People are searching online to find specific answers and services near them. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the most reliable and quickest sources for people to find your services near them. Studies show that almost 6 in 10 consumers use Google to find a local service or business. Over 7 in 10 of these searchers lay a lot of emphasis on the information provided by the search results. So, when it comes to getting your practice found online, you cannot ignore the importance of local listings and search engine optimization (SEO). Besides, practice's digital information is essential, and you must maintain data consistency across the web. NAP or "Name, Address, and Phone number" along with other specific factors are the most important digital information relevant to your practice that should be maintained consistently across all websites and platforms.
Search engines deliver the NAP data to your target audience, allowing them to contact and reach out to your dental office. So, what is NAP, why is NAP consistency important, and what are the underlying requirements? We want to shed valuable insights on this topic. We are sure that most dentists and other practitioners don't realize the importance of this information.
What is NAP?
NAP refers to location-based information about your practice. This includes name, address, and phone number . NAP consistency requires that this information should be accurately maintained across all web platforms, including websites, social media profiles, local directories, and business listings. It is an important local SEO ranking factor. Any mention of your NAP information is referred to as a citation.
Every dentist wants their practice to be found online on top of the search engines recommendations. NAP consistency is the foundation of your local SEO strategy. Whether your digital marketing strategy is managed in-house or by an external marketing agency, someone must ensure the accuracy and consistency of your practice's information. While this is the minimum requirement for playing the local search game, it is a necessary foundation for your digital presence.
Why is NAP Consistency important?
Google and other search engines use many types of factors to rank websites locally. As a dental practice, local search results are crucial for you because patients do not keep scrolling down when it comes to choosing a dentist. The first top 3 local business recommendations from Google or any other search engine are what patients decide when looking for a dentist, so it is important to be locally ranked on the top 3 results. Citations are among the most important signals for Google and other search engines to determine that your practice is authentic. They will also rely on the NAP consistency to ensure that accurate information is served to users.
It is worth knowing that user experience (UX) is at the heart of Google search ranking algorithms. Search engines are committed to delivering accurate information to their searchers (users).
If your citations have inconsistencies, they will be de-merited in search engine ranking signals, thus adversely affecting your practice's search rankings. Practices having consistent NAP data across the web will be relatively ranked higher!
HOW DOES INCONSISTENCY AFFECT A PATIENT'S PERSPECTIVE?
Imagine a patient is trying to contact your dental office, only to be led astray by inconsistent online listings, old phone numbers, different names and addresses. The patient will likely think that you and your team can’t be bothered to update your contact details. It can be seen as an insight into the quality of services that you offer.
Studies show that 73% of searchers will not trust a brand if the business listing consists of inaccurate data. So, you must make every effort to ensure your online information always stays up to date.
It may not just affect the patient psychologically, but the wrong information may be causing inconvenience for the patient when reaching your practice.
NAP Consistency & SEO
Correct information and a great user experience (UX) are the most important elements of a search engine. A search engine must trust that your website and/or practice will meet the needs of their users because search engines only want to deliver the best experience for users; by having the wrong information, you are failing to work with the search engine's primary purpose.
The key to building trust with Google or other search engines is to ensure that the search engine's algorithm understands who you are, what you do, and where you are located. Search engine crawlers can detect any variations in your dental practice's name, phone number, physical address, and website address, but having the same information is the best way to accomplish their mission.
Consider the following scenario:
Consider a dental office with the following name, physical address, and phone number. This is an official business registered name.
ABC Dentistry Inc
123, Wurzbach Rd,
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 292-0111
Digitally, most offices would not list the "Inc," so this would be the ideal digital practice information on Google and other search engines.
ABC Dentistry
123, Wurzbach Rd
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 292-0111
A few months later, you promote an online ad with a tracking number to keep track of the phone calls generated by the ad. The marketing company tells you they will use this tracking so you can have better "accountability." Still, the problem is that they list this number in organic places such as your Google listing, which means NAP information becomes incorrect.
ABC Dentistry
123, Wurzbach, Rd
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 292-3212
Then you recently verified your Facebook page, but you wanted to make it more personalized, so you decided to add your name to the practice name; mistakenly, you forgot to put the word "Rd" on the address.
ABC Dentistry by Dr. Smith
123, Wurzbach,
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 292-0111
Since you purchased the practice from another dentist, some old listings, such as Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc., may have the old information. The phone number and address would be the same because they are given with the office, but the name is entirely different! Google does not know if there is a new practice or not; for the algorithm, this is just wrong information.
Dr. Garcia Berg – Oral Surgery
123, Wurzbach Rd,
San Antonio, TX 78258
(210) 292-0111
You may also want to consider searching for your name and looking into all these specific listings under your name (not your practice name). Since you worked as an associate for other offices, you may have information all over the place. It is crucial to fix the data from another practice to your new one.
Dr. Smith is working at
Extreme Smile Associates
567, Power Rd.
San Antonio, TX 78254
(210) 997-6852
Lastly, you build a website, and your website MUST have this NAP information correct. Just because you have a website, it does not mean Google and other search engines will know what to do with the information displayed when the website goes live. The data is read in different ways, and design may also affect how it is structured for search engines. A specific set of codes such as schema markup provides the correct information for search engines. This code is the foundation of Search Engine Optimization.
So, what is a schema markup or, in other words, microdata for search engines? Schema markup is code (semantic vocabulary) that you place on your website to help the search engines return more informative results for a user in specific ways. This gives you control of what to say to Google and other search engines for their users. 91% of dental offices do not have a schema markup placed on their websites.
So, as you can see, the inconsistency across the web becomes harder and harder to keep track of. Search engine crawlers are exceptionally detail-oriented, so having all this wrong information will affect the results of search engines, thus your practice not being recommended as a top result by Google or other search engines when patients are searching for your services.
How to Fix or See My Practice Information?
There are several ways to make a practice analysis of digital health. However, the first step you should take to ensure your practice's digital information is consistent is to conduct a Google search for your dental office's name.
Google your practice's name with your city name. You will most likely get your Google listing information which should look like the image attached.
Once you verify all the information on your Google listing is accurate and how you want it, you will have to go into every listing to see If you come across different addresses or phone numbers across the web (NAP Inaccuracy).
You can also use online tools such as GeekBoost™ to check citations consistency. Before you do this search tool, you need to make sure you write down the exact information. Do not miss a period or suite number sign.
Here is a local listing search to make your life easier: CHECK PRACTICE'S DIGITAL HEALTH
GeekBoost™ will only show around 70-90 local listings, but there are thousands of listings, so you may want to consider reaching out to an expert that knows about this type of search optimization. Keep in mind that 91% of offices do not have these placed; that means not everyone gets this right.
NAP data plays a significant role in driving foot traffic to your office, therefore you cannot take it lightly. If you are serious about growing the number of patients visiting your dental office, you must address this important factor in your local SEO strategy.
Accuracy and consistency in NAP data will not only boost your number of new patients but can also increase your office's online visibility in your search engine results pages (SERP). Google and other search engines favor listings that provide rich and consistent information no matter the data source. When it comes to fixing inconsistent NAP, it is a time-consuming and cumbersome job. You will have to find and visit all the websites where your practice is listed, create accounts, and make the changes. It is best to seek professional help to ensure faster and proper steps are taken.
About the author:
Cesar Navarro
CEO at Geek Dental Marketing
Cesar Navarro, MS, is presently the Marketing Director & CEO of Geek Dental Marketing®, a marketing, development, and technology company for dental offices. With the vision to grow practices, improve management and visibility online, Cesar launched a full marketing company that focuses solely on dentistry to help dentists stand out from the crowd. Cesar holds over ten years of experience in the dental marketing field. He has also served as a group practice administrator and treatment coordinator, where he began his journey and passion for dentistry. Before dentistry, Cesar served as an NCO in the United States Army for several years, where he gathered many skills that most marketers lack. Combining all his skills like attention to detail and experiences, he has presented several CE courses to help dentists globally, such as “Leadership in a Dental Office,” “Branding Mastery Course,” “The How Much Patient? Converting & Selling”, “A New Era: Social Media Marketing,” and many more, and with it thousands of hours as a practice marketing consultant.
His strategy includes the GeekBoost™ program, which allows clients’ business information, including addresses and phone numbers, and online web presence to be distributed across multiple channels, such as landing pages, listings, and social media platforms from one single source – securing the accuracy of dental office information online.