Every agency on Dental SEO Agencies Directory is ranked with the same documented system. We check each agency’s dental client work, public reviews, published results and terms, read every client testimonial we can find, and turn that evidence into a DSA Score out of 100. This page explains exactly how that score is worked out, so you can judge the rankings for yourself.
Rankings are editorial. An agency cannot pay for a higher score or a higher position in the ranked list.
Step 1: Agencies Must Pass Our Checks to Be Listed
Before an agency appears on any page, we confirm that:
- their website works and belongs to the agency, and their location can be confirmed
- they offer SEO to dental practices, or to healthcare businesses including dentists
- there is public evidence of their work, such as named clients, case studies or client reviews
- they are a real agency, not a directory, a lead-generation site or a listing page
Agencies that fail these checks are not listed, and agencies that later stop meeting them are removed. Because every listed agency has already passed this stage, every DSA Score starts at 80. The remaining 20 points separate the strongest agencies from the rest.
Step 2: We Score 100 Points of Evidence
Each agency can earn up to 100 points: 80 from their profile and 20 from what their clients say.
Profile (up to 80 points)
Five factors are each scored out of 20. The total (out of 100) is then scaled to 80 points.
| Factor | Points | What we look for |
|---|---|---|
| Client reviews | 0–20 | A rating we could verify on Google, Clutch, G2, UpCity, Trustpilot or a similar platform, and how many reviews sit behind it. |
| Experience | 0–20 | Years in business, a named founder or leader, and a clear dental or healthcare focus. |
| Client portfolio | 0–20 | How many dental clients the agency names publicly, such as general, cosmetic, orthodontic and multi-location practices. |
| Published results | 0–20 | Case studies with real figures, such as organic traffic, rankings, leads, new patient enquiries or revenue. |
| Transparency | 0–20 | Published prices, clear contract terms, and a confirmed website and business location. |
Client Feedback (up to 20 points)
We read the testimonials we can find on Google, independent review sites and the agency’s own website, and score what clients actually say.
| Part | Points | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Independent reviews | 0–6 | How many reviews we found on sites the agency doesn’t control. Eight or more earns the full 6 points. |
| Client satisfaction | 0–8 | How consistently clients praise the agency. The formula is weighted so that two glowing reviews can’t outscore fifty mostly glowing ones. |
| Independent sources | 0–4 | How much of the feedback comes from Google and review platforms rather than the agency’s own pages. |
| Dental clients | 0–2 | At least one review from a dental practice. |
Verification
Up to 4 client feedback points are deducted when our research finds warning signs, for example:
- review patterns that need checking, such as identical wording or many reviews posted at once
- website or identity problems, such as an address or business we could not confirm
- complaints about delivery or billing
Step 3: How the DSA Score Is Calculated
Points earned = (profile total × 0.8) + client feedback points
DSA Score = 80 + (points earned ÷ 5), rounded to the nearest whole number
Example: an agency scores 16 for client reviews, 15 for experience, 14 for portfolio, 12 for results and 17 for transparency. That is a profile total of 74, which scales to 59.2 points. They also earn 15.5 client feedback points, so they have 74.7 points in total. Their DSA Score is 80 + (74.7 ÷ 5) = 94.94, shown as 95/100.
Each agency card shows this breakdown under “How the DSA Score Breaks Down”, so you can see where every point came from.
How Agencies Are Ordered on Each Page
- Highest points first. Agencies are ranked by the points they earned. Two agencies can show the same rounded DSA Score while one is still ranked above the other.
- Local agencies first. On a city, region or country page, the main ranked list contains agencies based in that location.
- National dental agencies shown separately. Dental marketing specialists who work with practices in a location remotely are listed in their own section below the local list, scored the same way.
- Nearby agencies when a city list is short. If fewer than five qualifying agencies are based in a city, the page can also show qualifying agencies from the surrounding region, so you always have at least five to compare.
How We Show Client Reviews
- We summarise each review in our own words and link to the original, so you can read it in full.
- Ratings are shown with their source (for example “4.9, Google, 52 reviews”) and the month we last checked them.
- Ratings below 4.0 are not displayed, but every review we found still counts towards the score.
- Ratings and review counts change over time. The figures shown are the ones we found when the agency was last researched.
Strengths, Prices and Agency Claims
The strengths listed for each agency describe what they do well, drawn from their dental work, results and client feedback. Price ranges are a guide based on published rates and the typical fees of agencies with a similar profile. SEO pricing depends on your market, competition, practice size and the work required, so always ask the agency for a written quote.
Case studies are useful, but agencies publish them themselves. We give more weight to case studies that name the practice and show the starting point, the work done, the timeframe and a measurable result. We don’t treat an agency’s marketing claims as proof on their own.
Rankings Are Not Paid Placements
Paid advertising and featured listings are kept separate from our editorial rankings. A featured listing can make an agency more visible on eligible pages, but it does not change their DSA Score or their position in the ranked list.
How Often Rankings Are Updated
Our agency data is reviewed regularly, and every directory page updates automatically when the data changes. An agency’s score and position can move when their reviews change, they publish new case studies or name new dental clients, their prices or terms change, or our checks find a problem. The research date is shown on each page.
Corrections
We work hard to keep every profile accurate, but information on third-party sites can change or contain errors. If you are an agency and something in your profile is wrong or out of date, please send the details and a source through our Contact Us page and we will review it.
What the DSA Score Does Not Mean
A DSA Score is not a guarantee of rankings, new patients, leads or revenue. The right agency for your practice depends on your location, specialty, competition, budget and goals. Use the score as a fair, consistent starting point, then speak to two or three agencies, ask for dental case studies and references, and compare written proposals.
This methodology may be updated as the directory grows. Any material change to the scoring system will be published on this page.