Google Business Profile categories for dentists
Your primary category is one of the few settings Google says directly affects local ranking. For a dental practice the choice is usually simple. The additional categories, and the specialist-sounding ones, are where practices go wrong.
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Google Business Profile categories tell Google what kind of business you are, and Google says they affect your local ranking. For most UK dental practices the primary category should be Dentist or Dental clinic, with a small number of additional categories for services you genuinely offer, such as Cosmetic dentist or Emergency dental service. Specialist categories such as Orthodontist or Periodontist need more care, because the GDC restricts titles that imply specialist status.
What Google says categories do
Google's help page on how to manage your business category is direct: "The categories that you select affect your local ranking on Google." It gives the example of a pizza restaurant that may then appear for searches such as restaurants, Italian restaurants or pizza.
The main points from Google's guidance:
- One primary category that best describes your business, chosen from Google's list. You cannot create your own.
- Up to nine additional categories. Google's bulk upload guidance says you can add up to nine additional categories, and that they are optional.
- Be specific. Choose the most specific category that represents your main business. If you choose a specific one, Google says it implicitly includes more general categories behind the scenes.
- Use as few as possible. Google's guidelines for representing your business say to use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business, and not to use categories solely as keywords.
- "Is a", not "has a". Google says categories should complete the statement "This business IS a", not "this business HAS a".
Google also says it can detect category information from your website and from mentions of your business across the web. So your categories, your website and your listings elsewhere should all describe the same practice.
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Dental categories on UK Google listings
The quickest way to see your options is to look at what is already in use. These categories appear on UK dental listings in Google Maps today, with notes on when each fits.
| Category | Fits when | Caution |
|---|---|---|
| Dentist | A general practice, NHS, private or mixed | The natural primary category for most practices |
| Dental clinic | A practice or clinic, often with several clinicians | An alternative primary. Pick one of Dentist or Dental clinic as primary |
| Cosmetic dentist | You offer cosmetic treatments such as whitening, bonding or veneers | Usually an additional category, not the primary, unless cosmetic work is the whole business |
| Emergency dental service | You genuinely offer urgent appointments | Do not confuse it with Emergency department, which is a hospital category |
| Dental implants provider | You place implants at the practice | Only if implant treatment is actually provided there |
| Dental hygienist | Hygienist appointments are a distinct service | Additional only |
| Teeth whitening service | Whitening is offered | Often redundant if you already use Cosmetic dentist |
| Denture Care Centre | Denture services are a real part of what you do | Additional only |
| Orthodontist, Periodontist, Endodontist, Prosthodontist, Paediatric Dentist, Oral surgeon, Dental implants periodontist | A dentist on the matching GDC specialist list works at the practice | See the GDC titles rule below |
Spelling and capitalisation follow what Google shows on UK listings. When you type into the category box, Google suggests matching categories from its list, so type "dent" and see what appears for your account.
The GDC titles rule and specialist categories
This is the dental-specific point most category guides miss. The GDC's guidance on advertising says a dentist who is not on a GDC specialist list must not use titles that may imply specialist status, "such as Orthodontist, Periodontist, Endodontist etc." Dentists who are not on a list may say they have a "special interest in", are "experienced in" or have a "practice limited to" a treatment.
A Google category is shown on your profile next to your name, so treat a specialist-sounding category as a title. If nobody at the practice is on the relevant GDC specialist list, choosing Orthodontist or Periodontist risks implying a status you do not have. The GDC's specialties include orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, paediatric dentistry and oral surgery, so categories named after those carry the same risk. The GDC also says advertising must be accurate and not misleading, and that advertising with the potential to mislead may lead to a fitness to practise investigation.
If you offer orthodontic treatment through a general dentist, describe it on your website and in your services list instead, using wording the GDC allows.
How do I change the primary category on Google My Business?
Google My Business is now Google Business Profile. Google's steps to add or edit categories are:
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile.
- Next to Business category, select Edit.
- In the Primary category box, type a category and choose one from the list that appears.
- To add another, select Add another category, type, and choose from the list.
- To remove an additional category, select Remove next to it.
- Select Save.
Google warns that if you add or edit a category, you might be asked to verify your business again. Do not change categories the week before a busy period, and do not change several things at once if you want to know what made a difference.
How to choose the right business category
- Start with what the practice is. For a general practice, that is Dentist or Dental clinic. Pick one as primary.
- Look at who holds the map in your town. Search "dentist" plus your town on a phone. Each listing shows its primary category under the name. If every practice holding a place uses Dentist, there is no reason to try something unusual.
- Add only services that are a real part of the business. A practice that offers implants every week can justify Dental implants provider. One that refers implant cases elsewhere cannot.
- Check each one against the GDC titles rule.
- Keep it short. Google says to use as few categories as possible. Three or four well-chosen ones beat nine loose ones.
Categories are not services
Your Business Profile also has a services list, where you can name individual treatments. That is the place for composite bonding, root canal treatment or children's dentistry, not the category list. Google's own example is a grocery shop with a bakery and deli: the primary is Grocery shop, with Bakery and Deli as additional categories, not one category per product.
Common category mistakes for dental practices
- Using a category as a keyword, such as adding Cosmetic dentist to a practice that does no cosmetic work because the term gets searched. Google says not to use categories solely as keywords.
- Adding a business you contain or sit next to. Google says not to use categories that belong to other businesses at or near your location. If a separately run clinic shares your building, it should have its own profile.
- Mixing up emergency categories. Emergency dental service is the dental one.
- Inconsistent categories across a group. Google says all locations of a business must share the one category that best represents it, if they provide the same service.
- Specialist categories without a specialist, as above.
Individual dentist profiles
Google allows individual practitioners, including dentists, to have their own Business Profile if they are public-facing and can be contacted at the verified location during stated hours. Where several practitioners work at one location, Google says the practice should have its own profile, separate from each practitioner's, and the practitioner's profile title should include only their name. The same category care applies to those profiles, especially if a dentist is listed with a specialist-sounding category.
How do I get my Google Business Profile to rank higher?
Categories are one input. Google's guide to improving your local ranking says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity (the section explaining it is still headed prominence: how well known a business is), and recommends verifying your business, keeping your information complete and accurate, responding to reviews and adding photos. It says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
Competition is closer than most owners expect. Our study of 1,489 UK places found that the median place has five practices ranking for its own name. And because distance is one of the three factors, the map looks different from different streets. Google Maps visibility measured by people, not points explains how to see that, and local SEO for dentists covers the rest of the work.
See which searches your rivals win
Practice Radar maps your market with positions re-checked every week, and on Growth shows the searches rivals win that you do not, so you can tell whether your categories, your pages or your reviews are the gap.
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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