The Dental Practice Online Presence Checklist

This is the checklist we use internally when building a client site. We’re publishing it because hiding it doesn’t help anyone — and because most dentists who read it realize pretty quickly that “simple” and “thorough” aren’t the same thing.

Basic is the minimum. Without it, you’re not really online — you’re just occupying space. Advanced is what separates a practice that’s findable from one that’s the obvious choice when someone searches for implants, veneers, or a dentist near them.

You can do all of this yourself. Nothing here requires a marketing agency. But fair warning: the basic tier alone is a solid weekend (or three) if you’re starting from scratch. The advanced tier is where it stops being a project and starts being a job.

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Basic — The Minimum Viable Presence

If you checked nothing below the advanced section, you’d still be ahead of half the dental websites we audit. This is table stakes.

Website structure

• Dedicated page for every service category you offer — not one “Services” page with accordion tabs. Implants, cosmetic, emergency, pediatric — each gets its own URL.
• Homepage, About, and Contact (or an unambiguous primary booking path)
• Location page if you serve multiple areas or want to rank in nearby cities
• Clean URLs — /services/dental-implants/, not /page?id=47
• Internal links from homepage to your most important service pages
• Footer navigation that repeats key pages and includes your name, address, and phone (NAP)

Technical basics

• HTTPS on every page
• Mobile-responsive — test on an actual phone, not just Chrome’s device emulator
• Fast load times — under 3 seconds on mobile. Static HTML beats WordPress with 12 plugins every time.
• One H1 per page with a logical heading hierarchy (H2, H3)
• Unique title tag and meta description on every indexable page
• Alt text on images — real descriptions, not “image1.jpg”
• No broken links — run a crawl before launch and after any major update

Conversion basics

• Phone number visible on every page — click-to-call on mobile
• Clear primary CTA — “Schedule,” “Book,” or “Request Appointment” above the fold
• Booking link to your patient management system (Dentrix, NexHealth, etc.) if you use one
• Contact form that actually works — test it, confirm submissions arrive
• Hours and address easy to find without scrolling

Google Business Profile

• Profile claimed and verified — not still sitting as an unclaimed listing
• Correct primary category (Dentist, Cosmetic Dentist, etc.) plus relevant secondary categories
• Every field filled out — hours, services, description, website link, attributes
• Real photos — exterior, waiting room, treatment rooms, team. No stock photography.
• Review collection process — you need a system, not just hope
• Review link saved and accessible (for email signatures, front desk cards, post-visit texts)

Accounts you actually own

This is non-negotiable. If someone else holds these logins, you don’t own your online presence — they do.

• Domain registered in your name (or your practice’s), not your agency’s
• Hosting account in your name
• Google Business Profile — you’re a verified owner, not just a manager
• Google Analytics property you control
• Google Search Console property verified for your domain
• Website code in a repository or export you can access (GitHub, zip download, etc.)

Local listings & NAP consistency

• NAP identical everywhere — Name, Address, Phone must match character-for-character on your website, GBP, and every directory
• Google Business Profile (covered above, but worth repeating — it’s the most important listing)
• Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Healthgrades at minimum
• Zocdoc / Vitals / WebMD if relevant to your specialty and market

Crawl & index basics

• XML sitemap submitted and reachable
• robots.txt that allows public pages and points to your sitemap
• Google Search Console sitemap submitted after launch
• Noindex on thank-you pages, staging URLs, and internal utility pages

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Advanced — What Separates Findable from Dominant

Basic gets you in the game. Advanced is what makes you win competitive searches — “dental implants [city],” “Invisalign cost near me,” “best cosmetic dentist [neighborhood].”

Most practices never get here. Most agencies never take them here either — because advanced work is ongoing, not a one-time setup.

Structured data (schema markup)

• LocalBusiness / Dentist schema on every page
• Physician schema on About pages with real credentials and specialties
• MedicalProcedure schema on treatment pages where accurate
• FAQPage schema on pages with real Q&A content
• BreadcrumbList on non-home pages
• AggregateRating if you’re displaying real Google review data (must match visible reviews)
• sameAs links to your GBP, Yelp, Healthgrades profiles — entity clarity for Google and AI tools

Content architecture

• 300–800+ words of original content per service page — not template copy shared across 50 dental sites
• FAQ sections on service pages answering real patient questions (cost, recovery, pain, candidacy)
• Insurance and financing page if you accept insurance or offer payment plans
• Before/after gallery with real patient results (with proper consent)
• Doctor bios with credentials, education, specialties, and professional affiliations
• Nearby cities / service area pages if you draw patients from surrounding towns
• Blog or resources section ready to publish — even if empty at launch, the architecture should exist

AI & modern search readiness

• Structured, factual content AI tools can cite — specific services, geographic specificity, doctor credentials
• FAQ content that answers conversational queries (“How much do implants cost in [city]?”)
• Entity clarity — Google knows exactly who you are, what you do, and where you are
• Fast, crawlable HTML — AI search tools prefer sites they can parse quickly, same as Google

Reviews & reputation system

• 20+ Google reviews at launch (ideally 50+) with 4.5+ average
• Review display on your website — 3–5 real reviews with schema markup
• Google review QR code for in-office collection (front desk card, checkout counter)
• Process for requesting reviews after positive visits — email, text, or front desk script
• Responses to every review — positive and negative

Search Console & analytics depth

• GA4 tracking page views, form submissions, and phone clicks
• Search Console monitored monthly for indexing errors, coverage issues, and query data
• Conversion tracking — know which pages drive calls and form fills, not just traffic
• Baseline traffic documented before any major site change (for comparison after migration)

Performance & technical depth

• 90+ PageSpeed score on mobile (static sites make this achievable; WordPress makes it hard)
• WebP images with reasonable file sizes
• Core Web Vitals passing — LCP, CLS, INP
• Lazy loading on below-fold images
• No render-blocking JavaScript on marketing pages

Internal linking & site architecture

• Homepage links to service hubs, not just a booking button
• Service pages link to related services (implants → bone grafting → full arch)
• Blog posts link to 2–3 relevant service pages each
• Footer repeats navigation — not just copyright and a phone number
• No orphaned pages — every important URL reachable from at least two other pages

Migration & continuity (if replacing an existing site)

• 301 redirects mapped from every old URL to its new equivalent
• Old site screenshotted for reference before takedown
• Content and images downloaded before canceling old provider
• GBP website link updated after cutover
• Search Console re-verified on new domain if domain changed

Ongoing growth (this is never “done”)

• Monthly GBP posts — offers, new photos, team updates, seasonal reminders
• New reviews collected consistently — not a one-time push
• Content published regularly targeting treatment research keywords
• Search Console reviewed for new ranking opportunities and errors
• Site updated when services, hours, doctors, or insurance change

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What Groundwork Covers vs. What You’d Do Yourself

We’re not going to pretend this checklist is easy. It’s not. That’s the point.

The $2,000 build handles everything in Basic, plus most of Advanced: custom site architecture, schema on every page, GBP configuration, review collection system, Analytics and Search Console setup, and full account ownership transferred to you. Hosting should be free. Your only ongoing cost should be ~$12/year for domain renewal — paid to your registrar, not to us.

What’s not in the build: ongoing blog writing, backlink outreach, weekly GBP posting, and the open-ended growth work in the last section. Most practices don’t need that to start. They need the foundation done right once.

If you want to run through this checklist yourself, you absolutely can. Print it. Check boxes. Take your time. If you get halfway through the advanced section and think “I’d rather be doing dentistry,” that’s a reasonable conclusion — and exactly why we exist.

Related resources:

• Dental SEO Foundation guide — the full SEO framework behind this checklist
• See an example build — what this looks like when it’s done
• Pricing — what we charge and what’s included