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Short answer: a dental website converts when it loads fast on a phone, shows a tap-to-call button and a booking option in the first screen, has a page for each service that answers cost and insurance questions, uses real photos of your team and office, and tracks every call and form. If your site misses more than three of the 15 checks below, fix those before you increase ad spend.
- Google's "good" thresholds are 2.5 seconds for Largest Contentful Paint, 200 milliseconds for Interaction to Next Paint and 0.1 for Cumulative Layout Shift.
- Most new-patient enquiries come from phones, so tap-to-call and booking must be visible without scrolling.
- Patients want to know insurance and cost before they call. Pages that answer keep them; pages that do not lose them.
- You cannot improve what you do not measure. Track calls and forms from the site, by page.
Checks 1 to 3: is the site fast and usable on a phone?
- The page loads fast for real visitors.Run your homepage and your top service page through PageSpeed Insights and look at the field data. Google treats Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 ms or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less as good.1 Oversized images, sliders and chat widgets are the usual culprits.
- Tap-to-call is always within reach.A sticky call button on mobile, using a tracked number, with the number written out so people can see it.
- Nothing blocks the first screen.No pop-up offer, cookie banner or chat window covering the headline and the call button on a phone.
Checks 4 to 6: can a new patient book in under a minute?
- Online booking or a short form.If you offer online scheduling, link to it from every page. If you use a form, ask for no more than name, phone, email and reason for visit.
- A clear button in the first screen."Book an appointment" or "Call now", repeated after every major section. One primary action per page.
- A dedicated new-patient page.What the first visit includes, how long it takes, what it costs or which insurance covers it, forms to fill in beforehand, and parking. This is the page your ads and Business Profile should often link to.
Test it yourself. On your own phone, start on the homepage and try to book a cleaning. Count the taps and note every moment you have to pinch, zoom or wait. Then ask someone who has never seen the site to do the same.
Checks 7 to 9: do service pages answer what patients ask?
- One page per main service.Implants, clear aligners, emergency care, crowns, whitening, children's dentistry, each with its own page. One "Services" page with a paragraph for each cannot rank or convert for any of them.
- Cost and financing.A price range or "from" price where you can, what changes it, and the financing you offer. See our implant playbook for how we handle implant pricing.
- Insurance accepted, by name.List the plans you are in network with and say whether you file out-of-network claims. "We accept most insurance" answers nothing.
Checks 10 to 12: does the site look like a real practice?
- Real photos.Your dentists, team, front desk, treatment rooms and building. Stock photos of models are the fastest way to look like every other practice.
- Genuine reviews.Show recent Google reviews, with a link to the full profile. Do not filter out every review under five stars if you claim the display is representative.
- Dentist bios.Training, years in practice, special interests and a short personal note. Patients choose a person as much as a practice.
For The Smile Designer, a cosmetic and implant practice in Spring, Texas, we rebuilt the site around the dentist, her in-house lab and a consultation patients could picture. The practice reports a 27% improvement in conversion since launch. See the case study.
Check 13: can patients find you?
- Address, hours, map and parking on every location page.The same name, address and phone as your Google Business Profile, with directions, parking or transit notes and a photo of the entrance. This also supports your map pack ranking.
Checks 14 and 15: can you measure it, and can everyone use it?
- Calls and forms tracked by page and source.Dynamic call tracking numbers, form submissions sent to your analytics and ad accounts, and booking confirmations recorded. Without this, you cannot tell which pages or channels bring patients.
- Accessible to every patient.Readable text sizes, enough color contrast, buttons large enough to tap, image descriptions, and forms that work with a keyboard and screen reader. It is good practice, and accessibility complaints against healthcare websites are common.
We will run the checklist on your homepage and top service pages and send you the fixes in priority order, free.
Which fixes should you make first?
| Priority | Fix | Why first |
|---|---|---|
| This week | Tap-to-call, booking button, call tracking | Cheap, fast, and affects every visitor |
| This month | Speed, insurance list, new-patient page | Removes the most common reasons people leave |
| This quarter | Service pages, real photos, dentist bios | Needs content and a photo shoot, but drives SEO and trust |
If the site is slow, built on a template you do not own, or impossible to update, a rebuild may be cheaper than patching it. Our page on what dental marketing costs includes typical website prices. For landing pages built for paid traffic, see our Google Ads structure guide.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a good dental website?
How fast should a dental website load?
Should dental websites show prices?
Do dental websites need online booking?
How do I know if my dental website is converting?
Sources
- web.dev, Web Vitals (Core Web Vitals thresholds)
- Google PageSpeed Insights
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Abdullah plans and builds dental practice websites and the landing pages behind their ad campaigns, including The Smile Designer and Elfersi Orthodontics. The Dental Marketing Firm works only with dental practices, from 3925 W North Ave, Chicago.
Last updated November 6, 2026.
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