A citation is any place online that lists your practice’s name, address and phone number, often shortened to NAP. Citations matter less than they once did as a ranking factor, but inconsistent ones still cause real damage: patients call disconnected numbers, drive to old addresses, and Google gets mixed signals about where the practice actually is.
Start with a master record
Write down, once, the exact version of your details: legal-looking or casual name (pick the one on your signage), street address, suite format (“Suite 200” or “#200”, but always the same), main phone number and website address. Every listing you touch should match this record, character for character where possible.
The listings that matter for dentists
- The big platforms: Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook and Yelp. Apple and Bing feed maps on many phones and in-car systems.
- Healthcare directories: the dentist and doctor finder sites patients use to compare providers. They often list each dentist individually, so check every dentist, not just the practice.
- The NPI registry. Many directories pull practice addresses from the federal NPPES records for the practice and each dentist. Federal rules require providers to keep this information current; update it whenever you move.
- Insurance provider directories. Patients search their carrier’s “find a dentist” tool, and those listings come from your credentialing information, not from Google. After any change, update every carrier and network you participate in, and spot-check the directories yourself.
- Professional associations: your national, state and local dental association member directories, plus any specialty organizations.
- Local sources: the chamber of commerce, the local business association, hospital referral lists.
Data aggregators
Data aggregators are companies that collect business listings and distribute them to maps, apps, navigation systems and smaller directories. If an aggregator holds an old address, it can keep reappearing on sites you fixed by hand. Find out which aggregators currently supply data in your country and check your practice in each. Paid listing-management services push your details out for you; they can save time, but some listings revert when you stop paying, so ask before you sign.
Fixing duplicates and old addresses
Moves and practice purchases create most citation messes. The previous owner’s name, a former phone number, or a listing for the old suite can live on for years.
- Search for the old name, old address and old phone number, separately, and make a list of every listing you find.
- Claim the listings you can and correct them. Where a platform allows it, mark duplicates as closed or merge them into the correct one rather than creating new listings.
- Keep the old phone number forwarding to the practice for as long as you can afford to.
- Correct the NPI records and every insurance directory, which no listing tool will do for you.
The Business Profile side of a move or purchase is covered in the claim and verify chapter of the GBP guide.