Emerging Dental Group Playbook

The short answer

Decide who owns the accounts before the third office opens. The group owns the domain, every Business Profile, the Ads manager account, and the Analytics property. Every office gets its own page, its own Business Profile with its real name, address, and phone, and its own slug in every report. Add shared tools as the count grows: a business group, a manager account, an office finder, and a central phone plan. Google's bulk verification is for 10 or more locations of the same business, so a group of 3 to 9 verifies each office one at a time.

Use this order when your practice is opening or buying its third office and planning toward about ten. In the examples, Oak Park, Pine Hill, and Elm Street stand in for your own offices. Ask your own counsel about the purchase contract itself. The wider set of jobs is in marketing a multi-location practice or DSO.

Before the third office opens

Settle ownership before office 3 opens, or before a purchase closes. The shared tools come later. Do not start with bulk verification, an office finder, and a call team while the third office is still opening.

One domain or separate sites

Choose where the offices will live before you build the third page. Shared-brand offices usually sit on one domain, each with its own page. A purchased office keeps its own site only when that site will stay the public site, and a mix of the two is a hybrid. See one domain, separate office sites, or a hybrid.

The name after a purchase

If you are buying the office, pick the public name before anyone edits the profile. Google's representation guidelines say the name should match the real-world name on the sign, the website, and the stationery. Locations of a chain in one country use the same name, unless that real-world name consistently differs from door to door. How to choose a full rebrand, a co-brand, or the local name is covered in rebrand, co-brand, or keep the name.

The group owns every profile

Put the group on every Business Profile as an owner, and make a vendor a manager. Owners and managers can both edit the profile, reply to reviews, and publish posts. Owners can also add or remove users and can remove the profile. Managers cannot.

Each person uses their own Google Account. Do not share one password. Who may hold those seats is covered in Business Profile governance.

If the group already runs Google Ads, the manager account is in the group's name before the third office opens. The Analytics property stays on the account the group already has.

One slug per office

Write the office slug list before the reports multiply. Oak Park, Pine Hill, and Elm Street are three slugs, and the same three strings belong on the page URL, the ad row, the Analytics row, and the call report. See the per-office marketing report.

Account handoff on a purchase

Before the purchase closes, list who can open the domain, the profiles, Ads, and Analytics. The existing profile stays. A new profile for the same door creates a second listing. The cutover steps are covered in the post-acquisition handoff.

A new build-out

A new office is not a purchase. Set the opening on the profile and publish a page that matches it. Do not run a build-out through the acquisition list. See the de novo launch playbook.

Three to five offices

At three to five offices, each door is a page and a profile, and the shared accounts are in the group's name. The office finder and the central phone plan can wait.

One page per office

Publish one page per office, with that office's name, street address, and phone in the HTML, and link each page from a locations list. Google can generally crawl a link when it is a normal HTML link with the address in the href. A button that only runs a script is not that link. How to build the page is covered in location pages for a multi-office site.

LocalBusiness on the office page

Search Central says to define each local business location as a LocalBusiness type, using the most specific subtype you can. Put that markup on the office page, the page that shows the address. See location pages for a multi-office site for how a dental office uses it. Markup does not merge two addresses into one profile.

No near-copy town pages

Do not publish a near-copy page for every town around Oak Park. Google's spam policies describe doorway abuse as pages created to rank for similar queries that lead people to a page less useful than the destination. City pages that funnel visitors to one page are an example. One treatment page can name the offices that offer the treatment, and a town with no office does not get its own copy.

A business group

A business group is a shared folder for profiles, so coworkers manage them without sharing a password. Owners and managers of the group can create, edit, and delete the profiles in it. A person you add can access the profiles already there and the ones you add later.

Keep one group for the brand. A spreadsheet does not import across groups. See business group.

One Analytics account

Most groups of this size need only one Analytics account. In Google's account structure examples, one account holds a property for each separate audience, and you keep the account you already have rather than opening a new one. Put the office slug on the reports you already have, and read office-level calls, forms, and bookings in GA4 without patient details.

Ads under a manager account

A Google Ads manager account is a separate account that lets you view and manage other accounts, including other manager accounts, from one sign-in. It is not an upgrade of an account you already have. The group owns it. A vendor gets a user seat.

An admin on a client account can unlink the manager, so the group keeps that admin. Location assets can show the address, a map, or the approximate distance, using data from the Business Profile. If you mark a location closed, that asset stops showing. Use a location group when a campaign should include only some offices.

Budgets and call counts are covered in Google Ads budgets and call attribution.

Review requests at each office

Ask for the review on that office's own profile. Do not point an Oak Park patient at the Pine Hill listing. The same ask, and the reply habit, are covered in review requests across offices.

Which office offers which treatment

List a treatment only where that office offers it. The treatment page, the office page, the profile, and the ads should name the same doors. See which office offers which treatment.

Six to ten offices

At six to ten offices, add the tools that keep a longer list usable. The ownership rules from the first stage do not change.

An office finder

Publish an office finder that lists every open office with a plain link to that office page. A ZIP search can sit with that list. Crawlers use the links. See the office finder guide.

Central phones or office phones

Decide whether each office answers, a central team answers, or you use a hybrid. The representation guidelines still ask for a phone that connects to the individual location, and a local number rather than a central helpline when you can. The number on the profile has to reach that office. Who picks up is covered in office phones or a central team.

Provider pages

When dentists work at more than one office, keep one roster of who is where. That roster feeds the provider page. See provider pages and practitioner profiles for the join, the rotation, and the exit.

Holiday hours

A longer list of offices makes a shared holiday easy to get wrong. One calendar, then the profile, the office page, and the phone plan say the same hours. See holiday hours for many offices.

Local Services Ads

If the group uses Local Services Ads, run them office by office under the manager account the group owns. Search campaigns stay beside them. The setup is covered in Local Services Ads across offices.

Careers pages

Post each open job on its own page, and keep the markup off the careers index. A closed job comes off the site. See careers pages and job markup.

Bulk verification at 10 or more

Bulk verification is for 10 or more locations of the same business. The profiles in the account have to accurately reflect the size of the business. Google may ask for evidence if the chain size and the profile count differ.

Duplicate, suspended, or disabled profiles do not count toward that minimum. An agency account that holds more than one business cannot bulk verify. If the Verifications tab is not there, verify each office on its own. See bulk verification.

AI search

The group name and each office name have to match across the page, the profile, and the markup before you worry about how an AI answer repeats them. That alignment is covered in AI search for multi-location groups.

Plan by office count

Enter how many offices are open, how many you plan to add in the next 12 months, and what is already done. The plan puts the open steps in the order of this guide: what to do now, what to finish before the next stage, and what can wait.

Offices open today

Offices you plan to add in 12 months

How the next office arrives

Already in place

The group owns the domain and every Business Profile The domain choice is written down Every office has a slug used in every report Each office has its own page The profiles sit in one business group Google Ads runs under a manager account the group owns An office finder lists every open office A written phone plan covers every office

Your plan

Today: 3 offices, the three to five office stage. In 12 months: 7 offices, the six to ten office stage. 6 steps are due now.

Do now

1Before the purchase closes, list who can open the domain, the profile, Ads, and Analytics for that office. See Before the third office opens.
2Pick the public name for the purchased office before anyone edits its profile. See Before the third office opens.
3Write down the domain choice: one domain with office pages, separate sites, or a hybrid. See Before the third office opens.
4Publish one page per office, linked from a locations list. See Three to five offices.
5Move the profiles into one business group. See Three to five offices.
6Run Google Ads under a manager account the group owns, with a location asset for each office. See Three to five offices.

Before office 6 opens

1Publish an office finder that links every open office. See Six to ten offices.
2Write the phone plan: who answers each office, and which number goes on each profile. See Six to ten offices.

Verify each office one at a time. Bulk verification is for 10 or more locations of the same business.

Duplicate pages and moved offices

When an office moves, or two offices become one, send the old URL to the page that should remain. Google's consolidation guide ranks redirects as the strongest signal you can send, then a canonical link, then the sitemap. Using more than one of those together makes the preference clearer, and none of them is required when the page has no duplicate. The profile, the phone, and the closure steps are covered in moving, merging, or closing an office.

Do not open a second profile for the new address. Edit the profile patients already review, and make the page show the same name, address, and phone.

Who owns what

Write the seat, then check it each quarter. One person can hold two seats. The check is whether the group can still open the account.

Who owns the domain, the profiles, ads, analytics, and the website, and what to check each quarter
Role	What they own	What to check each quarter
Group owner	The domain, profile ownership, the Ads manager account, and the Analytics account.	The group can still sign in. A vendor is not the only owner.
Operations	Hours, which offices are open, and who answers the phone.	The number on each profile reaches that office. Holiday hours match the sheet.
Local SEO	Office pages, profiles, the business group, and the office finder.	One page and one profile per open office. The name matches the sign.
Paid media lead	The manager account, location assets, and Local Services Ads if the group uses them.	Each office has its own location asset. A vendor has a seat, not ownership.
Analytics	The property setup and the office slug on every report.	A report can split by office. The row has no patient name.
Website	Office pages, the finder, redirects, provider pages, and careers pages.	A moved office redirects. Town pages are not copies of one another.

When to bring in an agency, and what to ask

Bring in a firm when the owner can no longer make the weekly edits, or when a purchase and a new office are in motion together. A useful answer names an owner, a page, or a report you can open. See how to choose a DSO dental marketing company. A trial at a few offices before a wider rollout is covered in pilot offices for an agency trial.

Questions to ask an agency before hiring for a group of 3 to 10 offices
Question	A useful answer names	Ask a follow-up if you hear
1. Who owns the domain, the profiles, the Ads manager account, and Analytics?	The group is the owner on each. The agency is a manager or a user the group can remove.	The agency is the only owner, or the group cannot open the registrar or the profiles.
2. What is decided before the third office opens?	The domain choice, the public name if this is a purchase, an owner on each profile, and the office slug list.	The third office will share one page with the others, or the slug list starts after the office opens.
3. How does each office show up on the site and in the reports?	One page, one profile, one phone, and the same slug in Ads, Analytics, and the call report.	One phone number for every office with no answering plan, or a report that only shows a group total.
4. When do you add a business group, an office finder, and bulk verification?	A business group when several people manage profiles. An office finder as the list grows. Bulk verification at 10 or more locations of the same business, with profiles that match the real size.	Bulk verification is offered for a group of three, or the finder is a map with no office links.
5. What happens when an office moves, or when the group buys one?	The old URL redirects to the surviving page, the existing profile stays, and the access list is written before close.	A new profile for the new address, or no one has listed who can open the accounts.

Red flags

Read a proposal for these patterns before you sign.

1. A vendor owns the domain or the profiles.

The group cannot open the registrar, the Business Profile, or both. A vendor can have a seat. The vendor is not the owner.
2. One page for every office, and no office pages.

Oak Park, Pine Hill, and Elm Street need three pages. A group homepage does not stand in for a door.
3. The same text on every town page.

Google's spam policies describe doorway abuse as pages built to rank for similar queries that send people to a less useful page. City pages that funnel visitors to one page are an example. Write the page for the office.
4. One phone number on every office, with no plan.

The representation guidelines ask for a phone that connects to that location, and a local number rather than a central helpline when you can. If one number will cover several offices, write who answers before it goes on the profiles.
5. Reports that cannot split by office.

A group total with no office slug hides which door the calls and the spend belong to. Use the same slug on every report.
6. Buying an office with no access handoff.

Close arrives and the previous vendor is the only one who can open the domain, the profile, or Ads. List who can open each account before you close.

Checklist

Twelve checks, in the order above. Ticks stay in this browser.

What DDS Web Solutions builds

DDS Web Solutions builds practice websites. Our team has been building websites since 2014, and we have served 100+ practices. The offices are in Sacramento and San Mateo. Our products include Smyly, SmileTrak, and ToothRank.

We can help a group set the order of work from the third office toward about ten: one page and one profile per office, on accounts the group owns. We do not promise rankings, calls, or new patients. For group planning, see DSO and multi-location marketing. For hiring a firm, see how to choose a DSO dental marketing company.

Marketing playbook for a dental group of 3 to 10 offices