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Dental SEO Service Checklist

Looking for a dental SEO service? This must-read checklist will help you find a dental SEO service that will help your dental practice get on page one of Google and not get ripped off. Also, in this article, you will learn how to avoid Google SEO penalties and SEO scammers.

Find A Dental SEO Service With Experience Helping Dentists

There are seemingly millions of SEO experts who want to work with dentists. Just check your email inbox, on a daily basis you should see tantalizing offers from all kinds of alleged search engine optimization experts. Unfortunately, most SEO companies are generalists and are happy to work with landscapers, plumbers, e-commerce companies or whoever is willing to write them a check. The SEO experts might know SEO but they don’t know dental SEO.

These generalist SEOs could possibly help grow your dental practice. However, it is probably not a good idea to waste time and money with them. Don’t let them figure out Dental SEO on your dime and your time. Instead, look for dental SEO services that have a track record of actually helping dentists.

True dentist professional SEO services will understand and actually care about dental websites, dental SEO keywords, dental practices, and even dental patients. Find a service that can already “speak dentist.” If an SEO expert talks about finding your dental practice “customers”, run the other way – you want an SEO service that knows they need to find you “patients”.

Find A Dental SEO Service That Can Help Create Dental Marketing Content

Google is always hungry for new content. However, most dentists don’t focus on creating new dental related content because the process can be time-consuming and painful.

If you truly want to set your dental practice apart from other dental practices and climb to the top of Google you must have a content creation strategy. Your dental SEO service should lead the charge for you to make sure your website is constantly churning out new dental related content. It doesn’t have to be the best SEO content in the world. There just needs to be a lot of content and of course, it needs to be content that represents your practice well and content you actually want your patients to read.

The dental SEO service you choose doesn’t need to necessarily create the content but they should at least be mapping out a plan for dental blog posts, in-depth dental procedure pages, etc.

If you are a dentist in Birmingham, Alabama and you want to be found for dental implants, you better make sure your dentist website publishes lots of new content related to dental implants. If you simply have a single dental implants page like every other dentist in town, why would you expect Google to rank your dental website higher than the other sites?

PRO TIP: Want an easy way to create dental marketing content? Simply interview the dentist. Ask common dental patient questions and simply add the questions and answers as a new blog post. This is potentially a 10 minute job and can potentially pay off with years of new dental patients.

Avoid Dental SEO Services That Focus On Link Building

FREE DENTAL MARKETING PLAYBOOK!

Many dental SEO services will try to convince you that they will be able to magically propel your dental website to page one of Google by simply purchasing some links from other popular websites. Link building is an age-old, SEO trick to show Google how trusted a website is by other websites however dentists need to use link-building strategies with caution.

Link building still works but Google is smart enough to know most local dentist websites won’t actually ever get big powerful links from CNN.com or some other website with very high page authority. Purchased, powerful links are not necessary to get found in Google. You probably found this dental marketing website through a Google search and we promise you we have never paid for a single link.

Google is investing a ton of money in machine learning in order to improve their algorithms. If you think, your SEO guy is going to keep outsmarting Google much longer, you should think again.

If you were Google and you saw a local dentist office was getting lots of powerful links wouldn’t you think that is a little suspicious? Usually, there is just no reason for a dentist practice to get lots of links unless the dentist gets arrested or goes viral for some other reason. 99.99% of typical dental practice websites just shouldn’t have lots of powerful links. (list of dental website companies)

Your Dental SEO Service Should Concentrate On Natural Local Links

Instead of getting some random link from a “powerful website” your dental practice should concentrate on local links. You don’t need to have the top dental website in the country. You just want to have the top dental website in your town or city.

Links from other organizations in your area will prove to Google that your dental practice is a vital part of the community. You should take every opportunity to give to your community (participating in parades, school events etc) and soon you will be paid back with powerful local links. Also, find lists of businesses in your community and make sure you are included on those lists.

Your Dental SEO Service Must Know Google Maps!

More and more, prospective dental patients are skipping dental websites and finding their new dentist in the Google Map Pack. (below)

Your dental SEO expert better be an expert at not just optimizing your dental website but also optimizing your Google Map Pack listing. Adding location-based content to your dental website will go a long way towards improving your Google Map Pack listing, Make sure your dental SEO service is experienced at helping dentist appear in the local listings map packs.

Avoid SEO Fly-By-Night Services

It is easy to promise big SEO results in 9 months if you plan to be long gone in 6 months. The SEO world is unfortunately filled with scammers and amateurs. Watch out for folks with generic email addresses like Hotmail and Yahoo. Those email addresses are often used by hard-sell, alleged SEO experts who are here today and gone tomorrow.

Also, watch out for folks with no websites. They are doing SEO but they don’t have a fully developed website?? That should be a major red flag!!

Check out other Dental Marketing articles from ConversionSmiles

11Top Google AdWords For Tips For Dentists

Dental Marketing Agency – Full Service Vs. Niche

Dental Marketing Books To Grow Your Dental Practice!

LocalMed – Dentist Appointment Online Scheduling

2019 Dental Marketing Playbook!

ConversionSmiles is a Dental Marketing Company

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Great Google Ads Hack Can Save Dentists Thousands!!!

There aren’t too many blogs that will save you thousands of dollars – but this just might be one of them. Learn below how your dental practice can save thousands of dollars in Google Ads spend with one quick easy hack.

Most Dentists Waste Money With Google AdWords

Dentist Wast Money With Google Ads

The truth is the Google Ads platform is a phenomenal way to find new dental patients when Google ads are working correctly. Unfortunately, it can also be very easy to waste money with Google ads.

Here’s how to do Dental Google Ads right…

Step One The dentist needs to show the right, relevant Google Ad to the right dental patient. If not, your dentist office will waste money.

Step Two The Dentist Google Ad needs to distinguish itself from other Google ads and search listings on the search results page. The Google Ad needs to be clickable! If the ads are not clickable, costs will go up and the dental office will waste their money!

Step Three The dental landing page needs to get the prospective dental patient to either fill out a form or call the dental practice. If neither happens, the dental practice will waste their money.

Negative Keywords Can Help Dentists Save Money

Remember step one above? “The dentist needs to show the right, relevant Google Ad to the right dental patient.”

The worst thing to happen is when the wrong people see and click your dental Google ad. One bad click could cost you $10-$30+. Over time bad clicks can suck up your ad budget and prevent you from getting good clicks from great “in-market” dental patients.

Here are some keyword clicks a dentist in Miami surely would not want.

“How Much Does A Miami Dentist make?”

“Miami Dentist Arrested”

“Miami Dentist School”

By simply adding negative keyword terms like “how much”, “arrested” and “school”, a good Google Ads manager could have prevented Google ads from showing for the search queries above. Many of the negative keywords above are common and predictable. Here’s a list of negative keywords for dentists.

How To Avoid Competitor Keyword Clicks

Dentist Competitors

The same negative keyword principle applies if a dental office wants to avoid expensive clicks based on competitor keyword searches.

Let’s say your dental practice is called Big Smiles R’ Us. You probably don’t want people clicking on your Google ad for Springfield Smiles, Smileworld, Springfield Dental Spa etc. In order to make sure you don’t pay for expensive Google ad clicks when someone is simply trying to search for their own dentist, you must add those competitor names as keywords.

If you have an unlimited budget, an amazing website, amazing reviews and an amazing dental office, there is an argument that it might be worth it to pay for a Google ad click when Suzy Smith searches for your competitor, if you think she will be so amazed by your dental practice that she will leave her dentist.

However, you should know Suzy probably didn’t click your ad on purpose and actually thought she was clicking on her own dentist’s website. More often than not she will be gone from your dental landing page within 3 seconds and you will be out $10-$30!

FREE DENTAL MARKETING PLAYBOOK!

OK SO HERE’S THE GREAT GOOGLE ADS NEGATIVE KEYWORD HACK ALREADY!

Finding all of your competitors and adding them to your Google AdWords account can be time-consuming. Here’s a quick and easy way to find dentists near you and add them as negative keywords to your Google AdWords accounts.

Step One

Download the Chrome extension called Leads Extractor from the Google Chrome Store. This should take about 5 seconds. Chrome extensions are safe and easy to use. Plus, when you are done they are easy to remove.

You can find the Chrome Extension here.

Step Two

Go to Google Maps and search for dentist in your area.

Step Three

Use the Leads Extractor extension to collect the first set of local dentists.

Step Four

Click the next arrow below the listing to see the next twenty listings.

Step Five

Collect those dentist listing with the Leads Extractor extension.

Step Six

Repeat steps above.

Step Seven

Copy the collected dentist competitor names.

Step Eight

Paste the dentist competitor names into your AdWords negative keywords

Here’s a quick video we made to help you understand the process of collecting competitor dentist names from YouTube.

Dentist AdWords Pro Tip – You should also find and add dentist names (ex. Dr. Howard Farran) to your AdWords negative keyword list. A great place to find actual dentist names is right at the ADA website.

For instance, here’s a list of Miami dentist names… https://findadentist.ada.org/search-results?address=miami

Here are some other dental marketing articles that might interest you.

2019 Dental Logo Design Ideas & Best Practices

LocalMed – Dentist Appointment Online Scheduling

Questions You Must Ask A Dental SEO Expert!

Dental Implant Marketing In 2019

ConversionSmiles is a dental marketing company.

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Does Google AdWords For Dentists Work in 2019?

[With the emergence of Facebook ads, does Google AdWords for dentists still work in 2019? The answer is YES and Google ads might actually be working better than they have in many years. Learn strategies to grow your practice with Google AdWords for Dentists in this article…]

Why Google AdWords For Dentists Will Probably Always Work

Always is a long time but you should expect running dentist Google ads will work for a very, very long time.

Let’s look at Facebook ads for dentists. Facebook is a great platform for educating patients and promoting procedures. Facebook allows you to find specific audiences and let them know your dental practice exists. With Facebook, you can educate patients about dental procedures and let them know how you can help them look or feel better. That’s fantastic and smart dentists should be using Facebook Ads to some extent.

FREE DENTAL MARKETING PLAYBOOK!

However, there are still relatively few people who go to Facebook to search for dental practices or specific dental procedures. Some people might ask Facebook friends for recommendations but in those cases, the dental practices are not able to provide their unique selling proposition (USP).

Instead, Google is still the “go to” place when someone wants to find a new dentist or wants help with a specific dental problem. Google truly is the new phone book and will be for a long, long time. When a prospective dental patient decides they need help with a dental procedure, they immediately jump on Google and type in keywords to find a solution to their problem. For some interesting examples of what people type into Google related to dentists check out this list… dental keywords for Adwords

Why Google AdWords For Dentists Is Better Than Ever – More Prominent Ads

Believe it or not, the cost per click of Google ads is actually going down. Maybe not for dental Google ads and maybe not for Google ads in your area but overall Google is seeing a decline in the cost per Google ad click. “The cost per click (CPC) declined 29%, slightly more than the third quarter of 2018.” – MediaPost.com

Yet, this year even with pay per click prices declining, Google’s paid-click growth rose to more than 66% year-over-year. What’s up with that? Simple. Google is making search ads more clickable and more prominent so although individual ad click prices might be declining overall volume is increasing.


In the past, some folks had gone “ad blind” and trained themselves to only focus on organic searches and ignore Google ads. These days Google is making ads much more prominent. Above, is a screenshot of a real search on a Google Pixel XL phone. As you can see all of the phone’s real estate is taken up by dentist ads. That’s pretty hard to ignore if you are someone looking for a new dentist. In fact, the first three listings are Google ads so even as you scroll down you see yet another Google ad.

Google AdWords For Dentists Is Better Because Google Ads Are Bigger

With new expanded search ads, Google ads are getting bigger. According to iProspect, “Both Text Ad descriptions can now have up to 90 characters each. Previously, advertisers only had one description line (80 characters); this new update doubles the previous description space plus adds an additional 10 characters per description. So, what does this all mean? You now have a 93% increase in character count (from 140 to 270)!”

Bigger ads are a big deal for dental advertisers! Bigger Google ads are more clickable and help dentists deliver more effective marketing messages. Imagine back in the day if you could get a bigger newspaper ad, bigger phonebook ad or longer TV ad at the same price. Well, that is pretty much what is going on here. But the difference is you may be paying less for your larger dentist Google ad than the dentist with the tiny Google ads. You just have to do it right! Take a look at the Google ad above from Aspen Dental that has a whopping 13 lines!

PRO TIP: By leveraging Google extensions, Google advertisers can make Google ads even bigger.

Google AdWords For Dentists Is Better Because Of Better Conversion Rate Optimization Techniques

Google ads have always been a pretty effective way of getting keyword clicks. The problem is many dentists have sent valuable AdWords traffic to pages that are not effective at converting the ‘ad clicker’ into an actual patient. In fact, many dentists have sent traffic to crappy web pages or phones that are not answered. That has to stop if you want to be successful with AdWords for dentists.

These days dental website designers have become much savvier at creating relevant landing pages that actually motivate folks to fill out a form or actually make a call to the dental practice. In the world of dental Google ads, conversions are king.

Conversion rates will climb even more as online dental appointment scheduling like LocalMed becomes more commonplace. Something like LocalMed allows a prospective dental patient to go from Google Ad click to a new dental patient appointment in less than 3 minutes. (To learn more about LocalMed and dental appointment scheduling check out this article LocalMed Online Scheduling.

If your dental practice can convert Google ads to new customers at a high rate, you probably always be a good candidate for Google Ads!

More Dental Marketing Articles That Might Interest You

Facebook Ads For Dentists – Why FB Ads Matter In 2019!

Google AdWords Call Only Ads – All You Need To Know

Why Your Dentist AdWords Manager Should Know SEO

11 Top Tips For Google AdWords For Dentists – 2019

One Silly Thing That Helps Increase Dentist Google Ads CTR!

ConversionSmiles is a Dental Marketing Company

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Questions You Must Ask A Dental SEO Expert!

What experience does the “dental SEO expert” have with other dental offices?

Dental SEO is a different animal than other search engine optimization challenges. A dental SEO company needs to be extremely familiar with dental keywords that can attract a high volume of high quality, profitable traffic. If the dental SEO company isn’t familiar with everything from dental implants to dental veneers, you should keep looking for a new dental SEO company. (list of dental seo companies) You need to find a dental seo firm that understands challenges dental patients are looking to solve, so that your dental website can be optimized to solve those problems.

How long will it take for the “dental SEO expert” to rank your dental practice with SEO?

If the dental SEO agency says they can rank your dental website in a week or month, you should probably run the other way as fast as you can. All good SEO takes time. Google will decide over time that your website deserves to be ranked for important dental keyword terms. Any company promising super quick results is either dishonest, inexperienced or trying to cheat the system.

What will the Dental SEO linking strategy be?

Google loves links! Part of SEO is really a popularity contest. If Google sees a website is getting lots of links from high quality websites that is an indication that other websites think your website is worthwhile. Having many good quality links can be great. However, too many links or cheating the link system can be really, really bad.

Google is using machine learning more and more to better understand when a website is trying to cheat the link system. Google has decades of traffic history and link profiles for dental websites. They know what is typical. They also can quickly figure out what is out of the norm and punish website for cheating the system.

If your dental website gets lots of links quickly, you can expect Google will take a close look at what is going on. If your dental website quickly gets links from suspicious high authority websites, you can expect Google will eventually figure out you are trying to game the system. The truth is a typical dental website won’t and shouldn’t get a large number of high-quality links. Don’t worry about it, you can win the dental SEO game without crazy links. Just concentrate on great quality content that helps dental patients.

How will the “dental SEO expert” help with local links?

Local links are a different story. It is very likely that your dental practice will and should get links from other websites in your local community. Many times getting a local link is as simple as asking and being an active member of the community.

Great dental local links can come from other local businesses, non-profit organizations, local media, and even local bloggers. Local links are very powerful because your number one job when it comes to dental SEO is proving to Google that your dental office is part of the local community. Proving that you are dental practice is not a big deal – proving you are local and relevant is trickier.

How will the “dental SEO expert” help with content creation?

If important dental keywords don’t exist on your dental website, you should not expect that Google will offer up your website in search results. For example, if you want to get found for the term “All-on-4 Dental Implants” you better make sure you have a web page that concentrates on “All-on-4 Dental Implants” and also includes references to your town or city/name.

For instance, CPW Dentistry in NYC wants to get found for All On Four Dental Implants so they have created a page that is specifically dedicated to that term along with their city which is NYC. Google has almost no choice but to offer the page in the search results because it is so closely aligned with the user intent for the search “All-on-4 Dental Implants” NYC. If closely related content doesn’t exist, don’t expect to get found for certain dental keyword searches.

If your “dental SEO expert doesn’t have a dental content strategy, you need to find a real dental seo company.

Does the dental SEO service help with map listings, or the 3 pack?

Most dental searches have local intent. Google loves to show a map and the 3 pack of local listings for local searches. Many prospective dental patients are skipping dental websites altogether and just dialing the number from the 3 pack right from their mobile phone. It is becoming more and more critical that dental practices optimize for local map searches if they want to win the dental SEO game.

If your dental SEO company is not optimizing your Google My Business listing you should probably look for dental SEO firm that can.

What is the “dental SEO expert’s” website?

The SEO industry is filled with con artists and amateurs. If someone is contacting you with a Yahoo or Hotmail email address and does not seem to have a website themsel that is a huge red flag. If the dental SEO agency knows SEO so well, why the heck would they not use SEO to attract clients to their business. It just doesn’t make sense.

Can the “dental SEO” expert offer examples of customers they have had for more than one year?

A dental PPC agency is able to prove themselves within a couple of weeks. With a dental SEO company, it can take 12 months plus. For this reason, it is imperative to determine that the dental SEO firm has been able to get results for other dental practices. Waiting a year to find out a dental SEO company CAN NOT actually help is just too big of an opportunity cost for a dental practice.

Does the “dental SEO expert” try to trick Google or give Google what they want?

It is Google’s world and we are just living in it. Do you really think your dental SEO guy is smarter than the Stanford PHDs working at Google. Just guessing but he probably isn’t. If he is sending garbage links to your website for quick results watch out. Google will catch him and you will have to live with the consequences for years to come.

If you can make a reasonable argument that your content is better and more relevant than your competitors, you will start to get page one results. If you have crappy content but are cheating the system, your website won’t stay on page one and it shouldn’t.

What other dental SEO services does the dental SEO agency offer?

Does the dental SEO agency offer other services like PPC or web design? If they offer Dental PPC that’s great. Just make sure it is obvious which traffic is coming from Dental SEO and which traffic is coming from Dental PPC efforts.

If they don’t offer dental website design, make sure they have a strategy for helping you improve your on-page SEO and website design. If you have a slow, badly designed, badly written website, the best dental SEO expert in the world won’t be able to help much.

Other Dental Marketing Articles That Might Interest You

Dental SEO Tips – Free Instant eBook

11 Top Tips For Google AdWords For Dentists 2019

Crazy Easy Thing That Can Really Help Dental SEO!

Dental Marketing Companies List

ConversionSmiles is a Dental Marketing Company.

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Orthodontic Marketing With Google Ads – Top Cities

Orthodontic marketing can be extremely effective with Google ads because orthodontists are able to get found by people actively looking for an orthodontist. Today, we will look at how orthodontists in some U.S. top cities are using Google ads to market their orthodontic practices.

Orthodontic Marketing With Google Ads In NYC

First, let’s look at Designer Braces advertising in Manhattan, NY. Designer Braces is able to secure the top spot on Google for the simple keyword “orthodontist”. (Looking for orthodontic marketing keyword ideas? Check out our dental keyword list.

Here are some things we love about this orthodontist ad.

  • The search term is Orthodontist and the ad writer is smart enough to make sure that exact term is featured both in the blue headline and in the green display line. This helps catch the searcher’s eye and keeps them reading this orthodontist ad.
  • We love the phrase “Your Local Family Orthodontist” in the ad headline. “Your” immediately makes the ad about the searcher rather than the orthodontal practice. “Local” gives the immediate impression th Designer Braces is not a big chain. “Family” is a powerful word that conjures up warm, loving feelings of trust which helps attract folks scared of a clinical, cold, impersonal orthodontic experience.
  • The other phrase “Easy Steps to a Fantastic Smile” in the ad headline is also fantastic. Someone doing a Google search is looking for a solution. Using the term “Easy” in a Google ad is a powerful technique because ultimately people are looking for a simple answer to their problem.
  • The ad writer immediately mentions Invisalign to make sure folks looking for Invisalign (which is popular in NYC) will keep reading. Also, the use of the TM symbol has been proven to increase Click Through Rate as it builds trust and authority.
  • The phrase “Established in 1984” establishes trust by telling the searcher the orthodontist has lots of experience and a reputation to live up to.

The only improvement we would suggest is a strong Call To Action to encourage more ad clicks. The ad does say “Easy appointments” and “Call Now!” but we would recommend the orthodontist try “Get Free Consultation Now!” and place that phrase either at the beginning or end of the ad so it does not get lost in the middle.

Orthodontic Marketing With Google Ads In Atlanta

Now, let’s look at a Google orthodontist ad that is on the top of the first page of Google in Atlanta, GA. Alliance Orthodontics uses price to drive clicks from budget-conscious Google searchers.

Here are some things we like and think could be improved about this orthodontist ad…

  • Using the term “Most Affordable” will definitely get clicks from people looking for the best deal on braces. However, an orthodontist using this pricing technique better be able to back it up by providing comparably lower pricing. Also, because this technique will illicit a lot of clicks the orthodontist needs to ensure the landing page and front desk can actually convert the clicks into patients.
  • We think it is smart that this orthodontist uses a price range of “$89- $129” rather than just simply saying starting at $89. Setting expectations is important because it is very costly when someone ultimately decides not to get braces because they can’t afford what you offer. Using real numbers can be a very effective technique to get clicks but orthodontists need to be careful because when there is lots of competition this can quickly be a ‘race to the bottom’.
  • One missed opportunity is the orthodontist is not taking advantage of the display URL in the Google ad. The display URL is eye-catching because it is green and can essentially say whatever the orthodontist wants. For instance, instead of simply saying BracesInGeorgia.com is could say BracesInGeorgia.com/CallNow.
  • It also seems as though the orthodontic practice is not correctly taking advantage of Google ad extensions. Google ad extensions are fantastic because they make the ad bigger and potentially more relevant for the Google searcher. In this case, the advertiser has 9 locations so it would be a good idea to try location ad extensions. From Google: “Based on a user’s search and location, AdWords can automatically display a link to show your multiple nearby locations. When a user clicks on the address link, a new map panel appears to the right of the top search results that will showcase your additional nearby locations. This way, you can increase the chances that your customers find the ideal location for their search.”
FREE DENTAL MARKETING PLAYBOOK!

Orthodontic Marketing With Google Ads In NYC

Now, let’s look at a Google orthodontist ad that is on the top of the first page of Google in Chicago, IL. Yummy Dental & Orthodontics uses price to drive clicks from budget-conscious Google searchers.

Here are some things we like and think could be improve about the Yummy Dental & Orthodontics Google ad.

  • Often times, Google ads can all look alike. Making a Google ad different will make the Google ad stand out and that can help get more clicks that will lead to lower prices per click. In this case, Yummy Dental & Orthodontics seems to have made a deliberate decision to go after the huge market for kids braces at the expense of adult braces. Sure, they might be losing some clicks for folks looking for adult braces (which they offer!) but their ad will be so much more attractive to Mom’s looking for braces for their kids that they will end up with more patients. Also, Yummy Dental & Orthodontics offers full pediatric dentistry so they have a lot more to gain with a new child patient than just selling some braces.
  • It seems simple but we love that they use the Call To Action (CTA) that says “Schedule A Free Consultation!” Some people are very intimidated by the process of getting braces and would be afraid to just call up and ask questions. An explicit suggestion that a consultation is actually welcomed will make this orthodontist stand out and seem friendlier and less intimidating. CTAs are extremely important because most people need/want to be told to do something.
  • Social Proof in Google ads helps build trust so people want to do business with you. In this case, Yummy Dental & Orthodontics mentions they were featured on NBC Chicago. This is a smart way to build trust using only four words.
  • This orthodontist should also consider trying Callout Extensions to increase the size of their ad and make it more relevant. Callout Extensions allow a business to “callout” benefits that make them unique. For instance, Yummy Dental & Orthodontics might want to use Call Out Extensions like “Pediatric Dentistry”, “Multiple Locations”, “CareCredit Financing”.

If you found this Orthodontic Marketing Expert Tips article helpful, you might also enjoy these ConversionSmiles articles.

Orthodontist AdWords vs. Dentist Adwords

Top Orthodontic Marketing Strategies 

Orthodontist AdWords Success

Simple Orthodontic Website SEO Tip

Dental Marketing Playbook

FREE DENTAL MARKETING PLAYBOOK!

ConversionSmiles is dental marketing company.