SEO services for dentists: getting found within the advertising rules

SEO for dentists works differently from SEO for a webshop or a law firm. In Belgium, strict rules govern advertising for dental care, and a practice that looks too commercial risks a complaint. Yet patients do search online: in Google, in Google Maps and more and more in ChatGPT or Gemini, with a question like “which dentist in Leuven still takes new patients?”. This article covers what the rules allow, where the gray zone starts and how a practice gets found with factual information.

What do the Belgian advertising rules say for dentists?

The starting point is the law of 15 April 1958 on advertising for dental care. It prohibits direct and indirect advertising for oral and dental care. For a long time it was read as a total ban, even on a simple practice website.

That changed with the Vanderborght judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 4 May 2017 (case C-339/15). A Belgian dentist was prosecuted, among other things, for setting up a website to inform patients about the treatments offered in his practice. The Court ruled that the e-commerce directive precludes national legislation that prohibits any form of electronic commercial communications, including by means of a dentist’s website.

The Court added an important point. Protecting public health and the dignity of the profession remain valid reasons to restrict how dentists communicate. Professional rules may frame the content and form of commercial communications, because aggressive or misleading advertising can harm health and encourage inappropriate or unnecessary care. What is not allowed is a general and absolute ban.

In practice: an informative website and an online presence are defensible, but the tone has to stay factual, modest and not misleading. Treat dental SEO and marketing like retail marketing and you quickly end up on the wrong side of that line.

What is allowed, what is not, and where is the gray zone?

The table below is a practical reading of the rules and the judgment, not an exhaustive legal list. It helps you assess a text or a channel quickly.

The common thread: informing is allowed, enticing and comparing are not. The more a message pushes a patient towards care they may not need, the closer you are to the line.

How does a practice get found factually in Google?

The good news: what works best for local visibility is also the most factual. A patient searching “dentist Mechelen” or “emergency dentist Bruges” mostly wants to know who is nearby, when you are open and whether you take new patients.

1. A complete Google Business Profile. The right category, exact opening hours, phone number, accessibility, parking information and photos of the practice. The step-by-step approach is in our guide to the Google Business Profile.
2. One page per treatment. A factual explanation of implants, orthodontics or a root canal treatment: what it is, how it works, how long it takes, what the patient needs to know. Such pages answer real questions and are exactly the content search engines and AI models like to cite.
3. Practical information that is correct. Does the practice take new patients, do you work at the agreed national fees, how does the on-call service work? Put it on one clear page and keep it current.
4. Consistent details everywhere. The same name, address and number on your site, your profile and in directories. Contradicting details weaken your visibility, in Google and in AI.

What about reviews?

For a dental practice, reviews are one of the strongest signals in Google Maps. You may ask patients to share their experience, but Google itself draws clear limits. According to Google’s policy on fake engagement, businesses may not offer discounts or other incentives in exchange for reviews, discourage negative reviews or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.

For a healthcare provider there is an extra layer: professional secrecy. Always reply to a review in general and polite terms, without confirming that someone is a patient and without details about a treatment. Rebutting a critical review with medical information is exactly what you should not do. For the approach, read how to ask for Google reviews and handling negative Google reviews.

What do ChatGPT and Gemini answer to “good dentist in Ghent”?

More and more people ask an AI assistant for a dentist near them. The model builds its answer from what it finds: Google profiles, reviews, directories, practice websites and local mentions. A dentist cannot buy those answers, but can make sure the facts about the practice are findable, consistent and clear.

When we query AI assistants by city and profession, the same pattern keeps showing: a handful of practices comes back every time, while many practices that provide good care are never named. The difference rarely lies in the quality of care, but in how completely and unambiguously the practice is described online. How that mechanism works for local service providers is explained in how to get recommended by ChatGPT and local SEO for AI.

That fits well with the advertising rules. An AI model prefers to cite factual, verifiable information, not superlatives. A practice that clearly explains which treatments it offers, where it is and who works there is exactly the kind of reliable source a model likes. To see where your practice stands today, run the free AI visibility checker.

How do you measure appointment requests without breaking privacy rules?

To know which channels bring in new patients, you need to measure: clicks on the phone number, submitted appointment forms, clicks to an online calendar. That is allowed, on two conditions.

• Consent first. In Belgium, analytics and marketing cookies require prior consent. A banner that already sets cookies before the visitor has chosen is a common mistake. The rules are explained in cookie banner rules in Belgium.
• No health data in your tracking. Never send the content of an appointment form (complaint, treatment, name) to Google Analytics or an ad platform. Measure that a request happened, not what it was about.

A clean setup through Google Tag Manager with Consent Mode v2 keeps measurement and privacy in balance.

Where should a practice start?

Start with the facts, not with campaigns. Check your Google Business Profile, publish a clear information page per treatment, ask patients for a review in a neutral way and look at how AI assistants describe your practice today. Only then does it make sense to think about ads, and still with a factual tone.

Want someone to look at how visible your practice is in Google and in AI answers, and what you can improve within the rules? See our approach as a GEO agency.

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