SEO for orthodontists
Orthodontic SEO That Brings In New Patient Starts
You're paying for marketing, and you're still the one coming up with the ideas.
I'm Brent Collier. I provide orthodontic SEO services for 12 orthodontic and dental practices in seven states. I find what will bring your practice more patients, I build it, and you see every piece of it without having to ask.
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com
The short version
$3,500/mo
Starts at $3,500 a month, month to month, no contract.
- Who you work with
- Me, Brent Collier, at Starts with Strategy in Johnson City, Tennessee. My orthodontic and dental clients know me as Go Unicorn.
- Who I work with
- Orthodontists and dental practices from Utah to Florida, from one office to five.
- What I measure
- New patient consults and starts.
- What I bring
- The ideas, and the finished work. You don't have to manage me.
The problem with most orthodontic SEO companies
Most orthodontists I talk to have paid for SEO before. What they didn't get was someone who did the work without being chased.
- Your marketing company waits for you to tell them what to post.
- The monthly report is full of impressions and "visibility," and you can't tell whether it brought in a single start.
- The practice across town is in the map pack for "braces near me," and you aren't.
- A parent asks ChatGPT for the best orthodontist in your town, and it names someone else.
You didn't go through dental school and residency to learn how Google ranks a website. You shouldn't have to manage the person you hired to handle it.
What is orthodontic SEO?
Orthodontic SEO is the work that gets an orthodontic practice found when people nearby search for braces, Invisalign, early treatment or an orthodontist. That means the Google map pack, the regular search results, and AI answers from ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews.
Rankings and clicks tell you whether it's working. New patient consults and starts tell you whether it's paying off, so that's what I report on.
Who's the best orthodontist near me for my 9-year-old?
AI answer
Illustration. Your website cited as the source when a parent asks AI
Illustration. Your page: #3 in the regular results
I bring the ideas. Then I build them.
When I find something worth doing for your practice, I do it. You see it finished, with a link and a screenshot.
Here's what that looks like in a normal month:
- I find the searches you're almost winning.For Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, "orthodontics for children" (about 1,000 searches a month) and "phase 1 orthodontics" (about 500) were sitting around positions 7 to 10. Those became the next pages.
- I build a page for every town your patients drive in from.Each office at Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics has its own page, and the practice is No. 1 on Google for searches like "pediatric dentist short pump."
- I write the page and put it live myself.I work right inside your website, so you don't need a separate developer to make changes.
- I turn each new page into more reach.Every page becomes Google Business Profile posts and a Pinterest pin, designed with real photos from your practice.
Every one of those goes on your Trello board, a shared online board where each task is a card your team can open, follow and comment on. Your office manager can see what I did any day of the month.
In Progress
Pending
Done
Illustration. Sturgill Orthodontics' real board: 493 finished tasks
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com
Local SEO
How I get orthodontists into the map pack
A lot of families pick an orthodontist from the three practices Google shows on the map. That's where local SEO pays off fastest, and it's where I start with every practice.
Your Google Business Profile, set up the way Google reads it
Orthodontist as your primary category, the right secondary categories, and every treatment you offer listed as a service, from braces and Invisalign to early treatment and adult orthodontics.
One profile for every office
Each office gets its own profile, its own posts and its own city page, so a Norton patient never lands on a Johnson City page.
The orthodontist directories patients actually use
Your AAO Find an Orthodontist and Invisalign Doctor Locator listings, plus Healthgrades, Yelp, Apple Maps and Bing, all with the same name, address and phone number as your website.
Reviews asked for at debond
The day the braces come off is when patients are happiest. A tap card at the front desk makes the ask easy, and every review gets a reply.
New photos every week
Real photos of your doctors, team and office go on your profile and in the posts, not stock images.
Rankings tracked town by town
I check where you show up across the towns your patients drive in from, not only from your front door.
Illustration. Your practice: #2 for “orthodontist near me”
One honest noteGoogle ranks map results partly by how close the practice is to the person searching, and nobody can change that. I can make you the strongest choice in your area, and I'll tell you up front which towns are realistic.
Quick check
Is your practice easy to find?
Answer these six questions about your practice. It takes about a minute.
When you search "orthodontist" and your town on your phone, is your practice one of the three on the map?
Is your Google Business Profile's primary category set to Orthodontist?
Have you gotten new Google reviews in the last 30 days?
Does your website have its own page for each treatment, like braces, Invisalign and early treatment?
Does each town your patients drive in from have its own page on your site?
When you ask ChatGPT for the best orthodontist in your town, does it name you?
Answer all 6 to see your result.
5 or 6 yes answers
You're in good shape. The next gains come from nearby towns and the searches you're almost winning. I can show you which ones on a call.
3 or 4 yes answers
You're close, with a few gaps a competitor can use. Those gaps are usually the fastest wins, and I'd start with them.
0 to 2 yes answers
Families in your town are finding someone else first. The good news is that the fixes are clear, and the first ones can start this month.
What's included in my SEO for orthodontists
Every practice gets the same core work, built around your town and your treatments.
This week on your Google Business Profile
Illustration. 2 posts and 2 new photos on your profile this week
- New service and city pages every month.Braces, Invisalign, early treatment, adult orthodontics, cost pages, and a page for each nearby town your patients drive in from.
- Google Business Profile posts twice a week.Each one links to the matching service page and goes up with a real photo.
- Graphic design for every post and page.I design your Google Business Profile post graphics, Pinterest pins, social images, link preview images for new pages and review QR codes myself in Photoshop, in your colors and with real photos from your practice.
- A review system your team will actually use.A tap card at the front desk, set up so the ask happens at debond.
- Backlinks from relationships you already have.Aligner and bracket companies, your dental school and residency, study clubs, sponsorships and local press. I never buy links.
- Fixes to the website itself.Slow pages, broken links, weak headlines, missing page titles. I make the changes instead of sending you a list.
- AI search.Pages full of specific, checkable facts about your doctors, treatments and offices, so ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews have something to quote.
- Your own Trello board.Every page, post, pin and link gets its own card, so you always know where things stand.
- Reporting on consults and starts.Rankings and clicks explain what happened. Starts are the scoreboard.
If you want full social media management, photo and video shoots, or paid ads too, I bring in the people I trust for those, and I stay in the loop.
Design work
Made for each practice, not pulled from a template
Every graphic I make uses the practice's own colors, logo and photos. Here are a few from real client accounts.
Numbers you can check
Orthodontic SEO results from practices I work with
These are the searches that bring in local patients. Giardina's is a live Google search from Harrisonburg. The others are each practice's average position in Google Search Console, July 21 to October 20, 2026.
Google search: orthodontist harrisonburg va
No.1
in the map pack
No.1
in the regular results
Giardina Orthodontics, Harrisonburg, VA. Searched from Harrisonburg in October 2026. Two more Giardina results show up further down page one.
1,699
calls
892
direction requests
640
website clicks
From Giardina's Google Business Profile, May to October 2026.
Google search: pediatric dentist short pump
No.1
Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & OrthodonticsAverage position 1.1
Google search: orthodontist bristol tn
No.1
Sturgill OrthodonticsAverage position 1.2
Google search: pediatric dentist mechanicsville
Top2
Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & OrthodonticsAverage position 1.6
1,007
clicks from Google to one location page in six months
Mechanicsville location page
Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, April 10 to October 7, 2026. The page is built for families in and around Mechanicsville, and it's the kind of page that brings in calls. The Short Pump location page brought in 809 more.
Sturgill Orthodontics' Trello board shows 493 finished tasks and 50 new pages built and tracked. That's the work behind the results.
The SEO and content Go Unicorn has created for us has been a game changer. We show up everywhere families are searching, even in AI searches, and our new patient flow has never been stronger. It's big weight off my shoulders knowing our marketing is handled and actually driving results.
Working with Go Unicorn has genuinely transformed our practice. We're now ranking at the top of search results across Harrisonburg, and we've seen a significant increase in new patient consultations from families who are actively searching for orthodontic care. If you're an orthodontist frustrated with your online presence, I'd recommend giving them a call. Results matter, and they deliver.
August was our best month ever in the 6 years I've been here!
I wanted to tell you how incredibly grateful I am for all that you've done for me. I love my practice and I love the patients you are sending my way. Really so glad I found you.
The orthodontists and dentists I work with
A few short videos from my clients' own Facebook pages, so you can see the doctors and teams behind the numbers.
- Sturgill OrthodonticsJohnson City and Bristol, TN, and Norton, VA
- Giardina OrthodonticsHarrisonburg, VA
- Aligned on Pearl OrthodonticsDenver, CO
- Hamada OrthodonticsMetairie, Luling and Destrehan, LA
- Murray OrthodonticsPalm Beach Gardens and Royal Palm Beach, FL
- Haverkos Family OrthodonticsCincinnati, OH
- Bailey-Welling OrthodonticsBountiful and Farmington, UT
- Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & OrthodonticsGreater Richmond, VA
- Ogden OrthodonticsClermont, Windermere and Mount Dora, FL
- Sturgill EndodonticsJohnson City, TN
- Sturgill Sleep CenterJohnson City, TN
- Seven Hills General DentistryCincinnati, OH
I won't take on a competing orthodontist in your area. If I work with you, the practice down the road has to find someone else.
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com
How much does orthodontic SEO cost?
My orthodontic SEO starts at $3,500 a month. It's month to month, with no contract.
That covers everything above: new pages every month, Google Business Profile posts twice a week, the graphics for them, reviews, backlinks, website fixes, AI search and reporting.
My orthodontic clients publish fees of about $3,000 to $7,000 for a full case of braces. So at $3,500 a month, one or two extra starts a month covers the cost.
Orthodontic SEO companies that publish prices run from about $1,500 to $8,000 a month, and most fall between $2,000 and $8,000. At $3,500, you get pages written for your town by the person you actually talk to.
I put the price here so you don't have to get on a call just to find out.
$3,500a month
Month to month, no contract.
There are always more pages worth building than any practice has, so the monthly amount mostly decides how fast I build them. Plans go above $3,500 when there's more to cover:
- Several offices, each with its own Google Business Profile and city pages
- A lot of nearby towns your patients drive in from
- A faster pace of new pages, usually to catch up with a strong competitor
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com
Who this isn't a fit for
You want the cheapest plan you can find.
There are plenty of those, and I'm not one of them.
You want a ranking guaranteed by a date.
Nobody honest can promise that.
Another orthodontist in your area already works with me.
I won't work for two practices competing for the same families.
Three steps
How getting started works
- 1
We talk for about an hour.
You tell me what you want for your practice, whether that's more starts, more Invisalign cases or a newer office filling up. Then I share my screen, we look at your search results in real time, and we go over your website together. By the end, we'll both know if we're a good fit.
- 2
I give you the first three moves.
Something specific, like fixing your Google Business Profile, building Invisalign and early treatment pages for your town, then adding pages for the two towns your patients drive in from.
- 3
I start that week.
Logins, your Trello board, rank tracking and alerts in week one. Your Google Business Profile, listings and website fixes in month one. New pages, backlinks and a review push in months two and three.
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com
About me
I'm Brent Collier, and I run Starts with Strategy from Johnson City, Tennessee. I've been doing SEO since 2007.
I found my niche with orthodontists because the work repeats from town to town. Every practice needs the same things: a strong Google Business Profile, pages for each treatment and town, reviews, and links from real relationships. Once I learned it for one practice, I could do it well for the next.
Almost all of my new clients come from one orthodontist telling another. I'd like to keep it that way, which is why I do the work myself and show you every piece of it.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
Questions
Orthodontic SEO questions
How do I choose an orthodontic SEO company?
Ask for orthodontic clients by name, then look them up. Ask what they report on, and whether it's starts or just traffic. Ask to see the actual work, ask who writes your pages, and ask how long the contract is. A good orthodontist SEO company will answer all of that without hesitating.
Are you an orthodontic marketing agency?
Starts with Strategy is a small agency, and I do the SEO and design work myself. You won't be handed off to an account manager. When a practice wants full social media management, photo and video shoots, or ads, I bring in people I trust and stay involved.
How long does orthodontic SEO take to work?
Six months is a fair benchmark. Some things move sooner, especially searches you already rank 4th to 15th for and changes to your Google Business Profile. I won't promise you a ranking by a date.
Do I have to sign a contract?
No. It's month to month. As of October 2026, every practice I've taken on is still with me, and I'd rather keep it that way by doing the work than by locking anyone in.
How much of my time will this take?
Very little. I'll need logins at the start, and I'll ask your team for photos and the occasional answer. After that, your office manager can check your Trello board whenever they want, and I bring new work to you instead of waiting on you.
Do you work with practices that have more than one office?
Yes. Sturgill Orthodontics has three offices, Hamada Orthodontics and Ogden Orthodontics have three each, and Richmond Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics has five. Each office gets its own Google Business Profile posts and its own city pages.
Should I do SEO or Google Ads?
Ads bring calls as soon as they're turned on and stop when you stop paying. SEO takes longer and keeps working after the work is done. They pair well: ads can cover the first few months while SEO builds.
What if another company built my website?
That's common. I can work inside most websites directly. If another company owns the design, I won't change their design or code without asking first, and I can still add pages, blog posts and links.
Can you get my practice recommended by ChatGPT?
Nobody controls what an AI tool says. What I can do is give it good reasons to name you: specific facts about your doctors, treatments, prices and offices on your site, the same details on every listing, and reviews and mentions on other sites.
Do you work with general and pediatric dentists?
Yes. Along with orthodontists, I work with a pediatric dentistry and orthodontics group, a general dentist, an endodontist and a dental sleep center.
Is Starts with Strategy the same as Go Unicorn?
Yes. Go Unicorn is the name I use for my orthodontic and dental marketing. Same person, same work.
Let's see if we're a good fit
I only take on a few new practices at a time, so every one gets my full attention.
Book a call and tell me where you want your practice to go. We'll look at your search results in real time, go over your website together, and figure out whether working together makes sense.
or email me brent@startswithstrategy.com