Dentists need content to fuel their marketing. Without the text on a website, it would just be a collage of images. Google is getting better at understanding images and what they represent, but they still rely on text to understand what a website is all about. Google can assign even more value and relevance to websites that provide new and updated content. Marketing companies know that, so they include content development in most marketing packages. Dentists rarely write their own content. It wouldn’t make sense for them to do so in most cases. Dentists must know how to hold their marketing companies accountable for providing their websites with fresh, original content rather than borrowing (or stealing) content from other sources. Copyscape makes this easy and affordable.
Duplicate Content Can Screw Up Your Marketing
Creating new text takes a lot of work, and some marketing companies try to fulfill the need for content on the cheap by reusing text that they’ve found on the internet or written for other clients. Remember back in your early schooling of writing papers. Your teachers warned you against copying other students’ work because it’s plagiarism. In school, plagiarism could have gotten you in trouble for cheating, but likely no more than a slap on the wrist and some docked points. However, in Google’s (and other search engines) mind, plagiarism is a big no-no, and it will kill your marketing efforts. Your website is supposed to drive traffic, so why pay for writing that will harm your marketing?
Your content needs to have your target audience AND search engines in mind. It’s not enough to only have pages that cover relevant topics. The content needs to be original. Even though your patients will likely never know that you have duplicate content, Google will, and won’t showcase your website because of it.
What if someone else copied my content?
There isn’t a way for Google to know who the content belongs to. Google will be confused about which website to show, and it may choose the other website. So even if you had the content first, it’s still better to remove yourself and your practice from the confusion with original content that converts users into patients.
Look Out For Templated Websites with Templated Content
Templated websites with templated content are much cheaper than a fully custom website for dentists. They are attractive because, at first glance, they look professional and have a low barrier to entry. However, when you look deeper, these kinds of websites will cost you money in the long run. The opportunity lost due to lousy ranking costs much more money in lost patients than the upfront cost of an original website.
If you’re just starting your dental marketing journey or are looking to let someone else take on the burden of your content, make sure to choose a marketing company that writes original content and designs original websites.
How Copyscape Can Help
Copyscape allows you to test your website for originality. You may be surprised when you find out that some of the blogs on your website are exact copies of blogs for other dentists with subtle differences like location and names. With this kind of confusion, it’s hard for Google to know which blog is more relevant to the user and even harder to get featured in the “snippets” section of Google. You know, the section under the ads where it says, “People also ask”? Being featured on snippets is one of the best ways to have your organic content seen. Don’t give up your chance with copied material.
There are other websites like Copyscape, but at Pro Impressions, we’ve used it for years on every new website that we’ve had the pleasure of upgrading. We punch your URL into Copyscape, analyze your content for duplication and relevancy, and rewrite the content, so it’s original. To test your own content, you can do the same thing. Put your URL into Copyscape and see what it brings up.
How to Improve Dental Visibility with Content
Improving your visibility online with content is possible. All you need to do is learn how to scale your blogging efforts. When improving your dental website, the first thing to do is place people according to their strengths. This means that since you excel at being a dentist, don’t also try to write your website content. Employ a dental marketing company whose strengths lie in original content creation. Next, make sure dental experts write your content. While your marketing company doesn’t know as much as you, choose one specializing in dentistry. This way, you’ll know their writers are spending time learning about dentistry instead of every topic under the sun. Third, make sure they have a plan for your content and someone in charge of getting enough original content out at the right times and with topics relevant to your target audience. Finally, ensure that the efforts being made on your website are being tracked and analyzed for improvement.
Improve Your Visibility with Pro Impression Marketing Group
If you’re a dentist or someone in the dental industry who is tired of dragging behind the competition regarding search engine visibility, let us analyze your website and marketing efforts. We help dentists gain new patients through unique, original dental content and dental website design. Schedule a consultation or call (970) 672-1212, and we can help you gain new patients.
