How Online Reviews Affect SEO and Conversions
Patient reviews are an essential element of off-page SEO for orthodontists. Reviews not only help improve your practice’s credibility and trustworthiness, but they also impact your search engine rankings. Positive reviews on platforms like Google Business Profile, Yelp,Healthgrades, and Facebook can boost your visibility in local search results and enhance your online reputation. Furthermore, online reviews act as a form of social proof, helping potential patients feel more confident in choosing your practice.
How Reviews Influence SEO
Local SEO: Positive reviews, especially those that include location-based keywords, can improve your practice’s ranking in local search results.
Google’s Ranking Algorithm: Google takes into account the number and quality of reviews when ranking businesses. A higher volume of positive reviews can directly influence your site’s SEO.
How Reviews Influence Conversions
Building Trust: People are more likely to trust your practice if they see that others have had positive experiences. Reviews act as a form of social proof, influencing decision-making.
Credibility: A collection of positive reviews demonstrates to potential patients that your practice is experienced, professional, and provides great care.
How to Encourage Positive Patient Reviews on Platforms like Google and Facebook
Ask for Reviews: Encourage satisfied patients to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Facebook page. Make it a part of your follow-up process after consultations or treatments.
Make It Easy: Provide clear instructions and links to the review platforms. You can send an email or a text message after treatment, asking patients to share their experience. In our practice we use a QR code linked to the review page.
Incentivize Reviews: While it’s important not to offer direct incentives for positive reviews, you can encourage feedback by offering small tokens of appreciation, such as discounts on future treatments or entries into a raffle for a gift card. Our teams are also incentivised to get reviews. Having weekly or monthly review goals or challenges with your team will speed up your reviews.
Respond to Reviews: Show your patients that you value their feedback by responding to both positive and negative reviews. Address concerns professionally and thank patients for positive feedback.