• The critical difference between local SEO (Google Maps) and website SEO, and why 1,600+ patients chose Dr. Tau’s practice through Maps alone
• The 6 specific Google Business Profile ranking factors you can control
• Why review velocity matters more than total volume and how switching review platforms can tank your rankings
• The exact primary and secondary category settings that make you visible (or invisible) to local patients
• How to respond to reviews without risking HIPAA violations and potential $18,000 fines
• Why AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity pull from Google Business Profiles first when recommending dentists
• The fatal mistake of marketing before building reviews and the correct sequence for patient acquisition
• How citation inconsistencies sabotage your local rankings

Google’s local ranking algorithm remains somewhat mysterious, but through years of testing and observation, certain factors consistently prove crucial. Dr. Tau breaks down the hierarchy:

Distance from City Center: The one factor you can’t control. Practices closer to what Google considers the city center naturally rank higher for location-based searches. When someone searches “dentist in Parkland,” proximity to Parkland’s center matters. But when they search “dentist near me,” it’s about their GPS location.

Review Velocity Beats Volume: Having 500 reviews means less than getting three new ones this week. Google rewards fresh, consistent review generation over static totals. Dr. Tau warns that switching from a high-performing review platform to a lower-performing one can actually tank your rankings.

Primary Category Precision: This simple setting trips up countless practices. Dr. Tau recently met a dentist whose primary category was set to “Doctor”—not “Dentist.” That single mistake made them invisible for dental searches. Cosmetic-focused practices should list “Cosmetic Dentist” as primary only if that represents 95% of their work. Otherwise, stick with “Dentist.”

Secondary Categories Stack Value: While users only see your primary category, you can add up to nine secondary categories that Google uses for ranking. If you place implants, add “Dental Implants Provider.” Do you offer clear aligners? Add “Orthodontist.” Dr. Tau recommends filling five to seven categories relevant to your services.

Citation Consistency Crisis: Every inconsistency in how your practice name, address, and phone number appear online confuses Google and suppresses rankings. Common killers include using “&” versus “and,” adding “PC” or “DDS,” or worst of all, tracking phone numbers that follow you across the internet after leaving a marketing company.

Content-Rich Reviews: Star ratings alone accomplish nothing. Google wants stories. When patients mention specific services like “Invisalign” in their reviews, you become more likely to rank for those terms.

Make sure that you consider privacy when working on gathering reviews. Dr. Tau shares a cautionary tale that should make every dentist pause. He recently encountered a dentist fined $18,000 for responding to a positive review. The patient had received Botox, wrote about looking better after their visit, and the dentist responded thanking them for enjoying “our magic needles.” The patient felt this violated their privacy by revealing a procedure they hadn’t explicitly mentioned, reported the dentist, and won.

Even acknowledging someone as a patient in a review response technically violates HIPAA by the letter of the law. While generic “thank you for your feedback” responses rarely cause issues, any specific mention of treatments or procedures—even in response to positive reviews—creates liability.

Perhaps Dr. Tau’s most valuable insight concerns marketing sequence. Too many practices rush into paid advertising with weak review profiles, essentially paying to advertise their mediocrity. If area practices average 500 reviews and you have 50, running ads just highlights your weakness.

“You only want to market yourself if you have a strong reputation,” Tau insists. Build your review foundation first, optimize your Google Business Profile second, then consider paid strategies. Doing it backward wastes money and can actually damage your reputation by increasing visibility of your weaknesses.