online dental marketing - 2015 dallas dental society presentation
TRANSCRIPT
Jason Moran
• www.eKrum.com
• www.DentistBase.com
• www.TotalMagic.com
Search Engine Optimization
The Good
The Bad
& The Ugly
The Good
• Being on top of Google isn’t good, it’s GREAT -Great rankings mean more potential new patient callers.
• SEO isn’t just about high rankings, it is also about increased web “visibility”.
• SEO should help promote “top of mind”, branding, and loyalty and thus help increase referrals too.
SEO Basics
• A person who performs SEO services is typically referred to as a “SEO”.
• Some refer to SEO as Search Engine Marketing (SEM).• Search engine ranking is basically a popularity contest. This
contest is judged by search engine algorithms. • Google has the most advanced algorithm and provides the most
“RELEVANT” results and is thus the most used.• Search Engine algorithms change near daily. A GOOD SEO studies
and adapts to these changes. • A GREAT SEO understands the algorithms but also provides great
online marketing which is rewarded by higher popularity.• SEO is divided into “Black Hat” and “White Hat”. People who try to
game the system and cheat are Black Hats. People who just do things right and abide by Google’s terms and conditions are White Hats.
Brief SEO History
• Early Google algorithms used the number of other sites linking to your site (backlinks) to determine your popularity. The more backlinks, the higher your rankings.
• If your site was truly popular, other people would link to it naturally.
• People found ways to create automated programs to create backlinks unnaturally. This was the start of Black Hat SEO.
• People also started selling, trading and exchanging backlinks.
Results of Black Hat Methods
• Google’s search page results became less relevant and they had to update their algorithms to combat Black Hat Methods and to keep the quality of their results.
• Backlinks couldn’t come from sites that had porn, pharmacy, gambling or were “spammy”.
• Backlinks counted most if they came from industry related sites.
• Backlinks became weighted. A backlink from the home page of CNN might be worth 1 million backlinks from my Grandma’s blog.
Google’s Current Algorithm
• There are literally thousands of factors, but here are some of the most important.
• Backlinks are still important (30-50%) but have to be done very carefully.• Content is now very important (but is not King). Your site has to have
fresh, unique, well written, industry related content. Bullet points don’t count. Pictures and Video help.
• Your site must be mobile friendly and load quickly (no really large pictures).
• Social Media Signals. How many followers, how often you post, how many people mention you / like you / etc.
• Citations. Any site where your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) are listed. You must claim or create your listings and have consistency across hundreds of sites.
• Reviews. Reviews. Reviews.• Velocity. Review Velocity, Backlink Velocity, Social Signal Velocity, etc. The
rate you get backlinks and reviews should appear natural.
SEO Evolution
• Overall, SEO has changed. Unfortunately many SEO “pros” have not.• You can’t buy a cheap program and automatically create articles and
backlinks that will gain rankings. You can’t pay someone in another country $5 to boost your rankings. You are more likely to hurt your rankings.
• A good SEO will know traditional SEO like on site optimization and backlinks. They should also know:– Content Curation and Creation– Content Marketing (Blogging, Article Marketing, Email/Newsletter, etc)– Social Media Marketing – Online Reputation Management– These will increase top of mind, presence, loyalty, and branding.
• Basically, to be a good SEO you need to understand marketing. You need to understand Google’s algorithm but you also have to understand how to make remarkable content that is relevant and than how to publish and advertise it online to gain popularity.
The Bad
• Google used to just ignore unnatural backlinks, plagiarized content and lack of mobile friendliness.
• Now Google PENALIZES sites that are “over optimized”, have been found breaking terms and conditions, or that are not mobile friendly.
• This means your site could not only drop in rankings, it could be removed entirely and banned from Google’s index of results.
The Bad continued…
• Many SEO companies and professionals have not evolved with the Google model and still try to do what worked 2 years ago or 5 years ago. This can easily result in your site receiving a penalty.
• Google Penalties are EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to recover from. In most cases you are better off getting a new domain name and starting all over.
The Bad continued…
• SEO seems expensive, but in the end it has a better ROI than pay per click ads or most other marketing methods. If SEO costs $1k per month but brings in 30 new patients or more monthly, it is a great deal. It is also cheaper than “renting” a site or purchasing leads.
• SEO takes time. Pay per clicks provide near immediate results, however, they are extremely far more costly than SEO. SEO usually takes about 3-15 months for best results.
• SEO has become too involved to try to do in-house.
The Ugly
• Fake reviews. Many SEO companies, without practice’s knowledge in some cases, have started purchasing fake positive reviews for their clients.
• Likewise, some unethical companies and practices have engaged in buying or creating fake NEGATIVE reviews for competitors.
• Practices need online reputation management.
The Ugly continued…
• Negative SEO. Now that a site can be penalized by Google, there are methods which can be employed to negatively affect sites.
• Some unethical companies have employed negative SEO to take down and harm their competitors.
• Negative SEO can also be employed by disgruntled employees, former associates, and upset people. Even just by someone to see if they can do it.
• If you Google Negative SEO, you will find hundreds of companies offering services to harm your competitors. It becomes more popular every month.
• Practices need to monitor for negative SEO. If caught early it is possible to stop rather than being too late and having to deal with a site that is banned or penalized.
Questions?
• Pricing information:– SEO: never accept a cookie cutter, menu pricing. Every SEO case
is very custom with different needs and competition. Our SEO packages bundle traditional SEO, on-site SEO, Social media marketing, content marketing, negative SEO monitoring and online reputation management. Prices in the DFW area for dentistry range from $600 to $2,000 monthly (average about $1k).
– Online Reputation Management (ReviewCentral.us). • $299 for one year contract ($95 setup fee plus $17 monthly)• Or $95 setup fee plus $22 monthly.
– Negative SEO monitoring• $349 annually ($29 monthly)• Or $34 monthly.• Includes consultation if negative SEO is detected.
Thanks
• Please feel free to contact me at:
– Jason Moran
– Personal Cell Phone: 214.232.7437
– Email: [email protected]