In today’s digital age, patients increasingly rely on online reviews to make informed decisions about healthcare providers.
While you may not think it initially, this does include searching for the best nearby dental surgery.
Of course, word-of-mouth options from friends and family do play a huge role, but for most people, it is the online world and the dental surgery website that helps them decide which dental surgery they want to attend.
And, for all dental surgeries, patient reviews are an essential component of their online presence and search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy. Patient reviews can influence a dental surgery’s reputation, visibility, and search engine ranking, ultimately impacting its ability to attract new patients.
So, if you have a dental surgery website that you are trying to use to attract more patients, what is the role of reviews? Read on to find out!
Ratings
First and foremost, patient reviews provide valuable feedback for dental surgeries. They allow patients to share their experiences and rate the quality of care they receive. Dental surgeries can use this feedback to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to enhance the patient experience. Positive reviews can also help dental surgeries identify what they’re doing well and continue to provide excellent care.
Also, good reviews play into dental SEO, so you will need to update your surgery page regularly with new reviews, as well as post them to social media.
Online reputation
Patient reviews also play a crucial role in a dental surgery’s online reputation management. When prospective patients search for dental services online, they’re likely to encounter various online reviews, such as those on Google, Yelp, or Healthgrades. These reviews can significantly impact a dental surgery’s reputation and influence whether a prospective patient decides to choose them or not. Positive reviews can build trust and credibility, while negative reviews can harm a dental surgery’s reputation and cause potential patients to look elsewhere.
Ranking!
The role of good reviews in SEO cannot be overlooked, and it goes far beyond simply using them to update a webpage.
In terms of SEO, patient reviews can help dental surgeries improve their search engine ranking. Search engines like Google consider reviews as an important factor in their ranking algorithm. The more positive reviews a dental surgery has, the more likely it is to appear higher in search results. Reviews also provide valuable user-generated content that search engines can crawl and index, increasing dental surgery’s online visibility.
Local searches are important
Moreover, patient reviews can help dental surgeries attract new patients through local searches. When someone searches for a dental surgery in their area, Google shows local results, which include the top-rated dental surgeries with the most positive reviews. By having a significant number of positive reviews, dental surgeries can improve their chances of appearing in local search results, ultimately driving more traffic to their website and increasing patient enquiries. So, you will need to also invest in local SEO for your dental surgery, but the end result is that you should get a lot more conversions from dental website visitors to patients!