When I meet with dentists about their marketing, one of the first things I do is a quick local SEO check. I plug in a few key searches—like “dentist near me” or “Invisalign [city]”—and see what shows up.
You’d be surprised how often their practice is nowhere to be found.
They’ve hired a dental marketing company, they’re paying monthly, they assume it’s being handled—but they’re invisible in search.
This post is about why that happens. These are the five local SEO mistakes I see most often from marketing vendors, and how you—yes, even if you’re not a tech person—can tell if they’re happening to your practice.
1. They don’t really understand local SEO
There’s SEO. And then there’s local SEO.
Local SEO is about helping your practice show up in searches from people nearby—especially in Google’s local pack, commonly called the “map pack.” That’s what shows up when someone Googles “dentist near me.”
But not every marketing company understands how to play in that sandbox.
What You Might Notice:
- You don’t show up in the top 3 map results for searches in your area (don’t forget treatment searches)
- Your Google Business Profile is half-complete or hasn’t been updated in months
- You’ve got 10 reviews from 2019 and crickets since
What to Ask Your Marketing Company:
- Is my Google Business Profile fully optimized and active?
- Are we managing local listings using BrightLocal or Yext?
- Do we have a system for consistently generating new reviews?
Why It Matters:
Local SEO is how you get found by people who are ready to book an appointment. If you’re not showing up where patients are looking, you’re losing business to someone who is.
2. They focus on keywords, not topics
Many dental marketing companies still talk about SEO like it’s 2012.
They’ll say, “We’re optimizing you for the keyword dentist,” and call it a day. But search engines have evolved. It’s no longer just about a list of terms—it’s about building topical depth and local relevance.
What You Might Notice:
- You rank for generic terms but not for “Invisalign [your neighborhood]” or “dental implants near [local landmark]”
- Your website has a page for “services,” but no dedicated pages for high-value treatments
- Your blog feels like filler instead of something patients would actually read
What to Ask Your Marketing Company:
- Are we building out content around local search topics—not just keywords?
- Are we using internal links to connect services and related FAQs?
- Do we have a strategy to rank for specific procedures + neighborhoods?
👉 Tools That Help:
- SEMrush Topic Research – spot content gaps in your website
- Google Search Console (free) – see what patients are actually searching
Why It Matters:
You don’t need to rank for everything—you just need to rank for the right things in your market, particularly those strategic to your practice. That’s how you win locally.
3. They ignore the technical side of SEO
Look, I get it. Code and crawlability aren’t sexy topics. But if your website isn’t technically sound, it doesn’t matter how pretty it looks—Google won’t rank it well.
And a lot of agencies skip this stuff completely. They focus on front-end design and leave the back-end a mess.
What You Might Notice:
- Your site loads slowly, especially on mobile
- You’ve got duplicate or missing page titles and meta descriptions
- Broken links, outdated sitemaps, or no structured data at all
What to Ask Your Marketing Company:
- Are we running regular technical audits (with SEMrush or SEOptimer)?
- Have we submitted an updated sitemap to Google Search Console?
- Are we using schema markup (local business, reviews, services)?
👉 Tools That Help:
- Google’s Pagespeed Insights (free) – check your site’s usability and page load times as seen by Google.
- SEMrush Technical Audit: SEMrush prioritizes issues by “Error” and “Warning” to tackle the most impactful components.
Why It Matters:
Technical SEO isn’t about being flashy—it’s about making your site easy for Google to understand and easy for patients to use. If that’s broken, nothing else matters.
4. The content is thin, generic, or outdated
If your site hasn’t had a new blog post since 2021—or if your service pages are just a couple of paragraphs long—that’s a problem.
Google needs content to understand what you do, where you do it, and why you’re worth ranking.
But a lot of dental marketing companies publish cookie-cutter copy. It doesn’t reflect your voice, your services, or your community.
What You Might Notice:
- Bare-bones content on key service pages (like “cosmetic dentistry” or “Invisalign”)
- No mention of your city or local landmarks on your site
- Blog posts that look like they came from a template used by 200 other practices
What to Ask Your Marketing Company:
- Are we producing original content that speaks to our actual patients?
- Do our pages talk about our location and tie into local search terms?
- Are we regularly updating content or publishing new posts?
👉 Tools That Help:
- Grammarly’s Plagiarism Checker (free) – copy and paste any copy from your website to see if your marketing company reused content from elsewhere
Why It Matters:
Content tells your story—and it tells Google where to rank you. Thin or recycled content puts your practice at a disadvantage.
5. They give you vague reports—or no reports at all
This one drives me nuts.
If you’re paying for SEO and you have no idea how your site is performing, something’s off.
You should know what pages are driving traffic, what terms you’re ranking for, and how your site is helping (or hurting) new patient growth.
What You Might Notice:
- You get a monthly report, but it’s just charts and fluff
- You’re not sure what’s changed or improved in the last 90 days
- You don’t have access to your own Google accounts
What to Ask Your Marketing Company:
- Can I get direct access to Google Analytics and Search Console? *Important: You—not your agency—should own these accounts. Otherwise, you risk losing years of data if you ever switch providers.
- What are our top traffic sources and top-performing pages?
- How are we tracking appointment requests that come from search?
👉 Tools That Help:
- Google Search Console
- Google Analytics
- CallRail or WhatConverts for lead tracking
Why It Matters:
You don’t need to micromanage, but you deserve visibility. If your marketing partner can’t show you how they’re helping you grow, they may not be helping at all.
Final Thought
Local SEO isn’t magic. It’s not something that “just happens” when you hire a dental marketing company. It’s a system. And like any system, it needs to be built right and maintained regularly.
The good news? You don’t have to become an SEO expert.
But you do need to know how to spot red flags and ask better questions.
If any of this sounds familiar, it might be time for a second opinion. I’m happy to use the tools above to audit your local SEO position.