What does dental SEO include?
Dental SEO covers everything a patient sees before booking: the map results, your Google Business Profile, reviews, and a page for each treatment you want to sell, like implants, clear aligners or emergency care. The work also includes a fast mobile site, clear pricing or financing information, and tracking of calls and online bookings from search.
This is the local method from the SEO consultant home page, and it is one industry where I have a measured result of my own: a dental clinic in Medellín reached 56 top-3 positions on the Google Maps grid, up 115% from three months earlier.
Why does Google Maps matter so much for dentists?
Because patients search close to home or work and pick from the three businesses in the map pack. Google says local ranking depends on relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot move your office, but you can make your profile more relevant with the right categories and services, and more prominent with reviews, photos and a strong website.
Those three factors come straight from Google's tips to improve your local ranking. A grid report shows where you appear around the office, street by street, which is how I measured the Medellín clinic. Dentists also count as individual practitioners under Google's Business Profile guidelines, so a group practice can have a profile for the clinic and one for each public-facing dentist, without duplicating specialties.
What I work on for dental practices
Treatment pages
Dedicated pages for implants, clear aligners, whitening, crowns and pediatric care, each answering cost, time and recovery questions.
Emergency dentist searches
A page and profile setup built for urgent searches, with hours, same-day availability and one-tap calling.
Maps and local pack
Categories, services, photos, posts and grid tracking so you see your visibility block by block.
Reviews that follow the rules
A steady request flow after visits and reply templates that never confirm someone is a patient.
Bilingual pages
Natural Spanish treatment pages for practices with Hispanic patients.
Booking tracking
Calls, forms and online bookings from organic and Maps, reported by treatment.
Treatment pages are part of SEO content writing and the profile work is in local SEO. Clinical claims on those pages should be reviewed by the dentist, the same way Google's helpful content guidance asks for clear expertise on health topics.
How should a dentist reply to a bad review?
Briefly, politely and without any patient information. Do not confirm the person is a patient, do not mention treatments, dates or insurance, and invite them to call the office to talk privately. The US health privacy regulator has warned that disclosing protected health information in review replies is not allowed, even to defend your practice.
As Mintz reported, the HHS Office for Civil Rights settled with a dental practice that had posted patient names, treatment details and insurance information in replies on Yelp; the practice agreed to pay $23,000 and follow a corrective action plan. On the request side, the FTC's final rule on fake reviews bans buying reviews that must say something positive and posting undisclosed staff reviews. Check your own policy with your compliance advisor.
- Ask every patient, not only the happy ones, and never pay for positive reviews.
- Reply to every review within a few days, with a generic, friendly tone.
- Never write a patient's name, procedure, date or insurance in a reply.
- Move complaints to a phone call, then fix the underlying issue.
How much does dental SEO cost?
Dental practices use the same monthly plans as any business: $1,000, $1,750 or $2,500 a month, depending on the number of locations, treatments and local competition. A local SEO audit costs $450 and single treatment pages cost $90 each. Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute diagnosis, month to month, with no long contract.
See the pricing page or book a free diagnosis for your practice. If you also offer cosmetic injectables or aesthetic treatments, read SEO for med spas.
Frequently asked questions
Have you really worked on dental SEO?
Yes. I did local SEO for a dental clinic in Medellín that reached 56 top-3 positions on the Google Maps grid, up 115% from three months earlier. The clinic stays anonymous.
Can you work with US practices from Colombia?
Yes. I work in US business hours from Medellín and report in English or Spanish.
Should each dentist have a Google Business Profile?
Google allows it for public-facing practitioners, alongside the clinic profile. One profile per dentist, not one per specialty.
Do you write the clinical content?
I write and optimize it, and the dentist reviews every clinical statement before it goes live.
Can we focus on one treatment first?
Yes. Many practices start with implants, aligners or emergency care, where one strong page can pay for itself.
Sources
- Mintz, OCR warns providers against disclosing PHI in responses to negative reviews (Dec 2022)
- Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google
- Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
- Federal Trade Commission, Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (August 14, 2024)
- Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content