Google has reported that mobile searches containing the phrases “near me” or “nearby” have doubled over the past twelve months. This represents a significant increase in the number of people conducting a local search, determined to connect with a business close by. This can benefit your dental practice by connecting you with a prospective patient that is in immediate need of your services.

Nearby Business Listings product

To capitalize on this growing trend, Google is offering a new advertising product. The Nearby Business Listings product replaces some of the typical ad copy with features that consumers use on a regular basis. Features like click-to-call and click-for-directions appear in the ad so that when someone is conducting a local search, they can find a nearby business and immediately connect with them. If the search is a mobile search, the convenience of immediately navigating to the business cannot be overstated.

As a dentist, you should also consider how you can use this knowledge in your current marketing plans. As a company that specializes in optimizing for local search, we recommend that you check all of your online business listings to ensure that your information is accurate. Your name, address, phone number, and hours of operation need to be included with your business listings to ensure that someone can find you in a local search. Additionally, you should optimize your website for mobile users. We recommend building a responsive design website that adjusts based on the type of device that is being used to view it. This will allow your site to have built-in features like click-to-call or click-for-directions. Given how many people conduct a mobile search for a local dentist, this is an easy way to ensure that they call you instead of a dentist down the street.

Simultaneously, your website needs to be optimized for local search. When creating your SEO strategy, it is important to include your location in multiple places on your site. Think of the phrase that people will use when searching for a dental office in your area (or better yet – have us pull the analytics for you). For example, if you are in Orange County, California, do people search for an “OC dentist”, “Orange County dentist”, etc.? The terms and phrases that they would use should be incorporated into the content on your website, giving your site the opportunity to show up when someone does a local search for a “dentist nearby”. After all, the search engines know where you are located based on the information that you give them.

We can audit your website to ensure that it is mobile friendly and that you are optimized to show up in a local search. This way you can benefit from the increase in mobile searches for a dentist “near me”.