Get More Sleep Patients Using Google’s Local Pack
The Local Pack and why it matters
When conducting searches that Google deems to have local intent, the results page will often contain a section that is called the Local Pack.
After ads, the Local Pack is the most visible section displayed on a Google search results page. Unlike ads, you aren’t paying Google to appear in the Local Pack.
The image below is an example of the most commonly shown Local Pack. It typically contains the three business listings Google considers most relevant to the search term.
It is important to note that the Local Pack shows “above the fold” (content displayed on screen without having to scroll down) on a desktop and is equally prominent on mobile, making it prime real estate.
How to get your practice in the Local Pack
In the Local Pack, Google shows business listings, not websites. So the first step in being featured in the Local Pack is to create your Google My Business (GMB) listing.
As discussed in the last article, you should establish a separate brand identity for your sleep practice. Doing so allows you to create a GMB listing that is independent of your general dental practice’s GMB listing.
Once you’ve claimed and verified your listing, the following steps will increase your chances of being one of the three providers featured in the Google Local Pack search results.
Optimize your GMB listing. After completing the verification process, log into your dashboard and click “Manage Location”. There are a variety of questions Google wants you to answer to complete your profile.
- Add photos and videos to humanize and personalize your listing. Don’t miss the opportunity to allow your GMB visitors to “meet” you, your team, and see your office. Google recommends that videos are limited to 30 seconds or less.
- Citations are references to your practice’s name, address and phone number (NAP) online. Businesses with numerous, accurate, and consistent citations are viewed as more credible to Google. How many citations you need largely depends on how strong the competition is in your area.
- Business Descriptions are a feature Google added this past March. Per Google’s guidelines, this should be a “brief description of your business – what you offer, what sets you apart, your history, or anything else that’s helpful for customers to know. Focus primarily on details about your business instead of promotions, prices or sales. Do not include URLs or HTML code, or exceed 750 characters.”
- A proactive patient review process to populate your GMB listing with positive reviews will help your practice stand out. Reviews not only improve listing visibility, positive reviews increase the chances that a prospective patient will call to schedule an appointment.
As evidenced by the screenshots of two of our sleep client’s tracking dashboards, prominent placement in this valuable piece of online real estate can generate additional phone calls each month from prospective sleep patients.
These are phone calls generated solely from their sleep practice GMB listings. These numbers do not include calls received from their sleep website, online advertising campaigns, brochures or other online directory listings.
Had we not established and optimized separate sleep specific GMB listings, they would not have received these additional calls.
Marc Fowler is the founder of Bullseye Media, LLC. Since 2006, the team at Bullseye Media has helped hundreds of dental practices across the U.S. and Canada leverage the internet to achieve their practice growth goals. Learn about their turnkey direct-to-patient sleep marketing program at DentalSleepMarketing.com.
To discuss creating a separate brand identity to help your sleep practice thrive, call 214-491-6166 or visit BullseyeDental.com/Call to schedule a time to talk.