Chris (00:07.714)
Hey everyone, this is Chris with the No BS Dental Growth Podcast, the place where we skip the fluffy marketing advice and get straight to what actually grows a dental practice in the real world. Today, I’m tackling a topic most dentists think they understand, but almost nobody is actually prepared for. And that’s this, why SEO, real SEO matters more today than it ever has.
and why ignoring it right now is one of the most expensive mistakes a dental practice can make heading into the next few years. This isn’t going to be a nerdy episode about keywords or meta tags or any of that technical junk. Dentists don’t need that. This is about how patients are searching today, how that’s changing very fast and why your practice either becomes visible everywhere
or slowly disappears.
Chris (01:50.52)
Hey everyone, this is Chris with the No BS Dental Growth Podcast. The place where we skip the fluffy marketing advice and get straight to what actually grows a dental practice in the real world. Today I’m tackling a topic most dentists think they understand, but almost nobody is prepared for. And that’s this, why SEO, real SEO, matters more today than it ever has. And why ignoring it now is one of the most expensive mistakes a dental practice can make.
heading into the next few years. This isn’t going to be a nerdy episode about keywords or meta tags or any of that technical joint. Dentists don’t need that. This is about how patients are searching today, how they’re finding a dentist, how that’s changing fast, and why your practice either becomes visible everywhere or slowly disappears. So let’s get into it. Here’s the thing most dentists don’t hear. SEO is not an old school mark.
marketing tactic. It’s not outdated. It’s not just organic rankings anymore. In fact, SEO is becoming the foundation of how new patients find you, not just on Google, but across AI search platforms, mapping systems, social search, and the new generation of tools people rely on when they want answers fast. The search landscape is changing so quickly.
that most agencies are already behind. And the practices that get ahead of this are gonna dominate their markets for years to come. So let’s break down what’s going on and what it means for you. Let’s start with the big shift that’s happening. For the past 15 years, when we said SEO, everyone meant ranking on Google. You optimized your website, you built some citations, you published some boilerplate content.
and you hoped Google pushed you up the list. But in the last 18 to 24 months, everything has changed. Patients aren’t just using Google anymore. They’re using tools like Google Maps, Google Organic, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Voice Assistance, and even social platforms as search engines. People are now saying things like, hey, ChatGPT, what’s the best dentist near me? Or,
Chris (04:15.768)
Who should I go to for implants and Boise? This is the biggest shift in consumer behavior really since the smartphone. And most dental practices have no idea it’s even happening. AI platforms are becoming search engines and these systems make decisions based on trust, authority, reviews, content depth, expertise, consistency, and even more. That is modern SEO. Not keywords, not citations,
not spammy blogs. So why does SEO really matter more today, not less? Because for the first time in history, the search is happening in multiple places at once. Google Maps is still the king. It drives the highest quality leads of anything that we track. Organic Google traffic is right behind it. But now AI platforms are starting to recommend local businesses as well. And here’s the important part.
AI uses your online footprint to decide whether you’re worth recommending. It looks at your reputation, your reviews, your website authority, your expertise, your content, your consistency. If your SEO foundation is weak, AI engines won’t trust you either. And if AI doesn’t trust you, you don’t get recommended. This is why SEO matters more today. It has expanded from search engine optimization to what we now call
search everywhere optimization. If your practice isn’t optimized for all these places, you simply won’t show up. Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Most agencies are still selling SEO from 2014. They’re selling keyword reports, citation packages, automated blog posts, basic page refreshes on your website, monthly reports, reports full of meaningless data.
That stuff doesn’t move the needle anymore. It doesn’t build trust with Google. It doesn’t build trust with AI. And it doesn’t show real world expertise. And that’s why so many dentists get burned. They’re paying for SEO, but they’re not paying for authority building. They’re not paying for anything that actually moves a ranking. Most agencies are doing the bare minimum because they’re scaled too wide. They’re too thin and they’re way too automated.
Chris (06:41.922)
That’s why kickstart exists. To do what the big guys don’t have the time or flexibility to do. But let’s get back to what actually matters for you. Modern SEO, the kind that actually gets results, looks nothing like SEO from a few years ago. And here’s what that actually, and here’s why that matters today. Number one, real content you need that showcases expertise. AI engines want to see proof. Proof you know what you’re talking about.
Proof you’ve done the work. Proof you’re legitimate authority. That means case studies, before and after photos, videos of the doctor, actual explanations of the procedures, locally relevant content, not AI spam, no filler material. Number two, Google Maps mastery. This is huge. This is where most high value patients come from. We’re talking consistent reviews, real photos, posts, Q &A section interaction.
service level optimization, local authority signals, category optimization. Maps tell Google and AI this practice is legit. Number three, AI search optimization. This is the future. Patients are asking AI for dentist recommendations. They’re asking AI questions about pain, cost, alternatives, and solutions. And if your content doesn’t answer those questions,
AI has nothing to work with. So you need structured content, clear explanations, authority building elements, answers to real patient intent. This is where practices will win the next generation of search. Number four, a fast, clean, well-built website. Speed matters. User experience matters. Clear calls to action matter. Schema markup matters. Strong internal architecture matters. Totally.
And in the AI era, websites aren’t becoming credibility signals, not just landing, they’re becoming credibility signals, not just landing pages. So let’s talk about the big payoff here. When you get SEO right, modern SEO that is,
Chris (09:03.82)
Your cost per new patient goes down. Your flow of high quality cases goes up. Your brand becomes the obvious choice in the area. You’re not competing on coupon deals or cheap whitening offers. Your paid ads perform better because your organic presence reinforces them. Your lead follow-up converts at a higher rate. Your reviews grow naturally because patient volume increases. SEO is the long-term engine
that pays dividends for years. Paid ads are important. Don’t get me wrong. That’ll be my next blog, my next podcast, especially early on. But SEO is what reduces your paid dependency over time. It’s an asset. It’s more than just your credit card, if that makes sense. The practices that invest in modern SEO become the kings and queens of their markets. And your competitors, they’re stuck buying clicks forever.
Here’s the warning I want dentists to hear. AI search systems are training themselves right now. They’re building their understanding for your local market. They’re attaching trust sources to every practice. And the practices that aren’t fully authority, aren’t building authority, I should say, aren’t going to get recommended. They’ll be invisible. Not because they’re bad dentists, but because the new search engines don’t have enough credible data to work with.
There’s a window happening right now, a window where building authority actually matters, a window where your practice can still cement itself as the go-to choice in your area. But that window will close and it will be much harder later. So here’s the bottom line. SEO has never been more important, not because of the old reasons, but because search has expanded into places that most dentists aren’t even thinking about yet.
If your practice wants to win, not just now, but in the next five, 10, 15 years, you have to think bigger than rank number one on Google. You have to think visibility everywhere, authority everywhere, trust everywhere. That’s what search engine optimization is. That’s the future of digital marketing for dentists. And that’s what we’re focusing on every single day here at Kickstart. So if you want to see how your practice is currently showing up,
Chris (11:29.418)
across Google Maps, Chat Sheet, BT, AI platforms and everything else, reach out. I’ll run a quick audit and show you exactly where the holes are and how to fix them. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you on the next episode.
