Digital marketing for dental & aesthetic clinics

I treat dental marketing as one question: when someone within a couple of miles searches for what you do, do they find you, trust you and book? Everything below serves that question.

Local search is where the patients are

Most new patients begin with a search like "dentist near me", "emergency dentist [town]" or a treatment plus a place. The map results take a big share of those clicks, and your position there is driven by your Google Business Profile far more than by your website. A complete profile, the right categories, real photos of the practice and team, and a steady flow of genuine reviews will do more for a clinic than almost anything else on this page. It is unglamorous work, which is exactly why so few practices do it properly.

Treatment pages earn the valuable searches

"Dental implants [town]" and "Invisalign [town]" are searched by people who are past curiosity and into comparison. A single Services page cannot rank for those. Each high-value treatment needs its own page: who it suits, how the process works at your practice, honest guide pricing, finance options if you offer them, and answers to the questions patients actually ask. Guide pricing deserves a special mention. Practices worry it scares people off; in my experience it does the opposite, because the patient who phones has already accepted the ballpark.

Reviews: build the habit, not a gimmick

The clinics that dominate the map pack are rarely the biggest; they are the ones where asking for a review is part of closing every appointment. A text with a direct link within an hour of the visit, sent by the person the patient dealt with, converts far better than a poster in reception. Reply to every review, including the awkward ones, calmly and without discussing clinical detail. Prospective patients read the replies as closely as the reviews.

Google Ads, but only where the maths works

Paid search earns its keep on high-value treatments: implants, orthodontics, cosmetic work. One implant case can fund a month of clicks, so even a modest budget can be profitable if the campaign is narrow, the landing page matches the search and tracking is set up so you know which calls came from ads. What rarely pays is advertising "general dentist" terms at people who mostly want an NHS place. I would rather tell you where ads do not make sense than manage a budget that cannot work.

Stay on the right side of the rules

Dental marketing in the UK answers to the GDC's guidance and to the ASA. In practice that means honest before-and-after photography with consent, no misleading claims, care with words like "specialist", and clear terms on any offer. None of this prevents effective marketing; it prevents lazy marketing. I build campaigns so you never have to choose between growth and your registration.

A sensible first 90 days

• Rebuild the Google Business Profile properly and start the review habit with the front desk.
• Build or fix pages for your two most profitable treatments, with guide pricing.
• Set up call and form tracking, so every enquiry has a source.
• Launch one tightly focused ad campaign on the treatment with the best margins.
• Review the numbers together at day 90 and decide what earns more budget.