South London Dental Clinic Increases Patient Calls by 78%

How Remedo Helped a South London Dental Clinic Increase Patient Calls by 78%

Remedo rebuilt Mint Dental Clinic's search foundations from the ground up — overhauling a neglected Google Business Profile, restructuring treatment pages around the searches patients actually make, and tightening local signals across Elephant and Castle, South Bank, and the wider SE1 catchment.

The Client's Background

Located in Elephant and Castle, South London, this private dental practice provides a comprehensive range of general, cosmetic, and restorative dental treatments, helping patients achieve healthier, more confident smiles through modern, patient-centred care.

Before engaging with Remedo, the practice wasn't ranking where it should have been for several high-value local treatment searches. Several high-value local treatment searches were being comfortably dominated by nearby competitors. At the same time, the practice's Google Business Profile remained underoptimised, limiting its visibility across Google Maps and local search. As a result, prospective patients in the local area found it far more difficult to discover the practice when searching for the treatments it offered.

The client's mandate was clear: secure above-the-fold visibility across Google Search and Google Maps, dominate the top three positions in Google's Local Pack—ideally Position 1—for every core treatment, and ultimately generate more enquiries from patients actively searching for dental care in the local area.

And we delivered. Within the campaign, the practice achieved a 78% increase in patient calls, secured Page 1 rankings for multiple high-intent local treatment keywords, and significantly strengthened its visibility across Google Search and Google Maps. Below, we'll show exactly how we achieved these results and the Local SEO strategy behind them.

The Challenges

Mint Dental Clinic had built a genuinely strong reputation among its local patients, but several Local SEO shortcomings were holding it back from reaching new ones through Google Search and Google Maps.

A Fiercely Competitive Local Market

Elephant and Castle is home to a considerable number of established NHS and private dental practices, many of which have been investing in Local SEO for years. Going up against well-established Google Business Profiles with strong review histories and existing local authority made it genuinely difficult to break into the top positions for the treatment searches that mattered most.

Poor Visibility on High-Intent Searches

Commercially valuable searches such as "dentist Elephant and Castle", "Invisalign Elephant and Castle," and "dental implants Elephant and Castle" simply weren't delivering the visibility the practice should have expected. Patients actively looking for treatment were finding nearby competitors before they ever came across Mint Dental.

An Under-Optimised Google Business Profile

The profile was active, but it wasn't being used anywhere near its full potential. Service descriptions, treatment categories, photos, and regular updates were all being neglected. As a result, each of these became a missed opportunity to strengthen local relevance and improve the practice's visibility within Google's Local Pack.

Local Competitors Pulling Further Ahead

Nearby practices were steadily building their own local presence through consistent Google Maps activity, a growing volume of patient reviews, and regular profile updates. Without a structured Local SEO strategy of its own, the gap between Mint Dental and its competitors was only going to widen.

Limited Local Search Authority

Patients trusted the clinic — that much was clear from its reputation on the ground — but that trust wasn't translating into online authority. Clinical excellence alone wasn't enough to compete in a market this dense; the website and Google Business Profile needed proper local authority signals behind them to convert that reputation into rankings, and rankings into enquiries.

The Strategy in Action

Rather than making a handful of isolated tweaks, we built a proper Local SEO strategy around a single objective: to ensure Mint Dental Clinic appeared wherever prospective patients were searching for dental treatment across Elephant and Castle and the surrounding areas. Every piece of work below was designed to support that same goal: stronger local relevance, better visibility across Google Maps, and more enquiries reaching the clinic.

Google Business Profile Optimisation

We started with a full overhaul of the clinic's Google Business Profile. It was already live and active, but it simply wasn't sending Google enough local relevance signals to compete for the treatment searches that matter most commercially.

We went through the profile section by section and rebuilt it to properly reflect the practice's services, location, and expertise.

• A complete refresh of business information, service categories, and treatment descriptions.
• Service descriptions are rewritten around high intent search terms such as Dentist in Elephant and Castle, Invisalign, Dental Implants, Cosmetic Dentist, Composite Bonding, Teeth Whitening, and Smile Makeovers.
• Expanded business information and service area coverage to strengthen relevance across the wider catchment.
• A regular flow of clinic and treatment photography to keep the profile active and trustworthy.
• Automated review responses, ensuring every patient review received a timely and personalised reply.

Local Keyword Optimisation

With the profile in proper shape, we turned our attention to the searches that actually generate bookings. Rather than targeting broad, generic dental terms, we focused on commercially valuable treatment and location-based searches with genuine intent behind them.

The campaign targeted keywords including:

• Dentist in Elephant and Castle
• Dentist Near Me
• Invisalign
• Cosmetic Dentist
• Dental Implants
• Veneers
• Teeth Whitening
• Composite Bonding
• Smile Makeovers
• Dental Hygienist

We also expanded our targeting beyond Elephant and Castle, building visibility across Blackfriars, Waterloo, SE1, and SE17. This gave the clinic a fair crack at reaching a wider pool of nearby patients who wouldn't necessarily search for Elephant and Castle by name.

Content and Google Business Profile Engagement

Google rewards businesses that stay active, so we ran an ongoing content programme throughout the campaign rather than treating the profile as a one-off listing.

Every month, this included:

• 8 Google Business Profile posts, each built around a priority treatment, a seasonal topic, or a question patients regularly ask.

• 2 Google Business Profile Q&A updates are designed to answer common patient queries before they even need to ask them.

We also repurposed educational content already published on the clinic's website and shared it through the Google Business Profile. This small change achieved two things at once. It gave Google fresh local content to crawl while strengthening the connection between the website and the profile.

Local Authority and Citation Building

A well-optimised Google Business Profile only gets you so far. Google also checks how consistently a business is represented across the rest of the web. To strengthen those local authority signals, we:

• Built more than 50 new business listings across trusted UK business and healthcare directories.
• Audited existing citations and corrected inconsistent business information.
• Improved NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) consistency across every major listing.
• Expanded the clinic's presence across relevant local platforms to reinforce both trust and geographical relevance.

Competitor Analysis and Ongoing Optimisation

Local SEO isn't a project you finish. It's one you continue refining over time.

Throughout the campaign, we kept a close eye on competing practices across South London to identify new ranking opportunities and close keyword gaps before competitors had the chance to strengthen their position.

In practice, this meant:

• Identifying treatment keywords and content opportunities the clinic had not yet targeted.
• Refining profile categories and business information in line with changes to Google's local algorithm.
• Adding clearer calls to action, including Call Now, within Google Business Profile updates to turn visibility into direct enquiries.
• Reviewing rankings and profile performance every month, then adjusting the strategy accordingly rather than sticking rigidly to the original plan.

Review Strategy and Local Trust Signals

Patient reviews remain one of Google's strongest local ranking signals, so alongside the technical and profile improvements, we placed real focus on building a steady and genuine flow of reviews.

This included:

• Encouraging happy patients to leave a Google review shortly after treatment, while the experience was still fresh.
• Gently encourages patients to mention specific treatments, such as Dental Implants, Invisalign, and Cosmetic Dentistry, naturally within their reviews whenever appropriate.
• Encouraging photo reviews, which do a great deal to strengthen local credibility.
• Responding promptly to every review with personalised replies rather than generic templates.

The clinic's profile currently holds a strong 4.8-star rating, and the review strategy continues to focus on closing that final gap to 5.0, further strengthening patient trust while reinforcing every other part of the Local SEO strategy.

Results After 3 Months

Local SEO Growth

• 78.5% increase in patient calls, growing from 65 to 116, generating significantly more enquiries through Google Business Profile.
• 13.9% increase in Google Business Profile views, rising from 2,393 to 2,726, helping more local patients discover the practice.
• 6.8% increase in Google searches, increasing from 749 to 800, reflecting stronger visibility across Google Search and Google Maps.
• Consistently high patient engagement, with 568 Google Business Profile actions recorded at the campaign peak and over 450 actions every month throughout the reporting period.
• Improved Page 1 visibility for high-intent local searches, including Dentist in Elephant and Castle, Invisalign, Dental Implants, Cosmetic Dentist, Teeth Whitening, Veneers, Composite Bonding, and Smile Makeovers.

Campaign Performance

• Google Business Profile visibility continued to improve through ongoing optimisation and fresh content.
• Regular profile updates, Q&A posts and clinic photography helped increase patient engagement.
• Local keyword optimisation and citation improvements strengthened Google Maps visibility.
• Monthly tracking and continuous refinements kept rankings, visibility and patient enquiries moving in the right direction.
  

Looking to attract and convert more patients online?

Remedo builds ongoing organic and local SEO campaigns for dental and healthcare practices — the kind that don't just chase rankings, but turn nearby search intent into booked appointments. Contact us today!