First-page placement or patient counts promised
Nobody controls Google and nobody can promise a count of new starts. Any commitment worth trusting is narrow, written down and tied to something the company controls.
Internet marketing for orthodontists
Orthodontist Internet Marketing: How to Hire the Right Company
Most orthodontic practices have been pitched by at least three marketing companies, and most of those pitches sounded the same. A few promises, a screenshot of a ranking, a monthly invoice, and very little explanation of what is actually being done on your behalf. This page is built for the doctor or practice manager who wants to judge orthodontist internet marketing offers on their merits. It covers what the work should include, the questions that separate a real partner from a vendor, and the red flags worth walking away from.
Before you talk to anyone
What an Orthodontic Practice Is Really Buying
Orthodontics is an unusual business to market. The buyer is often a parent deciding for a twelve year old, or an adult who has been quietly thinking about straighter teeth for a decade. The decision is large, slow and emotional. Families compare a few offices, usually after a friend, a school connection or the family dentist has mentioned one. They want a consultation that feels unhurried, a treatment coordinator who explains the financial side without pressure, and a doctor they trust with a child.
That means internet marketing for orthodontists is not mostly about finding strangers. It is about making sure that every family who already heard your name, plus the ones searching for an orthodontist near them, finds a clear, credible office that is easy to book with. A good company strengthens the pieces of that path: how you appear on Google Maps, whether your site answers the questions parents ask, whether new patient calls get answered, and whether the referring dentists who send you cases can see that your office is current and professional.
Two audiences deserve separate thought. Parents of kids and teens want reassurance about timing, cost and what the first visit involves, and they often start by asking a friend or their own dentist. Adults researching clear aligners or fixed braces usually search at night, read several practice sites side by side and want to see a transparent price conversation before they ever call. A company that treats those two groups as one audience will write one vague site for both. Ask how they would handle each.
It also helps to know what a company cannot do. It cannot decide which cases you want to take, it cannot fix a front desk that lets calls go to voicemail, and it should not promise a number of new starts. Treat any company that blurs those lines as a vendor to watch carefully. The strongest partners ask about your consult-to-start process before they quote a plan, because they know the marketing only pays off if the office converts what it receives.
Plan on a few stages in a normal engagement. First an audit of your listings, site, reviews and tracking. Then a set of fixes to the foundation. Then ongoing work in search, maps and, where it fits, paid ads. Orthodontic online marketing and orthodontic digital marketing are the same job under two labels; what matters is whether the company can describe each stage in plain language and show you the reporting that goes with it.
Finally, think about capacity. A practice with open chair time in the afternoons wants a different mix than one with a waiting list for new exams. If you are opening a second office, the priorities shift again toward the new location's map listing and local pages. Say this out loud in the first meeting. The best companies will adjust their proposal around your schedule instead of pushing the same package to everyone.
The interview
Questions to Ask an Orthodontist Internet Marketing Company
You do not need to be technical to run this interview. Bring the list, listen for specifics and notice who gets uncomfortable. Companies that do careful work are usually happy to be asked.
| What to ask | An answer worth trusting | An answer to be wary of |
|---|---|---|
| Who actually does the work on my account? | Names a specific team, explains who writes, who builds and who you can call, and is comfortable with you speaking to them. | Vague references to a platform, a system or a team, with no named person you will deal with. |
| Have you worked with dental or medical practices before? | Describes the differences: patient privacy, board advertising rules, consult booking, referral relationships. Does not need to name clients. | Says marketing is marketing, or offers a template built for plumbers and restaurants. |
| How do you handle patient privacy when you track ads and forms? | Explains that patient details are not sent into ad platforms, asks about your consent forms and asks who at your office handles privacy questions. | Has never heard the question, or says tracking pixels on every page are fine without checking your situation. |
| Whose name are the accounts under? | Your practice owns the Google Business Profile, ad accounts, analytics and domain from day one, with you listed as owner. | The company holds the accounts and releases them only if you stay under contract. |
| What do you report each month? | Calls, forms, booked consultations and, if your system allows it, starts, with a short plain-English explanation of what changed. | A report made mostly of impressions, rankings and traffic graphs, with nothing connected to the schedule. |
| What will you do in the first sixty days? | A concrete list: listing cleanup, site fixes, tracking setup, review process, one or two priority pages. | A promise of results by a date, or a long list of deliverables with no order. |
| What happens if I want to stop? | Month to month, a short notice period at most, and you keep the site, content and accounts. | A long contract, an early termination fee or a rebuilt site you have to buy back. |
| How do you handle the referring dentist side? | Treats referral relationships as separate from internet marketing, and helps with a professional page or provider profile for referring offices where useful. | Claims digital ads replace referral work, or treats referring dentists as an afterthought. |
Orthodontic marketing questions
Questions Practices Ask Before Hiring Help
What does orthodontist internet marketing actually include?
For most practices it covers the Google Business Profile and local map listings, a website that answers parent and adult questions, a way to track calls and consult requests, steady review collection, search engine optimization for pages like braces, clear aligners and early treatment, and sometimes paid search ads. The right mix depends on how many patients your referring dentists already send and how full your schedule is.
How much does orthodontist internet marketing cost?
The price follows the channels you choose. Many practices begin with RankGuarantee™ at $495 a month, which builds 25 landing pages monthly. Fuller organic plans run $1,495 for Silver, $2,495 for Gold (a fully managed website joins the mix) and $3,495 for Platinum. Paid ads management starts at $895 a month for one platform, plus whatever you spend with the platform itself. We charge no setup fee and ask for no contract, so you can stop whenever the numbers stop making sense.
Will marketing replace referrals from general dentists?
No, and a company that says so is selling you something. Referring dentists remain a dependable source for many practices, and that relationship comes from case communication, courtesy and consistency. Online marketing helps in two ways: it brings in families who search directly, and it gives a referring dentist a professional site to check when they recommend you.
Can an agency write my before-and-after content?
They can help with layout and copy, but you control what is shown. Patient photos need written consent, and state dental boards and advertising rules vary on how results can be described. Check your own board's rules, avoid promising an outcome and have the clinician approve anything that describes treatment.
How should we handle direct-to-consumer aligner companies in our marketing?
Rather than attack a competitor, explain what an in-person evaluation includes: records, a diagnosis, monitoring by a licensed orthodontist and a plan for complex cases. Parents and adults appreciate clear comparisons that are fair. Avoid naming other brands or making claims you cannot support.
Do we need paid ads, or is search enough?
Many practices start with maps and organic search because that is where people look for an orthodontist near them, and add ads when they want to fill a specific gap, such as a new location or a slow season. Ads can work alongside organic search but do not replace a clean foundation.
What should a monthly report show an orthodontist?
Calls and forms tied to their source, consultations scheduled, and where the office has the data, how many became starts. Rankings and traffic have a place, but only as supporting detail. Ask for the numbers in the language your treatment coordinator uses.
How long does it take to see results?
It varies. Fixing a listing or a missed-call problem can help within weeks, while search work typically builds over several months. Any company that promises a timeline or a number of new patients is not being straight with you, and we do not make those promises either.
Is it risky to put tracking on a dental or medical site?
It can be if it is set up carelessly. Patient details should not be sent to advertising platforms, and consent forms and privacy policies should match what you actually do. Talk through this with whoever handles compliance in your office, and ask a prospective company how they approach it.
Walk away if you hear this
Red Flags in an Orthodontic Marketing Pitch
A template from another industry
If the proposal reads the same as one for a roofer, the company has not looked at how a family chooses an orthodontist or how consult requests move through your office.
Accounts held in the agency name
Your Google Business Profile, ad accounts and analytics should be yours. If leaving means losing them, you are renting your own reputation.
Reports built from vanity numbers
Impressions and traffic are easy to produce. Calls, consults and starts are harder, and they are what you are actually paying for.
Purchased reviews or review gating
Paying for reviews or filtering who is allowed to leave one breaks platform rules and can damage trust if discovered.
Ignoring privacy
A company that has no opinion on patient privacy, consent for photos or ad platform tracking is not ready to market a clinical practice.
Pressure to sign today
A good plan will still be good next week. Urgency is a tactic, not a reason.
After you choose
What the First Ninety Days Should Look Like
Audit your starting point
Review your Google Business Profile, listings across directories, website, reviews, and how calls are tracked. Document what is working before changing anything.
Fix the basics in the open
Correct listing details, tidy categories, repair site speed and mobile issues, and set up call and form tracking so every later number means something.
Build the pages families look for
Create clear pages for braces, clear aligners, early treatment and adult care, written with the clinician and approved before publishing.
Add review and referral habits
Put a simple, honest review request into your routine and keep your referring offices informed with a short professional page or update.
Review the numbers together
Meet monthly to look at calls, consults and starts, and decide whether to add maps, content or paid ads based on your capacity and schedule.
Nearby trades
Marketing Guides You Might Want Next
Want the whole picture for orthodontist? There is a full orthodontist marketing site at orthodontist.getphound.com.
Want a single channel or the lead side up close? See getting more leads, buying leads, lead generation programs, and SEO for orthodontist.
Get in Touch
Talk Through Your Orthodontic Marketing
Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com and we will walk through what your practice already has and what it is missing. Month to month, no setup fee, no contract.