Now there’s an easy way to get your dental website banned by Google search: purchase backlinks.
This week it’s being reported that paid link-building sites such as BuildMyRank are shutting down after being penalized by Google and completely removed from the search engine index.
It’s another blow coming from the Google Panda update where Google is determined to eliminate spam sites with low quality content from its search index and further remove paid backlink sites and their affiliates.
Not only did Google go after the BuildMy Rank website, but they also devalued the websites receiving backlinks from the paid service.
If you are a dentist using the BuildMyRank services you’ve possibly seen your dental website drop from it’s ranking and disappear altogether from Google search.
BuildMyRank posted the following on their website about the crackdown by Google:
It’s Been a Great Run!!
On a daily basis, we monitor our domain network to check metrics like page rank, indexed pages, etc. As with any link-building network, some de-indexing activity is expected and ours has been within a permissible range for the past two years. Unfortunately, this morning, our scripts and manual checks have determined that the overwhelming majority of our network has been de-indexed (by Google), as of March 19, 2012. In our wildest dreams, there’s no way we could have imagined this happening.
It had always been BMR’s philosophy that if we did things a bit different from other networks, we would not only have a better quality service to offer our users, but a longer life in this fickle industry. Sadly, it appears this was not the case.
We know you all have a ton of questions and concerns as a result of today’s news. We want to keep you informed directly, instead of relying in mis-information that sometimes comes as a result of speculation. Naturally, considering the short amount of time that’s passed since we learned of the de-indexing, we don’t have the answers to all the questions ourselves. Hopefully, the next few days will provide more clarity on our future direction.
For the time being, BMR will be shutting down our service in its current form. Whether we’ll re-open again after the dust settles and we’re able to determine the root cause of the de-indexing activity remains to be seen.
In the past, The Wealthy Dentist has covered how to get safe, quality backlinks for your dental website, but here is a reminder of some of our top recommendations —
1. Start a blog.
Blogs are a great way to achieve backlinks especially, if you write “how-to” articles. “How-to” blog posts are some of the most searched for, linked to, and bookmarked web content.
2. Use humor.
Cartoons are perfect for Internet communication. You can obtain cartoons from places such as Cartoon Bank at www.cartoonbank.com where you can license use of The New Yorker cartoons for your website. And yes, the have an entire section on dental humor. People will link to your webpage when they enjoy the cartoon and may even share it on Facebook.
3. Look at college alumni pages.
Does the college or university you attended have a section of their website devoted to alumni? If so, check and see if you can place a link back to your dental website there. If you’ve done something interesting, or have some advice for the readers of your college’s alumni newsletter, think about offering an article for their publication with a link back to your website.
4. Create resource pages.
Is your dental practice located in an area where people like to visit? Are there restaurants near you that you can list with times, menu items you recommend and whether it would be a good place to take young children. Famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden used to remind his players of the basics. Think about all the basics that you teach your dental patients and create resource pages around those topics. Is there a type of toothbrush you prefer that your patents use? Who carries it in your town? What about toothpaste brands? Are there over-the-counter teeth whiteners you feel are dangerous to teeth?
5. Create videos.
Uploading videos to YouTube and having your own dental practice YouTube channel is a great way to obtain backlinks. Think about discussing the same things you would put on your resource pages. Humor is great for getting backlinks. You could even tape a video on how to program your VCR, DVR or a garage door opener. Insert the videos you create for YouTube into your dental blog.
6. Be social.
Share the content you create on your social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and most especially Google Plus. Did you read this week’s article by dental marketing expert Julie Frey on dental marketing with Google Plus?
7. Answer questions online.
Answering questions online when you see them are a great way to gain visibility and backlinks online. Websites like Just Answer Dental www.justanswer.com/dental are always looking for experts to answer questions. Post an answer to an open questions on Yahoo.com. Go to answers.yahoo.com, browse categories and find Health, then find Dental and look at the list of open questions looking for answers on dental questions.
Internet dental marketing these days is much more about quality dental websites that are geo-targeted to your dental patients with keyword rich content and the social sharing of that content (especially on Google+).
Other factors come heavily into play like how often you update your website, how clean the code is on your site, and how your dental website compares to your competition.
If you focus on having a quality dental website rather than buying meaningless backlinks, not only will you likely do better in search, you will avoid having your dental website erased from Google.
