Dental practices live and die on local visibility. AI assistants are increasingly answering the questions that used to go to Google Maps — and they're picking practices with strong entity signals, clean local schema, and procedure-specific content. Here's the playbook.
What dental buyers are asking
Procedure-specific local queries ('Invisalign cost in Boulder', 'best pediatric dentist in Austin'), insurance-specific queries ('dentist that takes Delta Dental in Plano'), and emergency queries ('emergency dentist open Sunday near me'). Each needs its own page with its own schema.
The local AEO stack
Three layers. First, foundations: complete Google Business Profile, consistent NAP across the web, LocalBusiness schema on the homepage, Dentist schema for each provider. Second, content: a page per procedure, a page per insurance accepted, a page for emergency hours. Third, reviews: real reviews on Google with replies — AI assistants weight review depth and freshness.
- Procedure pages: Invisalign, implants, veneers, whitening, etc.
- Insurance pages: one per major plan accepted.
- Emergency hours page with structured availability.
- Provider bios with Dentist schema.
What to track
Pick 20 procedure + city queries. Check weekly in Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google AI Overviews whether your practice is cited. Track competitor practices in the same panel. This is your local AI share-of-voice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need separate pages per procedure?
Yes. A generic 'services' page won't get cited; a dedicated 'Invisalign in [city]' page will.
How important is Google Business Profile?
Critical. Many AI assistants pull local business data from Google's local index directly.
How many reviews do I need?
More than your competitors, and fresh. We aim for one new review per week minimum.