Google Posts
Date: August 16, 2018Category: Author: Kaycie Smith
When you Google your practice name, Google displays a panel on the right which they call their Knowledge Panel. Over the past year, Google has been adding features to this panel, in an attempt to make it a source of as much helpful information about your practice as they can. Here is an illustration of that for Dr. Donald Currie, a client of ours in York, PA:
In the past, this panel gave visitors information about your location, hours, and phone number, as well as a link to your Google reviews. Recently added features include a link to “Appointments” as well as a link that they call “Products and Services.” We set up those links so that they go to your “Request an Appointment” page and to a page listing the services you offer. There is also an opportunity for patients to ask questions and for you to respond.
But the most exciting recent addition is a section that now allows for social-type posts. We post an image with a couple of sentences of text highlighting some aspect of your practice, with a link to your website. These need to be refreshed every seven days to stay visible. Think of these posts as Google’s attempt at having a place for social media right in this Knowledge Panel without having to navigate to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
Will using these features give you an increase in new patients? Yes, it is true that this Knowledge Panel will only appear when prospective patients are searching on your name. But don’t think that just because someone is searching on your name that it’s a slam-dunk that they will make an appointment. Our data shows that when patients Google your name they sometimes will also check your reviews before making an appointment. Some of these people are checking out several dentists. Recent research by a medical marketing company showed an 11% increase in appointments when Google Posts were fully utilized. We would expect similar results for dentists.
Local Search expert Joy Hawkins also published a couple of case studies in which using Google Posts seemed to have a positive impact on Google rankings.
Are you interested in adding this enhancement to your online marketing? Our judgment is that the practices that will see the greatest benefit will be those that have a strong name recognition in their communities, where people are searching for you by name. We have set a cost of $195 per month, which includes creating nine posts of branded images and content a month. The other features of the Google Knowledge Panel are included in our Local Search services.
In summary, here is an illustration of the knowledge panel with and without these enhancements:
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