An orthodontic practice sells a high-value course of treatment, bought once or twice in a lifetime, within a driving radius that rarely exceeds twenty minutes. That combination makes search work unusually concentrated: a small number of queries in a small geography decide most of the new starts, and the difference between appearing and not appearing in the local results is worth a great deal per case. It also makes the category a magnet for providers selling volume where volume is not the point. This page covers what patients and parents actually type, why one of the three factors Google names is beyond any agency's reach, the claim and testimonial rules that apply to a clinical practice, and the questions that separate a real provider from a reseller with a dental logo.
What patients and parents actually search
The queries divide into three groups. There are the treatment queries, meaning braces, clear aligners, expanders and retainers, usually with a city or a neighbourhood attached. There are the money queries: how much braces cost, whether insurance covers them, whether payment plans exist, which are the ones that decide whether a consultation is booked. And there are the reassurance queries, about pain, duration, eating and how treatment looks on an adult. A practice site that answers the second and third groups honestly tends to convert better than one that only competes on the first, because the first group is contested by every practice in the metro while the second and third are where a parent actually makes the decision. Publishing a starting price or a clear statement of how financing works is unusual enough in this category to be a genuine advantage.
Why distance caps what any provider can promise
Google's local ranking guidance names three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well the profile and site match what was typed, and it responds to careful category, service and content work. Prominence is how well known the practice is, and Google says that draws on information including links and reviews, so it responds to sustained effort. Distance is how far the practice is from the searcher, or from the area implied by the query, and nothing an agency does moves the office. That single fact should be read into every proposal you receive. A provider promising the map pack across a whole metropolitan area from one address is promising something the distance factor will not permit, and Google's guidance on hiring an SEO says outright that no one can guarantee a number one ranking. What a good provider can promise is coverage of the neighbourhoods you can realistically serve, which is a smaller and far more useful claim.
Claims, before and after photos, and reviews
Everything published is advertising, and the Federal Trade Commission's health claim guidance requires that objective claims be truthful and substantiated by competent and reliable evidence at the time they are made. That covers treatment duration, comfort and outcome claims, so copy promising a straight smile in a set number of months needs evidence behind it, not enthusiasm. Testimonials and before and after imagery fall under the endorsement guides: the endorsement must be an honest opinion, the results shown should be representative rather than exceptional, and any material connection, including a discount given in exchange for a review, must be disclosed. On top of federal rules, dentistry is licensed at state level and state boards set their own advertising requirements, including how specialty designations may be used; the American Dental Association maintains legal and regulatory resources that point to them. Ask any agency writing your copy which of these they check against before publishing.
How to vet an orthodontic SEO provider
Five questions do most of the work. Who holds the owner role on the Google Business Profile, and will it be transferred to the practice in writing? Is the site content written for this practice, or is it a template shared across their client base, and can you see two clients' pages side by side to check? Which neighbourhoods are being targeted, and what evidence supports the choice? Who reviews clinical claims before publication? And what happens to the content and the listings if the contract ends? Ask also for a reference in a market of similar size, and ask that reference about the month things went badly rather than the month they went well. Practices generally buy this work as one line inside a local services retainer that also covers ads and reviews, so make sure the SEO portion has its own scope and its own reporting rather than disappearing into an aggregate figure.
Questions people ask about seo for orthodontist
How many locations can one site rank for?
One page per location, each with its own address, hours, staff and content, and each with its own Google Business Profile. What does not work is a single site listing five cities in the footer. Distance is a real ranking factor, so coverage genuinely requires presence, and the pages have to differ in substance rather than in the city name alone.
Should we publish treatment prices?
A starting price and a clear description of financing filter out enquiries that were never going to book and answer the question most parents are actually researching. Whatever is published must be accurate and kept current, since a stale price is a claim you cannot support. If prices genuinely vary by case, say so and give the range with the reason.
Can we offer patients a discount for leaving a review?
Incentivised reviews create two problems at once. Under the FTC's endorsement guides a material connection like a discount has to be disclosed, and most review platforms prohibit the practice outright. Ask every patient, filter none of them, and reply to the negative ones, which is the part practices skip and the part readers notice.
How long before search work shows up in consultations?
Profile and listing corrections can move within weeks because they are fixes rather than contests. Competing for treatment queries against established practices takes quarters, not weeks. Record consultation requests and their source from the first week so that when the argument about attribution arrives, you have a baseline rather than a memory.