A functional SEO strategy is an integral part of drawing traffic to your office’s webpage.
Working with a professional dental SEO firm is a great way to make sure you have the best and most streamlined strategy, especially if you are new to SEO or simply do not have the time to give your strategy the attention it requires.
However, you don’t want to just jump in with the first firm you find—at least, not without asking a few questions first.
Don’t be afraid to interview any potential dental SEO firm.
A little bit of back and forth before you’re locked into a contract is good for both parties; it ensures you’re a good fit.
Here are nine questions to ask your dental SEO firm:
1. Do you do your own SEO?
Chances are, the answer to this questions will almost always be “Yes,” but it’s important to make sure.
Why work with a SEO firm that doesn’t even do their own search engine optimization?
They’ll also be able to tell you, probably right off the cuff, exactly what kind of return on investment they are getting from their own SEO efforts.
They might even have a few case studies handy to show you from other websites they’ve worked with.
Being able to show you a little bit of proof, before you sign on, is usually the sign of a company that has nothing to hide.
2. Do you track calls?
As a dentist’s office, you are likely going to be fielding more calls than you will emails or form submissions.
Either stopping in or calling is still the most popular way to make an appointment with the dentist.
That might mean that you want a firm that couples SEO with dynamic call tracking.
Basically, all this means is changing the phone number that a person is shown depending on how they find your website (i.e. someone who clicks on a Facebook link is shown a different number than someone who found you through organic search results).
3. How many companies have you worked with?
You will have to decide for yourself whether a brand new company (who might be more hip to SEO trends) or an experienced firm is better for your needs.
Again, it’s appropriate to ask for examples, success stories, case studies, or the like from companies you’re considering working with.
Most will be more than willing to prove they’ve got what it takes to make your website successful.
4. What techniques do you use to boost social signals?
Social signals are becoming a very significant ranking factor, and that means social media marketing needs to be part of your SEO strategy.
You want to work with a company that acknowledges that and has a plan for integrating social media marketing in your search engine optimization.
Many will offer to help you develop a functional social media presence or create posts that are easy to share and likely to be shared and re-shared.
5. What’s your blogging philosophy?
Some SEO firms will focus on keywords and links for your dentist’s office’s blog.
What you want, however, isn’t just vanilla content that’s jammed with links and keywords.
You want useful content that has appropriate links and keywords that actually relate to the content, so that when your page shows up in search results, searchers are likely to actually click on it.
Too many links or too many keywords make your content look like spam, which is horrible for SEO.
6. Do you offer a guarantee for our rankings?
It’s tempting to ask a company for a money-back guarantee if you don’t achieve the ranking you want on your timetable.
The truth is, SEO often doesn’t work to your timetable.
Many firms are willing to offer a guarantee, but realize that SEO is a slow-burn strategy and you aren’t going to see instant results.
Do, however, listen to what kinds of promises the firm makes and determine whether or not they seem too good to be true.
7. Will you guest blog for us?
Your dental SEO firm will probably take over all of your content creation—that’s their job.
However, before signing any contracts, you are going to want to make sure that they are also willing to guest blog for you.
Like social signals, guest blogging is a major ranking factor and is a great way to build authority and participate in your online community.
You want the reputation that guest blogging can afford you, so you want to make sure that your SEO firm is going to be utilizing this important tactic.
8. Can you handle our PPC campaign and our SEO strategy?
Your dentist’s office should be engaged in a functional PPC campaign, as well as a SEO strategy.
Because the two are intrinsically linked, there’s nothing wrong with asking your firm if you can kill two birds with one stone and have them handle both campaigns.
You don’t necessarily have to write off a firm that doesn’t do PPC in addition to SEO, but it definitely makes both campaigns easier to handle if you can get them both from the same company.
9. What makes you better than other SEO firms?
This might seem like a pushy or cliché question, but a great dental SEO firm knows what sets them apart from other firms and why they are better suited to help you than any of their competitors.
Go ahead, ask it.
Use these nine questions to help you determine which dental SEO firm is right for you!
