Every orthodontist who talks to us eventually asks the same thing: how do I rank number one for "orthodontist in my city," and how do I stay there? Local SEO for orthodontists is not a single trick. It is on-page work on your website and Google Business Profile, then authority built through link building, applied in the right order for the footprint your practice actually has.

This post breaks down how Luke Infinger and James, the SEO lead at HIP Creative, approach that problem on the GrowOrtho podcast. It covers where to start, why link building does the heavy lifting, which page you should be trying to rank, and how to handle the awkward cases: one location serving a dozen towns, or several offices spread across a region.

The short version is that ranking is earned by closing the gap between your site and the practice currently sitting in the top spot, then out-building them on authority. Here is how that plays out step by step.

Key takeaways

Ranking starts on-page. Run a comprehensive audit of your live website and Google Business Profile, then a competitive analysis that identifies exactly what the number-one practice has that you are missing, and close that gap first.

Link building is what builds authority and is the hardest part to implement correctly. The order is citations first, then press, then industry-relevant links.

Start citations with business directories: Apple Maps, Yelp, and lesser-known local options like Yellow Book and Brown Book. Your name, address and phone number must match your Google Business Profile exactly.

Which page ranks depends on locations. Multiple offices in one metro means optimizing the homepage as the hub with neighborhood location pages under it. A single office or offices far apart means powering up individual location pages instead.

One location that wants to rank for many nearby communities should build neighborhood supporting pages linked from an "areas we serve" section, and research whether the town belongs to a larger market worth chasing.

Optimize the Google Business Profile completely, then use GMB Everywhere to copy the categories, services and descriptions of the top-ranked competitor and run a weekly posting strategy (Invisalign for teens one week, braces for kids the next).

To start backlinks locally, Google "local media kits," buy placements that produce a real article and brand mention with a link, and enter "Best of" contests run by Gannett and USA Today for social proof plus a backlink.