Smile makeover
- Family dental care
- Tooth extraction
- Permanent dentures
- Affordable dental care
- Tooth crown
- Pediatric dentist
- Dentist appointment
- Oral surgeon
- Partial dentures
- Children’s dentist near me
- Gum disease
- Gum disease treatment
- Oral sedation dentistry
- Dental associates
- Dental hygienists
- Laser teeth whitening
- Laser dentistry
- Cheap dentist near me
- Root canal
- General dentistry
- Private dentist near me
- Toothache
- Tooth pain
- General dental care
- Tricare Dental
- Invisalign
- General and cosmetic dentistry
- Periodontist near me
- Cosmetic dentist
- Family dentistry
- Family dental services
- Family dental care
- Family and cosmetic dentistry
- Dental problems
- Affordable dentures
- Emergency tooth extraction
- Dental plaque
- Grinding teeth
- Emergency dental treatment
- Emergency dentist
- Dental bonding
- Wisdom teeth removal
- Denturist
- The dentist
- Teeth whitening
- Dentistry for children
- Endodontist near me
- Cost of dental implants
- Dental specialists
- Dental implants
- Dental orthodontics
- Dental makeover
- Dental crown
- Dental implant clinic
- Dental clinic
- Ameritas dental
- Dental cleaning
- Dental implants near me
- Dental care clinic
- Dental care center
- Dental care
- Prosthodontist
- Dental assistant
- Aspen Dental near me
- Cosmetic dentistry whitening
- Cosmetic dentistry teeth whitening
- My dentist
- Cosmetic dentistry veneers
- Cosmetic dental treatment
- Cosmetic dental clinic
- Cosmetic dental care
- Cosmetic dental bonding
- Kids dentist near me
- Children dental care
- Best dentist near me
- Cigna dental
- MetLife dental
Read more: Dental Ads That’ll Make You Laugh
How to Leverage Dental Keywords for Growth
These practical steps will help you incorporate more dental keywords into your SEO and marketing strategies, so let’s take a look!
Stay updated on dental industry trends
Your practice should always be abreast of dental news and trends to offer the highest-quality service to your audience. Besides that inherent value, keeping current on trends can help inspire your keyword ideation.
You can perform keyword research to determine which terms might explode, then use them before they become popular and competitive.
Keep current on keyword research techniques
Keyword research techniques are improving, helping businesses gain insights into customer needs and search intent. Review whether keyword research tactics have changed every few months or perhaps at the end of each campaign, then adjust accordingly.
Track performance metrics
As discussed, reviewing data is the only way to ensure that your keywords have achieved your digital marketing goals. Just be realistic in your assessments, as the needle doesn’t always move much.
It can take several months for SEO changes to take place, so continue doing what you’ve been doing. Your rank will eventually respond in kind!
Read more: Target These Tech Keywords to Boost Your SEO and Online Visibility
Conclusion
Dental keywords are your path to enhancing the online presence of your dental practice and attracting more patients in the process.
Prioritizing keyword optimization and SEO in your marketing plan will help you build an online following that will pay back dividends as your practice grows and patients stick around for longer.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What are dental keywords, and why are they crucial for my practice?
Dental keywords are search terms catered to the field of dentistry. They’re a major part of any successful marketing and SEO campaign for differentiation, online visibility, and targeting.
2. How frequently should I perform dental keyword research?
Plan to research your current keywords and add new ones to their ranks at least every three months. You can wait up to six months, but the greater your advantage in a competitive dental market, the better.
3. Can I use the same dental keywords as my local competitors?
If you must, it’s better if you identify unique long-tail keywords with less competition. This way, you’ll have a unique edge that your competitors don’t.
4. How can I evaluate the success of my chosen dental keywords?
Reviewing KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword difficulty, bounce rate, keyword ranking, search volume, user engagement, and SEO rank indicates your keywords’ success.
5. What’s the difference between general and long-tail dental keywords?
Long-tail keywords are more targeted. For example, a general dental keyword like “teeth filling” would be “teeth filling in New York City” as a long-tail keyword.
6. How do I balance keyword optimization with creating engaging content for patients?
Remember that you’re writing for people first. Your audience wants dental assistance; they don’t care about SEO and content marketing. Use a keyword density checker to keep your keyword usage right where it should be, and don’t try to stuff unnatural keywords into the copy to help your rank.
7. Are there specific tools to help track dental keyword performance?
Many, with Google Analytics a long-time favorite. You can request a Google Analytics 4 Keyword report with a full breakdown of the efficacy of your chosen search terms.
8. How do dental keywords influence my practice’s ranking on search engines?
The keywords you select indicate content relevance, which search engines like Google use to recommend content. For example, if you use a long-tail keyword like “teeth filling in New York City” and a user searches for teeth filling in Manhattan, your site could rank first for that search.
9. Can dental keywords help target both new and returning patients?
Yes, they can. Using keywords catering to longer-term customers will inspire your patients to schedule an appointment.
10. What strategies can I use to update my dental keyword approach in light of changing search trends?
Keep your keywords people-focused, as that’s what Google promotes. Don’t choose keywords (or write content) to appease a search engine; do it for your audience.
