Practo vs Your Own Website for a Dental Clinic
Practo, Justdial and the other aggregators list your dental clinic beside every competitor in your locality and send you the patient’s enquiry through their system, on their terms. Your own website is the one place a patient sees only you, and the enquiry comes straight to your WhatsApp. You need the listing. You cannot afford to depend on it. Here is what each one actually sends you, who owns the patient at the end, what both cost over a year, and the setup that uses the aggregators without being at their mercy.
The short version
- Aggregators are listings. Useful the way a Google Maps pin is useful, and no more.
- On an aggregator you are one row in a table, ranked by their business model, beside the chain with fifty branches.
- On your own site you are the only clinic on the page, and the patient’s WhatsApp message comes to your phone, not their inbox.
- Paid placement stops the month you stop paying. A website keeps working, and it is yours.
- The right setup: a complete free profile everywhere, with the website link on each, and the real effort spent on Google Maps and your own pages.
What an aggregator actually is
Practo, Justdial, Sulekha, Lybrate and the rest are directories with a booking layer. A patient searches “dentist in HSR Layout” on the app or lands there from Google, sees a list, filters by rating or price, and books or calls through the platform. The platform’s business is the list itself: the clinics that pay sit higher, the chains with many branches fill more rows, and the patient’s contact details live in the platform’s database before they live in yours.
None of that is sinister. It is what a directory is. The mistake is treating it as your website, or as your marketing, when it is neither.
What the aggregator sends you, honestly
Some patients, mostly routine. Cleanings, check-ups, a filling. Patients who are comparing on price and distance and would have chosen any clinic with a decent rating. That is real business and worth having.
Fewer than the dashboard says. The same patient who “booked on Practo” often also found your number and called, or messaged on WhatsApp after seeing you on Google. The platform counts them; so do you. Over a month, count only the patients who sat in the chair and said they found you there.
Rarely the high-value ones. A patient researching implants or aligners for weeks does not pick a surgeon from a filtered list. They read, they compare, they look for a named doctor with credentials and photos of real work, and they land on a website, yours or a competitor’s. The aggregator is not where that decision is made.
What the aggregator takes
The ranking. You cannot earn the top of their list the way you earn the top of Google Maps. Paid placement, branch count and platform activity decide it. If a chain opens a branch on your road, it will sit above you on the app regardless of your reviews.
The patient. The enquiry arrives through their app, with their reminders and their follow-ups. If you leave the platform, the reviews stay there and the patient’s history stays there. Nothing transfers.
The margin, on paid plans. Placement fees, lead fees, or a cut of the booking. The month you stop paying, the flow stops. Nothing compounds.
Your name beside your competitors. Every visit to your profile is a page with six other clinics on it. A “book now” for you is a “compare” for everyone else.
What your own website sends you
Every kind of patient, including the expensive ones. The implant patient who read your page at 11pm and sent a WhatsApp at 11:04. The parent who saw the photo of the doctor with a child and booked a first visit. The nervous patient who read the review reply that said “nothing starts until you tell us the tooth is numb”.
The enquiry, directly. The WhatsApp comes to the clinic’s phone. The call comes to the clinic’s number. The patient’s history is in your records from the first message.
A place where you are the only clinic. No comparison table. Your doctor, your treatments, your reviews, your prices, your booking button.
Compounding. A treatment page written this year ranks next year and the year after, without being paid for again. A profile listing does not accumulate anything you keep.
What each costs over a year
| Aggregator profile | Paid aggregator placement | Your own website | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront | Free | Free | One-time build |
| Ongoing | Free | Monthly fee or per-lead fee | Domain, hosting, light upkeep |
| Who ranks you | Their algorithm | Their sales team | Your work, on Google |
| Who owns the patient | Them, then you | Them, then you | You |
| When you stop | Profile stays, nothing lost | Flow stops that month | Site keeps working |
| After three years | A profile | A bill | An asset |
The one-time build is the larger number on day one, and the smaller number by the end of year two for most clinics. Our guide on what a dental clinic website costs in India has the bands.
The setup that uses both without depending on either
- Claim and complete every free profile. Practo, Justdial, Google Maps, and whichever app is a habit in your city. Same name, address and phone everywhere, exactly as on your signboard. An empty profile beside a complete competitor is a loss you did not need to take.
- Put your website link on every one of them. The profile is a signpost. Make it point somewhere that is yours.
- Spend the real effort on Google Maps. Most patients start on Google, not in an app, and the map pack is ranked by work you can do: categories, treatments, photos, reviews, replies. Our Google Business Profile page goes through it field by field.
- Build the website to close. The doctor by name, every treatment on its own page with a price range, real reviews quoted, WhatsApp one tap away. The how to get more patients guide has the order.
- Ask every review to land on Google first. Google reviews help the map ranking and show on the site. Aggregator reviews help only the aggregator. If a patient offers to review, hand them the Google link.
- Pay an aggregator only with numbers. If you try paid placement, run it for a month, count the patients who actually came, and compare the cost per patient with what the website and listing bring for free. Keep it only if the number holds.
The one-line version for a busy owner
Be on every free list, spend your effort on Google Maps and your own site, and never let the only way to find you be a page that also lists your competitors.
Want this handled for you?
If you run a dental practice, this is the setup we build: the listing that ranks in your locality, the site that closes, and the profiles pointing at it, all in the clinic’s own name. Start with a free practice audit: your clinic beside the top three nearby, on Google and on the apps, and what to fix first. Get the free practice audit, or read how we approach digital marketing for dentists. No obligation, no sales pitch, and every step above can be done in-house if you would rather.
Frequently asked questions
Should a dental clinic be on Practo?
Yes, as a listing, the way you are on Google Maps. The profile is free, some patients search there, and an empty profile beside a competitor's full one costs you. Keep it complete and keep the reviews flowing. Just do not let it be the only place a patient can find you, and do not pay for placement before your own site and Google listing work.
Does Practo bring dental patients?
Some, mostly for routine visits and in cities where the app is a habit. Fewer than the dashboard suggests, because the same patient often also called or messaged you directly. Count the patients who actually sat in the chair and said they found you on Practo, over a month, before deciding what the listing is worth.
Why does my clinic show up below chains on Practo?
Because the aggregator's ranking is its own business, not yours. Paid placements, chains with many branches and profiles with more activity sit higher. You cannot fix that on their platform. You can fix it on Google Maps and on your own site, where the ranking follows the work you put in.
Can I have both a Practo profile and my own website?
You should. The profile is a listing that points to you; the website is the place the patient sees only you and the enquiry comes to your own WhatsApp. Put the website link on every profile you have, and make sure the name, address and phone match everywhere.
What does a dental website cost compared with Practo?
A proper site is a one-time build plus a small yearly running cost, and it is yours. Paid aggregator placement is a monthly fee that stops working the month you stop paying, and the patients it brought stay on their platform. Over three years the site is usually the cheaper of the two, and the only one you own at the end.