The patients you want are searching "dentist near me". Be the practice they see.
Dentistry has the highest patient value of any local category and some of the strictest rules on how you can market. Local SEO for dentists is about winning the map for both "dentist near me" and the treatments that pay — without a GDC complaint.
What is different about dentistry
- Two kinds of search. "Dentist near me" (proximity, rating, NHS availability) and treatment searches ("Invisalign Leeds", "dental implants cost") which are less about distance and more about the website. You need both.
- Lifetime value. A new patient is worth thousands over years. The ranking difference between position 2 and position 4 in the pack is measured in real money, which is why dental packs are competitive.
- Regulated reviews. GDC guidance on confidentiality means review responses need care, and incentivised reviews are doubly prohibited. The upside: patients leave detailed, treatment-specific reviews if asked properly at the right moment.
- Practitioner profiles. Individual dentists can have their own Google profiles. Done well they widen your footprint; done badly they split your reviews and compete with the practice.
- NHS and CQC listings. The NHS website and CQC register are citations Google trusts heavily. They must match your profile exactly.
What we do for dental practices
- Test primary category ("Dental clinic" vs "Dentist") against the local pack and set treatment categories as secondaries.
- Full services list by treatment with descriptions — this is what wins "Invisalign" and "implants" searches on the profile.
- Practitioner profile strategy: which clinicians get one, with which categories, linked to which page.
- Review process at reception and post-appointment, and GDC-safe response templates.
- Citations: NHS, CQC, Doctify, Private Healthcare UK, plus general UK sources, all consistent.
- Treatment pages on the website with pricing transparency, before/after galleries with consent, and MedicalBusiness / Dentist schema.
- Grid tracking for "dentist", "emergency dentist" and your top three treatments.
Where dental profiles go wrong
Five practitioner profiles, all "Dentist"
Each competes with the practice for the same pack. Reviews scatter. Google sometimes shows a clinician's profile instead of the practice, with no booking link.
Services list: "General dentistry"
One line, no treatments. The practice up the road lists 35 treatments with descriptions and wins every treatment search in the pack.
Responding to a complaint with the clinical record
Confirming the patient, the treatment and the date in a public reply is a GDC matter. The response should be short, non-specific and take it offline.
Dental practices ask us
Can I respond to reviews as a dental practice?
Yes, but never confirm someone is a patient or discuss treatment. A safe response thanks them, mentions the practice generally, and invites any concerns to the practice manager directly. We write responses that satisfy the GDC guidance on patient confidentiality.
Should each dentist have their own profile?
Google allows practitioner profiles for individual clinicians alongside the practice profile. They are useful for named-dentist searches and harmful when they compete with the practice profile for the same category. We set them up with distinct categories or advise against them, depending on the practice.
Do NHS practices need local SEO?
If you have capacity for new NHS patients, yes — "NHS dentist near me" is one of the most searched local terms in the UK. If you are private or mixed, the high-value searches are treatment-level: implants, Invisalign, emergency dentist, teeth whitening.
Which category: Dentist or Dental clinic?
It depends on what the pack in your area rewards; we test both. "Dental clinic" is often the winner for practice profiles, with "Dentist", "Cosmetic dentist", "Emergency dental service", "Orthodontist" and "Dental implants periodontist" as secondaries where genuinely offered.
Start with the free check
Send the practice name and postcode. We will check "dentist near me", "emergency dentist" and your main treatment across a grid over your catchment and reply with the gaps within one working day.