NAP consistency for dental practices: a practical guide
Your practice name, address and phone number appear in dozens of places you did not write. Google reads many of them, and can change your profile based on what it finds. Here is how to get them all saying the same thing.
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NAP consistency means your practice's name, address and phone number are written the same way everywhere they appear online: your Google Business Profile, your website, your NHS website profile, Facebook, Bing, Apple Maps and the directories that list dentists. For a dental practice it matters for a practical reason before any ranking one. Google builds your profile partly from what other sources say about you, and it can update your listing to match them.
What does NAP stand for?
NAP stands for name, address and phone number. In marketing and local SEO it refers to the core details that identify a business at a location. Many people add a W for website, and for a dental practice your opening hours belong on the same list, because wrong hours send patients to a locked door.
Consistent NAP does not mean identical punctuation down to the last comma. It means a patient, or Google, would never be in doubt that two listings describe the same practice at the same place with the same number.
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Why NAP consistency matters for a dental practice
Google builds your profile from more than you
Google explains that information in Business Profiles is compiled from a variety of sources: publicly available information such as your official website, licensed data from third parties, users who contribute facts such as addresses and phone numbers, and business owners. Your profile is not only what you typed into it.
Google's page on Google updates to your Business Profile spells out what happens next. If sources report that your information is incorrect or outdated, Google may update your profile, and changed information shows in blue in the profile editor. When users suggest edits, you may be notified and have four days to accept or reject them. If you do not respond, Google may publish the update automatically if it is supported by other publicly available information, such as your business website.
So an old phone number on your own website, or an out-of-date address on a directory, is not just untidy. It is evidence Google may use to change your listing.
Google links accurate information to showing up
Google's guide to improving your local ranking says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results, and that if your information is not accurate your profile might not show for relevant searches. Google does not publish a rule about matching every directory listing. What it does say is that accuracy matters, and that it reads your website and other sources to judge it.
The GDC and your NHS contract
Two dental rules make NAP a compliance matter too.
- Your website. The GDC's guidance on advertising says a practice website must display the name and geographic address at which the dental service is provided, contact details including email and telephone, and the date it was last updated. It also says you must update the website regularly so it accurately reflects the practice.
- Your NHS website profile. If you hold an NHS contract in England, the regulations require a comprehensive and accurate profile for the NHS website and that you review it at least once in every 90 days, correcting anything inaccurate or incomplete. Practices manage it through the NHS Profile Manager.
What Google says about your name, address and phone
Google's guidelines for representing your business set the standard that everything else should match.
Name
Your name should reflect your real-world name, as used consistently on your shopfront, website, stationery and as known to customers. Google lists things a name must not include, such as marketing taglines, phone numbers, website addresses and opening hours. Adding unnecessary information to your name can lead to suspension. "Bridge Street Dental Practice" is a name. "Bridge Street Dental, Best Implant Dentist in Leeds" is a name with a keyword stuffed into it.
Address
Use a precise, accurate address. Google says PO boxes are not acceptable, suite or unit numbers can go in the second address line, and businesses showing their address should maintain permanent signage of their name at that address.
Phone
Google asks for a phone number that connects to your individual location, a local number rather than a central call centre wherever possible, and a number under the direct control of the business. Premium numbers are not acceptable, and you must not use numbers that redirect to anyone other than the actual business. If you use call tracking, keep your main practice number as the primary number and check any tracking number against these rules. Additional numbers are allowed.
Where your practice details live
| Place | Who controls it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | You, plus Google updates | Check for blue text, which shows Google has changed something |
| Your website | You | Footer, contact page, every location page, structured data |
| NHS website profile | You, via NHS Profile Manager | Review at least every 90 days if you hold an NHS contract |
| Bing Places and Apple Maps | You, once claimed | Often forgotten, still used by patients on those platforms |
| Facebook and Instagram | You | Page details often lag behind a move or a new number |
| Dental and local directories | Varies | Some take details from other sources, so one wrong listing can spread |
| CQC listing | CQC | Check it matches after any change |
How to check NAP consistency
- Write a master record. The exact practice name, full address with postcode, main phone number, website address, email and opening hours, as they appear on your signage and website. Everything else is checked against this.
- Start with Google. Open your Business Profile and look for any blue text or notifications about Google updates. Accept or reject them.
- Check your own website. Footer, contact page, any location or "find us" pages, booking pages and the structured data in the page code.
- Check your NHS profile and note the date you did it.
- Search for your practice name and postcode on Google, and list every directory that comes up on the first few pages.
- Search for old details. Your previous phone number, a previous practice name, a previous address. These searches find the listings nobody remembers.
- Fix what you control first, then claim and correct directory listings one by one. Keep a simple log of what you changed and when.
- Repeat quarterly, and straight after any move, rebrand or phone change.
Common NAP problems for dental practices
A rebrand or change of ownership
Google's guidelines say a minor name change, where the proper nouns and services in the name stay the same and the category is unchanged, can usually be made by editing the profile. A bigger change counts as a new business: Google says you must mark the existing profile as closed and create a new one. After a practice purchase, work out which case you are in before you touch anything, and update the website, NHS profile and directories on the same day.
A new phone system
Switching phone providers or moving to a new number is the most common source of mismatched details. Search for the old number afterwards and correct every listing that still shows it.
Duplicate listings
Google says there should only be one profile per business, because duplicates cause problems with how your information shows on Maps and Search. Old listings from a previous name or address are a frequent cause.
Individual dentist profiles
Google allows public-facing practitioners to have their own profiles. If a dentist leaves, their profile can keep showing your address and number. When someone leaves, check what their profile shows and ask them, or Google, to correct it.
Is NAP consistency a ranking factor?
Google has not said that matching directory listings is a ranking factor, and figures claiming a precise ranking boost from NAP consistency do not come from Google. What Google has said is that accurate information helps you show up, that it compiles your profile from many sources, and that it may update your profile to match publicly available information. Consistency is how you stay in control of what Google shows. Treat it as maintenance rather than a growth tactic, and spend your growth effort on reviews, pages and links, covered in local SEO for dentists and SEO for dental practices.
If you want a quick view of how your practice appears in Google today, the free search audit needs no email.
Keep every listing in step
On the Growth plan, Practice Radar manages your listings on 30 UK and dental directories plus Foursquare and GPS Network, and keeps them in step with your Google, Facebook, Bing and Apple Maps details.
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.