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When your potential patients search for a dentist, they usually look at Google results that include key details about a practice—such as the name, address, phone number, office hours, patient reviews, and even photos of the clinic. In one place, they get everything they need to decide which dentist to call. The Local Pack highlights the top three practices along with a map, making those spots the most valuable real estate for attracting new patients.
Appearing in Google’s Local Pack results helps guarantee that nearby patients find your dental practice when they’re searching online for services you offer. For a local clinic like yours, showing up in those top three results means being chosen before competitors—and often becoming the first call a patient makes.
So, how does Google decide which three dental practices appear there? And more importantly, how can your practice earn one of those top spots?
Google uses specific factors like the relevance of your business information, the consistency of your local listings, and the number of positive reviews patients leave about your services. Let’s, in this guide, explore each of these factors and see how they can help boost your visibility.
The Google Local Pack, often called the “local 3-pack,” is a section in Google’s search results that highlights the top three local businesses most relevant to a user’s search. It appears right below paid ads and above regular search results, which makes it one of the most visible spots on the page.
For dentists, this means when someone nearby searches for “dentist near me” or “best dentist in [city],” the Local Pack will display three dental practices along with their key details—such as name, address, phone number, office hours, star rating, reviews, and a map location. Patients can instantly compare options and decide who to contact, often without scrolling further.
The listings are pulled directly from your Google Business Profile (GBP). Depending on what you’ve enabled, patients may also see photos, services, and even book an appointment straight from your profile. In some searches, Google is also rolling out a “Multiple Local Pack,” where three practices may appear several times on the same page—giving you even more chances to be noticed if your SEO is strong.
In simple terms: showing up in the Top 4 Local Pack means your dental practice gets prime visibility, builds instant trust, and has a much higher chance of being chosen over competitors in your area. Practices that want consistent visibility incorporate local SEO for dentists to maximize results.
Google doesn’t randomly decide which dental practices appear in the Local Pack. Instead, it usually picks the top 3 local businesses or practices that are most relevant to the patient's search query. But does Google decide the relevancy, and what are the parameters? Well, Google uses three main signals—proximity, relevance, and prominence—to determine who gets those top three spots. Here’s how each factor works for dentists:
1. Proximity: How Close You Are to the Patient
When your potential patient searches for your practice or services you offer, Google looks at their location and compares it with yours. If someone types “dentist near me” or “emergency dentist in [city],” the practices physically closest to that user are more likely to show up. Even if a patient doesn’t add a location, Google automatically uses their device’s geolocation to suggest nearby clinics. That’s why optimizing with hyperlocal SEO strategies is essential for neighborhood-level visibility.
What this means for you: You can’t change where your practice is located, and how close or far it is to your patient. But you can make sure your address, phone number, and map pin are accurate and consistent across your website, Google Business Profile, and directories. This ensures Google connects you to the right patients in your area.
2. Relevance: Matching Patient Needs with Your Services
Relevance is all about how well your dental practice matches what a patient is searching for. Imagine someone typing “emergency dentist near me” at 10 p.m. because they’ve chipped a tooth. Google wants to make sure the practices it shows actually offer emergency dental care—not just general checkups.
Consistency also matters. Search engines cross-check your business information across multiple platforms to ensure accuracy. If your practice name, phone number, or office hours are different on your website compared to your Google Business Profile or Facebook page, Google may see this as unreliable. Inconsistent details lower your relevance score and reduce your chances of showing up in the Local Pack. Healthcare practices benefit from specialized local SEO services for doctors that ensures accurate listings, relevant keywords, and complete service profiles.
What this means for you: Keep your service list updated on GBP. Also, add specific and high-value treatments your practice offers. The clearer and more consistent you are, the easier it becomes for Google to connect you with patients actively searching for your practice offerings.
3. Prominence: Building Authority and Trust Online
Prominence is all about how well-known and trusted your dental practice is—both online and offline. Google pays close attention to patient reviews and feedback because consistent positive ratings strengthen credibility. It also looks at how often your practice is mentioned across the web, such as in local citations, media mentions, or even blog articles. Altogether, these signals help Google decide just how prominent your practice is compared to others in your area.
What this means for you: Encourage your satisfied patients to leave Google reviews. Stay active and engage your users on social media, and make sure your practice is listed in reputable local directories. The stronger your reputation, the more likely Google is to rank you above competitors. Prominence can be strengthened with broader SEO services for doctors, which combine content authority with local visibility to build credibility.
In Local Pack results, Google always shows Google Business Profiles—not your dental website. So, if you want to secure a top position, the very first step is to create and claim the GBP profile of your practice. This is your digital storefront on Google, where patients instantly see who you are, what services you provide, and why they should choose you.
The Local Map completely depends on how well your GBP matches or addresses potential patient intent-based queries. Whether they’re searching for your address, office hours, phone number, or specific treatments like Invisalign or emergency dentistry, Google uses your profile details to decide if your practice is the right fit to show in the top results. The more complete and accurate your GBP is, the higher your chances of appearing in the Local Pack.
Coming to the point—once you understand the key factors that influence Google’s Local Pack results, the next step is learning how to actually secure your spot. Earning a place in the 3 Pack gives your practice unmatched visibility, helping you appear right when local patients are searching for dental care. Here are some proven ways to make it happen:
Optimize every corner of your Google Business Profile (GBP) fully. You can only appear in the Google Local 3-Pack if you have a GBP. So, create, claim, and complete it if you haven’t already. A complete and accurate profile signals relevance and trustworthiness to Google, which helps your practice stand out in the Google 3 Pack. Additionally, regularly updating and optimizing your profile—adding new photos, services, posts, and accurate information—keeps your business visible, engaging, and competitive.
How to Implement:
- Claim and Verify: Start by claiming your GBP through Google Business Profile Manager. Verify your practice using phone, email, text, or video. Verification confirms to Google that your business is legitimate.
- Accurate NAP: Consistency is crucial. Ensure your practice's NAP details match exactly with what’s on your website, social media, and other listings. For example, if your website lists “123 Main Street, Suite 101,” don’t use “123 Main St.” on GBP. Keep it exactly the same; don't use variations.
- Primary and Secondary Categories: Be specific when choosing your primary category that best describes your practice, such as “Dentist,” “Pediatric Dentist,” or “Cosmetic Dentist.” Also, add secondary categories to highlight specific services, like “Dental Implants,” “Orthodontist,” or “Teeth Whitening.” This will help Google match your business to more relevant searches among your potential patients.
- Complete All Fields: Fill out each and every section of your Clinic's GBP profile with proper and consistent information. This means providing correct business hours (holiday hours included), website URL, services, and features like "Accepts Insurance" or "Wheelchair Accessible."
Add a keyword-rich, unique business description that clearly explains your dental care services. For instance: “Family dentist in Chicago specializing in cosmetic dentistry, dental implants, and emergency dental care.”
- Add Clear CTAs: Along with complete profile information, make it easy for patients to make an informed decision about choosing you. This can be achieved by adding direct links to online appointment scheduling, "Inquire Now" forms, and "Learn More" options for patients to take action. Simple, visible calls-to-action not only improve user experience but also increase the chances of converting profile visitors into actual patients.
Remember, a complete and optimized GBP profile that addresses your patients’ exact questions and search intent is what positions your practice in the Local 3-Pack for relevant searches. This is why practices with complete profiles, consistent NAP, and rich content appear more trustworthy and are more likely to be clicked on by potential patients. For example, a pediatric dentist with a GBP showing clear hours, staff photos, and service-specific categories will rank ahead of a competitor with an incomplete profile when a parent searches “pediatric dentist near me.”
Reviews are the antidote to your GBP profile as well as a power booster for all your marketing activities. These reviews are essential because they directly influence ranking factors, with quantity, quality, and recency significantly affecting your placement in the Google 3-Pack. Additionally, these positive reviews also build trust with potential patients, as Google treats them as a clear sign of how much your patients value your practice.
What matters most for securing a spot in the Google 3-Pack are four core factors:
- Volume: More positive patient reviews = stronger trust.
- Quality: Higher star ratings always favor ranking potential.
- Recency: Fresh reviews signal to Google and patients both that you’re active and relevant.
- Responses: Google favors businesses that engage with all reviews, positive or negative.
How to Implement:
Politely ask your satisfied patients to leave their experience or feedback in detail just after their appointment. Send them automated reminders through SMS or email to simplify the process and ensure consistency.
Always respond to these Reviews in real time, promptly, and professionally. Acknowledge praise with gratitude and handle criticism with care. Use relevant keywords like “gentle dentist in [City]” in your responses to strengthen local SEO.
Aim for a steady flow of new reviews rather than a one-time surge. This demonstrates ongoing patient satisfaction and long-term credibility. Studies show that practices that appear in the Google Local 3-pack usually have more reviews than those that don't. They also tend to have stronger ratings and respond actively to feedback. These Reviews send clear signals of trust, relevance, and engagement. These are exactly the qualities Google highlights at the top of local search. Adding integrations from dental Google Ads can amplify visibility and drive more patients to leave feedback after booking through ads.
Most of your potential patients visit your GBP listing to check essential details about your practice. This information can be exact directions, operating hours, appointment availability, offers, real images of your clinic, and the services your practice provides. When this information is available on your listing and consistent across all platforms, it reinforces your practice’s legitimacy. Also, it contributes as a key factor in deciding local SEO 3-pack rank. Any mismatch—like a missing suite number or an outdated phone—can send mixed signals and hurt your local rankings.
How to implement:
- List on Core Directories: Ensure your NAP information is the same and accurate on all major directories and internet listings.
- Use Data Aggregators: Provide your practice data to aggregators such as Data Axle, Neustar Localeze, and Foursquare. They spread your NAP to hundreds of lesser directories, which would save you time and effort.
- Audit Citations Regularly: Use tools like BrightLocal or Moz Local to run audits, spot inconsistencies, and fix incorrect listings before they affect your visibility.
Consistent NAP citations are very important because if they are not the same everywhere, Google can get confused and your practice may look less trustworthy. But when your citations are consistent, it shows authority, builds trust with patients, and increases your chances of appearing in the Google 3-Pack. Partnering with SEO services for doctors ensures your citations and local profiles are managed strategically to strengthen Local Pack presence.
One of the most common reasons dental practices miss out on local rankings is that their services aren’t clearly listed or updated. Google can’t promote what it doesn’t fully understand, and if your services are missing or outdated, your practice won’t match patient searches.
Imagine someone in your city searching for “emergency dentist near me” at 10 p.m. If your GBP doesn’t list “emergency dentistry” as a service—even though you provide it—Google is less likely to show your practice in the results. That’s a missed opportunity for both you and the patient.
A closer look at most dental service listings often uncovers gaps like:
- Core treatments such as Invisalign, implants, or root canals are not added to the GBP.
- Services are listed on the website but not synced with Google.
- Competitors who describe their services in more detail using popular search terms make their profiles more relevant.
- Old information lingering on other listing directories is confusing both patients and search engines.
It’s similar to forgetting to update holiday hours—small oversights that lead to big consequences. Patients rely on your listing for accurate, real-time information, and when they can’t find it, they’ll quickly move to a competitor.
The solution is always clean and plausible. So, keep your services fresh and consistent across all platforms. Tools like Yext or BrightLocal can automatically sync your service details to Google, Yelp, and healthcare-specific directories, which ensures no outdated info holds you back. As a result, your profile gains more trust and patient attention. Ultimately, all this increases your chances of appearing in the 3-Pack significantly.
Google encourages dental practices to use location-specific and service-related keywords as a way to show relevance for local searches. So, both keyword placement and content relevance matter.
However, it’d be a mistake to think that just adding your city name randomly will improve your ranking. Because local keywords are a trust signal in Google’s eyes, the guidelines emphasize that content must exist for the benefit of users, not just search engines. Overstuffing keywords or duplicating content across pages can backfire and hurt your visibility.
There are plenty of ways to naturally incorporate local keywords that improve your GBP ranking and help your clinic appear in the 3-Pack. But with our years of experience, we can definitely recommend the following, because these methods combine SEO and user value, both essential to increasing your local presence:
- On-Page SEO: Use keywords like “dentist in [City],” “emergency dental care [Neighborhood],” or “Invisalign [City]” in title tags, headers, meta descriptions, and body content.
- Local Landing Pages: Create dedicated pages for each service area or treatment (e.g., “Cosmetic Dentistry in [City]”) with unique, location-specific content, maps, and NAP.
- Schema Markup: Add LocalBusiness schema markup to your website so Google can easily understand your NAP, business hours, and services.
Remember, local keywords and structured data improve your site’s relevance for searches like “dentist near me,” increasing 3-Pack visibility.
Adding daily posts to your clinic’s GBP profile helps you rank in the Google Business 3-Pack. Alongside, it also sends strong signals to Google that your practice is active and ethical. With these daily posts, you can answer your patients’ common questions, highlight ongoing offers on dental treatments, and share important updates. All these efforts will strengthen your brand presence as well as encourage consistent patient engagement within your profile. As a result, you will see growth in total searches, direct searches, and discovery searches. You’ll also notice more profile views on Google Maps and SERPs, along with a steady rise in patients clicking for directions to your clinic.
Here are some of the ways to do this effectively:
- Frequent Updates: Post at least once a week about ongoing promotions, events, or new services. You can also post any special announcement, update, or a special seasonal offer. Keep your profile dynamic and signal ongoing activity to Google.
- Use Keywords: Use location-specific and service-related keywords naturally in your posts. For Example, you can include “pediatric dentist [City],” “emergency dental care near [Neighborhood],” or “Invisalign treatment in [City].” This approach will help Google to connect your posts to local searches and ensure patients see your services when they search for exactly what you offer.
- Add Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Each post should encourage patient action. Include links to schedule appointments, call your clinic, or visit your website. Remember that Clear CTAs improve engagement and drive more appointment bookings and inquiries.
- Highlight Services and Events: Use posts to showcase your latest treatments, seasonal promotions, or special events. For example, “Now offering painless laser cavity treatment—safe, fast, and effective!” or “Back-to-school dental checkups available—book early to reserve your slot.” With such a post, you can highlight specific services that will keep your patients informed and fortify your expertise.
Regular, meaningful posts show Google that your practice is active, relevant, and trustworthy. They also keep your potential patients engaged, encourage bookings, and improve your chances of appearing in the Google 3-Pack. Over time, these activities build authority and reinforce your local presence in Google Pack 3.
Google values the quality and trustworthiness of the links that point to your website, especially when they come from local and relevant websites and sources. These local backlinks act as signals of credibility that help search engines to identify your practice as an authoritative part of the community.
If your backlink profile is built only on low-quality or irrelevant sites, Google’s judgment may be far less favorable than you expect. Google gives little to no value to links that don’t provide context or benefit to the searcher. Thin or spammy backlinks can work against you, instead of helping.
Therefore, ensure that you focus on ethical link building that strengthens your online presence and reflects genuine local patient engagement.
How to Implement:
- Local Partnerships: Sponsor local events, charities, or sports teams to earn mentions and links from community websites.
- Local Directories: Get listed on dental-specific directories like 1-800-Dentist or Zocdoc, and general directories like Yelp or BBB.
- Local PR: Pitch stories to local news outlets or blogs about your practice’s community involvement or unique services.
Local backlinks signal to Google that your practice is a trusted authority in your area, improving 3-Pack rankings.
Mobile optimization isn’t complicated—it’s about making your website fast, simple, and easy to use. Most local searches happen on smartphones, so if your site loads slowly or looks clunky on mobile, patients will leave before they even call.
When patients land on your site, they should immediately know:
- Who you are
- How can you help them
- What to do next
That’s why we recommend focusing on three essentials: a fully responsive design that looks great on any device, fast load times backed by tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, and clear, location-specific content that speaks directly to your community.
A smooth mobile experience keeps visitors engaged, lowers bounce rates, and increases the chances they’ll book an appointment. Google notices these signals, and that’s what helps your practice show up higher in local results.
Voice search is now a major way patients look for dental care. When someone asks their phone, “dentist near me” or “emergency tooth extraction open now,” Google looks for listings that provide clear, accurate, and conversational information.
The ideal setup for dental practices includes:
- Conversational keywords – Phrases like “Where can I find a pediatric dentist in [City]?” or “What’s the best cosmetic dentist near [Neighborhood]?” naturally align with how patients ask questions.
- Answering local questions – Add an FAQ section on your website or use Google Business Profile’s Q&A to address queries such as insurance coverage, same-day appointments, or service availability.
- Accurate info on your GBP – Keep your hours, services, and attributes updated so you appear when patients search “dentist open now.”
Pro tip: Dentists who optimize for voice and “near me” searches increase their chances of showing in the 3-Pack—capturing new patients at the very moment they’re ready to call or book an appointment.
Additional Tips:
- Monitor GBP Insights: Regularly check your GBP Insights to track clicks, calls, and direction requests. Use this data to refine your posts, photos, and services to improve patient engagement.
- Leverage Local Engagement: Engage with local social media groups and share community-focused content to build brand awareness and drive local traffic.
- Track Performance: Use tools like BrightLocal or SEMrush to monitor local keyword rankings and competitor performance. And use these insights to adjust your strategy and stay competitive.
- Be patient, but persistent: Getting your dental practice into the Google 3-Pack takes consistent updates and effort, but the results are worth it. That prime visibility can bring more calls, appointment bookings, and new patients, all while building long-term trust in your practice.
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