Google Business Profile for dentists: the setup checklist
For most clinics the Google profile brings in more new patients than the website. Work through these six sections once, then keep two of them running weekly.
1. Claim the listing and verify the address
An unverified or duplicate listing quietly costs you the map pack. Claim the profile, verify it, and report any duplicates created by old owners or listing services.
2. Choose the right primary category
Pick 'Dentist' as the primary category, then add secondary ones that match what you actually offer — cosmetic dentist, emergency dental service, orthodontist. Categories decide which searches you can appear in at all.
3. Get the practical details exactly right
Opening hours, holiday hours, parking, wheelchair access and whether you take new patients. These are the details people check before calling, and wrong hours produce bad reviews.
4. Add real photos, not stock
Photos of the reception, the surgery and the team perform far better than stock images. Refresh them every few months; profiles with recent photos get noticeably more clicks.
5. Build and answer reviews every week
Volume, recency and replies all matter. A steady trickle of reviews beats a burst, and a calm reply to a negative one reassures the next reader more than a perfect score would.
6. Use posts, services and Q&A
Add each treatment as a service with its own description, post an update every week or two, and seed the Q&A with the questions your front desk answers all day.
Let GrowthPilot AI do it for you
Enter your clinic details once and the platform builds the plan, the posts and the emails:
- Profile and local-search recommendations written for your clinic
- Weekly post ideas you can publish straight to your profile
- Review request campaigns that keep new reviews arriving
- A 30-day plan tying it all to your patient goal