Dental practice business listings are an online summary of essential information for your practice that serve as a powerful tool to help patients find you online and in real life. Here’s what you need to know:
NAP+W
No, we didn’t fall asleep on the keyboard. NAP+W is the acronym that explains all the information that should be included in business listings.
Name
Address
Phone number
+
Website
These four pieces of information are the business listings starter-pack. They provide the basic information potential patients need to have in order to research, contact and locate your practice.
Want to score some major bonus points? Include information like hours of operation in practice listings—it’s what consumers are most interested in!
Will my listings work?
The effectiveness of a practice listing depends on the information’s presence and accuracy. Listings are available through a variety of sources, including search engines, online directories and maps, or social sites. When it comes to listings presence, more is definitely better. Availability on as many sources as possible will create multiple avenues for patients to find your dental practice. But (and this is a big but), presence only pays off if the listings are accurate. Listings are accurate if the information is correct and consistent across all potential sources. Seems easy enough, right?
Why are listings important?
Listings with good presence and accuracy will undoubtedly pay off for your practice. Here’s how:
No more hide and seek
Just as the brightly lit bat signal guides everyone’s favorite caped crusader (that’s right Superman, we said it!), accurate and readily available listings will help guide consumers right to your practice’s door steps.
They even have similar shapes. Coincidence? We think not…
If a dental practice’s listing is incorrect or missing, the majority of consumers will feel less confident about the brand, likely leading them to choose a competitor’s practice. The availability of accurate listings ensures patients are actually able to find brick and mortar locations while they’re open for business. This means money in the your pocket and, just as importantly, it means the practice can be reviewed.
“In my humble opinion…”
An ample review pipeline is an essential tool for developing a practice’s online reputation and fostering loyalty. Reviews allow patients to communicate their experience with a dentist to potential patients, but if consumers can’t find a dental practice listed online, their opinion of it won’t be well-informed. Accurate listings create the opportunity for transparency between practices and patients in the form of reviews, and the availability of this information will help increase a practice’s visibility.
All aboard the search engine
Consistent, accurate listings and the generation of reviews will directly benefit a practice’s visibility by boosting its ranking in local search engine results. Search engine optimization is a complex tool, so why not take advantage of it by simply ensuring your dental practice is listed accurately! Increased visibility means more patients, and what dentist doesn’t want that?
Now what?
This listings low-down provides a basic definition and describes the benefits of dental practice listings. Create listings on sites worth lots of points to improve your listings score. We’ve ranked them by importance using a lot of key factors—how many sites reference them, traffic, demographics and more.