Local SEO for dentists — the checklist we run, and what each item does

The short version. Google says local ranking comes down to relevance (does the profile match the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well-known you are), and that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Distance is fixed. Relevance and prominence are a checklist — most of it free, most of it done once — and for a dental practice the checklist carries three things a shop's doesn't: the practitioner profiles (Google names dentists specifically), the services list, and review replies that never confirm a patient. Here is the one we run. None of it promises a position; every item is something Google itself lists or something a patient taps. And one measured fact to start with: in Dallas, the median dental practice answers a third of its reviews and half have a review of three stars or less sitting unanswered — while in Fort Lauderdale the median practice answers 86%. Replying is the cheapest item on this list, and the one where the cities differ most.

This page is for dental and orthodontic practices. The med spa version covers the aesthetic side; the walk-in version, with a restaurant's fourteen, is local SEO for restaurants.

What does Google say decides local ranking?

From Google's Tips to improve your local ranking, in its words:

• Relevance — "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. To help Google better understand your business and match it to relevant searches, provide complete and detailed business info."
• Distance — "how far each business is from the customer who's searching." Fixed. A practice in Frisco will not rank for "dentist Oak Cliff," and nothing on this list changes that.
• Prominence — "how well-known a business is … This factor's also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking."

The same page lists what Google suggests you do: verify the business, keep the information complete and current ("your full address," "your business hours, including special store hours," "what kind of business you are," attributes), respond to reviews, add photos and videos. That is the spine of the checklist. The rest is what a patient does on your page once they've found you. (Oh Local runs this checklist weekly and emails what slipped — see how Oh Local can help.)

The listing — eleven things to check

1. Verified, and you can log in. Nothing below matters if the profile is unverified, or if it was set up by a marketing company three owners ago and nobody has the login. If you can't see Read reviews when you search your own name while signed in, fix that first — what to do when verification stalls.
2. Primary category: the specific one. Google's guidelines say to "choose categories that are as specific as possible, but representative of your main business," completing "This business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a." "Dentist" for a general practice; "Pediatric dentist," "Orthodontist," "Cosmetic dentist" or "Periodontist" where that is the practice. "Dental clinic" as a secondary if the practice has several dentists. And no more than that: "Use as few categories as possible."
3. The services list, filled in. Cleanings, fillings, crowns, Invisalign, implants, emergency visits, whitening — the services section is where they go, not the business name and not the category list ("Do not use categories solely as keywords"). A patient typing "emergency dentist" or "Invisalign" is matched on services; a blank list matches nothing.
4. Hours, including the early morning and the one late evening. "Your business hours, including special store hours" is on Google's list. Patients choose dentists on whether they can come before work; a listing that says 9–5 when you open at 7 on Tuesdays loses them. Set holiday hours before the holiday.
5. Address and phone identical everywhere. The listing, the website, the insurance directories, the state board lookup, the old practice name's listing if you bought the practice. A suite number goes in Address Line 2, per Google's guidelines; a practice in a medical building with a different suite on the listing and the site is the inconsistency that costs most.
6. A booking link that opens a booking page. Google shows an appointment link on the profile. You already run a scheduling system; point the profile at its new-patient page, not the homepage.
7. Practitioner profiles, done Google's way. Google's guidelines name dentists as "individual practitioners" — "Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners" — and allow each a profile "if they operate in a public-facing role" and "can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours." The rules: where there are several dentists, "the organization should create a Business Profile for this location, separate from that of the practitioner," and the practitioner's profile "should include only the name of the practitioner, and shouldn't include the name of the organization." A solo dentist who is the brand shares one profile, named "[brand/company]: [practitioner name]." And "a practitioner shouldn't have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations." Hygienists and front-desk staff don't get profiles ("support staff should not create their own Business Profiles"). The shape we'd check for first is the opposite of a missing profile: a practice, two associates who left in 2022, and the previous owner, all still verified at the same address.
8. Photos — yours, recent, of the front door, the reception and the team. Google's tip is simply "add photos and videos." The first three a searcher sees should be yours. The photo that does the most work for a dental practice is the one of the entrance from the parking lot; the second is the team. Whether a patient photo may be used at all is a consent question for your compliance process, not a listing question; the safe set needs no patient in it.
9. Attributes. Wheelchair access, parking, appointment required, and whatever accessibility attributes Google offers in your region — each is a filter a searcher applies, and a blank attribute is a "no" to that filter.
10. Reviews arriving, and answered — inside the rules. Google lists "respond to reviews" among its ranking tips in its own voice. This is where the field splits by city. In Dallas the median practice answers 34% of its reviews, one in five has never replied, and 52% have a review of three stars or less with no reply — while the top quarter answer 98% and 86% of them have no unanswered negative. In Miami the median is 60%; in Fort Lauderdale 86%, on the same 50-review read. Same trade, three habits. And a practice's reply carries a constraint a restaurant's doesn't: you can never confirm the reviewer was a patient, name a procedure or mention a bill — two dental practices have paid federal settlements for replies that did. The reply that stays inside that line is in HIPAA-safe review replies.
11. The Q&A section isn't empty or wrong. Anyone can ask and anyone can answer, including a stranger guessing whether you take their insurance. Seed the five questions your front desk answers by phone every week — "Do you take new patients?", "Which insurance do you accept?", "Is there parking?", "Do you see children?", "What do I do about a broken tooth after hours?" — and answer them yourself.

The website — five things a patient taps

Google reads your website for relevance; a patient reads it to decide. Both want the same things reachable in one tap on a phone:

12. A phone number that dials — a tel: link, not a number typed as text.
13. An address that opens directions, linked to the map, with the suite number.
14. Hours that match the listing. Two different sets of hours on two Google-indexed pages is exactly the inconsistency item 5 warns about.
15. A page per service and a page that answers the insurance question. Relevance is matched on pages. One "Services" page listing fifteen procedures is one page; a page for each — what it is, who does it, what it costs or starts at, how long it takes — is fifteen. And the page a new patient reads before any of them is the one that says which plans you take and what happens if theirs isn't listed. Every one of these needs the door: book, call, or both.
16. A page that loads on a phone in a few seconds, readable without zooming. A patient with a toothache gives each of three practices about that long.

What we don't put on the list, and why

• Keywords in your business name. "Smile Dental — Best Dentist in Plano" is against Google's guidelines ("including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile"). Your name is your name; the specialties go in categories and services.
• A profile per specialty, or old practitioners left verified. Duplicates in Google's guidelines, and a stale associate profile splits your reviews across a name that no longer works there.
• Fake, bought or staff reviews. Prominence built on those is removed, sometimes with the real reviews next to them — the rules.
• Anything that promises a position. Google's page says it plainly: no one can request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone who promises one is selling the checklist above with a promise stapled to it that nobody can keep.

What does normal look like for a dental practice?

From the dental practices whose public listings we audited in September 2026, reading each listing's newest 50 reviews — medians, not averages:

Two things to take from it. Dental practices receive reviews at a pace closer to a restaurant's than to any other practice type (a Dallas med spa's median is 2.9 a month, a dermatologist's 1.1) — the ask after the visit is clearly going out. And the reply rate is a local habit, not a dental one: a third of reviews answered at the Dallas median, nearly nine in ten at Fort Lauderdale's. A Dallas practice that answers everything it receives is, on that one number, ahead of roughly seven practices in ten; in Fort Lauderdale it is merely keeping up. If your count has gone quiet, here is how to tell.

What to expect

Doing the sixteen won't move a Frisco practice into Oak Cliff's results, and it won't pass a practice with three times your reviews by Friday. What it does is remove every reason Google has to prefer a comparable competitor over you — the generic category, the empty services list, the associate's ghost profile, the unanswered one-star from March — and give the patient who finds you a page they can book from. That can lead to better rankings and more visibility; no tool can promise a position, including ours.

How Oh Local helps with this

Oh Local checks the listing and website items against your profile and your site every week and puts what slipped in your weekly email — hours that drifted from the site, a services list left empty, a site with no booking link on it, a review left unanswered — as a short list with the exact fix for each; when your review pace slips against a year ago, the action carries the industry median beside it. Every new review arrives with a reply drafted for a practice: thanks for the words, never confirmation of the visit, never a procedure or a bill. Recommendations can lead to better rankings and more visibility; no tool can promise a position, including ours. The free audit reads the public parts of both today and tells you which items are already in place.

FAQ

What is local SEO for a dentist?

The work of making a dental practice show up, and look right, when someone nearby searches for a dentist or a procedure — mostly the Google Business Profile (the specific category, the services list, hours, photos, the booking link, practitioner profiles, reviews and replies) and the parts of the website a patient taps on a phone. Google says local results are ranked on relevance, distance and prominence, and that no one can pay for a better position.

Should each dentist in a practice have their own Google Business Profile?

Google names dentists as individual practitioners and allows a profile for each who is public-facing and reachable at the location. Where several dentists work at one location, the practice keeps its own profile and each dentist's profile carries only their name; a solo dentist who is the brand shares one profile named "[brand]: [dentist name]." Hygienists and front-desk staff don't get profiles, and a dentist should never have several profiles for several specialties. Remove or transfer the profiles of dentists who have left.

Do Google reviews affect a dental practice's ranking?

Google's own page says "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking" and lists responding to reviews among its tips. We don't promise a position from them — no one honestly can. In Dallas the median dental practice answers 34% of its reviews and the top quarter 98% (Miami 60%, Fort Lauderdale 86%), so replying is one of the few prominence items where most practices have room; the reply must never confirm the reviewer was a patient.

What Google category should a dental practice use?

The most specific one that describes the practice as a whole — "Dentist" for general practice, or "Pediatric dentist," "Orthodontist," "Cosmetic dentist" where that is what the practice is — with as few secondary categories as possible. Individual procedures belong in the services list and on service pages on the website, not in the category list or the business name.

Can I put "emergency dentist" in my Google Business name?

No. Google's guidelines say the name must reflect the practice's real-world name and that adding unnecessary information to it can result in suspension. Add emergency visits to the services list, set your hours to show when you take them, and put an emergency page on the website that says what to do after hours.