FAQ

What can you tell me about Local Search For Dentists®;’ effectiveness in getting new, high-quality leads for my dental practice?

Over the last 10 years, we have helped over 6,247 dentists in almost every state in the USA, Canada, and around the globe attain more high-quality new patients and profit in their practice utilizing our proprietary marketing, state-of-the-art techniques, and practices. That is why we have an unprecedented retention rate of 98.6%, which means doctors stay with us until they retire or sell their practice! 

Google changes their algorithm DAILY, and we make it our business to stay on top of each and every change in order to keep our clients’ practices and brand at the top of the search engine rankings in their market for the services they love to do.

This has translated to huge boosts in stay, pay and refer patients, higher levels of production, and greater staff and doctor confidence. Plus over the long term, dentists who hire Local Search For Dentists® have seen the value of their practice go way up, which helps them build a tangible exit strategy for when they’re ready to retire or sell.

Learn more about our clients and their resounding success here: lsfd1.wpenginepowered.com/stories

Can’t I just do my own Google marketing?

Through our own independent research, we’re seeing that patients who come from the Internet are more loyal and spend more over their lifetime than those who come from other, less effective marketing methods like coupons, word of mouth or advertisements.

But, Google doesn’t make this easy. In order to make it to the top of the rankings, it requires a very specific series of data points, spread across multiple channels (on-website, off-website, social media, etc.).

Unless you’re in the internet marketing business and studying the enigmatic subtleties…odds are you’re going to screw it up and get buried on page 12 (where NO ONE will ever find you)!

Also, there is a lot of mis-information out there about offices that mis-lead patients and result in docs being in the Google “sandbox” (a.k.a. the Google penalty box) or closed for business online. This also results in ZERO patients for any type of practice.

You need someone to help you do it right.

My Web Developer and SEO company set up my listing, so why do I need Local Search For Dentists®?

Would you let the guy who built your office pick up a drill and do a root canal? No way!

The same goes for web developers and SEO companies. They’re in the business of building websites and doing basic and GENERALIZED search engine fixes.

They are too busy doing their core work that they don’t keep up on online branding strategies and rules of the search engines. They also don’t have the time or manpower to monitor it weekly to make sure the information is correct and your listings have not been hijacked.

Unfortunately, they do not know the “ins and outs” of Local Search Marketing for the dental industry, we only work with dentists giving our clients a significant advantage.

WE DO.

At Local Search For Dentists®, we use a combination of highly tactical operations that are specific to dental marketing. We combine this with 24/7 awareness and monitoring of Google’s operations.

After years of experience in the trenches and hundreds of successful cases working with some of the top dentists in the country, we can say with confidence that our proprietary system WORKS.

**For example, one client of ours in Connecticut found out that his web development company had created a listing on his address without his knowledge. Luckily we were able to reclaim the listing, but if he had not been aware of the problem, he would have been left with a rogue listing. That would have dropped him WAY down in the rankings (resulting in a major loss of incoming patient leads and resulting business.)

In some cases, Google will delete all your listings because they don’t want rogue listings in the searches.**

Another tip: Most web designers and SEO companies also do not know how to properly deal with multiple listings on search engines.

You have to PROPERLY combine those listings. Doing so gives you more staying power over time.

Spoiler alert: Chances are that your practice DOES have more than one listing…and just like everything else with Google, if you try to fix this yourself, there’s a reasonable chance you’ll do it incorrectly and actually make the problem WORSE, dropping your listings AND your lead flow.

At Local Search For Dentists®, we know the secrets around Google policies and the exact steps to take to properly merge listings. This ensures your practice’s safety and security on Google and other search engines.

Can I keep working with my current web guy or do I have to stop when I start working with you?

Sure! If you have a have a designer on staff or work with a web design company you like, that’s fine. 

However, we would strongly consider NOT giving that person or company your local search optimization business. As stated above, that person or company builds websites and doesn’t have the time (yes, it’s a full-time gig) to be an expert in Google, Yahoo and Bing’s CONSTANT changes in formulas and regulations for Local Search Optimization.

So we recommend that you have your web person/company work ONLY on the specific website design, and leave the local SEO to us.

How does Local Search For Dentists® compare to Yodle.com?

Yodle focuses on media buying for you and placing the ads (i.e. Pay-Per-Click advertising, online ad buying). In other words, they do online advertising campaigns, etc.

Sure, ad campaigns can bring you leads and potentially patients. But nothing attracts and retains that perfect, high-converting “pay/stay/refer” lead you really want like organic (not an ad) Google listings.

At LSFD, we actually grow your “own” verified dental listings in the search engines over time by submitting them manually to over 100 directories, including hyper-specific local and dental directories.

That’s a “techie” way of saying that we do the grunt work involved that gets you listed high up in the search engine rankings (many of our clients are listed on page 1 for multiple local search terms related to dentistry).

Plus, you don’t have to pay for every click on those “organic” listings the way you do with Pay-Per-Click ads — you OWN them as long as they are there.

What about those cheap companies that automate the ranking process or guarantee results?

Stay away!! Guarantees are a trap, make sure to read the fine print as the guidelines to exercise the guarantee are most likely impossible to meet. Plus, Google doesn’t really love when marketing companies offer guarantees. There are companies that say they automate the process via software or a dashboard, Google also doens’t really love that, and in our research over the last 8 years shows that it rarely works and if it does it can take 6-8 months to see any progress. In many cases, this approach does not work at all, and can even HURT you, resulting in lost time, and money.

I already do Pay-per-Click For Local Search, why do I need to be listed on Google Maps?

Pay-Per-Click advertising has become saturated to the point where you’re fighting with bigger companies with huge budgets. Deep-pocketed corporations like Corporate dentistry, DSO’s, 1-800 Dentists, Invisalign, Aspen Dental, and the Big Implant Providers like Clear Choice can throw 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars at advertising without blinking an eye! This effectively edges you out of the running.

And according to recent research, PPC leads are less valuable. Why spend vital marketing dollars on PPC when 85% of people online are more likely to go with a dentist they find through organic local search (NOT PPC)?

With the entire front page of Google now being dominated by local search listings, Google knows that more people are online looking locally.

Do you work with our existing website or does a new one need to be created?

Although we recommend having a website (it’s kind of like having a brochure for the internet — essential for business), it’s not absolutely necessary. You can work with us to bring you a windfall of new, high-quality leads.

And you CERTAINLY don’t have to pay somebody to rebuild your site in order for our services to work. Get your Google house in order, and redirect that money towards something valuable. (Maybe like your kids’ college education, season tickets to the ballgame, or a vacation with your spouse??)

Okay, this sounds great. But I like to know what’s going on. If you create videos to help my rankings, do I get to see them first?

Yes. Our team works hard to put together quality materials for you that we then place on strategic, high-traffic locations around the web, which we continue to share with you.

We also strongly recommend that your office starts generating more videos on its own, like patient testimonials. Google loves fresh content and videos. But the videos we provide get you started in the right direction.

What does my staff have to maintain?

Nothing, unless you have them add content and posts to the blog or your social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter (always a good idea). 

That said, LSFD is 100% completely “done for you” in the services we offer, so you can focus on doing what you love and do best, serve your patients and practice dentistry! 🙂

Ready to learn more about how Local Search For Dentists® can help your practice generate tons of new, top-quality leads, click here for a private, friendly, no-obligation consultation:
https://lsfd1.wpenginepowered.com/contact