30 September 2026 · 6 min read · Oscar Markham
The dental profile settings that decide who calls
When somebody searches for a dentist, the map results sit above everything else, with stars, distance and a call button. A very large share of new dental enquiries never get past that box. For a practice, the profile is not a supporting asset — it is the front door.
Categories and the treatments you list
The primary category should be the specific one, not a general health category. Add secondary categories for what you genuinely do — emergency dental service, cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics.
Then list treatments individually in the services section with a description each. Most practices leave this empty, and it is the part that helps you appear for a specific treatment rather than only for the word dentist.
Hours have to be exact
'Open now' filters what people see, so an inaccurate closing time costs you calls you never hear about. Set the bank holidays as well.
If you take emergencies outside normal hours, say so in the description and in the attributes, because that is when the highest-intent calls happen.
Photographs of the real place
The front of the building from the street, reception, a surgery, the team. Uploaded steadily rather than in one batch.
The exterior shot does specific work for a nervous patient: it shows them exactly what they are walking into, which lowers the barrier more than any paragraph.
Use the Q&A section yourself
You can ask and answer your own questions, and almost no practice does. Cover the things people ring to ask: medical card, PRSI, parking, emergencies, nervous patients, whether you are taking new patients.
'Are you taking new patients' is the single most valuable one, because the answer decides whether somebody bothers calling.
What you cannot change
Proximity. A patient two streets from a competitor will usually see that competitor first, and no amount of optimisation overrides it.
Accept it and aim to be unmistakably the strongest option within your own catchment, which is a fight most practices are not seriously having.
Written by Oscar Markham, founder of Dublin Growth Digital. We run lead generation for Irish estate agents and trades, reported every Friday in enquiries and booked work.