How do I attract new patients to my dental practice?

You attract new patients to your dental practice by making the practice easy to find, giving people reasons to trust you before the first visit and making booking quick. Patients who look you up online before they ring should find a clear website, honest reviews and practice listings that are up to date, so start with your website. Then look after the patients you have, because they bring in the next ones.

What your practice website needs to show

Your website is where people decide whether to book. Good dentist website design answers their first questions straight away, on a phone as well as a computer:

• List your treatments, from check-ups and hygiene appointments to cosmetic work, with a short page for each main one.
• Say which patients you take, such as NHS or private patients, children and new patients, and how your fees work.
• Put your phone number and your booking button where people see them first.
• Give your address, directions and opening hours, and mention parking if you have it.
• Show real photos of the team and the treatment rooms, so nervous patients know what to expect before they arrive.

Keep the navigation short, with a few clear menu items, and make sure your pages load quickly. A mobile-optimised design fits each page to the screen, so patients can read it and book from their phone.

What the GDC asks a practice website to show

The GDC sets out how dental professionals advertise, and that includes your website. If you're responsible for a practice website, the GDC guidance on advertising asks you to display:

• the name and address of the place where you provide dental care
• your contact details, including an email address and a phone number
• the GDC's address and contact details, or a link to the GDC website
• your complaints procedure, and who patients can contact if they're not happy with your reply: the NHS body for NHS treatment, or the Dental Complaints Service for private treatment
• the date the website was last updated

For every dental professional it names, the site also needs to give their professional qualification, the country it comes from and their GDC registration number. The guidance asks you to make clear whether the practice is NHS, mixed or wholly private. It also asks you to update the site regularly, so it shows the team and the services you offer now.

Try our Aida AI Website Builder free for 14 days, with no credit card required. Describe your practice in a short chat, and Aida creates a complete website with text and images for you to check. Add the GDC details above yourself, and edit anything whenever your team or opening hours change.

Help local patients find your practice

Once your website is in order, help people nearby find it. Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps your website show up when someone nearby searches for what you offer, for example "dentist in Liverpool". The basics of local SEO are simple: give each main treatment its own page, name the area you serve in your text and keep the site up to date. Use the words patients search for in your page titles and headings. If you'd rather hand the work over, our SEO services cover it: we optimise your website and your Google Business Profile for local searches.

Add your practice website to your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile shows your practice in Google Search and Maps, with your address, opening hours, contact details, photos and reviews. To appear there, you first add or claim your practice on Google Business Profile, then verify the profile. Google's help page on adding and claiming your Business Profile explains each step. Once the profile is verified, add your practice website to it with its full web address, starting with https://. In some business categories, you might also be able to add a link for appointments. Update the details before bank holidays and add new photos now and then.

Keep your NHS website profile up to date

If you see NHS patients in England, your practice also has a profile on the NHS website. Every quarter, the practice has to confirm that everything on that profile is still correct. That covers whether you're accepting new NHS patients, your contact details, opening times, services and facilities. The quarterly deadlines are 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March. The NHS Business Services Authority recommends confirming at least a week before each deadline. If you haven't used the NHS Profile Manager yet, register for it first. You confirm your profile in the NHS Profile Manager, where you can also respond to reviews.

Ask for reviews and answer them well

Reviews from other patients work like a recommendation from a friend. On Google, they appear with your Business Profile in Search and Maps, right where a new patient finds you. Ask at the right moment, for example straight after a good appointment. Google lets you create a link or a QR code that opens your review form. You can put the code on the reception desk or add the link to a thank-you email after the appointment. Don't offer anything in return, because Google counts a discount or a free treatment in exchange for a review as fake engagement, and it's not allowed.

Reply to reviews in a short, polite and professional way, and make a point of answering critical ones. Google doesn't expect you to thank every reviewer in public, so reply to praise when you have something to add. In a public reply, never share a reviewer's private information or mention their treatment. If a reply needs those details, ask the patient to get in touch by phone or email.

You can also quote customer reviews on your website, as long as each one is genuine and you keep proof of it and the patient's contact details. Ask the patient's permission before you use their words or their first name.

Post useful content on social media and your blog

Social media marketing lets patients get to know your practice before they visit. Short videos of the team and a look at a new treatment room show people who they'll meet. Simple tips on caring for teeth give them a reason to keep following you.

Before-and-after photos need more care, and you need the patient's permission first. The GDC's guidance also covers treatment you promote on marketing or social networking websites. It asks you to make clear that the treatment may not be appropriate for every patient and depends on an assessment.

A blog on your website can answer the questions patients already ask at reception. That could be what to do about toothache or what happens at a hygiene appointment. Each article gives someone searching for that answer another way to find you. Try to post short, useful pieces on a regular basis rather than an occasional long one. If you haven't got a blog yet, here's how to start a blog.

Show what makes your practice different

If you're wondering how to get more private dental patients, start by being clear about what your practice does best. Think about what your practice really stands for, not only what it offers. That could be calm care for nervous patients, treatment for children, or cosmetic work such as whitening. Say it on your website, in your online listings and when your team talks to patients, so all your dental marketing tells the same story.

Choose your words with care. Under the GDC's guidance, only a dentist on a GDC specialist list can use the title "Specialist" or describe themselves as a specialist in a treatment. If you're not on a specialist list, the GDC's guidance lets you use "special interest in", "experienced in" or "practice limited to" instead. The guidance also asks you to back up claims with facts and to avoid promising results you can't be sure of.

Landing pages help you reach one group at a time. A landing page is a page of your website written for one audience, such as parents looking for a family dentist. It gives them the information and the booking button they need. Other groups could be working people or older patients. You can send people to a landing page from an advert. With Google Ads, you can target ads to people in the area where you do business, so your ads reach patients near your practice. Ads cost money on top of the other steps above, so start with a small budget and count the bookings they bring before you spend more.

Make booking easy and visits pleasant

Once people have found you, make it easy for them to book. Let patients choose between booking by phone, by email or online. With online appointment booking on your website, patients book a time in a few clicks, without waiting for reception to pick up the phone. With our Aida AI Website Builder, online booking comes with the Booking and Commerce plans. It sends patients an automatic confirmation by email, so they know you've got their booking and when they're due.

Our Booking plan takes up to 25 appointments a month. That suits a practice that only takes a few bookings online, such as new-patient consultations. Of the Booking and Commerce plans, only Commerce has unlimited appointment bookings, so choose it if patients book their check-ups and hygiene appointments online too. Online booking runs on your website, so before you choose a plan, ask your practice management software provider how online bookings reach your appointment diary.

The visit itself decides whether patients come back and recommend you. Give nervous patients a friendly welcome, short waits and a clear explanation of each treatment, and take their fears seriously. A quick call after a major treatment shows you care. A reminder by text or email when a check-up is due brings patients back. Ask every new patient how they heard about you, so you can see which of these steps brings people in.

Your profiles, reviews, posts and ads all send patients to your website. Start by building your practice website, then work through the steps above one at a time. Then add the website to your Google Business Profile yourself.