Did you know that over 60% of consumers in the United States have purchased a product because of a blog post?
Blogs work. First, because they usually show up high in search results. Another fact you may find interesting is, small businesses that publish blogs have over 400 indexed website pages in Google, on average. The more indexed pages a site has, the more often it will show up in search results — particularly if a dentist’s blog is of high quality, written with a strong SEO strategy.
Blogs work. Second, because they use casual language to provide helpful information. A blog post with friendly phrasing and easy-to-understand information makes the reader feel respected. A good blog post provides an answer to the potential patient’s query in Google Search.
Blogs work. Third, because they make purchasing, or scheduling in your case, simple. Your first objective in writing a blog should be to answer the reader’s question, not to make a sale. This does not mean you should omit sales attempts altogether. By strategically inserting links to your site’s contact page, you can make appointment scheduling simple.
Let’s say you do these three things in your blog. Great start! Still, you may have some questions about how blogging works.
When Your Blog Shows Up in Google Results
Your blog post will populate in search engine results when a user queries a keyword or keyword phrase that shows up at least once in your blog. Keywords that aren’t long-tail phrases should be used multiple times in a blog, including in one of the secondary headings.
The sites that show up on the top of page-one results may have more SEO strategy than just keyword integration. Incoming links, internal links, age of domain, media with relevant tags, and other factors play a role in a blog’s rank.
How Your Blog Looks on Google
The meta description you write for a website page or a blog shows up under the title tag in search engine results. Using a plugin like All in One SEO, you can easily insert a meta description into your dentist’s blog.
An entry in Google looks like this:
- link
- title tag
- meta description
How to Write a High-Response Meta Description for Blogs
So you know what makes a blog show up in Google and what a blog looks like in Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The missing component is how to make Google users click on YOUR blog link, rather than another result.
The secret is in composing a great hook in your meta description. This important text needs to capture a reader’s interest so that he or she clicks to read more. When writing a blog’s meta description, think about EMOTION. Logically, what would prompt a Google user to make a query that your blog answers. The emotion behind that prompting is key.
Here’s an example of how to strategize before writing a blog’s meta description. The query in this example is Pediatric Dentist Near Me.
Most likely, who would make this query?
A mom.
Statistically, women choose the family dentist more often than men, so while a father or grandparent might make the query, the most logical answer is a mother.
What’s important to this mom?
Obviously, proximity is on her mind if a mom includes “near me” in her search query.
What else is important to your pediatric-dentist-seeking mother who prioritizes convenience?
Anyone who wants a nearby dentist probably has middle-class American concerns like speed of appointment, quality of care, cost of care, and whether her insurance is accepted. These qualities provide great cues about what to include in your blog post, but let’s focus on the meta description for now.
A meta description will be shortened to 150-160 characters, so that’s your max. Minimum should be about 50 characters. You need enough words to capture attention and prompt click-throughs, so don’t go with fewer than 50 characters.
To summarize, we are writing a >160-character description of your blog post aimed at a mom seeking a pediatric dentist near me. The emotions fueling her query are convenience, quality of care, and cost/insurance. Here’s a meta description that you could consider having a good hook.
It answers the query, includes the keyword phrase, and caters to the user’s most probable concerns. This one is 160 characters long, so it maximizes space without sacrificing text to truncation by Google.
Looking for a pediatric dentist near me? With compassionate care and convenience, Dr. Mark offers affordable care and takes most insurances. Give us a call now!
How to Get a Great Google Blog Going
If you don’t want to write a blog once a week, the minimum frequency recommended for SEO, call Identiwrite Creative at 940-395-5115 or email [email protected]. My trained and experienced dental blog writers understand clinical dentistry, as well as marketing and SEO. Our pricing is reasonable and our quality is unmatched!
