A good dental website SEO audit covers three things: being found in local search, reassuring patients once they land, and making booking effortless. In practice that means a valid HTTPS certificate, fast mobile pages, correct LocalBusiness schema, identical contact details everywhere, clear treatment pages, and a booking path that works in one or two taps. The 15 checks below take most practices an afternoon to run.
This list focuses on the technical and local search side, which applies in any country. If you practice in the UK, our separate guide to what UK practice websites must show covers GDC and CQC display rules in detail. Elsewhere, check what your dental board or regulator expects you to publish, such as clinician names, license details or a complaints process.
Key takeaways
- A dental website has three jobs: show up in local search, reassure a nervous patient and make booking effortless.
- The technical basics are a valid HTTPS certificate, fast mobile pages, LocalBusiness or Dentist schema and the same name, address and phone everywhere.
- Every page should make the next step obvious: a tap-to-call number, an online booking link and a short contact form.
- Health details belong in your secure intake system, not a website contact form, whichever privacy law applies to you.
The checklist at a glance
| # | Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HTTPS certificate valid and not close to expiry | Browser warnings stop patients at the door |
| 2 | Every page redirects to one HTTPS version | Avoids duplicate pages and mixed signals |
| 3 | Mobile pages load quickly | Most patients search on a phone |
| 4 | Images sized and compressed | Galleries are the usual cause of slow pages |
| 5 | Name, address and phone identical everywhere | Confuses neither patients nor search engines |
| 6 | LocalBusiness or Dentist schema, valid | Helps search engines understand the practice |
| 7 | Tap-to-call number on every page | One tap to reach you |
| 8 | Online booking link near the top | Converts intent into appointments |
| 9 | One page per main treatment | Answers specific searches and questions |
| 10 | Prices or price guidance and payment options | Removes the biggest unanswered question |
| 11 | Clinician profiles with real photos | Builds trust before the first visit |
| 12 | Direct link to leave a Google review | Makes asking for reviews easy |
| 13 | Short contact form, no health details | Keeps sensitive data where it belongs |
| 14 | Accessible to all patients | Usable with screen readers, zoom and keyboards |
| 15 | Search Console set up and checked monthly | Shows what is working and what broke |
Security and setup
1. A valid HTTPS certificate
Patients should never see a "Not secure" warning, least of all on a page asking for their details. Run your domain through our SSL checker to confirm the certificate is valid, covers both the www and non-www versions you use, and has plenty of days left. Many hosts renew certificates automatically, but renewals do fail, so check after any hosting or DNS change.
2. One canonical version of the site
Typing http://, https://, with or without www, should all land on the same HTTPS address with a single redirect. Several live versions split your signals and can show patients a broken page. Test each variation in a browser and confirm they end up at the same URL.
Speed
3. Fast pages on mobile
Test your homepage, your emergency appointment page and your two or three most valuable treatment pages with our page speed checker. It reports Google's Core Web Vitals from real users where enough data exists, plus lab measurements and suggested fixes. Focus on the mobile result.
Common causes of slow dental websites:
- Full-screen video or image sliders at the top of the homepage.
- Several chat, review and tracking widgets that all load on every page.
- Web fonts loaded from multiple sources.
- An overloaded theme or page builder.
4. Images sized for the web
Before-and-after galleries and team photos often go straight from a camera or phone at several megabytes each. Resize them to the width your site actually displays, compress them and use a modern format such as WebP. Lazy-load images further down the page so the top loads first.
Local search
5. Consistent name, address and phone
Your practice name, address and phone number should match exactly across your website footer, contact page, location pages, schema and Google Business Profile. Small differences, such as an old suite number on the contact page or a tracking number in the footer, create doubt. Our NAP consistency checker compares the details on your key pages and in your schema and highlights mismatches.
6. LocalBusiness or Dentist schema
Structured data tells search engines your practice type, address, phone, hours and website in a format they can read reliably. Schema.org has a specific Dentist type, which is more precise than the generic LocalBusiness. Our Local Business Schema Generator builds the JSON-LD with opening hours and checks it against Google's guidelines. Paste it into your site, then test the live page.
One caution: Google does not show review stars for a business's own reviews marked up on its own site, so do not add an aggregate rating to your practice schema expecting stars in search results.
Turning visitors into appointments
7. A tap-to-call number on every page
Put your phone number in the header on mobile, as a tel: link. If you use call tracking, follow your provider's guidance so the number in your schema and Business Profile stays your main line.
8. Online booking where patients expect it
If your practice management system offers online booking, link it prominently: in the header, on every treatment page and on your Google Business Profile. Show which appointment types can be booked online and how emergencies are handled.
9. One page per main treatment
Separate pages for checkups, hygiene, emergency appointments, implants, aligners, whitening and children's dentistry let each page answer a specific search. Write for the patient, in plain language, and avoid copying manufacturer text that appears on hundreds of other sites.
10. Prices and payment options
Cost is one of the first questions patients ask. Where you can, publish typical fees or "from" prices, which insurance plans or public schemes you accept, and any payment or membership plans. If prices genuinely depend on an exam, say so and explain what the first visit costs.
11. Real clinician profiles
Name each dentist and hygienist, add a real photo, their qualifications and anything your regulator expects you to show. Stock photos of smiling strangers do little for a nervous patient.
12. An easy way to leave a review
Add a "Review us on Google" link to your post-appointment emails and a QR code at reception. The Google review link generator creates the direct link and a printable card. Ask every patient the same way; never offer rewards for reviews or ask only those you expect to be happy.
Data, access and maintenance
13. A short contact form with no health details
A website contact form should collect only what you need to reply: name, contact details, the reason for getting in touch and preferred times. Do not ask for medical history, medications or symptoms in it. Health information is protected by laws such as HIPAA in the US and GDPR in the UK and EU, and ordinary form-to-email setups are not designed for it. Use your practice management system's secure intake forms instead.
Also check that form notifications and booking emails are actually delivered. If your domain's SPF, DKIM and DMARC records do not authorize the service sending them, they may land in spam.
14. Accessibility
Patients with low vision, older patients and people who use keyboards or screen readers should be able to read your pages and complete a booking. Check color contrast, add descriptive alt text to images and make sure every form field has a label. In the US, the Department of Justice's guidance on web accessibility and the ADA says businesses open to the public must make what they provide online accessible; other countries have their own equality or accessibility laws.
15. Search Console, checked monthly
Verify your site in Google Search Console and look at it once a month. It shows which searches lead to your pages, which pages Google could not index and whether any security or usability issues were found. Note the date of any website change, so you can connect it to a drop if one follows.
How often to run this checklist
Run all 15 checks once now, then repeat the quick ones (certificate, speed, contact details, forms) after any website update and at least every quarter. The website is only one part of how patients find you; your Google Business Profile, reviews and reminders matter just as much. For the operational side, such as handling enquiries and recalls without overloading the front desk, see our dental practices automation page.
Frequently asked questions
What should a dental website include?
At a minimum: your practice name, address, phone number and hours on every page, a tap-to-call number, online booking or a short contact form, a page for each main treatment, prices or payment information, clinician profiles, and a valid HTTPS certificate. Add anything your dental regulator requires you to publish.
Does a dental website need schema markup?
It is not required, but it helps search engines read your practice details reliably. Use the Dentist type with your name, address, phone, hours and website, keep it identical to what the page shows, and test it after publishing.
Can patients send medical information through our website form?
It is best not to ask for it. Standard contact forms usually send messages by ordinary email, which is not designed for health information. Collect medical history through your practice management system's secure forms, and keep the website form to contact details and the reason for the enquiry.
How fast should a dental website load?
Google's "good" thresholds for Core Web Vitals are a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less. Check your key pages on mobile and fix the largest issues first.
How often should we update our dental website?
Check opening hours, holiday hours, clinician lists and prices whenever they change, and run a technical check at least every quarter. Out-of-date details hurt patient trust more than an older design does.
Sources
More guides for your industry
Free checklist (PDF)
Free dental practices website checklist
30 practical checks for dental practices: website speed and mobile, Google Business Profile and reviews, email security, booking and enquiry handling, and AI search visibility. Each one says why it matters, and many link to a free tool that checks it.
Written by the MakeItFlow team
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