SEO Checklist for Dental Practice Websites

Use this SEO (search engine optimisation) checklist to assess your current website for your practice and for launching new dental practice website too. To ensure your website gets found by Google and other search engines, follow the 7 steps below to ensure your SEO is at a great standard.

Step 1: Choosing a domain name

Your domain name is often the first impression people have of your business online. A strong, professional domain name can help build trust, improve brand recognition and make it easier for potential customers to find your website. Ask yourself these questions below before choosing your domain name.

• Is your chosen domain short?
• Is it memorable?
• Is it brandable?

Step 2: Research the right keywords

Researching keywords is an important part of SEO as it helps you understand what people are searching for online. By using relevant keywords throughout your website content, blogs and page titles, you can improve your chances of appearing higher in search engine results. Researching the right keywords can also help attract the right audience to your website and increase traffic from potential customers searching for your services. Consider these pointers before finalising your keywords:

• Have you found keywords that are relevant to your dental practice?
• Have you chosen a unique main keyword for every page?

Step 3: Craft your content

Creating informative content is important so that Google understands what your content is about, while also allowing patients to understand and trust your service through the informative content you put out. Crafting good content will also increase the chance of attracting new potential customers. Go through the list below and craft your content accordingly.

• Is it purposeful?
• Is it long enough to provide users with all the information they’re looking for?
• Is your main keyword in the main title (H1)?
• Have you used your main keyword and variations or synonyms throughout the content?
• Have you marked other titles or subtitles with headings?

Step 4: Optimise your code

Clean, efficient code makes it easier for search engines to understand your content better, which will help improve your rankings. It is important to include the content in the list below.

• Have you added your primary keyword into your page URL?
• Are you using canonical tags to make sure you don’t have any duplicate content?
• Does each page on your site include a unique meta title and description?
• Do your images have descriptive alt tags and filenames?
• Are you linking to your internal pages in an SEO-friendly way?

Step 5: Technical setup

Having a good, organised technical setup will allow you to track your progress and rankings. This includes fixing problems and creating a clear website structure. This will ensure your website performs well and improves user experience. Below is a list of key points to consider:

• Have you installed Google Analytics?
• Is the GA code present on every page of your dental website?
• Using WordPress?
• Have you installed an SEO plugin?
• Have you installed Google/Bing Webmaster Tools and checked for errors, missing titles and descriptions?
• Have you created a sitemap?
• Is robots.txt blocking important parts of your site?

Step 6: Build links

Buildings links is important as it improves your websites credibility online. When websites link back to your website, your content is viewed as trustworthy. Ask the following questions below to understand if you have done this correctly.

• Is the website linking to you relevant for your business?
• Would you click on that link if it wasn’t pointing to your site?
• Is your backlink offering value to users?

Step 7: Post-launch checklist

Post-launch it is important to ensure you are able to navigate through your site as a patient; is it easy to enquire about dental treatment or to send messages through your contact form?

You should also test your site’s speed. You can do this HERE.

Did you test your dental website to ensure it shows perfectly on major browsers as well as devices like desktops, tablets and smartphones?

Still need help with the SEO for your practice’s website or need more detailed information? Contact us on team@thecreativecomposite.co.uk or call us directly on 0330 1330635.