In a perfect world, your dental website would never see dips in site traffic. But that’s just not how it works. The traffic to your website is affected by three significant factors: natural fluctuations, external factors, and Google’s never-ending algorithm updates.
We see site traffic fluctuate predictably due to the time of year; we have seen site traffic dip due to a pandemic; we have seen Google make core algorithm updates that affect site traffic.
Google makes large updates a few times a year, but you likely don’t remember all of them. The last Google update you might remember happened in 2018: the Medic Update. For those who remember, this update was painful for many as it dealt with websites that have the power to impact a person’s wellbeing. Dentists are on that list and consequently saw major changes in site traffic. Pro Impressions’ response to this update was to increase the expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of member office websites. Overall, this was a blip in the timeline our members overcame.
Dental Market Demand Fluctuates Naturally
Natural fluctuations in dental demand are nothing new and nothing to worry about. Many Pro Impressions member offices discuss these natural fluctuations during their monthly report meetings with their account manager.
Dental demand looks like a lopsided hammock with high points in August and January, a low point in May, and pretty steady traffic from September to December. You can expect to see this fluctuation yearly with the high and low points relative to each other. If you’re working toward more traffic through dental search engine optimization, dental copywriting, and social media for dentists, your overall site traffic will increase year over year.
Your Site Traffic Could Be Down Due To…
External factors place a significant burden on businesses and dental marketing efforts. Right now, two major factors could affect site traffic: low consumer confidence and inflation.
We are battling extremely low consumer confidence—even lower than in the 2008 recession.
https://data.oecd.org/leadind/consumer-confidence-index-cci.htm
Inflation continues to rise, and people have less money to spend on dentistry.
The Newest Google Update
To top it off, Google has hit dentists with another update. But don’t worry; it’s not as painful as 2018’s update. Google made a core update in May of this year that Pro Impressions Marketing has been monitoring to determine what exactly the update changed and how it has affected dentists.
The update seems to revise a previous update that emphasized long-tail keywords. These keyword groups are typical of people who are looking for information more than they are looking for a provider. Before the latest May 2022 Core update, dentists saw huge increases in organic rankings for long-tail keywords. Since the latest update, we’ve seen these increases diminish back to the norm.
We have not seen any decrease in the number of conversions coming from Pro Impressions member office websites. This means that even though site traffic is down, the number of people calling or filling out a form on their websites hasn’t likely changed from what we’d expect.
Have you noticed fewer conversions since May 2022? Pro Impressions may be able to help!
How to Combat Google’s Never-Ending Updates
Google will continue to make extensive updates a few times a year. Some won’t affect dentists too much, while others will. One surefire way to decrease the effect Google’s changes have on your practice is to invest in Google advertising. More and more, Google is giving advertisers added exposure while (intentionally or not) making it harder to gain traction without paying.
If you want to think ahead and take action to dissipate the effects of future Google updates, call Pro Impressions Marketing at (970) 672-1212 or make an appointment online. We can manage your marketing so you can spend more time on dentistry.
