How patients choose a dental practice
Patients typically search for dentist near me, emergency dentist or a specific treatment such as implants or invisible braces, mostly on a phone. They look at reviews, opening hours, whether you accept new patients and how quickly they can get an appointment. If booking requires a phone call during office hours, many will try the next practice.
This audit runs our full AI & Digital Growth Audit and highlights what matters for dental practices: a tap-to-call number and online booking on the first phone screen, clear treatment pages, opening hours and emergency information, reviews, fast loading and a mobile layout that works.
Specific points for dental practices
- Online booking providers such as Doctolib, Timify or similar, and whether the booking button is visible on phones.
- Emergency contact details and out-of-hours information.
- Dentist or MedicalBusiness structured data with address, hours and phone.
- Patient reviews from an independent platform and team pages with qualifications.
- Consent behaviour of trackers and embedded maps and videos, especially relevant for health-related websites.
Health data needs extra care
Information about a person's health is special category data under the GDPR. A contact form asking about symptoms, or advertising pixels on treatment pages, can disclose health-related information to third parties. The consent checker shows which trackers load before and after consent; review them carefully and avoid sending treatment-page visits to advertising platforms without explicit consent.
The automation section suggests common practice workflows — appointment reminders, recall messages for check-ups, review requests after treatment and forms filled in before the visit — with rough estimates of time saved. Reminders in particular are a well-established way to reduce missed appointments.
Pages that answer patient questions
Give each main treatment its own page explaining what it involves, how long it takes, whether it is covered by insurance or the public system where relevant, and a typical price range if your rules allow it. Add the team with qualifications and photos and a clear section for new patients. Those pages help anxious patients decide and give search engines and AI assistants accurate information to work with. Avoid promising outcomes or using before-and-after photos where your national rules restrict them, and keep prices up to date. Clear opening hours for the coming holidays and an emergency number on every page are small details patients notice.