Front of the office
An exterior photo with signage, plus the entrance and parking area. Parents arriving for a first visit are often already stressed.
The map pack
Your Google Business Profile Is the Front Door Many Families Use First
When someone types "braces near me" or "Invisalign near me", the first thing Google often shows is a map and three nearby practices. A listing with the right category, real photos, accurate hours and a steady flow of reviews gets the call. A listing with the wrong category, an old address or a handful of reviews from years ago does not. This guide covers the details that matter for an orthodontist.
Set-up order
Seven Things to Settle Before You Touch the Photos
Claim and verify each office
Every location gets its own listing under the practice's legal name, as shown on signage. Ownership stays with the practice, never with an agency or an old employee.
Choose the primary category
Orthodontist is the main category where it fits your license and services. Secondary categories reflect other services you truly offer, such as dental clinic or pediatric dentistry.
Describe the practice in plain words
A short description covering the appliances you provide, the age groups you treat, your doctors and the neighborhoods you serve. No keyword lists.
Enter true hours
Include consult hours, early mornings, evenings and Saturdays. Add holiday and school-break changes in advance, since parents rely on them.
List services
Add braces, clear aligners, early treatment, adult treatment and retainers as services, with a sentence each. Only list what you actually perform.
Link the right pages
Point the website button to the location page and the appointment link to the consult scheduler, not to a generic home page.
Turn on messaging only if someone watches it
An unanswered chat is worse than none. Choose the channels your front desk can really cover.
Category and attributes
The Single Setting Orthodontic Practices Most Often Get Wrong
A large number of orthodontic offices are labeled as general dentists on Google, usually because the listing was created years ago by someone who picked the first option. The result is that the profile competes in the wrong set of searches and appears for cleanings and extractions that the practice does not perform, while missing the braces searches it wants. Fixing the primary category is among the cheapest changes you can make. An orthodontist filed as a dentist on Google is competing in the wrong contest.
Secondary categories should be chosen with equal care. If your office also offers pediatric dentistry or cosmetic work, list those, but do not add categories for services you do not provide. Misleading categories can lead to suspensions and, worse, to wasted calls from people expecting a filling or an extraction.
Attributes such as wheelchair access, languages spoken and online appointments help families narrow choices. A parent who needs Spanish-speaking staff will filter for it. Keep each attribute accurate, and update when staffing changes.
Review habits
Reviews From Parents, Teens and Adults: Who Writes What
| Reviewer | What they usually write about | How to ask without pressure | Reply approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent of a young child | How the team handled a nervous child, how clear the plan was, scheduling around school | A text with a direct link sent after the start appointment, from the treatment coordinator | Thank them by first name if they used it, mention the team in general terms, leave out details of treatment |
| Parent of a teen | Convenience, flexibility, how the doctor spoke to their teenager, payment clarity | Ask after a few adjustment visits, when the family has a sense of the office | Short thanks, an invitation to call with questions, no discussion of a particular case |
| Adult patient | Discretion, results they can see, evening hours, how aligners fit into work travel | A message after a mid-treatment visit, when the experience is fresh and positive | Warm and brief, mention the team, avoid health specifics |
| Teen on their own | Friendly staff, music in the office, fun reward systems | Parents often handle this, so ask the parent | Reply to the family, keep it general |
| Finished patient | The whole experience, the retainer plan, the debond day | A message near the end of active treatment | Congratulate them without detailing the case |
Do not offer gifts or discounts in exchange for reviews, and do not filter who receives the request. Google and many state rules treat selective or incentivized review requests as a problem. Check your board's guidance, and never post a reply that confirms someone was a patient.
Photos and posts
Pictures That Do the Reassuring for You
Waiting and treatment areas
Current photos of the reception, the treatment bays and any child-friendly features. Avoid stock photos; Google and families both notice.
The team
Doctors and staff in clear, well-lit photos with permission. A child or teen who sees a friendly person before the visit tends to arrive calmer.
Technology
Digital scanners and imaging can reassure families who dislike impressions. Describe them in plain terms rather than as marketing slogans.
Patient photos
Before-and-after images and photos of children need signed releases, and many states have specific rules. Ask your board before posting them.
Updates and events
Short posts about school-year hours, a community sponsorship or a new team member keep the profile fresh without making claims about results.
Several doctors, several places
Multi-Doctor and Multi-Office Profiles Without the Confusion
Orthodontic groups commonly have doctors who rotate across locations. A family reading the profile for one office may assume their doctor works there every day. When the doctor is only there on Tuesdays, the family drives to an empty chair and writes a review about it. Be explicit on each location page and in the profile description about which providers see patients where.
Google allows individual practitioner listings in some cases, which can give a doctor their own presence. Whether that is wise depends on your state, your setup and Google's current guidelines, which change. We review the current rules before creating anything, and we avoid duplicate listings, which can suppress all of them.
Keep a single source of truth for names, addresses, phone numbers, hours and doctors, and make sure every change reaches the site, the profile and the major directories together. The citations guide covers the directory side.
Call handling
What Happens When the Listing Rings
| Situation | Better handling | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Call arrives during a consult block | A message that promises a callback within a stated time, then keep the promise | Voicemail full or a generic greeting with no names |
| Call arrives after hours | A clear recorded message with a booking link by text, if your system supports it | Silence and an unclear hours listing |
| Caller asks about cost on first contact | Explain that the consult answers it, give the range of options and book the visit | Quoting a number that does not fit the case |
| Caller asks for an Invisalign consult but you are a braces-only office | Say so honestly and, if appropriate, suggest other options | Pretending to offer something you do not and losing trust |
| Caller is a current patient with a broken bracket | Route to the right person fast and give a safe-handling message | Letting a patient wait for days with a poking wire |
Tracking
Seeing Which Calls Came From the Map
A profile that brings calls is only valuable if you can see it. We set up separate call tracking numbers for the listing in a way that keeps the main number as the primary on the profile, so that your public number stays consistent. Form and booking links on the profile carry tags that show up in your reports. Together they let you compare calls from the map, the website and ads.
The monthly report shows profile views, calls, direction requests, messages and reviews. Directions often matter more than people expect, because someone who asks for directions to an orthodontist is almost always on the way to an appointment. If direction requests rise but exams do not, the problem may be on the phone rather than on the map.
Monthly routine
A Light Monthly Routine That Keeps the Listing Healthy
| Task | How often | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to every new review | Within a few days | The front desk or us, with your approval |
| Add two or three fresh photos | Monthly | Your team, from real events and the office |
| Post a short update | Every few weeks | Us, drafted from your news |
| Check hours and special closures | Before each holiday or school break | Practice manager |
| Review questions and answers on the profile | Monthly | Us, with your doctors answering clinical items |
| Search for suspicious edits or duplicate listings | Monthly | Us |
Pricing
How Much Does Local Search for an Orthodontic Practice Cost?
Listing upkeep, review replies and directory work are folded into the Organic Growth tiers below. Billing is month to month and signup costs nothing.
Questions
Map and Listing Questions We Hear From Doctors
How much does local search for an orthodontic office cost?
Profile upkeep, review handling and directory cleanup are built into each Organic Growth tier: Silver is $1,495, Gold $2,495 and Platinum $3,495 a month. If you only want landing pages, RankGuarantee™ is $495 a month. There is no setup charge and no term.
Can we show before-and-after photos on the profile?
Only if your state allows it and you hold written releases. Rules about photos, minors and testimonials vary, so confirm with your board. Many offices use photos of the space and team and keep results galleries on their own site under their own consent process.
Our listing says Dentist, not Orthodontist. Is that a problem?
It can be. The primary category helps Google decide which searches to show you for. If your license and services fit, changing it to Orthodontist is usually one of the first fixes. Confirm any title claims with your board.
Should each doctor have a separate listing?
Sometimes, but not always. It depends on your state, how the practice is set up and Google's current rules. We check the guidelines before creating a listing, because duplicates can hurt the main profile.
A competitor has far more reviews. Can we catch up?
Often you can narrow the gap by asking every happy family consistently, replying to each review and adding recent ones steadily. Volume matters, but so do recency and detail. We cannot promise a position, but a steady routine helps.
What if someone leaves a false or unfair review?
Reply politely without confirming they are a patient, and report it to Google if it breaks their rules. Do not argue in public. A calm, short reply helps future parents more than the review hurts.
Do reviews affect how AI tools describe us?
They can. Review text is one of the sources summaries draw from, so detailed, honest reviews help. See the AI search guide for what else shapes those answers.
Explore more
Other Pieces of a Consult-Filling Plan
Start Here
- SEO for OrthodontistsHow an orthodontist earns organic visibility for braces, aligner, adult and early-treatment searches without thin town pages.
- Orthodontic Marketing GuideThe complete picture for an orthodontist: channels, patient types, mistakes, costs, a working calendar and the first ninety days.
- Orthodontic Practice MarketingMarketing for braces and aligner practices: search, Google Maps, ads, AI answers and a website built to turn visitors into booked consults.
Get Found in Search
- Google Maps for Orthodontists (you are here)How to set up and run the Google Business Profile for an orthodontist, from category choice to multi-doctor and multi-office reviews.
- AI Search for OrthodontistsHow families ask AI tools about braces and aligners, and how an orthodontist makes its facts clear enough to be described correctly.
- Links and Citations for OrthodontistsCitations, local links and professional listings that fit an orthodontist, plus the shortcuts that put a listing at risk.
Paid Advertising
- Paid Ads for OrthodontistsA map of paid channels for an orthodontist: Google, local ad formats, Bing, Meta and a small test of ChatGPT ads, in the order we would try them.
- Google Ads for OrthodontistsAccount structure, keywords, negatives, scheduling and tracking for Google search ads that book consults at an orthodontist.
- Meta Ads for OrthodontistsHow an orthodontist can use Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) for parents and adults, with seasonal timing and platform limits explained.
Website and Content
- Website Design for OrthodontistsWhat an orthodontic practice website should include: appliance pages, doctor profiles, consult booking, financing information and privacy-aware forms.
- Content for OrthodontistsTopics, formats and approval steps for patient-education content that helps families choose an orthodontist.
Get in Touch
Is Your Map Listing Sending Calls to the Right Office?
Paste us the link to your Google profile for each location. We will mark what is wrong or missing and quote a flat monthly local plan. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com, and our CEO sits in on the profile review.