Dentists Who Invest Podcast

Does SEO Still Matter For Dentists In 2026? with Marius Satraru [CPD Available]

• Dr. James Martin • Season 4 • Episode 423

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Patients can only choose you if they can find you. We unpack a clear, dentist‑friendly roadmap to winning local search, focusing on what actually leads to enquiries: fast sites, map visibility, reviews that earn trust, and content written in the language patients use.

We start by stress‑testing whether SEO is even the right move for your practice. Location matters more than most realise, and Google’s red city boundary in Maps can define your odds of ranking. We compare low‑competition areas, where you might already rank without ongoing SEO, against crowded city centres where a strategic plan and patience are essential. From there, we reinforce the foundations: a fast, mobile‑first website with dedicated treatment pages, frictionless booking, and copy that answers costs, pain, and timing. If the basics are shaky, every other tactic leaks value.

Then we break SEO into four practical pillars. Technical SEO sets speed and structure. On‑page SEO matches real local queries like emergency dentist Nottingham and clear aligners to tightly written pages. Off‑page SEO builds authority with relevant backlinks, consistent citations, and supportive channels like YouTube that link back and lift credibility. Local SEO ties it together: an optimised Google Business Profile with accurate data, posts, photos, and a steady cadence of reviews with thoughtful replies that include natural keywords. We also tackle myths around AI. People still find local clinicians via Google and Maps, and strong organic signals feed AI results rather than fight them.

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Dr James:

Welcome everyone, and today we're here to talk about organic SEO and what it means for more municipality as 10 lists. Is SEO still relevant in 2025 with the ones that of AI and now the list? These questions are more to be answered by experts on SEO among the framed memories from online media looking forward to this episode. As ever, you can claim your CPD for this episode within the official Dentists Who Invest Smart Money Members Club. Smart Money Members Club also includes multiple mini courses and webinar series on finance dentists, including how to become as tax efficient as possible, as well as understanding investing. All of this content comments as verifiable CPD, and you can download your certificates there and then on completion of each lesson. In addition to this, we also include a whopping 10% discount on your dental indemnity and a 5% discount on lab bills for dental principals, amongst other perks and discounts for members. Please use the link in the description to claim your verifiable CPD for this episode. Hey everyone, as promised here today to talk about organic SEO and what it means for Dennis and their dental practices. Because this sort of stuff doesn't really get as much of a platform as we would like. And on Dentists Who Invest, we like to talk about not just the finance stuff, but also the stuff that surrounds that too that can help us be more profitable and business oriented. Marius, let's let's start from the top. Is SEO dead in 2025?

Marius:

Yeah, hey, thank you. Thanks for having me again. We had uh really good feedback on our first podcast, so it's good to be back here. And I always say I'm here to provide valuable information. So I'll start with by just answering the most common question: what is SEO? And if I say the textbook version, you know, it's gonna be boring and completely you know annoying. So this is how I see it. Um having a website without SEO, imagine that you open a new dental practice. So you've done everything perfect. You've refurbished the reception, maybe you've done something unique to it, you got an amazing team ready to welcome patients, you've done everything perfect except one thing. You forgot to put a sign outside. So this is how SEO is a website is without SEO. Essentially, people walk past your practice every day. They might be your potential patients, they might be spending thousands in your practice, but they don't even know you know you exist. So this is what is like having a website without actively doing SEO.

Dr James:

I like that analogy. That's a very good analogy, very visual, and a lot of people would never do that. Yet I know lots of people who have websites but haven't really thought about optimizing it for SEO.

Marius:

Yeah. Yeah, so the um obviously the next question is will it benefit my practice? And there's a few things to consider before you start doing SEO. For example, if you have low traffic or no traffic, if your website doesn't bring inquiries, if it doesn't appear on Google on first page, or if your competitors are ranking above you, or just you know, spending too much on Google Ads or Meta Ads, then SEO is the right thing to do. But there's a few things to consider before that, because a lot of dentists approach me and approach us uh asking us to do SEO. So what we do is we analyze each situation so we know exactly if SEO will work for them. And sometimes our answer is no, we can't help you, sorry. And you know, the reaction is always like, What do you mean you can't help me? This is what we do what you do. And I always say, you know, if you are in a low competition area, and this is very controversial, but if you are, say, for example, if you have only one dental practice that you compete against, or it's very limited, and you you know you you have a uh decent website, you don't actually need to do SEO. So here is where I see a lot of dentists being confused because everyone is pushing SEO. And FairNAF is a service that you know it should bring patients. But if you don't have enough competition, then you're already ranking. So where's the point on doing SEO?

Dr James:

Well, there you go, right? So this is what dentists need to know. It's like, when does it work and when does it when does it not work so well? Because a lot of the time, and this is my issue with uh a lot of there's a lot of how can I say this? There's a lot of companies out there that sell like marketing, right? Or they sell software, or they sell even if they're recruitment companies, you know, uh, or even like coaches sometimes, and they always think that what they have is the magic bullet for what a dental practice needs. Whereas in reality, and they'll always, it's like if you go to if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, right? Whereas in reality, it's more complicated than that. There's a lot of other things going on, and we need to remember that before we use anybody's services, and that's why it's also very ethical of the service provider to do the background research and to make sure that the person that they're working with is actually in the right place to be able to get the benefit out of what it is that they do rather than just take their money.

Marius:

Yeah, 100%. And this is where I can give you some advice for everyone that's looking to do SEO. There are a few things that you need to look into before you consider doing it. And I'll start with the the location. So I'll give you an advice on this. You can go on Google and type in the name of your, oh actually on Google Maps, sorry, uh type in the name of your practice, and uh you'll see uh type in on the name of your city, sorry, that you want to rank in, and you'll see a red defining border on Google Maps. And now that's this is how Google sees your area. It doesn't matter if you're you know if it's accurate or not, because this is how they rank practices. So if your practice does not fit inside the red line, you already have a problem because it's too far from the city that you you're trying to rank in. And the next thing you need to look at your competition, so how high the competition is. Obviously, there are practices that are trying to rank on first page for years. So if they've been open for 10 years and you have you know 20 practices fighting for the same spot, for the same number one spot, and you being new or you being uh I don't know, maybe new on the market, uh, it's gonna be a challenge, a real challenge to run between them. So this is this is very easy to check, you know, when you do your competitor research or your marketing uh analysis. And also you have to look at your website because you can't really do SEO on every website. You have you need to have a good website to have a good foundation. So your website needs to load fast, it needs to have enough pages, you need pages for all the treatments before you consider doing SEO. And only after you can start with the basics and build the you know the foundations of SEO.

Dr James:

Makes sense. And what I'd be interested to talk about, and perhaps you're coming on to this a little later, some of the technicalities and specifics of SEO. So, say for example, on-page versus off-page, because this is what confuses the heck out of people. And I'd love to know if you've got any little analogies for explaining those as well.

Marius:

Yeah, of course, yeah. If we if time allows, I'd like I'd love to talk about SEO. Um so when when you know it's a good SEO strategy, so what should you should see on your website? And to explain this better, uh, I'm gonna split this into four pillars because there are four main pillars that uh SEO is made of, and they all apply to a dental practice. So, starting with technical SEO, this is uh essentially something that you don't see. This is everything behind the scenes. Um you don't see it, but Google does. And they pay attention to things like how fast your website is loading, is it easy to navigate on mobile? Is it responsive? Is it easy to book an appointment? And when a website loads slow, obviously this will affect SEO, and it's a main factor when it comes to uh starting SEO. If you have the website done right and if it loads fast, you already have an advantage. Now, on page SEO, uh here we look at things like how are you using your keywords? Are you using the right keywords in a natural way? Are your headings clear, structured? Uh is it well structured in terms of you know headings, content, call to action? Uh is the is the page easy to read and understand? So content um on-page SEO is essentially your content. And you have to talk about the three the searches that people are actually searching for, the terms that people are actually searching for. So it's not enough just to say invis the line 50 times on your invisalign page. Because in your area, there might be people that are actually looking for aligners. So they're not specifically typing in visaline on Google. And this is how you can uh update your content to be able to rank for that specific keyword. Now, off-page SEO is stepping outside of a website, it's all about reputation. So this is about how people talk about your practice um outside of your website. So being named, uh having a link on different websites on other websites, uh this is called a backlink. So backlinks are the the number one when it comes to off-page SEO. Even your social media matters, so what you post on social media, even that can count as off-page SEO. It's mainly about reputation. So if on-page is content on your website, off-page is outside. And the last thing and the most important, uh, it's local SEO. Because when patients are searching for, for example, emergency dentist in Nottingham. Um this is a localized search. So this is where Google profile makes the difference. Your Google profile has to be fully optimized, fully filled out, and updated. Your patient reviews, make sure you ask for reviews and you're constantly in replying to them, inserting keywords where suitable, uh, and having the contact business details updates. So if you change your phone number, that has to be updated. Your opening hours, everything has to be updated with Google. And posting on Google also helps. So if you post a few times a week, that will show Google that you're active, and this will obviously rank higher. And why is local important uh local SEO important? Obviously, uh, in when you search for a business, there are only three rankings, three spots in the map that show up. So you can see why it's a bit more competitive than than ranking in uh on on the web page. This is basically how I see SEO and this is uh what it's made of.

Dr James:

Yeah, I see. And if you could, is there any sort of hierarchy in terms of what's the most important things to sort out? UK Dennists, Dennist Who Invest now has an official platform where you can learn about finance and obtain UK compliant, verifiable CVD at the same time. The only platform that exists on which you can do both. The Smart Money Members Club has hundreds of hours of mini courses, webinar series, and live day recordings on all things finance slash tax efficiency for UK dentists. This includes complete courses on how tax works for UK dentists, finance so that you can invest and grow your own money, business so you can improve your profitability as an associate or principal, and for those out there that want it, there's also a mini course and how you can responsibly enter the crypto space using measured amounts of capital. I've gathered this content from the best of the best I could find in each respective area so that you know that this is how people at the forefront of each field advise their clients. The Smart Money Members Club also contains discounts on common things that UK dentists need to pay for on a regular basis. This includes a whopping 10% discount on dental indemnity, the offer to beat your income protection deal no matter what you're paying, and for the principals out there, 5% discount on lab bills and 10% discount on practice insurance. These are designed to offer hundreds, if not thousands, in annual savings. The purpose of this members club is to not only boost your monthly income but also manage your outgoings as much as possible and therefore create more profit. To celebrate the launch of the Smart Money Members Club, and given that the CPD deadline is coming up soon, I've decided to offer the first month of this platform entirely for free. This offer will end in the coming weeks as soon as the current CPD cycle is up. To collect your CPD for this podcast episode using the Smart Money Members Club, feel free to use the link in the description of this podcast.

Marius:

Yeah, and then optimizing your Google profile, make sure you get reviews, you reply to them, and have every bit of information fully filled out. That's really important. And this is this is a good start. So if you have a good website, a good Google profile, that's a that's a perfect start.

Dr James:

Nice. So those are the two biggies.

Marius:

Yes.

Dr James:

Yeah, I see. And then everything else is kind of just tweaking, optimizing, SEO, all that other fancy stuff. You know what I mean? Um sorry, or what's the what's the what's the word I meant to say? Um uh I meant to say uh the uh or organic keywords and things like that. Those are like and you know, optimizing the page and all these sorts of things, right? They're they're kind of just like little uh they're they're good to have, but they're not as intrinsically as important as those two things that we just mentioned.

Marius:

Yeah, of course. So obviously when people are searching for something on Google, uh there's a lot of tools that you can analyze and see what they're searching for the most. For example, if they're searching, like I said, for emergency dentist Nottingham, you need to know how many people are searching for that and what variation, because people won't be searching for tooth pain Nottingham. So if they are, then that keyword needs to be shown on your emergency page. And it's important to be shown at least a few times and uh throughout the page and have the exact search term that people are using, basically.

Dr James:

Nice. Okay, I like it. And then one other thing I was curious about as well when it comes to when it comes to SEO and what have you. I know that you mentioned there's there's there's there's kind of the technical side of things like speed, you know, speed speed of the page and things along those lines. I also heard that part of how Google quantifies whether or not a website has been optimized by SEO is even right down to the space between the header and the text on the page, how aesthetic it looks, it's AI can actually quantify that nowadays. Is that something you've heard?

Marius:

Yeah, I don't think AI can quantify that, but obviously um the website being responsive and being clear to read and understand by the users will provide the good experience. So, say for instance, if you click on a website and you don't understand what is about, you're just gonna go back on Google, right? You're not gonna continue reading. And if that happens, this is called the bounce rate. And the higher the bounce rate, the more people bounce from your website, the worse will be for your uh for SEO. So, exactly what you said. It's not necessarily the space between the header and the text, but it needs to be uh well written and it needs to be well organized on the page.

Dr James:

Got you. So basically, people vote with their clicks, right? And then that determines its rank. Interesting. What about what about making content on YouTube as a dental practice? Because I've heard if you have YouTube's uh YouTube embeds on your website, this can make a difference as well.

Marius:

Yeah, of course. So exactly like I said, off-page is all about reputation, it's all about other websites linking back to you, content on other platforms that link back to your website. So obviously, having a YouTube channel is very beneficial because you're potentially getting a backlink from YouTube, which is one of the highest you can get. And it also increases that credibility and trust. So, you know, the more websites you appear on, the more authoritative you'll be on on Google or in the eyes of Google, basically.

Dr James:

Nice. All right, anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt the flow of the podcast too much. Were you was there a specific direction you were going after we were talking about what we were just talking about? Or shall I because I have a few more questions I can just ask as well, unless you want to cover anything specific?

Marius:

Yeah, I want to cover the AI because there's let's do that.

Dr James:

That was actually the question I was gonna ask.

Marius:

Yeah, so um, well, the main question is is SEO dead because of AI? This is a question that I hear all the time. Should we invest in SEO if it if the AI is all over the place? And now this is how I see it, right? Um, how many people are actually looking for a business? Like, are you looking for a business on Chat GPT or you know, in the AI overview? No, no, no one goes on on ChatGPT and types dentist near me or dentist London. They still rely on typing on Google. So, you know, they look at the reviews, they go on your website, they see what you're what you're promoting, what you the what you offer, your costs, and everything. And this is not something that you can find on ChatGPT. So SEO for a like for a local business, it's you know, like a like a dental practice, it's still very, very relevant. It's not like SEO is dead because of the AI. As long as you're ranking good on Google, AI will pick up that content anyway. So it's not a case of doing that or the other.

Dr James:

Yeah, well, that seems to make sense to me because I know that there is a little AI when you little AI overview, right? Whenever you type a question in on Google, but if you've got a toothache or you need a dentist, well that's not gonna help you. You need to physically be there. It might give you an answer, right? But in this specific instance, actually it's still it's still very important. Maybe for info-based businesses, it's probably not helped them out so much, especially people who post loads of articles to get traffic to their website. Um, but uh yeah, there we are. No, I I totally agree. Anything else you feel is relevant?

Marius:

Um, well, if you have any questions, um I think uh one thing that people are being confused is should we go with Google Ads, Meta Ads, or should we do SEO? And the main difference between them, um, if you want to look at it from a business perspective, SEO is like compound interest. So it adds up over time. It's not like Google Ads or Meta Ads, where you basically pump money into it, and you know, the second you put a pause on it, there's no more leads coming through. But SEO delivers gradually, and that's why it's important to be seen as a long-term game and having the right patience to keep it until it delivers results, basically.

Dr James:

Nice. And Marius, if anybody wants to reach out to you based on what they've heard today, where they can where can they uh find you?

Marius:

Yeah, uh, I'm free to answer any questions for you know any dentists that want to start SEO. I'm here to help people. You know, I'm not here into getting people into long-term contracts on SEO. I'm just here to provide actual information to be able to for them to be able to make an informed decision. So they can find us on alignmedia.co.uk or Facebook, Instagram, online media, everywhere, every platform, online media ik.

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Dr. James Martin

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