I’ve been a fan of Brendan Tully from WPSpeedFix for a while now. He’s very knowledgeable about local SEO, and he’s always sharing practical, easy-to-use info for small businesses.
He’s come through again recently with some tips, so I’ll pass along 3 simple changes he’s suggested to boost local SEO and AI search rankings for your dental practice.
📝 Be more detailed with your services
AI platforms have changed search behaviours in many ways, one of which is the level of detail in queries. As Brendan pointed out in one article: Where people might search “dentist near me” on Google, they may now look up, “what’s a dental clinic in adelaide that does ceramic crowns?” If you want your practice to show up for those types of searches, you’ll need to be more specific and detailed with your website pages.
For example, rather than a general “Our Services” page, consider listing out your specific treatments — things like dental implants, clear aligners, emergency appointments, or children’s dentistry. Including details like the technology or systems you use (e.g. digital X-rays) can also help your practice show up when patients are searching for those specifically.
That level of detail can make a real difference in how often your practice appears in patient AI searches.
Alongside that, be sure your Google Business Profile/Google Maps listing is up to date with your practice information and opening hours! That way, when you do show up in people’s searches, they’ll know when and how to find you.
☎️ Check on your Contact Us page
Brendan also talked about how a Contact Us page can impact conversion rates, and I agree. Many of us have tried to find the Contact Us page for a business, only to get one with incomplete information or malfunctioning buttons — and that’s if we find the page at all!
A poor Contact Us page can cost a practice several patient enquiries or bookings. On the other hand, a good Contact page can give a real boost to new bookings. It also acts as a credibility signal, both for potential patients and for Google.
Do a quick review of your website’s Contact Us page — make sure it’s easily accessible (e.g. linked in the footer or menu) and all the information is correct. If you have a booking or enquiry form, verify that it works, and then make sure you’re receiving those forms. Then finally, get someone on the other end to sort through the enquiries and respond to potential patients.
📲 Add your phone number to your page title or meta description
Lastly, here’s one simple tactic to increase phone leads from online searches: adding your practice’s phone number to either the title tag or meta description of your website’s home page. It’s a small change, but it puts key information up front for potential patients.
Here’s the example given in the video Brendan shared, which shows a phone number for the business in the title and meta description
Not only does this help you stand out, but it also adds a trust factor right off the bat. Plus, on mobile searches, Google often turns the mobile number on that search result into a “click to call” button — handy for patients wanting to book quickly.
