The short answer
For a dental group of about 3 offices through 50 or more, keep one set of shared rules and give each office its own public door. The group owns the name standard, the website host choice, who can edit profiles, the reporting dictionary, and how ad budget is assigned. Each office keeps one Google Business Profile, a phone that reaches that office, and a page whose address is the website field on that profile. Google's representation guidelines describe that split. They do not publish a ranking bonus for sending every office to one homepage, or a reply deadline that lifts a map listing. A Google Ads budget is an average daily amount you set for a campaign. The sections below point to the guide that already covers each job.
This guide is the map for a multi-location practice or a dental group: which decisions are shared, which stay at each office, and which longer guide holds the steps. Ask counsel about trademark and entity questions. A single office that is not part of a group should start with the ordinary setup guides.
What the group owns, and what each office owns
Groups get into trouble when headquarters rewrites every local hour from a template, or when each office invents its own name, its own tracking parameters, and its own ad account with no owner list. The workable split is small. Shared rules. Local facts.
Group standard
The public-name rule, the host choice, who may own a profile, the event names in reports, and how ad budget is assigned across offices.
Each open office
One Business Profile, a phone that reaches that door, a page at the URL in the website field, hours, photos of that door, and replies on that profile.
A door you buy
An inventory before close, then a name decision, then redirects and account handoff. Those are three guides, not one checklist.
A door you open
An opening date and a coming-soon page for a location that is not seeing patients yet. Do not run it through the acquisition list.
| Layer | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Group standard | The public-name rule, the host choice, who may own a profile, the event names in reports, and how ad budget is assigned across offices. |
| Each open office | One Business Profile, a phone that reaches that door, a page at the URL in the website field, hours, photos of that door, and replies on that profile. |
| A door you buy | An inventory before close, then a name decision, then redirects and account handoff. Those are three guides, not one checklist. |
| A door you open | An opening date and a coming-soon page for a location that is not seeing patients yet. Do not run it through the acquisition list. |
Three offices and fifty offices use the same test, one door at a time. A larger group has more rows in the sheet. It does not get a different rule from Google for the name on the sign.
Rules that apply before the worksheets
Four points from Google are enough to stop the usual mistakes. The worksheets linked below walk through the exact clicks.
- •One profile for the business at that door. Google's representation guidelines say there should be only one profile per business, because more than one causes display problems on Maps and Search. An acquired office keeps the listing patients already review. A second listing for the group name is not a second door.
- •The name matches the sign, within a country. The same page says locations of a chain in one country use the same name, unless the real-world name consistently differs, and the same category when the offices provide the same services. The name field is the real-world name on the storefront, the website, and the stationery. How to choose a full rebrand, a co-brand, or the local name is a separate guide. Do not settle it by typing a city into the name.
- •The phone and the website are that door's. Provide a phone that connects to the individual location, preferably a local number rather than a central helpline, or a website that represents that location. Do not use a phone or a URL that redirects people to a landing page or a number other than that location's.
- •Each office is its own location in markup. Google's local business documentation says to define each local business location as a LocalBusiness type, using the most specific subtype you can. The location-page guide applies that to dental offices. Markup does not merge two addresses into one profile.
Nothing on those pages says a review reply sent inside a set number of hours raises a map ranking, or that a homepage link for every profile is a ranking benefit. Delete those targets from the operating sheet. Review asks, photo habits, and posts live in the governance guide and in the day-to-day profile work, not as a quota on this page.
Which guide does the work
Read the row that matches the decision in front of you. Opening two of these and copying both checklists into one memo is how a new office gets treated like a purchased one, or a name change gets buried inside a redirect project.
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Growing from one office to ten
The order of work from the third office toward about ten: ownership first, then a page and a profile per office, then the shared tools.
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Brand model for the whole group
Where the service line, the brand models, and the related worksheets sit together.
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Public name after a purchase
One string on the sign, the greeting, the profile, the page heading, and the ad.
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Which hostname stays indexed
Folders, separate domains, or a mix after an acquisition. URLs, redirects, and Analytics.
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The page for one office
What belongs on each office URL, and how that page lines up with its profile.
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Who can edit profiles
Owners, managers, business groups, chain verification, one link pattern, and review asks.
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Paid search and calls
Per-office, regional, or shared budgets, and call or booking counts that leave patient details out.
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Pay-per-lead ads for each office
One provider account per office under a manager account the group owns, with the service area set before the weekly budget.
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The same events in Analytics
One dictionary of key events, rolled up by office, without names or clinical notes.
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The sheet leadership reads
One definition per metric, the office slug on every row, and the exceptions left visible.
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The page owners and the board read
One page a quarter: the group line, offices by stage, a watch list, counts only, and view-only access.
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Facts that AI answers can repeat
The group name, each office name, and the pages and profiles that have to match.
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Apple Maps and Bing listings
One verified Apple organization, a brand per name on the sign, offices in bulk, then a clean Google import into Bing.
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Facebook and Instagram ownership
One business portfolio the group owns, partner access for the agency, and one Page model for every office.
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YouTube and office videos
A Brand Account the group owns, roles instead of passwords, and a playlist per office linked to its office page.
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Claim the business in ChatGPT
Business Hub claim, then a separate Persona check. Claiming the brand does not claim the offices.
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Before you buy a practice
What to inventory in the site, the profiles, the reviews, and the ad accounts.
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The week you take over
Keep the current profile and ad account, map permanent redirects, and hand off access.
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A brand-new office
Opening date, a matching coming-soon page, and local search before reviews exist.
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Hiring a firm
A scorecard for ownership, architecture, profiles, paid search, and reporting. Not a ranking.
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Leaving a firm
Who should hold the domain, the profiles, the ad account, analytics, tags, and the call numbers before the old firm is removed.
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Doctor pages when the team changes
One roster for offices, days, services, and booking links, plus what happens to the page and the practitioner profile when someone moves or leaves.
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Review asks and replies at every door
One Google review link per office profile, the same ask after a visit, and one reply standard. Reviews are not copied between doors.
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A trial at a few offices before a wider rollout
Name the pilot offices and the comparison offices first, keep the accounts with the group, and decide from the written read.
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Holiday hours and one-day closures
One calendar row per office per date, then the profile, the office page, the ad schedule, and the phone plan say the same thing.
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Open jobs on the group's site
One page per open job, with JobPosting that matches the page. The careers index lists jobs and does not carry that markup.
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One office moves, two offices combine, or one door closes
Edit the existing profile on a move, mark the other profile Permanently closed when two offices become one, and point a closed office page at the nearest open doors.
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Office pages in another language
Each language version has its own URL. Publish it only when that office can serve patients in that language.
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Not every office offers every treatment
One service-by-office sheet, then the treatment page, the office page, the Business Profile, and the ads name only the offices that offer it.
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Patients need to find the nearest office
The finder lists every open office with a plain link to that office page. ZIP search and use my location help a person. They are not how a crawler finds the office pages.
Two smaller worksheets still matter when the team changes or the year is planned. Marketing when a dentist leaves or joins is the provider change. The marketing calendar guide is the single-office worksheet you can reuse per door. Front desk lead conversion is the call routine. None of the three replaces the rows above.
Budget and reporting
Google's average daily budget page says the budget is the average amount you set for a campaign per day: roughly what you are comfortable spending each day over the month. You can change it. The same page says a shared budget can cover more than one campaign. Build that amount from your own records. Do not copy a percent of revenue from another group, and do not invent search volume you have not exported. Offices are compared on booked patients and on spend you can tie to an office, using the method in the ads guide.
A report that cannot name the office is not a group report. Use one set of event names for calls, forms, and bookings, and put the office slug on the row. That dictionary is the GA4 guide. The sheet leadership reads, with one row per office and the exceptions left visible, is the per-office marketing report. Do not paste a patient name, a chart number, or a clinical note into an ad field or an analytics payload to make the report feel more precise. Google's hiring guidance also belongs in the same conversation with any vendor: no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google.
Who does the work
Write the seats, not a headcount copied from another group. One person can own the standards and the monthly read of the sheet. That person does not have to be the only one who can change a listing. Google's access model, including what an owner can do and what a manager cannot, is in the governance guide. A vendor can hold a seat. The business should not be locked out of its own profiles or its own ad accounts.
At the office, someone still answers for local facts: today's hours, a photo of that lobby, a reply on that profile, and the greeting on the phone. That can be an office manager who follows the shared guide. It does not require a separate marketing hire at every door, and it does not require the front desk to invent tracking. The call guide is shared. The log records the office and whether the visit was booked.
When a dentist leaves or joins, update the public team information and tell current patients who will see them. That is a provider change. It is not, by itself, a reason to rename the practice or to open another profile. If the sign will change because the group bought the office, use the rebrand guide first, then the transition guide for the cutover.
Checklist
Twelve checks that the right guide is assigned. Ticks stay in this browser only. The steps themselves stay on the linked pages.
Multi-location marketing map
12 items
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. Offices are in Sacramento and San Mateo. The products are Smyly, SmileTrak, and ToothRank. The planning page for groups is DSO and multi-location marketing.
Sources
Wording on these pages can change, so confirm the live page. This is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum marketing budget for a new practice?
Google Ads describes a budget as an average daily amount you set for a campaign. The same help page says a shared budget can cover more than one campaign. Build the amount from how many new patients that office can see and from what your own records say a new patient is worth. Do not copy a percent of revenue from another group. The choices among a per-office budget, a regional budget, and a shared budget are in the DSO Google Ads budgets guide on this site.
How do I choose between agencies?
Use the same questions with every firm: who owns the website, the domain, the Business Profiles, and the ad accounts if you leave, what the fees are, and how results are reported. Google's page on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a number one ranking on Google. The buyer's guide on this site is a scorecard for multi-location work. It does not rank firms.
How do I train my front desk on lead conversion?
Give every office the same short call guide: greet the caller, ask how they heard about the office, answer the question they called with, and offer two appointment times. Record whether the call was answered, whether it booked, and which office it was for. Leave patient names and clinical notes out of that log. The front desk training guide on this site is the longer routine.
Can one person run marketing for a multi-location practice?
One person can own the shared rules: the name standard, the reporting dictionary, and the list of who can edit profiles. Each office still needs someone who can update that location's hours and reply on that profile. Google's chain guidelines say locations in the same country use the same name unless the real-world name actually differs, and the same category when they offer the same services. Role details are in the profile governance guide.
What happens to my marketing if my top dentist leaves?
Keep public marketing on the practice name the sign uses. When the public team changes, update the website bios and photos and the public profile fields that name that dentist, and tell current patients who will see them next. The guide on marketing when a dentist leaves or joins is the worksheet. Renaming the whole office after a purchase is a separate decision, covered in the rebrand guide.
What should a marketing calendar include?
List the reminders you will actually send, the local events each office will use, and National Children's Dental Health Month. The American Dental Association's page says that observance is in February. For each item, name the owner, the channel, and the dates it runs. Before you repeat an item, check whether it produced booked visits in your own records. The single-office calendar guide is the worksheet.