Dental Website SEO Benchmark: Minnesota (2026)
Based on 718 audited dental websites in Minnesota, from 1,009 attempted domains. Cohort dps-37-v1.
Browse the Minnesota practice directoryMinnesota practices scored a median of 76.50, 0.50 points below the national median of 77. The largest difference versus the national cohort (n=50,405) was unclear H1 structure: 60.03% of 718 Minnesota sites, 6.23 percentage points higher than the national rate. Minnesota's strongest other relative result was insurance or payment page not detected, with the observed gap 3.77 percentage points below the national rate.
76.50
Median score
−0.50 vs national median 77
74.46
Mean score
+0.33 vs national mean 74.13
718
Websites checked
Nationwide: 50,405 websites checked
71.16%
Auditable rate
+0.49 pp vs national 70.67% (50,405 of 71,323); state base 718 of 1,009
Score distribution
Grade distribution
Percentages use all 718 audited Minnesota domains as the base.
A
4.46%
32 of 718
B
36.91%
265 of 718
C
30.36%
218 of 718
D
17.83%
128 of 718
F
10.45%
75 of 718
Category detail
Average category scores
Each average uses the same 718-domain audited base. Local SEO is shown only as a labelled detail because three inputs were not evaluated in this cohort.
61.54
Website fundamentals
Average across 718 websites
68.35
AI visibility
Average across 718 websites
70.56
Patient trust
Average across 718 websites
96.97
Local SEO
Partial; upward-biased
Largest absolute difference first
Metric rates versus the national cohort
“Not detected” means a signal was absent from the homepage and up to two linked pages in this bounded crawl; it does not prove the signal is absent everywhere on the site. Every percentage below shows its observation base.
| Metric | Minnesota rate | National rate | Difference vs national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unclear H1 structureWebsite fundamentals | 60.03%431 of 718 | 53.80%50,405 websites | +6.23 pp |
| Images missing alternative textWebsite fundamentals | 80.36%577 of 718 | 74.25%50,405 websites | +6.11 pp |
| Insurance or payment page not detectedPatient journey | 47.63%342 of 718 | 51.40%50,405 websites | −3.77 pp |
| BreadcrumbList structured data not detectedStructured data | 60.31%433 of 718 | 63.60%50,405 websites | −3.29 pp |
| Emergency-services page not detectedPatient journey | 61.56%442 of 718 | 58.40%50,405 websites | +3.16 pp |
| Missing canonical tagsWebsite fundamentals | 23.12%166 of 718 | 26.14%50,405 websites | −3.02 pp |
| XML sitemap not detectedWebsite fundamentals | 22.14%159 of 718 | 24.75%50,405 websites | −2.61 pp |
| DNS failureCrawl accessibility | 8.33%84 of 1,009 | 10.68%71,323 websites | −2.35 pp |
| HTTP 403 responseCrawl accessibility | 9.91%100 of 1,009 | 8.09%71,323 websites | +1.82 pp |
| Missing meta descriptionsWebsite fundamentals | 32.03%230 of 718 | 33.36%50,405 websites | −1.33 pp |
| AggregateRating structured data not detectedStructured data | 92.20%662 of 718 | 91.06%50,405 websites | +1.14 pp |
| Clear booking action not detectedPatient journey | 43.45%312 of 718 | 42.35%50,405 websites | +1.10 pp |
| Privacy-policy link not detectedPatient journey | 43.18%310 of 718 | 42.09%50,405 websites | +1.09 pp |
| FAQPage structured data not detectedStructured data | 96.52%693 of 718 | 95.57%50,405 websites | +0.95 pp |
| Limited useful contentWebsite fundamentals | 31.34%225 of 718 | 32.11%50,405 websites | −0.77 pp |
| FAQ page not detectedPatient journey | 66.02%474 of 718 | 65.47%50,405 websites | +0.55 pp |
| Dentist or LocalBusiness structured data not detectedStructured data | 38.44%276 of 718 | 38.72%50,405 websites | −0.28 pp |
| Service or treatment structured data not detectedStructured data | 91.64%658 of 718 | 91.90%50,405 websites | −0.26 pp |
| Other HTTP errorCrawl accessibility | 1.98%20 of 1,009 | 1.73%71,323 websites | +0.25 pp |
| Contact or inquiry form not detectedPatient journey | 68.94%495 of 718 | 68.70%50,405 websites | +0.24 pp |
| Invalid responseCrawl accessibility | 0.20%2 of 1,009 | 0.38%71,323 websites | −0.18 pp |
| TimeoutCrawl accessibility | 0.30%3 of 1,009 | 0.40%71,323 websites | −0.10 pp |
| robots.txt restrictionCrawl accessibility | 3.87%39 of 1,009 | 3.82%71,323 websites | +0.05 pp |
| Other crawl failureCrawl accessibility | 4.26%43 of 1,009 | 4.22%71,323 websites | +0.04 pp |
Largest audited city-state samples
Top Minnesota markets in the cohort
Markets are ordered by audited-domain count. Each row gives its own base; these are descriptive cohort cuts, not city rankings.
| Market | Audited domains | Median score |
|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis, MN | 59 | 71 |
| Saint Paul, MN | 37 | 80 |
| Rochester, MN | 29 | 75 |
| Woodbury, MN | 19 | 83 |
| Alexandria, MN | 15 | 75 |
| Burnsville, MN | 14 | 76 |
| Eden Prairie, MN | 14 | 76 |
| Maple Grove, MN | 14 | 80.50 |
| Saint Cloud, MN | 14 | 69.50 |
| Edina, MN | 13 | 75 |
Common questions
Dental SEO and website questions for Minnesota
- How do Minnesota dental practice websites score?
- Across 718 audited Minnesota dental websites, the median DentalPresence Score is 76.50 out of 100 — 0.5 points below the national median of 77. The score summarizes 37 deterministic website and SEO checks.
- What do Minnesota dental websites most often get wrong?
- The most widespread gaps observed in the Minnesota cohort are: “FAQPage structured data not detected” (97% of audited sites); “AggregateRating structured data not detected” (92% of audited sites); “Service or treatment structured data not detected” (92% of audited sites). “Not detected” is a bounded-crawl observation, not proof a signal is absent everywhere on a site.
- How can I compare my dental practice website with the Minnesota average?
- Run a free DentalPresence score: it audits a practice website against the same 37 checks behind every figure on this page and returns a prioritized list of what to fix first. No card is required.
Methodology and limitations
What this study measures—and what it does not
Cohort. The completed production run covered 109,408 matched practice-location candidates across 71,323 normalized domains. Website-level findings use one deterministic representative candidate for each of the 50,405 successfully crawled domains, avoiding duplicate-domain weighting.
Collection window. Public pages were crawled on 2–3 August 2026 using methodology dps-37-v1. The bounded HTTP crawler inspected robots.txt, sitemap signals, the homepage, and up to two linked internal pages. Browser rendering was not used for this index run.
Scoring. The DentalPresence Score averages four deterministic category scores. Three Local SEO inputs—Google Business Profile, cross-directory NAP consistency, and service coverage—were not evaluated in this open-data backfill, so the Local SEO average is partial and upward-biased.
Detection limits. A signal not detected in three pages may exist elsewhere, be injected only after JavaScript rendering, or use markup the parser did not recognize. The high “orphan page” result was excluded from headline recommendations because a bounded crawl cannot establish sitewide orphan status reliably.
Sampling. This is a large matched open-place cohort, not a probability sample of every U.S. dental office. It should not be used to estimate national market share or infer the quality of any individual practice.
No causal claims. The study did not use rankings, traffic, conversions, clinical data, credentials, safety records, or patient outcomes. A failed check is an observable website signal, not proof of lost revenue or poor care.
Use the benchmark
Score a dental website against the same framework
The state benchmark describes a cohort, not an individual practice. Run a free score to inspect the public website signals detected for one practice.