In my last post, I explained why ranking well in Google’s map pack is more important than ever for dentists. Two weeks ago, Google revised one of their help pages outlining how to improve your local ranking on Google.

The most important piece of advised offered by Google is that you must use Google My Business to rank well locally. Ranking well locally will have two positive outcomes for your dental practice: 1) Your practice may appear in the local map pack featured in some Google searches below the advertisements and above the traditional organic search terms; 2) Your practice may be one of the handfull that appear while searching for a dentist into Google Maps without zooming in and redefining the search.

You can learn more about Google My Business by watching this video and visiting Google.com/business. You can create a Google My Business Page for free by following the instructions in this video.

After you have created a Google My Business page, ensure that the information is accurate and up-to-date. You must provide your:

  • Dental Practice Address
  • Phone Number
  • Category (Dentist)
  • Hours of Operation
  • Photos*

If you already have a Google My Business Page for your dental office, you can edit your business page for accuracy by following these instructions.

*After you have set up your business page, you need to add photos of the outside and inside of your office. Also consider adding a photo of yourself and your long-term team members. You then need to manage and response to reviews (or assign one of your team members to manage the task).

Lastly, you must verify your location. You can learn more about verifying your location by watching this video.

It is very important that all of your information is accurate. Double check the spelling of your name, phone number, and hours of operation. Google asks for a lot of information about you and your business and it’s crucial that you answer all of the questions (even if they are optional) to give yourself the best odds of being one of the 3 in the map pack.