Dental SEO & Website Benchmarks: Columbia, SC
Live figures from 116 indexable audited Columbia dental practice websites, recomputed as practices are re-audited. Most recent audit September 20, 2026. Methodology dps-37-v1.
75
median score
0 vs South Carolina median 75
70.53
average score
South Carolina average: 71.23
84
top quartile
the score the best 25% of local websites clear
116
websites audited
of 1,323 across South Carolina
Score distribution
Grade distribution in Columbia
Counts use all 116 indexable audited Columbia websites.
A
6.90%
8 of 116
B
33.62%
39 of 116
C
17.24%
20 of 116
D
19.83%
23 of 116
F
22.41%
26 of 116
South Carolina distribution: A 5% · B 31% · C 28% · D 15% · F 22% (1,323 websites).
Largest local difference first
Where Columbia dental websites fall short
“Not detected” means a signal was absent from the homepage and up to two linked pages in a bounded crawl; it does not prove the signal is absent everywhere on the site. Every percentage shows its own evaluated base; checks evaluated on fewer than 30 Columbia websites are omitted.
97%
FAQPage structured data not detected
113 of 116 evaluated Columbia websites — vs 96.37% across South Carolina.
94%
AggregateRating structured data not detected
109 of 116 evaluated Columbia websites — vs 93.58% across South Carolina.
83%
Service or treatment structured data not detected
96 of 116 evaluated Columbia websites — vs 88.74% across South Carolina.
| Check | Columbia rate | South Carolina rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact or inquiry form not detectedPatient journey | 78.45%91 of 116 evaluated | 71.13%941 of 1,323 evaluated | +7.32 pp |
| Privacy-policy link not detectedPatient journey | 54.31%63 of 116 evaluated | 48.30%639 of 1,323 evaluated | +6.01 pp |
| Service or treatment structured data not detectedStructured data | 82.76%96 of 116 evaluated | 88.74%1,174 of 1,323 evaluated | −5.98 pp |
| Insurance or payment page not detectedPatient journey | 51.72%60 of 116 evaluated | 56.24%744 of 1,323 evaluated | −4.52 pp |
| Limited useful contentWebsite fundamentals | 46.55%54 of 116 evaluated | 43.16%571 of 1,323 evaluated | +3.39 pp |
| Missing canonical tagsWebsite fundamentals | 36.21%42 of 116 evaluated | 33.03%437 of 1,323 evaluated | +3.18 pp |
| FAQ page not detectedPatient journey | 66.38%77 of 116 evaluated | 69.24%916 of 1,323 evaluated | −2.86 pp |
| Images missing alternative textWebsite fundamentals | 65.52%76 of 116 evaluated | 68.33%904 of 1,323 evaluated | −2.81 pp |
| XML sitemap not detectedWebsite fundamentals | 31.03%36 of 116 evaluated | 33.03%437 of 1,323 evaluated | −2.00 pp |
| Emergency-services page not detectedPatient journey | 63.79%74 of 116 evaluated | 65.76%870 of 1,323 evaluated | −1.97 pp |
| Unclear H1 structureWebsite fundamentals | 59.48%69 of 116 evaluated | 58.05%768 of 1,323 evaluated | +1.43 pp |
| FAQPage structured data not detectedStructured data | 97.41%113 of 116 evaluated | 96.37%1,275 of 1,323 evaluated | +1.04 pp |
| BreadcrumbList structured data not detectedStructured data | 64.66%75 of 116 evaluated | 65.68%869 of 1,323 evaluated | −1.02 pp |
| Clear booking action not detectedPatient journey | 50.00%58 of 116 evaluated | 50.94%674 of 1,323 evaluated | −0.94 pp |
| Dentist or LocalBusiness structured data not detectedStructured data | 45.69%53 of 116 evaluated | 45.20%598 of 1,323 evaluated | +0.49 pp |
| AggregateRating structured data not detectedStructured data | 93.97%109 of 116 evaluated | 93.58%1,238 of 1,323 evaluated | +0.39 pp |
| Missing meta descriptionsWebsite fundamentals | 39.66%46 of 116 evaluated | 39.76%526 of 1,323 evaluated | −0.10 pp |
2026 US study baseline
The frozen national picture for the same checks
Rates from the 50,405-website 2026 US study cohort — a frozen study base that counts every audited domain, so it is a different denominator than the live evaluated figures above and the two must not be read as one series.
Dentist or LocalBusiness structured data not detected38.72%
Insurance or payment page not detected51.40%
Clear booking action not detected42.35%
Missing meta descriptions33.36%
Emergency-services page not detected58.40%
FAQ page not detected65.47%
Unclear H1 structure53.80%
Missing canonical tags26.14%
Limited useful content32.11%
Contact or inquiry form not detected68.70%
FAQPage structured data not detected95.57%
Images missing alternative text74.25%
XML sitemap not detected24.75%
BreadcrumbList structured data not detected63.60%
AggregateRating structured data not detected91.06%
Service or treatment structured data not detected91.90%
Privacy-policy link not detected42.09%
Explore the Columbia market
Common questions
Dental SEO and website questions for Columbia
- How good are dental practice websites in Columbia?
- Across 116 audited Columbia dental practice websites, the median DentalPresence Score is 75 out of 100, and the best 25% of local sites score 84 or higher. The score summarizes 37 deterministic website and SEO checks covering structured data, website fundamentals, and the patient journey.
- What do Columbia dental websites most often get wrong?
- The most common gaps detected on audited Columbia dental websites are: “FAQPage structured data not detected” (97% of evaluated sites); “AggregateRating structured data not detected” (94% of evaluated sites); “Service or treatment structured data not detected” (83% of evaluated sites). “Not detected” is a bounded-crawl observation, not proof a signal is absent everywhere on a site.
- How does dental website quality in Columbia compare with the rest of South Carolina?
- Columbia's median score of 75 is equal to the South Carolina-wide median of 75, based on 1,323 audited websites across South Carolina.
- How can I check my own dental practice website's SEO?
- 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
How these live figures are computed
Live cohort. Figures cover the indexable audited practice websites currently published for Columbia in the DentalPresence index and recompute as sites are re-audited, so they will drift from the frozen 2026 study numbers over time. Each check's percentage uses only the websites where that check was actually evaluated, shown as its base.
Scoring. Methodology dps-37-v1: a bounded HTTP crawl of robots.txt, sitemap signals, the homepage, and up to two linked internal pages, scored across 37 deterministic checks. “Not detected” is a limited observation, not proof of absence.
What is excluded. Crawl-accessibility findings (DNS failures, blocked crawls, timeouts) come from the frozen study run and use a different cohort base, so they are not restated here — see the South Carolina benchmark for them. Percentages are withheld wherever fewer than 30 websites form the base.
No clinical claims. Website signals only — not a clinical rating. These figures do not use rankings, traffic, conversions, credentials, or patient outcomes, and a failed check is not proof of lost revenue or poor care.
Use the benchmark
Score a dental website against the same framework
The Columbia figures describe a market, not an individual practice. Run a free score to inspect the public website signals detected for one practice — the same 37-check framework behind every number on this page.