Having a strong online presence is crucial for getting more patients for a dental clinic.
Unlike with other types of local businesses, potential patients usually search for a dentist when they need immediate care, which makes it crucial that you appear at the top of search results. If your clinic doesn’t rank well on Google, you’ll be losing patients to competitors who rank better than you.
This is where local SEO for dental clinics can help. Implementing the right strategies to optimize your dental practice’s website for search engines will maximize your chances of ranking at the top of search engine results pages and help you drive more visits and appointment bookings.
What is Local SEO for Dental Clinics?
SEO (search engine optimization) for dental clinics is the process of improving a dental practice’s online visibility on search engines like Google.
Since most patients use Google to find a nearby dentist, making sure your website ranks on the first page of the search results is crucial for driving new appointments.
Effective local SEO includes optimizing your website, local citations, and Google Business Profile to help you rank for terms like “best dentist near me” or “emergency dental care [city].”
The goal of SEO isn’t just to generate more website traffic — you want to attract people who are actively searching for a dentist in your area. By optimizing your website properly, you’ll have a better chance of standing out from other competing dental offices and converting more online searches into appointment bookings.
The Importance of SEO for Growing Your Dental Practice
With dozens of dental clinics competing for patients in your area, simply having an online presence isn’t enough. You need your website to be at the top of the rankings so you have the best possible chance of being seen by prospective patients needing your services.
Local SEO helps get you that visibility, plus it’ll also:
- Drive targeted local traffic: Optimizing your website for relevant search terms (e.g., “teeth whitening in phoenix az”) can help you attract highly targeted visitors that have a greater chance of converting into patients.
- Build trust: High search engine rankings can often give the perception of credibility and authority. Seeing your website rank high in search results can make potential patients feel more confident about trying your services.
- Generate more patients: Improved online visibility, more targeted website traffic, and increased trust all lead to generating new patients for your dental practice.
How Much Does it Cost to Invest in Dental SEO?
The beauty of SEO is that, beyond the time and effort required to implement it, the traffic you generate for your dental clinic is completely free. Unlike paid ads on platforms like Facebook, SEO helps your practice attract new patients without continuously paying for clicks or impressions.
There are SEO agencies that can handle optimization for you, but they come at a premium—ranging anywhere from $250 to over $10,000 per month, depending on your needs. However, for small to medium-sized practices, a strong SEO strategy—including keyword research, content creation, and link-building—is entirely doable on your own. Plus, with tools like Chatmeter automating much of the heavy lifting, optimizing your online presence is easier than ever.
The best part? You don’t need to hire an agency to benefit from SEO. By following the strategies in this guide, you can improve your website’s search rankings, attract organic traffic, and book more patients — all without spending a dime on ads or expensive SEO services.
9 Steps to Showing Up at the Top of the Local Dental SERPs
You don’t need to spend a dime to improve your search rankings. The following steps will help your site rank higher and bring in more patients, all without paying for ads or expensive services.
1. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile for Maximum Visibility
A Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) allows businesses to showcase their business information in Google Search and Google Maps. It is also a great way to connect with potential patients, post updates, and list your services.
If you haven’t done so already, claim and optimize your dental office’s Google Business Profile to get the most out of it. Here’s how to do it:
Go to Google Maps and type in your practice’s name.
Find your business listing and click on it. Then, scroll down and click on “Claim this business” at the bottom.
On the following page, click on “Manage now” and verify that you own the business. You’ll usually need to complete phone or video verification.
Once Google has verified that you own the business, optimize your Google Business Profile by filling out the following information:
- Business address
- Phone number
- Website
- Business hours
- Categories
- Services
You should also upload high-quality photos of your clinic and staff. Consider uploading before-and-after photos of completed dental work, too (but only after getting permission from patients).
2. Get Yourself on Other Business Directories
Besides Google, here are other relevant business directories where you should add your business to attract more potential patients.
Yelp
Yelp is a popular review website for businesses. Potential patients will look to Yelp to learn more about your business. This makes it crucial that you claim your Yelp profile.
Here’s how to do it: Go to this page, enter your business name, and then select the “Add business with this name” option.
Next, enter your email address and business information. Then, you’ll be asked to verify your account via email or text. Once you complete verification, you’ll get access to your Yelp profile.
Healthgrades
Healthgrades is a platform that lists physicians, dentists, hospitals, and healthcare providers across the US. It also allows patients to rate and review providers.
To claim your Healthgrades profile, visit this page and type in your name and location. Then, click on “Find Your Profile.”
Healthgrades will ask you to enter the following information:
- Email address
- Password
- Last 4 characters of your DEA number
- Phone number
Once you’ve filled out all the information, click on “Send verification code.”
Healthgrades will send a verification code to the phone number you provided. Once you successfully complete verification, you’ll have access to your Healthgrades profile.
RateMDs
RateMDs is a website where users can submit reviews for all kinds of healthcare professionals, including dentists. Here’s how to claim your RateMDs profile:
Search for your practice by using the search feature at the top of the page.
Select your RateMDs profile from the list and click on “Claim Profile.” You’ll then need to complete verification by uploading your driver’s license or a bill statement in your name.
Once you’re verified, you’ll be able to access and edit your profile.
3. Optimize Your Website and Listings With Relevant Keywords
Adding the right keywords to your website and business listings can help search engines understand that your dental clinic is relevant for searches related to dental services.
Do keyword research to uncover the best keywords to target. SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush can help here. They’ll allow you to find keywords that potential patients use to search for providers like you online.
When choosing keywords, pay attention to the following factors:
- Search volume: Knowing how many searches per month a keyword gets will help you understand how valuable it is to target and how much you can afford to spend to rank for it. Try to aim for a mix of high- and low-volume keywords to balance traffic potential and ranking difficulty.
- Difficulty: Most keyword research tools will estimate how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword. While this metric isn’t 100% accurate, it can help you deprioritize keywords that are too competitive.
- Relevance: Focus on targeting keywords related to the services you offer. Don’t target a barely relevant keyword just because it has high search volume and a low difficulty.
- Local intent: As a dental practice, you most likely rely on local patients. Look for location-specific keywords you can target (e.g., “dentist in [neighborhood]” or “orthodontist in [city]”) and prioritize them.
Once you’ve identified the best keywords to target, use them in appropriate places across your website, such as page title tags, URLs, and throughout page content. You can also use your top keywords in the description of your listings in business directories.
4. Ensure Your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) Information is Consistent Everywhere
Search engines like Google use NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information to verify your business’s legitimacy and determine whether it’s relevant to be displayed in search results for specific queries.
This makes it crucial that you ensure that your NAP information is consistent everywhere your business is mentioned online. This includes:
- Your website: Your NAP information should be displayed in your website’s header or footer and your About Us and Contact Us pages. Make sure it’s consistent throughout.
- Business listings: Your Google Business Profile, Yelp profile, and other business listings need to show the same business name, address, and phone number, too.
- Social media profiles: Any social media profiles your business has across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social networks should also show the same NAP information.
Pro tip: Use Chatmeter to update all your business listings across 140+ online directories at once. The tool allows you to easily update listings with your business information, services, photos, and more.
5. Collect and Respond to Patient Reviews
According to a BrightLocal study, 42% of people regularly read online reviews when looking for local businesses. And 33% expect a business to have between 20 and 49 reviews before they will consider it trustworthy.
This makes it crucial that you work on getting more patient reviews for your dental practice. Here are a few tips that can help:
- Don’t be shy: As much as 96% of people are open to writing a review for a business. Ask patients for a review after providing them with a service. You can ask for the review in person or send patients an email or text with a review request.
- Automate review requests: Asking for reviews is time-consuming, especially if you get a lot of patients every month. Use Chatmeter to automatically send email and SMS review requests and follow-ups to patients.
- Make it easy: Increase the chances of patients leaving a review by making it as easy as possible. A great way to do this is to create a link that leads patients to a page where they can leave a review for your practice. Share the link with patients via email, SMS, or other means.
- Use a QR code: Another way to make it easy for patients to leave a review is to create a QR code that leads to a review page. Place that QR code on receipts, feedback cards, and appointment reminders.
But simply getting patient reviews isn’t enough. It’s also important that you respond to all reviews — both positive and negative.
When it comes to positive reviews, remember to thank the patient for their business and for leaving a review. Avoid mentioning anything about the specific work they had done to protect patient privacy and comply with HIPAA regulations.
As for negative reviews, make sure to apologize and acknowledge the patient’s frustration. But don’t discuss the matter publicly — move to a private conversation and address whatever issue the patient is having. Here’s an example of how you can approach a negative review:
“Hi, we’re sorry to hear about your experience. Our goal is to provide the best possible care, and we’d like an opportunity to make things right. Please reach out to us at [your contact information] so we can discuss this further and address your concerns.”
6. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices and Site Speed
Google uses page speed as a ranking factor for both desktop and mobile searches. And according to a recent study, 57% of local searches are done using mobile devices.
This makes it crucial that you optimize your website for speed and mobile devices to increase the chances of ranking high in search results. Here are a few things you can do:
- Upgrade to better web hosting: Use a dedicated hosting service from a reputable hosting provider. Avoid using shared hosting, which involves having multiple websites hosted on the same server.
- Use a CDN: A content delivery network (CDN) speeds up your site by delivering website content from servers that are physically closest to a visitor’s location. Opt for a reputable CDN provider like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront.
- Compress images: Having a lot of large, high-quality images on your site can negatively impact page load speeds. Reduce this impact by opting for a more efficient image format (such as WebP) or compressing images using tools like Optimizilla or Squoosh.
- Implement a responsive website design: Use a website design that automatically adjusts to whatever screen your patients happen to be using.
- Use mobile-friendly navigation: Implement a clear, concise website menu with items that are easy to tap on a mobile device. Avoid using long drop-down menus that might not be displayed properly on mobile devices.
7. Create Content that is Location-Specific
Publishing content specific to your location or area can help Google understand what areas you serve so it can send you relevant traffic. It also helps potential patients instantly associate your practice with a specific location.
Here are a few ideas for local pages you can create:
Location-Specific Landing Pages
Create separate landing pages for each region or location you serve, e.g., “Dentist in [Neighborhood]” or “Teeth whitening in [City].”
These should include more information about the services you offer and provide visitors with a way to contact you or book an appointment.
Blog Posts Focused on Local Topics
Writing blog posts on local topics is another great way to signal your website’s relevance for local searches.
For example, you could write a blog post about the benefits of teeth whitening and where to do it in your area.
Testimonials From Local Patients
Do you have a patient who’s very happy with your services and is willing to provide a testimonial?
Write up an article detailing the procedure. Make sure to include before and after photos, and a quote from the patient themselves.
Pro tip: Chatmeter’s Local Pages tool can help you build hundreds of location-specific landing pages quickly and easily.
8. Build Local Backlinks From Trusted Community Websites
Backlinks are links pointing from other sites to your site. Search engines like Bing or Google use them as votes of confidence that show your website is trustworthy and authoritative enough to show up in search results.
When looking to rank your website in local search results, focus on attracting relevant local backlinks to your site. Here are a few methods that can help:
- Partner with local businesses: Look for ways you can partner with local businesses and be featured on their website. If you already partner with one or more businesses in your community, ask them to add a link to your website on their site (e.g., on a “Partners” page or within an article or blog post).
- Sponsor local events: Event websites will often include links to their sponsors. Find events or causes you can sponsor and ask to be included on their sites.
- Collaborate with local news sites: Reach out to local news sites and offer to contribute to an article or do an interview. Then, ask them to include a link to your site in the news article.
9. Monitor Your Rankings and Adjust Your Strategy
Implementing the above tips will give your website the best chance of ranking in local search results.
But your SEO efforts aren’t done. Track your keyword rankings on a weekly basis to monitor changes in search performance. If you notice a major drop in rankings, investigate the issue to understand whether it’s caused by search engine algorithm updates, increased competition, or website issues.
Optimize underperforming web pages further, improve your content, and build more backlinks until you reach your desired rankings.
Grow Your Patient Base With Chatmeter
Managing your dental clinic’s online reputation doesn’t have to be time-consuming. With Chatmeter, you can monitor reviews across the web, respond to patient feedback from one central dashboard, and even use AI-powered response templates to speed up replies.
Looking to generate more reviews? Chatmeter automates email and SMS review requests, making it easier to get those valuable positive reviews from your happy customers. Plus, with built-in sentiment analysis, you can quickly identify trends in patient feedback to improve your services.
Beyond reviews, Chatmeter helps keep your business listings accurate across the web. You can update key details — like services, photos, and contact information — across multiple platforms in just a few clicks.
All of this makes it easier to optimize your online presence and grow your practice through the power of local SEO. Want to see how Chatmeter can help your dental clinic attract more patients? Book a demo today to speak with one of our representatives.