Harness the Power of Yelp for Your Dental Practice
Date: July 1, 2019Category: Author: Lindsey Bouffard
When it comes to marketing your Dental practice online, there are a lot of options—organic SEO, Google Adwords, videos, social media, and local search are just a few examples. But what about Yelp? Let me explain to you why you should include Yelp in your online marketing mix.
Yelp Is an Easy and Effective Marketing Tool
One of the reasons we like to encourage dentists to use Yelp is because it is easy to use. You do not have to be a genius to create a profile and establish your presence on their site. This is something you can do on your own.
And it’s effective. Research shows that 82% of people who visit Yelp intend to make a purchase. We’re confident that this tendency also applies to dentists—people are viewing your practice’s Yelp profile with the intent to select a dentist. Given this data, why wouldn’t you get your information on Yelp so people can find you?
image courtesy of dentistryiq.com
Yelp is Highly Visible in Search
When we check rankings for search terms, we often notice that Yelp listings are ranking on top. Recently, I did a search for Atlanta Periodontists. At the top of the list was a link to Yelp’s list of “The Best 10 Periodontists in Atlanta, GA.”
I talked to Yelp about this and asked how they are able to rank so high in search. They explained that they have an abundance of content that is updated regularly with reviews. Google’s algorithm recognizes this during a search. It makes sense to lead people to Yelp when they are seeking a dentist because that is where they can find the information they are seeking.
Taking Advantage of Yelp for Your Dental Practice
We work with our clients to make sure their Yelp profile is optimized. It’s important to have good photos, the right information, and the right web address listed. We also manage reviews for some clients.
While the basic Yelp profile is beneficial, we often recommend creating an “Enhanced Yelp Profile.” The enhanced profile comes with some key features:
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- Call to action button
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- Photo slideshow
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- Optional video
- Removal of ads for nearby businesses
Pumphrey Periodontics in Atlanta, one of our clients, has an enhanced Yelp profile. This profile is one of the first listed when you click on the link mentioned above, “The Best 10 Periodontists in Atlanta, GA.” You can tell from the pictures below that having an enhanced profile helps them stand out from another periodontist on that 10 Best List.
Enhanced Profile
Regular Profile
In addition to the enhanced profile, some dental practices utilize Yelp ads. These ads are similar to Google adwords and appear at the top or bottom of a search in Yelp. These ads also appear in the profiles of business who are not paying for enhanced profiles—as you can see by the above photo. The ads are relatively low in cost. To be honest with you, we have seen inconsistent results with these ads and we aren’t encouraging our clients to use them. You may want to try them and see how they work for you.
Don’t Say No
Regardless of how much you use Yelp, just don’t say no to this important marketing tool. It’s important to at least have a basic profile and to monitor your reviews regularly.
Hi Lindsey, Yelp is definitely an important tool to have in your marketing tool box. Its one more way to get visibility for your practice on the first page of Google! The top 10 lists carry quite a bit of weight for prospective patients. Thank you for the great article!