Local SEO for Dentists

Three kinds of dental search, three jobs

Dental searches are not all the same, and your profile and pages should serve the three that matter.

The first group is urgent and mostly decided by the map listing. The third is decided by your website, so cover it in our dental website design guide. This page concentrates on the first two and the rules that govern all three.

Read the advertising rules before you write

The FDI, the World Dental Federation, says in its 2025 policy statement that regulations vary greatly among countries, that advertising in dentistry is prohibited in some, and that elsewhere the rules run from strict to very lenient. Find your own regulator's rules first. The two sources below show what rules can look like.

The FDI policy statement says dental advertising should be accurate, factual, balanced and respectful of patient privacy. It says advertising must not:

• use superlatives or comparisons that suggest higher quality
• generate unrealistic expectations
• use patient testimonials without appropriate consent and verification
• manipulate search results or online reviews in deceptive ways

It adds that not all of these apply in every country.

The General Dental Council in the UK requires that:

• advertising is accurate and not misleading
• information that includes your name also gives your GDC registration number
• a practice website shows the practice name, address, contact details, complaints procedure details and the date it was last updated
• advertising is clear on whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private
• websites do not compare the skills or qualifications of dental professionals with those of others

In the UK, a dentist who is not on a specialist list must avoid titles that imply specialist status, such as orthodontist or endodontist, and may describe a "special interest" instead. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice, so confirm your own rules with your regulator or indemnity provider.

Set up the profile for a practice with several dentists

Google's guidelines list dentists among individual practitioners. Where several dentists work from one location, the practice creates one location profile, and each practitioner's profile is named with only the practitioner's own name. Do not create several profiles for one dentist, one per treatment. Support staff, such as receptionists, cannot have profiles of their own.

A simple rule: start with one complete practice profile. Add a dentist profile when that dentist attracts searches by name and patients can reach them at the location during stated hours.

Match categories and titles to your registration

Google tells you to choose the fewest categories that describe what the business is, and to be as specific as possible. For a dental practice that usually means "Dentist" first. Add "Orthodontist" or another specialty only if the practice truly is one. A patient reads a category as a title, so it should agree with your registration and with what your regulator lets you claim.

Say how patients are funded

Patients want to know early whether you take their insurance or public cover, or whether care is private only. The GDC's guidance says advertising must be clear on whether a practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private. Whatever your own rules say, the habit is sound. Put it in the profile description, on the home page and on every treatment page that has a fee, in the same words each time. A patient who finds out at the desk that you do not take their cover is unlikely to leave a kind review.

Reviews and patient privacy

Google lets you ask patients to leave reviews through a link or a QR code. It prohibits offering free or discounted treatment for a review. A discount for a review would also look like manipulating reviews under the FDI statement.

Replies need more care in dentistry than almost anywhere else, because any reply that confirms a treatment discloses health information. Follow this pattern:

1. Thank the reviewer, without naming a treatment, a date or a clinician.
2. Never confirm that the person is a patient.
3. For a complaint, offer a private route: a named person and a phone number.
4. Keep it brief. Google recommends short, professional replies that avoid sharing private information.

Our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the timing of requests.

Hours that tell the truth

Wrong hours cost patients and trust. Set special hours for holidays before they begin, and say clearly whether you take same-day emergencies and what a caller should do after hours. Google expects practitioners to be contactable during the hours shown, so match them to when someone answers the phone, not when the building is open.

Pages that support the map listing

Create one page per treatment you really offer, written by or reviewed by a dentist, with the process, typical visits and fees explained in plain terms. Add a page per practice location with the address, parking or transit, and the team based there. Avoid swapping a town name into duplicate text.

Measure what matters

Track phone calls, booking requests and direction requests, by month. Compare them with the number of new patients who say they found you on Google. For help with setup, our SEO service page explains our approach, and the Google Business Profile checklist lists every field.