Case study: Bollington Dental Practice, new private patients up 124%
Bollington Dental Practice is the practice we co-own, and the first market Practice Radar ever measured. Since June 2026 its new private patients have more than doubled, its Google clicks have risen more than tenfold and it has gone from ninth to first in its town. Here are the figures, where each comes from, and what they do and do not prove.
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Bollington Dental Practice is an independent practice in Cheshire that my fiancée Ellie and I co-own. It is also the first market Practice Radar ever measured, which makes it the one practice where we can show every figure and its source. The work started in June 2026. The practice did the work, and Practice Radar ranked what to do next.
The results
| Measure | Before | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New private patients a month | 8 (January 2023 to May 2026) | 19 (June to September 2026), up 124% | The practice's own records |
| Clicks a day from Google search | 7.2 (May 2026) | 77.7 (seven days to 10 October) | Google Search Console |
| Average position in Google | 14.7 (May 2026) | 7.3 (seven days to 10 October) | Google Search Console |
| Page-one keywords | 6 (May 2026) | 194 (September 2026) | Practice Radar's read of public rankings |
| Place among the town's practices, on UK-wide search value | 9th of 14 (May 2026) | 1st of 18 (September 2026) | Practice Radar's read of public rankings |
| Google reviews | 87 (March 2026) | 254 (1 October 2026) | Google, read through DataForSEO |
The new-patient figure is the one that pays the bills. Each new private patient is one private new-patient examination invoiced in the practice's records. Over the 41 months before June 2026 the practice averaged 8.5 a month, and no single month went above 16. From June to September 2026 it averaged 19. Comparing the same four months a year earlier, June to September 2025 averaged 12.75, so even on that stricter comparison the rise is about half again. The monthly figures are free to download.
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Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
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What changed
Several things started in the same few months:
- Local pages. New pages for the searches people nearby actually make, such as emergency appointments and the hygienist in Macclesfield, launched in July. Within about a month "emergency dentist macclesfield" moved from around position 45 to around 11.
- Advice articles. A set of plain-English guides on treatment costs and common questions, from late July. These brought most of the extra clicks, mainly from people across the country rather than locally.
- Reviews. Asking every patient for a review and replying to every one. The practice went from 87 Google reviews in March to 254 on 1 October.
- A faster website. A move to a UK host in August cut the server's response time from about 337 milliseconds to about 68.
- Google Ads. A small local campaign, started in late June.
- Changes applied by Practice Radar. From late September, approved changes such as structured data and image descriptions went onto the practice's website through the Practice Radar Connector.
What we can and cannot claim
We say "since", not "because", for good reasons.
- It is one practice. Your town, your competitors and your starting point will differ.
- Several things changed at once, including the Google Ads, so no single change can be credited with the result. The rise in new patients began in June, before most of the website work went live.
- The clicks are not all patients. Most of the growth in clicks came from the advice articles, read by people all over the country. The local searches improved more slowly, which is normal: local positions tend to move over months, not days.
- The patient count is a floor. New patients who start with an emergency appointment or a treatment consultation are not counted, and the count is by invoice date.
To see the same measures for your own practice, run the free audit, or see what Practice Radar measures.
What we can say is that the practice set out to win more of the patients searching near it, used Practice Radar to decide what to do and in what order, and its new private patients more than doubled in the months that followed.
Frequently asked questions
How many new private patients did the practice gain?
New private patients went from an average of 8.5 a month between January 2023 and May 2026 to 19 a month from June to September 2026, a rise of 124%, or about ten more a month. Against the same four months of 2025 the rise is about half.
How long did it take to see results?
New local pages moved their search terms within about a month. Google clicks rose sharply from August. New private patients rose from June, alongside a new Google Ads campaign.
Did Practice Radar do all of this?
No. The practice did the work, and Practice Radar measured the market and ranked what to do next. From late September it also applied approved changes to the practice's website directly. We say the results happened since the work started, not because of any one change.
Where do the figures come from?
New private patients come from the practice's own records in EXACT, clicks and positions from Google Search Console, rankings and search value from Practice Radar's own reading of public Google results, and reviews from Google. The monthly patient figures can be downloaded as a CSV.
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Run on our own practice first: ninth of the 14 practices measured in its town in May, first of 18 in September, on UK-wide search value. Page-one keywords: 6 in May, 194 in September.
Thirty days free. No card, and nothing starts automatically when it ends.