Marketing a dental practice comes down to being easy to find, easy to trust and easy to book, in that order, and doing it inside the rules that govern health advertising. This guide is for owners who are new to it, or who have tried a few things and want to know what to do first. Each step can be done in-house, handed to an agency, or split between the two.
Marketing for Dental is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
Step one: be findable on Google Maps
When someone searches for a dentist nearby, the map results usually come first. Claim and complete the Google Business Profile: the practice’s real-world name exactly as it appears on the sign and the website, with no extra keywords; the real address; the phone number; hours; a primary category that describes the core business; and real photos of the office.
Google lists dentists among individual practitioners. A public-facing dentist who can be reached at the office during stated hours can have a profile alongside the practice’s own. Google does not allow more than one profile for each location, so a practice should not create extra listings for each treatment. And if the practice also visits patients somewhere else, Google lets it enter both its address and a service area. The local SEO for dentists guide covers the details.
Step two: give the website a page for each treatment
A visitor who finds the practice will usually check the website before calling. It should say plainly what the practice offers, where it is, when it is open and how to get in touch, and it should read well on a phone. One page for each main treatment helps both people and search engines understand the practice.
Keep the contact form short: name, phone, email and the kind of appointment. It should never ask about symptoms or medical history. The dental website design guide lists what a practice should own and what to ask a designer.
Step three: earn search visits with SEO
Search engine optimization is the steady work that helps those pages show up in ordinary Google results. Google says it costs nothing to appear in its search results and that it does not accept payment to rank a site higher. It also says no one can promise a top ranking, and it warns owners about anyone who claims a special relationship with Google. Good dental SEO means better pages, a sound site and consistent details, built to follow Google’s Search Essentials.
The ADA Code also speaks to this. It says dentists may use services to increase the visibility of their websites, a technique generally known as SEO, and that any techniques used should comport with the Code. In practice that means no misleading pages and no tricks Google’s spam policies forbid, such as buying links or stuffing pages with keywords.
Not sure where your practice stands? Ask for a written proposal.
Step four: add paid ads when the schedule needs them
SEO builds over time; ads can put the practice in front of searchers as soon as a campaign runs. On Google Ads, Ad Rank decides whether an ad shows and where, using factors that include the competition, the context of the search and the ad’s quality. The actual cost per click is often less than the most the practice agreed to pay. Budgets can be changed at any time, so ads suit a practice that wants to fill gaps in the schedule.
Google expects healthcare ads and the pages behind them to follow the law and industry standards, and it limits audience targeting for health-related ads. Ordinary dental practice ads are not on its restricted list. Read the Google Ads for dentists guide, or the wider dental advertising guide for social and video ads too.
Step five: ask every patient for an honest review
Reviews help the profile and help people decide. The rules are strict. Google’s Maps policy bans paying for reviews, offering any incentive in exchange for a review, and asking only the patients likely to be pleased. The FTC rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews and threats to stop bad ones. Ask everyone the same way, offer nothing, and never mention a patient’s care in a reply.
Step six: keep the message truthful
The ADA Code says no dentist shall advertise in a way that is false or misleading in any material respect, and it warns against statements likely to create an unjustified expectation about results. Specialty titles belong only to dentists who qualify. State dental boards set their own rules too, so the practice should check its own state before any campaign starts.
Patient information is the other line. Under HIPAA, using patient information for marketing generally needs the patient’s written authorization. The article on HIPAA and dental marketing sets out what the rule says.
Step seven: own the accounts and read the reports
Whoever does the work, the practice should hold the domain, the website, the Google Business Profile, the analytics and every ad account in its own name, with any agency added as a user. Agree on a short monthly report: calls, form requests, the pages people read and what the ads cost. That makes it easy to see what is working and to change course.
Where to go from here
Most practices start with the profile and the website, then add SEO, then ads, then social. A longer version of this plan, with the order and the rules side by side, is in the article on a dental marketing strategy. If you would rather have an independent agency look at your market and write a plan, get a proposal.
Questions practices ask
What is the first thing to do when marketing a dental practice?
Complete the Google Business Profile with the practice’s real name, address, hours, category and photos. It costs nothing and is where most nearby searchers first see the practice.
Do I need ads if I do SEO?
Not always. SEO builds pages the practice keeps; ads run while you pay and stop when you stop. Many practices use ads to fill the schedule while SEO work builds.
Can I offer a discount for a review?
No. Google’s Maps policy bans offering payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review.