Practitioner Listings for Dental Practice- best set up?

[Jessica C]

For a single location dental practice with one main dentist, one additional dentist, and one hygienist- what is the best way to capitalize on GBP Practitioner Listings?

The dental practice has one main GBP using the practice name (XYZ Dental Group), with 350+ reviews and main category as "dentist". So should BOTH dentists also have their own GBP's set up with one using "emergency dental service" and the other using "pediatric dentist" as their primary categories? And should the hygienist have her own GBP set up using "dental hygienist" as the primary category? Both dentists offer emergency dental and pediatrics and the hygienist is called out consistency by name in the main practice GBP reviews.

I recently watched @Colan Nielsen's YT video on this (thank you Colan!), which is where it got me thinking about the correct set up for a scenario like this.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Hey there!

I think your strategy is well thought out, because it can get tricky doing practitioner listings for dental clinics. When you do practitioner listings for dental, you have to be very careful not to cannibalize the main listing using the "Dentist" category. "Emergency dentist" and "pediatric dentist" are the two best categories to use to minimize this overlap, just make sure those are the only categories on those listings.

As for the "dental hygienist" practitioner, I think you should test using that as their only category and just check to make sure it is not filtering with the main clinic listing. In my experience, "dental hygienist" is too similar to "dentist" so the listings can compete, which is not ideal.

You need to be checking rankings to make sure all four listings are ranking well for their intended terms and there is minimal overlap and no signs of Google's local filter.

Also, make sure each listing is linking to a dedicated page on the site that is also optimized for the intended specialty keywords. Do not link all of them to the homepage.

Keep us updated on how this all works out

 

[Jessica C]

Hey there!

I think your strategy is well thought out, because it can get tricky doing practitioner listings for dental clinics. When you do practitioner listings for dental, you have to be very careful not to cannibalize the main listing using the "Dentist" category. "Emergency dentist" and "pediatric dentist" are the two best categories to use to minimize this overlap, just make sure those are the only categories on those listings.

As for the "dental hygienist" practitioner, I think you should test using that as their only category and just check to make sure it is not filtering with the main clinic listing. In my experience, "dental hygienist" is too similar to "dentist" so the listings can compete, which is not ideal.

You need to be checking rankings to make sure all four listings are ranking well for their intended terms and there is minimal overlap and no signs of Google's local filter.

Also, make sure each listing is linking to a dedicated page on the site that is also optimized for the intended specialty keywords. Do not link all of them to the homepage.

Keep us updated on how this all works out

thank you so much @ElizabethRule !!

Followup question in case it helps anyone: If I assign "emergency dentist" to the main dentist practitioner listing and "pediatric dentist" to the second dentist practitioner listing, you are saying to NOT put any secondary categories with either of these, right? Does this also mean that neither "pediatric dentist" or "emergency dentist" should be used as secondary categories for the main practice GBP (it has 9 secondary categories now)

 

[ElizabethRule]

If I assign "emergency dentist" to the main dentist practitioner listing and "pediatric dentist" to the second dentist practitioner listing, you are saying to NOT put any secondary categories with either of these, right?

Yep, I would not add any secondary categories. Stick to just those as the primary categories. You essentially do not want any category overlap between the practitioner listings and the main listing or the dental hygienist listing.

Does this also mean that neither "pediatric dentist" or "emergency dentist" should be used as secondary categories for the main practice GBP (it has 9 secondary categories now)

Again yes, I would not add emergency or pediatric to the main listing, or any other listing at this address. You want to minimize the overlap as much as possible and help Google understand the practitioner listings should show up for very specific services only. The added benefit is there likely are not many (or any) listings targeting just those services, so it will give them an advantage. Especially if their dedicated GBP landing pages also target those services heavily.