The Ultimate Guide on SEO for Dentists (2025)

When patients search online for dental services nearby, does your practice pop up at the top of their search results?

In today's digital age, where people turn to the internet for almost everything—including finding a dentist—this is a question you can't afford to ignore. Simply having a welcome sign outside your office or a basic website for your dental practice isn’t enough to attract new patients.

To truly stand out and make it easier for local patients to find you, you need to increase your online visibility. You need to utilize local SEO for dentists to build a robust digital presence.

But what exactly is local SEO for dentists, and why does it matter?

Whether you're just starting your dental practice or looking to refine your current strategy, this ultimate guide will discuss the advantages of using SEO for your dental practice and why you should invest in local SEO for dentists.

Moreover, you will also learn some of the best dentist SEO tactics that you should use to grow your dental practice right now.

Ready to learn more?

Let’s get started.

What is SEO for Dentists (Dentist SEO)?

SEO (search engine optimization) for dentists or dentists SEO refers to the use of SEO practices to improve the search engine rankings of dentists’ websites. Dental search engine optimization mainly includes local SEO techniques to make sure that local users find a dentist’s site when they search for a relevant search query.

Why local SEO?

It is mainly because a dental clinic serves a specific area and does not need to attract customers from far away regions. The goal of dentist SEO, therefore, is to make sure that a dentist finds and serves local users in need of dental services.

Why Do Dentists Need SEO?

In today’s day and age, almost everyone relies on Google search to find nearby businesses, and dental clinics are no exception. People don’t rely as much on word of mouth as they do on local business listings and customer ratings.

According to Google data, the number of searches for “dentist near me” has maintained near-consistent interest over the years. This indicates that online searches are a preferred way for people to find local businesses.

Image via Google Trends

So, what does this mean for you?

As a dentist, you need not only create an SEO-friendly website but also invest in local dental SEO services to get the desired visibility and attract relevant website traffic. The goal of focusing on dental search terms and optimizing your website is, of course, to convert this website traffic into actual customers.

Ready to learn more?

Keep reading.

11 Dentist SEO Tips

Before we get into the details of how to leverage dental search engine optimization to grow your practice, let’s first cover the essentials.

If you do not have a website for your dental practice, then it’s high time that you start a website right now. If not, you will lose a lot of customers who visit local businesses simply by finding their websites or listings online.

But, all is not lost. It can be a good thing to start from scratch and implement a dental SEO strategy and SEO-friendly practices while designing your website. Use one of the numerous website-building platforms available online or hire professional dental web design companies to design your website.

Now that we have that covered, let’s start with the SEO tactics that you can use to grow your dental practice. We have compiled a list of 11 best local SEO for dentists strategies you should follow to get the desired website traffic and prospective patients.

Ready to get started?

Here you go.

1. Create a Google My Business Listing

Google My Business is the holy grail of all business directories worldwide. Irrespective of which industry you are in, you need a Google My Business listing for local SEO.

Why is that?

A Google My Business listing is the first search result that you will see when you search for any business, making it an essential element of local SEO for dentists.

Anyone looking for your dental practice will find all relevant information about your business from there. This includes your phone number, address, email address, and other contact information.

Let’s say that someone heard of your dental practice and wants to book an appointment or make a visit. The first thing they will do is search for your dental practice or dentist online. If your Google My Business listing is optimized with local SEO for dentists, they’ll instantly find your details and either call or visit your clinic.

Imagine if you don’t have a Google listing and your potential patients find it difficult to find any information about your business. What do you think will happen?

They’ll either think that your business is not legit if there’s no information about it online or they’ll simply move on to find another nearby dental practice.

You lose either way.

But, that’s not all that a Google My Business listing is good for. If you use the right keywords, your listing is likely to show in relevant local search results.

Need an example?

Let’s see what Google shows for a simple keyword like “dentists in Manhattan”. The first result, after the paid ads, is usually something like this.

Image via Google

You will see a list of local dentists or clinics, along with a link to their websites and directions for their clinics. You will also see a map with location pins for all nearby dentists in the area.

Where do you think Google gets this information?

Google goes through the thousands of relevant Google My Business listings to find the most relevant ones to feature in this section. Needless to say that any dental clinic that would have mentioned their location would have higher chances of featuring in this.

So, what should you do? Leverage local SEO for dentists.

First, create a Google My Business listing and update all relevant information about your business including name, address, and phone number (NAP). Second, optimize it for relevant keywords, but more on that later.

Pro Tip: Always keep your listing updated with the latest information and create multiple listings if you have multiple clinics in different locations. This ensures you’re visible on Google Maps.

2. List Your Dental Clinic in Local Directories

Google My Business is essential, but it’s not the only place to boost your local SEO for dentists. There are numerous local directories for every niche and these are just as important.

For a lot of “near me” searches, local directory sites are the ones that rank higher than any individual business, including dental practices.

Why?

Probably because they have thousands of similar dental practices listed and, therefore, have a much higher keyword density than any one business page can have.

Moreover, many of these directories have been around for years and have built their domain authority, making it difficult for any new website to compete with them.

That’s why local SEO for dentists isn’t just about your website; it’s about being visible where people are already searching.

So, what can you do?

List your business in all the important local directories in your region and get discovered by the right people. A lot of people search the local directories directly to find local businesses and if you are listed there, you can be discovered by potential patients.

The rules are the same as Google My Business listing: make sure you post accurate and updated information and optimize for keywords to get the most out of your local SEO for dentists efforts.

Pro Tip: Provide the same, updated, information in all directories and your website to avoid confusion for potential customers.

3. Find the Right Keywords for Your Website

The basis of any good digital marketing strategy is keywords and dentist SEO is no exception.

You need to do smart keyword research to find the right keywords to target through your website and increase your website traffic. As a dentist, you probably won’t produce much content on your site regularly, and that’s where local SEO for dentists shines.

By targeting the right keywords, you can attract the right patients without constantly publishing new content.

There are two things that you need to include in your keywords. First, always include your location—your audience is local, so local SEO for dentists depends on geo-targeted keywords. Second, you need to pay attention to user intent while choosing your keywords.

Not clear what it means?

Let’s understand each in more detail.

Location-Specific Keywords

It’s simple—if you want to boost local SEO for dentists, add your location to your target keywords. This helps Google connect you with the right patients in your area.

If you have a dental clinic in Los Angeles, for example, add that to the keywords you use for your site.

So, if your target keyword is “dental services”, make it “dental services in Los Angeles”. In fact, you can even choose a more specific location within the city, if that’s where you get most of your customers from.

Optimize your site for location-specific keywords to rank for the most relevant search queries.

User Intent

Different keywords, that may sound similar, can have different user intents. In general, dental health and local SEO services keywords could either have a research intent or a purchase/hiring intent.

Research intent is when a user simply searches for a term to gather information. This could be for a variety of reasons and does not necessarily mean that they need dental services.

Example:

Best ways to take care of dental health

Cost of dental implants

Does it hurt to get dental implants?

A hiring intent is one where a user searches for a dentist or dental clinic with the intention to employ the services of a dentist.

Example:

Orthodontist near me

Best dentists for teeth whitening in (location name)

Where to get dental implants near me?

To optimize your landing pages, you need to focus on these types of keywords for your site as this will help you attract users who are looking to employ a dentist’s services.

Here are a few examples of high-purchase-intent keywords that dental SEO services focus on:

• Orthodontist/dental surgeon/dentist + location
• Best orthodontists/dental surgeons/dentists + location
• Most experienced orthodontist/dental surgeon/dentist + location

You get the gist, right?

Just use this formula to choose the best keywords for local SEO for dentists and get more organic traffic to your website.

Once you've identified a few potential keywords, it's important to also consider your competition.

To get an idea of how competitive a keyword is, simply do a Google search and see what kind of search engine results come up. If the majority of the search engine results pages are from well-established practices, it's probably not worth your time to try and rank for that keyword.

Pro Tip: If you have a blog where you post informative articles, use research intent keywords to attract relevant organic traffic to your site.

4. Optimize for Keywords to Increase Website Traffic

Now that you know which keywords or search phrases to use for your local SEO for dentists, it’s time to optimize your content for these keywords. Using the right keywords, in the right density, can help increase your organic traffic to your website.

Here is a quick guide on dental search engine optimization using keywords for you:

• Maintain a keyword density of 2% or more for your landing pages and 1%-1.5% for your articles
• Add your target keyword within the first 100 words of your content
• Don’t forget to optimize your title tag, subtitles, meta description, etc. for keywords
• Also, add your primary keyword to your web page URLs

That’s the basis of keyword optimization for dentists SEO in short and is sure to boost your website traffic.

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to optimize your directory listings for your target keywords as well.

5. Ask Patients for Online Reviews

Online searches for dentists enable patients to find dental practices near them as well as those with good ratings and reviews. That's why local SEO for dentists isn’t just about ranking high; it’s about building trust. The better your reviews, the more patients you’ll attract.

But, how can you get more online reviews and ratings?

Well, the simplest thing that you can do is ask your patients to give an online review after you complete the service. Most happy patients are willing to share their experiences. Local SEO for dentists thrives on fresh, positive reviews, so make this a habit.

You can also do this by sending them a message after service completion, with a link to your Google listing, asking for feedback. This gentle nudge makes it easy for patients to leave a review, boosting your local SEO for dentists effortlessly.

To make it even more subtle, you can send this along with a printable invoice of the service provided.

Pro Tip: Try to make it as easy as you can for your patients to leave a review for your practice.

6. Optimize Your Website for Conversions

Till now, we have discussed different ways in which you can attract more patients to your website or directory listings. However, not everyone who visits your website books an appointment and employs your services.

Local SEO for dentists is essential, but to truly make your website work for you, you also need conversion rate optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of making your website as effective as possible at converting visitors into leads or customers.

In this case, conversions would most likely be in the form of your website visitors booking an appointment.

Several factors can impact your website's conversion rate as far as local SEO for dentists goes. So it's important to spend some time optimizing each element of your site including speed, page titles, meta descriptions, and backlinks.

Here are some ways to optimize your website for conversions:

Make sure your website is easy to use: The first step in optimizing for conversions and acing your local SEO for dentists is ensuring your site is user-friendly. This means creating a clear and concise design, using easy-to-understand language, and making it easy for visitors to find what they’re looking for (a dentist in this case).

Share relevant and targeted content: To improve your local SEO for dentists, your content should be both keyword-optimized and valuable to your target audience.

While high-quality content is essential for SEO, not everyone has the time or skills required to write great content, especially a dentist. Outsourcing this task to experienced content writing professionals or dental SEO services is an easy way of acing SEO as a dentist.

Use visuals to improve conversions: In addition to using text, you can also use visuals such as images, videos, and infographics to improve conversions. This approach can help increase conversion rates while supporting your local SEO for dentists.

Add relevant CTAs: Clear and relevant calls-to-action (CTAs) are crucial for your local SEO for dentists efforts. You can ask customers to visit your clinic or schedule an appointment.

What would be the right CTAs for a dental website?

Your CTAs should either ask your website visitors to make a call or book an appointment directly from your dental website. We recommend the former as it just makes things easier for both you and your customers and is a one-step process.

Your website's call-to-action should be clear and concise, and it should be easy for visitors to take the desired action. For example, if you want your new patients to sign up for your newsletter, your call to action should say “subscribe” or “sign up now.”

Provide your phone number on every page of your dental website and make sure that it is visible if you want your local SEO for dentists' efforts to work.

Pro Tip: Add your address in the footer section, to make it easy for potential customers to simply walk in for a consultation.

7. Hire Local SEO Experts

As a dentist, you might not have the required time or expertise to do a good job of optimizing your website for SEO (search engine optimization). Although the tips provided here are enough for even an amateur to implement local SEO for dentists successfully, they still require time and effort.

If you’d rather focus on your patients instead of learning the ins and outs of local SEO for dentists, hiring a professional can be a smart move. A skilled dental SEO expert can craft a smart dental SEO strategy. Hiring a professional dental search engine optimization (SEO) expert provides the following benefits:

• They can do a much better job of it than you
• It will save you a lot of time and effort
• You will see the desired results much faster

Want to know the best part?

You can hire a professional dental SEO company one time to set your local SEO for dentists and then take over the responsibility of following up regularly. Also, get Google Analytics to continually track your website traffic and performance to see how well your local SEO for dentists is performing.

So, in a way, it would be a one-time investment for you.

Once a dental SEO services provider has optimized your website and local listings or local SEO for dentists, you simply need to keep them updated. You can even hire them again to conduct SEO (search engine optimization) audits after certain time intervals.

Sounds good?

Then invest in professional dentist SEO services for your dental practice and grow your customer base multifold.

Pro Tip: Choose an agency that specializes in local search engine optimization and has a proven track record of delivering good results.

8. Create an Informative Blog

Simply creating an informative blog doesn’t necessarily guarantee that your dental practice will start receiving huge streams of patients. However, it’s a good place to start if you want to position yourself as an expert and increase the chances of people finding you.

A well-written dental blog boosts local SEO for dentists by improving search rankings, building trust, and keeping your website fresh.

One thing about Google is that it loves useful and fresh content, and a blog can ensure your website stays active and is constantly crawled by search engines.

Additionally, your blog can be a great platform to answer common questions or share valuable, actionable information about dentistry. When local visitors find your blog helpful, they’ll spend more time on your site, which boosts your credibility and enhances your local SEO for dentists performance.

Here’s an example of a dental blog that provides informative articles.

Image via Ask The Dentist

Some useful tips to get you started with local SEO for dentists include the following.

• Use local keywords with terms like “dentist in [your city]” or “best teeth cleaning in [your town].” This helps Google connect you with local searches.

• Keep it simple and avoid heavy medical terms. Write like you're explaining something to a friend. Short, clear sentences work best.

• Use images as much as you can when explaining medical terms. Even simple photos of your clinic or staff make your blog more engaging.

• Post regularly for consistency. Aim for at least one blog per week

• Link your core services in your articles to redirect people and help search engines understand your site better.

9. Use Social Media to Drive Traffic

Social media can make a big difference for local SEO for dentists. It’s not just about getting likes and shares. You need to drive more traffic to your website and ensure potential patients find you online.

Whenever you direct traffic from your social media posts to your website, search engines take notice, boosting your local SEO for dentists. Additionally, social media increases brand awareness because people who’ve never interacted with your dentist clinic get to see it on their timelines.

Answering questions or jumping on trending topics can create marketing content that fuels online buzz and enhances your local SEO for dentists.

For example, here’s a post by a dental clinic on Instagram that garnered over 4,000 likes. These could be potential customers.

Image via Instagram

10. Get Listed in Online Medical Directories

This is a local SEO for dentists tactic that involves having your business address listed in online medical directories like Healthgrades, Zocdoc, and 1-800-Dentist.

For example, Zocdoc lists all types of medical professionals across the United States. All you have to do is find the one closest to you and book an appointment.

Image via Zocdoc

So why do online medical directories matter?

Well, just like having your business listed on GMB, you will be more visible in your locality thanks to local SEO for dentists. So people don’t have to spend too much time locating you.

To ensure success, consider the following tips:

• Keep your info accurate and updated: Got a new phone number? Moved to a new office? Update every listing ASAP. Inconsistent details confuse search engines and potential patients. A wrong phone number can send patients to another dentist

• Add photos: Never underestimate the power of images when it comes to local SEO for dentists. People tend to trust practices that showcase images, as that gives them a good idea of what to expect.

• List your office hours: Many directories let you list specialties, office hours, and accepted insurance. More details mean a better chance of attracting patients through local SEO for dentists.

11. Optimize for Mobile-Friendliness

According to Statista, 96.2% of internet users worldwide access it through their mobiles. So if you want your website to receive more traffic, ensure you optimize your website and make it mobile-friendly.

Image via Statista

But what does optimizing for mobile-friendliness involve?

Making your website mobile-ready involves several key factors, including page load speeds and overall aesthetics. Here are a few pointers you can use to improve your local SEO for dentists.

• Use responsive designs: Your site should adjust to any screen size. A responsive design ensures text is readable and buttons are easy to tap.

• Improve page speeds: Slow sites frustrate users. Compress images, reduce unnecessary code, and use fast hosting to speed up your site.

• Enable click-to-call: Many users prefer to call and speak to a representative. So, adding a click-to-call button lets them contact your office instantly without needing to type your number into their phone again.

• Simplify navigation: Make it easy for visitors to find key information such as contact details, services, and appointment booking.

• Optimize for local search: Finally, and most importantly, use location-based keywords like “dentist near me,” in headings, descriptions, and content. This boosts local SEO for dentists and helps patients find you faster.

FAQ

Q1. What is dental or dentist SEO?

A. Dental or dentist SEO refers to the use of SEO (search engine optimization) techniques to increase organic traffic to the website of a dentist or dental practice. A key part of local SEO for dentists focuses on optimizing your site for local searches. This strategy helps attract the right people to your website and, ultimately, drives them to your clinic.

Q2. Do dentists need SEO?

A. Dentists run a local business and need SEO (search engine optimization) just like any other business. They need local SEO for dentists to get noticed within their localities to ensure their businesses stand out in local search results, and more patients visit the clinic.

Q3. How do you market a dental practice?

A. Though you can use traditional dental marketing methods like advertising, using dentist SEO to get organic traffic to your dental website is more cost-effective. So, invest in local SEO for dentists for your practice and make it an integral part of your marketing strategy.

Other than that, you can also consider search engine marketing for your dental practice, but that would cost more than SEO.

Q4. How do you attract more dental patients?

A. You can attract more dental patients through local SEO for dentists, starting with a well-optimized Google Business Profile. Make sure your name, address, and phone number are accurate, as this is key for local searches.

Keep your profile fresh by regularly updating it with new photos, posts, and positive patient reviews. Additionally, your website should be mobile-friendly and feature a blog with helpful, relevant content for people in your area.

The more engagement your content gets, the better your local SEO for dentists will perform and you'll see more patients walking through your door.

Q5. How do you keep a patient coming back?

A. Dental marketing strategies like local SEO for dentists can only help you attract new patients, but if you want a patient to come back you need to provide exceptional service. If a patient is satisfied with the care and treatment that you provide, they will not only come back for future needs but also recommend you to their family and friends.

Q6. Which five activities could attract new patients?

A. Follow these  local SEO for dentists' best practices to attract new patients to your dental website and dental clinic:

• Create a Google My Business listing
• List your dental clinic in local directories
• Find and use the right keywords
• Ask patients for online reviews
• Optimize your website for conversions

Try these and you will surely attract new patients to your clinic and relevant organic website traffic.

Q7. Should I hire someone for SEO?

A. Hiring an expert is always a good idea, especially if you do not have the necessary skills to do a job yourself. As a dentist, you might not know much about SEO or digital marketing to do all that is required to get on the first page of Google SERP (search engine results page) and attract relevant website traffic.

So, yes, you should hire an SEO expert to do that for you.

Q8. How long does it take for SEO to start working?

A. There is no hard and fast rule about how long it takes for SEO tactics to deliver results. You might see a difference within days or it may take months or even years to see any substantial results.

When it comes to local SEO for dentists, how quickly you achieve your goals depends on various factors, such as competition, the quality of your website, and how consistent you are with your efforts. Google needs time to trust your site, so regularly updating it, collecting positive reviews, and building strong backlinks can help speed up the process.

Q9. Why do dentists need local SEO?

A. Dentists need SEO to attract potential patients in the vicinity to their website, from where they can make an appointment to visit their clinics.

Q10. As a dentist, how much time should I spend on SEO?

A. Ideally, you will need to spend more time setting things up initially, but after that, you can simply conduct monthly audits and improvements. Dentist SEO is an ongoing process, but it will not take up a lot of your time on a regular basis.

You can, of course, hire dental SEO experts to do the job for you and save your time for more important things.

Conclusion

Dental SEO (dentist SEO) is crucial for your dental practice if you want to attract potential clients online. Most people search for clinics near them before making a visit. You can attract these people to your dental clinic by using dental SEO tactics.

Ready to take your dental practice to the next level? Use the tips in this Ultimate Guide on SEO for Dentists to start optimizing your online presence today. And, if you don’t have the time or expertise to do it yourself, you can always hire SEO professionals like us to do the job for you.

Request our SEO services today and find out how we can help dentists boost their online presence and attract more patients to their practice. Let us handle the details so you can focus on what matters most—caring for your patients.