"More Reviews, Less Effort" - How to Get More Google Reviews for Your Dental Practice

Online reviews are no longer optional for dental practices—they’re a critical driver of growth, visibility, and trust in 2026.

In this episode of The Dental Marketing Mix, host Dan Brian is joined by DentalScapes Content Manager Skylar Massengill to break down why Google reviews matter more than ever and, just as importantly, how dental practices can generate more 5-star reviews without feeling awkward or salesy.

The episode dives into how reviews influence patient decision-making, local SEO rankings in Google’s map pack, and even visibility in AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. Dan and Skylar also share practical, real-world strategies dentists can actually implement, even if marketing isn’t their comfort zone.

You’ll learn:

• Why reviews are a core ranking factor for local search and AI visibility
• How to ask for reviews in a way that feels natural and authentic
• Why QR codes and automation dramatically increase review volume
• How hygienists and team-wide incentives can drive better results
• Why responding to both positive and negative reviews builds trust
• How to start small and build review momentum consistently over time

If you’re an independent dental practice owner competing against larger DSOs—or simply want more patients finding and choosing your practice—this episode provides a clear, actionable roadmap.

Don't miss the full show notes and complete video episode: https://www.dentalscapes.com/more-reviews-less-effort-how-to-get-more-google-reviews-for-your-dental-practice/

And if you want help implementing a review strategy that actually works, schedule a free strategy call at dentalscapes.com/start.

Transcript

0:00

All right, welcome back to the dental marketing mix. My name is Dan Bryan. I'm the co-founder over at Dental scapes and I am so excited today to dig into a topic that I think is increasingly important for dental practice owners. That is if you want to dominate online marketing and crush the competition online and that is reviews. We're going to be digging into reviews here. I know we've talked about it on the podcast previously, but I think there's no better time to revisit it than really the beginning of this new year. Crazy. It's 2026. That's just I'm not over it yet, but I'm also really excited today to have Skylar Massengill join the podcast again. Skylar is the content manager over at Dentalscapes. And last time we dug into a lot of different topics about local SEO and that sort of thing. We're going to get into why that's related to reviews as well here today. uh But more than just talking about the importance of reviews today, I really want to get into why they matter, and some of the ways that you can actually generate more five-star Google reviews for your practice without being or feeling awkward. And so I know that most dental uh practice owners out there did not go to dental school uh to ask for reviews, did not go to dental school to really engage in marketing at all, but it's the world that we live in, and so it's super important. But anyway, I'm rambling. Skyler, thank you so much for coming back on the show today. What can you tell folks about the importance of reviews today in 2026? Yeah, thank you for having me again. I'm excited to be here. I think we always talk about how the world is just becoming so internet focused and internet based. So you don't really call up your friend anymore and say, hey, what do you think of that practice when you can just search them online and see what everybody has to say? And I think it's so easy for everybody, every practice to say, we're the best in town. We look great, we sound great, but really what are the people that are seeing them every day saying? um And I think it's just, it's so much easier to go like I'm, one of the people that does it for sure. When I was looking for a practice for my daughter, I went online and I looked at their page and I saw what moms had to say about these dentists. So I think that's super important because like I said, everybody can say they're the best, but let's hear what the people that are actually experiencing their practice have to say. And I know that reviews themselves can rank you higher up when you search. So if your practice doesn't really have many reviews, you're not going to show up as quickly and easily as the other practices that do. Yeah, absolutely. So important for two reasons. Like you said, you know, obviously folks are turning to reviews and making decisions about their dental providers. They're also being used and utilized by Google and ChatGPT and Gemini and all of these AI tools as well now to determine, you know, the visibility that your practice gets. So super important. In fact, I wanted to just, you know, share some stats here. I've got them pulled up. White Spark, we talked about this a few episodes back, if you haven't checked out, you know, the 2026 local search ranking factors report that we talked about on the podcast a few weeks back. Go and check that out. But actually review signals now, they are a core ranking factor in influencing Google's algorithm. And so they actually account for what White Spark estimates to be 20 % of the influence on where your practice appears in the map pack, or we also call that the local pack. And that's those three prioritized practices that appear at the top of the organic Google search results in local SEO. And so super important, we know that over 70%, well over 70 % of the clicks to local dental practices actually go to those three positions. So getting in that map pack is mission critical and generating a better review profile is one of the ways to get there. uh Also really important, WhiteSpark also uh noted in its 2026 report that reviews are really important. 16 % influence, they calculated in terms of informing and influencing your visibility in AI search. So searches on ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude and Perplexity. whether or not those AI platforms recommend dental practice does boil down to a lot of these trust and authority signals and reviews are are absolutely one of them. So really exciting, uh you know, going into this conversation to talk not just about the importance of reviews, but how to get them because, like I said at the outset, dentists didn't go to school to ask for reviews. uh I talked to dentists every single day. I know you do too, Skyler, and you know, There are a lot of practice owners out there who are a little bit uncomfortable with anything that even remotely borders on sales um or marketing, at least within the walls of the practice. So, you know, when we talk about uh how to actually get reviews, it can be a touchy subject and obviously something that not everyone is 100 % comfortable with. What are some of the, you know, uh tips and tricks that you would recommend dentists consider? when it comes to actually requesting and generating more five star reviews. think one of the best ways to do it is make it easy. Nobody wants to spend 10 minutes filling out all these links and their names and their information to leave a review. um I think I saw something where if it takes more than 30 seconds, they're not going to do it. And I believe it. I mean, if I'm a busy mom leaving the dentist office, I'm not going to sit there and fill out a review. Yes. But if there's a QR code that the front desk just says, hey, do you mind leaving a review today? And I can take the QR code and walk to my car and do it? Easy peasy. That's easy enough. I think we just need to work on making it easier for patients and not, hey, go to our website and click this link and fill this out. Put it right in front of them to where they can just do it by their phone. That's the easiest way to do it. And especially if I think also read the room, think people can do good. Like you can tell if someone's stressed out or they're nervous or they're unhappy with what's going on. Maybe don't ask them in that moment if they want to leave review. um I know we talked about automating. after somebody leaves, you know, it automatically can send them a link to leave a review. And that's easy too, cause that takes the salesy awkwardness out of it. It just already does it for you. And I think that also gives room for whether someone was super happy or not super happy to leave a review. it isn't, know what I'm saying? Cause you're not just pushing the good stuff. You're like, Hey, we want you to be honest. We care about what you think. And maybe right here in front of their face, they don't want to tell you, Hey, we didn't like that, but they can go online and do it. So. Maybe not, just make it easy. Make it easy for everybody. And probably to your point, not best to ask for review when someone is still fully numb. Not probably the best time to have that conversation. But I think also, you know, there are two, you know, kind of mutually reinforcing strategies. And that's like the personal ask, like you're talking about putting yourself out there. You know, you have that personal relationship with the patient. making that ask personal and then also, you know, making it easy and automating it as best we can. And automation, think anytime you can implement it and integrate that into your workflow, it's going to save everyone time. It's going to save cost. And ultimately it's going to be more successful because with some of these text-based automation platforms for review requests, you can also integrate follow-ups. So if the person doesn't click the link, if the person doesn't leave a review, you can send a friendly reminder, you know, a couple of days later and say, Hey, You know, uh if you have a moment, we'd still really love a review from you. was an honor to serve you. Thanks so much. And I think also, you know, to your point, like you said, making it personal uh is really important. And one of the things that I always like to advise practice owners on is be humble, approach it with humility. I mean, one of the best ways I think for the smaller independent private practices now to ask for reviews. you know, especially as you're going up against these huge DSOs with unlimited marketing budgets and massive review profiles just based on volume, is to keep it humble and say, know, hey, we are a small family-owned practice. These reviews can really make a big difference in helping us reach more patients that we can help. And so staying humble, staying authentic and personal, I think, can really help. One of the other things that I know you and I have talked about offline, Skyler, is, you know, making review requests, you know, a team effort within the practice. And so uh one thing that we've really noticed over the last few years has been really successful for practices that implement it is actually getting, especially the hygiene team involved in asking for reviews. And that's because they often have an even better or more extensive relationship with the patient than even the dentist does. And so they have those relationships. We've actually worked with the practices that we partner with at DentalScapes to get, like you said, those QR codes, the review stands uh in the actual operatory where the hygiene is happening so that at the end of the cleaning or the treatment, the hygienist can actually just make that easy ask for the review and the patient can even leave it while they're in the chair if that's something they're comfortable with. What do you think about involving the team in terms of requesting reviews? I definitely agree with what you said. think patients have the most interactions with the hygienist. Like I see on social media when we post things like appreciation for the hygienist, stuff like that, that gets the most interactions by the patients. They comment, best hygienist ever. They even know them by first name. And I know personally, when I go to the dentist, I know my hygienist. I barely know the dentist because you see them not very often. um I think that that's definitely a good place to start. but they also have to be a little careful with like, don't want the hygienist to ask and then they walk to the front desk and they ask again, because then it's like, my gosh, okay. So I think the QR code is a really, really good way to go about it because you're giving them the option and if they don't take it, then you can put another QR code at the front. um That takes away the awkwardness of having to ask. It's right next to their face. Leave us a review with a little QR code and it's not pushy, it's not salesy, because no one likes, it's like someone knocking on your door asking if you want to buy a TV package. No, no I don't. um So yeah, think the QR codes and the hygienist are a great place to start and see how that goes for sure. Well, and we all get so many review requests these days. mean, every business is, you know, fortunately, I think recognizing the importance of them and, you know, as these reviews, you know, even further influence search results and rankings and visibility and AI. I think we're only going to see more of it, but people are inundated with requests for reviews. so to your point, making it as easy as possible is super important. So those QR code stands, you know, in office are great. uh Involving the hygienist in some in some cases, you know We encourage the practice owners that we work with to actually incentivize hygienists and oftentimes it's better to say You know, we've got a goal for five or ten five star reviews this month. You can start small ah But we've got this goal this month if we hit that goal Or you hit that goal, you know, we'll give you a $25 $50 gift card, whatever it might be I can assure you there's no better bang for your buck in online marketing than uh five star reviews with the exception of SEO and organic search. But anyway, super important. So I don't think incentivizing is uh unreasonable at all. uh I just talked to the practice yesterday and they were saying that there was a little bit of uh maybe too heated competition between hygienists in the office. And it was kind of leaving maybe an icky feeling in people's mouths. But uh I think to that point. you can incentivize the team and say if collectively we hit this benchmark each month, you're all going home. You get a car and you get a car. You're all going home with a cool uh incentive. Maybe it's a gift card, like I said, or whatever it might be. That's just easy. uh But to that point, making it easy in addition to those in-office assets like the QR codes you're talking about, the personal asks, uh automating, automating, automating. We are all about it here at DentalScapes and I think that any practice that can work that into their flow is going to benefit tremendously. And to that point, there are so many tools that you can use. Do you have a few favorites Skyler that you you sometimes recommend, you know, to practices when it comes to automating review requests? Hmm. I don't know what to tell you. we're also, you know, at DentalScape, so we've authorized partner. We really uh recommend that practices that can, you know, spend a few bucks on it each month, you know, integrate a patient communication or engagement tool like weave. uh It automates the, the text message based requests. It's really great. And you can also engage in like a two way uh one-to-one text conversation with patients. So that's really great. And I will just mention the point of this podcast is not to be salesy. Um, but like I said, dental scapes is a weave authorized partner. If any practice listening out there is interested in integrating that, uh, into their workflow, it, it, handles far more than just review requests. It's also, you know, patient engagement, one-to-one texting. Um, you can do a whole lot with it. Um, online scheduling, that sort of thing. But if you are interested in integrating that, um, in signing up for weave. Talk to us first, even if you don't partner with us on marketing because uh no obligation, nothing locked in. We can help you get that $1,500 or whatever it is set up fee waived, uh which is pretty awesome. But please, please, please, if you're listening and you don't have some kind of automated system set up for review requests, uh absolutely do that. So uh Skyler. Before we close out here, what are some of the final takeaways that you would want to leave dentist owners who may be listening or practice administrators with when it comes to building that stronger five-star Google review profile? I just also wanted to add one quick thing that I think it also shows and means a lot when practices respond to some of these reviews. um Whether positive or negative, means a lot if somebody can see that you whereas they're active on your page, you care what your patients think. So that's another thing I wanted to add to try to keep your team on responding to these reviews. And good and bad. mean, I think it's equally, if not more important for practices to respond to the bad reviews because it's really about transparency and authenticity and shows other potential patients who may be considering your practice how you handle those difficult moments and how, yeah, and that you care. like, are you like me where it's like you look at, when you look at reviews for a restaurant or I guess a dentist, You I actually personally trust a 4.9 average more than a five because I recognize that it's real and they're not, you know, possibly just paying for these reviews. But that's yeah. I mean, people understand that uh things happen. People understand that, you know, it's impossible to please everyone. Lord knows, uh you know, you know that in any business and, you know, dentistry is no exception. And so responding, like you said, to every review is super important. recognize the patient, thank the patient, it's really important. Is there anything else that, know, let's say, you know, a practice right now, you know, a dentist listening to this show doesn't have a workflow for generating reviews right now or hasn't maybe prioritized it in the past, what would you say to that person? I think start small and it can go really far. mean, just give it a shot and I think you can see very quickly how much reviews can change your inflow for sure. Yeah, and I think too, I know I just keep rambling on and we have to wrap up, but I think what you just said is important because start small. You don't have to get 20, 30 reviews a month, especially if you're, you know, a smaller independent practice. You can start with five. Um, it's, you know, it's really about forward momentum and movement. Actually, one of the things we know that Google pays attention to is not just the overall number of the reviews that you have. So you could have 200, 300, 800 reviews, and that's awesome. But you could also have, you know, 50 or 75 and as long as you're as you're consistent and you're actively building these reviews, it's going to make a difference for sure.% and Google has been on record calling that velocity that the frequency with which you're generating those reviews, as long as you're consistent, like you said, and generating them, it's totally fine to start small. obviously, I remember I forget where I heard it when I was growing up, but it was like, aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment. But it's kind of the same thing. Start small, hit your goals, and then set a reach goal for the next month. And like we talked about. incentivize your team too. It's a great way to get everyone involved and uh keep folks happy. So Skyler, thank you so much for joining the show today. Again, really appreciate it. If you didn't uh check out the episodes, if you're listening to this and you didn't uh catch the episode that I did with my co-founder Brian a few weeks back about reviews, we also talked about some of the opportunities to uh to generate those as well as why they're important for local search and AI visibility and all that. Check that out. And if you enjoyed what you heard today, please, uh I would respectfully ask that you take 30 seconds, like Skyler said, and leave a five-star review. We're talking about reviews. It's kind of appropriate. Take 30 seconds if you don't mind and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or iHeartRadio or wherever you get these podcasts. We would really appreciate it. It is the best way. to help us reach other dentists and practice managers out there to help them grow their business. So thanks so much for joining today, Skyler. We'll be back at it next week. Dental marketing mix comes out every week. uh And actually, if you didn't check it out also, go to dentalscapes.com, check out our blog. Every week now we've started putting out a Monday marketing rundown that's talking about some of the latest and greatest when it comes to dental marketing and what's happening and how to stay. Vigilant in 2026. So thanks so much, Skyler. Thank you all for listening and we will be back at it next week. Take care. We'll see you. Yep. Bye.