Chicago Dental Map Pack Study: Who Ranks in 9 Neighborhoods and Why

The usual advice for ranking on Google Maps is to get more reviews. We wanted to see whether that is really what separates the top 3 from everyone else, so we checked 9 Chicago neighborhoods and wrote down who ranks.

It isn’t. In River North, a dentist with a 3.0-star rating ranks above one with a perfect 5.0 from 658 reviews. In Logan Square, a practice with 1,372 reviews sits in 6th place, behind three practices with 311 reviews or fewer. The difference in both cases is the name on the Google profile.

On this page 10 sections

1. The short version
2. The name matches the search
3. Reviews don't pick the winner
4. Location alone doesn't explain it
5. What mattered less
6. Ranking without the name
7. How open is your neighborhood
8. What to do with this
9. Common questions
10. The full data and method

Data collected Friday, October 2, 2026, from Google Maps. Every name, rating and review count here is public and can be checked there. Results change with location, time and device, so treat this as a snapshot.

The short version, if you run a practice

1. Google ranks you one neighborhood at a time. Ranking well in South Loop tells you nothing about the Loop, a mile away.
2. For a neighborhood search, the name on your profile lines up with ranking far more than your review count does. 25 of 27 top-3 spots went to practices named after the neighborhood.
3. You don’t need the most reviews. A few hundred reviews and a rating of 4.7 or higher was enough to hold a top-3 spot in most neighborhoods.
4. Some neighborhoods are much easier to enter than others. Gold Coast is wide open. Lincoln Park and Lakeview are crowded.

The rest of this page shows the evidence for each point, then what to do about it. The full data is at the bottom for anyone who wants to check it.

1. The name matches the search

25 of the 27 top-3 practices have the searched neighborhood in their Google Business Profile name. Across everything we recorded, 63% of practices have it. In the top 3, 93% do.

Local SEO specialists have long believed that words in a business name influence Google Maps rankings. This puts Chicago numbers on it.

2. Reviews get you into the running, but they don’t pick the winner

The first-place practice had the most reviews in its top 10 in only 2 of 9 neighborhoods. Logan Square shows it most clearly.

Across all 9 neighborhoods, practices in a top-3 spot had anywhere from 138 to 1,387 reviews. None of this means reviews don’t matter: Google states that review count and rating factor into local ranking. But a few hundred reviews with a matching name regularly outranks a thousand reviews without one.

3. Location alone doesn’t explain it

Seven dental practices in our data share one building at 25 E Washington St in the Loop. They all sit at the same address, so distance can’t explain why some show up for “dentist The Loop” and others don’t.

All seven are at 25 E Washington St. Practices outside any top 3 are shown without names.

The two that made it both have “Loop” in the name. Two neighbors with stronger review profiles did not. The name isn’t the whole story, though: Practice C has “Loop” in its name and still missed out.

The same thing happens between neighborhoods. South Loop Dental Specialists ranks 2nd for South Loop and 5th for the Loop, with the same profile and the same reviews, searched minutes apart.

4. What mattered less than we expected

• A higher rating. Most top-3 practices are rated 4.7 or above, but a 4.3 ranks first in Lincoln Park and a 3.0 ranks 5th in River North.
• More categories. 4 of the 9 first-place practices list just one Google category.
• Being open. 26 of the 27 top-3 practices were closed when we searched.
• Being a big brand. Multi-location brands hold at least 10 of the 27 top-3 spots, and they get there the same way the independents do: each branch is named after its neighborhood.

5. How two practices ranked without the name

Two of the 27 top-3 practices don’t have the searched neighborhood in their Google name. We looked at what each one has instead, and they got there in different ways.

EZ Dental, 1st in South Loop

The neighborhood is everywhere except the Google name.

• Website. The domain and the site name both say “EZ Dental South Loop”.
• Listings. Its Yelp, Facebook and other directory listings use “EZ Dental South Loop” with the same address.
• Address. The practice is physically in South Loop, at 1466 S Michigan Ave.
• Rating. A perfect 5.0 from 172 reviews, tied for the highest rating in that top 10.

Millennium Park Smiles, 3rd in Gold Coast

This one is different. The practice is in the Loop, and its homepage doesn’t mention Gold Coast at all. What it has is standing: its website says it has been in the same building since 1947, and it holds a 4.9 from 355 reviews.

Its ranking says more about Gold Coast than about the practice. With only 3 of the top 10 names matching, Google reached for a well-established downtown practice to fill the gap.

How open is your neighborhood?

The fewer practices already named for a neighborhood, the more room there is to rank in it. Gold Coast, South Loop and Logan Square are the most open in this study. Lincoln Park and Lakeview are the most crowded.

Where most names already match, as in Lakeview, the name no longer sets a practice apart, and ratings and reviews have to do more of the work.

We run this same check for any Chicago practice. It is the starting point for how we approach dental SEO in Chicago: one neighborhood at a time, not the whole city at once.

What to do with this

You don’t need the most reviews in your neighborhood to reach the top 3. You need Google to connect your practice to that neighborhood.

1. Search “dentist” plus your neighborhood, and the two next to it. See where you show up and who holds the top 3. That tells you which contest you are actually in.
2. Don’t add the neighborhood to your Google name unless it is your real name. Google’s guidelines require your profile name to match your signage and website, and adding extra words can get a profile suspended. If you are opening or rebranding, a name that includes the neighborhood is worth considering.
3. Say the neighborhood plainly everywhere else. Put it in your website’s title, homepage and contact page, and keep your name and address identical across your listings. This is what EZ Dental does in South Loop.
4. Use Dentist or Dental clinic as your primary category if you are a general practice. 25 of 27 top-3 practices did. Here is how to choose Google Business Profile categories for dentists.
5. Get your rating to 4.7 or above and keep reviews coming steadily. That matters more than a race to 1,000.

If you want to see what this work involves, our local SEO and Google Business Profile management pages explain it in detail.

Common questions

Should I add my neighborhood to my Google Business Profile name?

Only if it is part of your real business name. Google requires the profile name to match how the practice is known on its signage and website, and profiles with added keywords risk suspension.

How many Google reviews does a Chicago dentist need to rank in the top 3?

There is no fixed number. In this study, top-3 practices had between 138 and 1,387 reviews, with a median of 428, and 23 of the 27 were rated 4.7 or higher.

Does having the most reviews put a dentist first on Google Maps?

Not in this data. The first-place practice had the most reviews in its top 10 in only 2 of 9 Chicago neighborhoods. In 5 of 9, a practice outside the top 3 had more reviews than every practice inside it.

Why do I see different results when I search?

Google Maps results depend on where you are, the time of day and your device. This study records one search format on one afternoon, so treat it as a snapshot.

The full data and method

Everything above comes from the tables below. Open them if you want to check a number or see your own neighborhood.

The top 3 in all 9 neighborhoods 9 tables

7 of 7 names match

The Loop

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Chicago Loop Dentistry	4.9	457	9
2	In The Loop Dental	4.9	262	2
3	Downtown Dental – Loop	4.7	1,387	10

All three names contain “Loop”. Third place has three times the reviews of first place, and the most of any practice in this study. First and third share a building at 25 E Washington St, so location can’t explain the order.

8 of 10 names match

West Loop

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	West Loop Smile Studio	4.9	597	1
2	The Chicago Dental Studio, West Loop	4.8	510	5
3	Dental Smiles of West Loop – Chicago	4.9	356	8

First place lists one category. Three practices lower in the top 10 have more reviews than anyone in the top 3: 698, 705 and 725. Two of those three don’t have “West Loop” in their name.

4 of 10 names match

South Loop

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	EZ Dental	5.0	172	1
2	South Loop Dental Specialists	4.8	832	5
3	DentalQ – South Loop	4.9	138	1

This is the one neighborhood where first place doesn’t carry the neighborhood in its Google name, although the practice’s own website uses “EZ Dental South Loop”. It has a perfect 5.0 and was the only top-3 practice in the study that was open during the search. Second place has almost five times its reviews.

6 of 10 names match

River North

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	The Chicago Dental Studio, River North	4.9	758	5
2	Downtown Dental River North	4.5	619	10
3	Grand Dentistry River North	4.8	159	6

All three are branches of brands with more than one Chicago location, each with “River North” in the branch name. Further down, a practice with a 3.0 rating from 46 reviews ranks 5th and has the neighborhood in its name. A practice with a 5.0 from 658 reviews ranks 9th and doesn’t.

3 of 10 names match

Gold Coast

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Dentologie – Gold Coast	4.7	191	9
2	Gold Coast Orthodontics	4.7	185	1
3	Millennium Park Smiles	4.9	355	1

Gold Coast is the least contested neighborhood in the study. An orthodontist ranks 2nd for a “dentist” search, and third place is at 25 E Washington St in the Loop. Four practices lower in the top 10 have more than 600 reviews each.

8 of 10 names match

Lincoln Park

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Lincoln Park Dental Specialists	4.3	434	7
2	LPS Dental – Lincoln Park Dentist	4.8	447	7
3	Rooted Dental Care, Lincoln Park	4.7	375	3

First place has the lowest rating of any top-3 practice in the study, and “Dentist” isn’t among its listed categories. Lincoln Park is also crowded on names.

8 of 10 names match

Lakeview

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Lakeview Dental Arts	4.9	554	4
2	Lakeview Dental	4.9	174	7
3	Lakeview Smiles – Lakeview	4.4	536	1

The first eight results all have “Lakeview” or “Lake View” in the name. The practice in 9th has 827 reviews at 4.9, more than anyone above it, and no neighborhood in its name.

4 of 10 names match

Logan Square

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Modern Dental of Logan Square	4.8	239	1
2	Bright Dental of Logan Square	4.8	148	3
3	1st Family Dental-Logan Square	4.6	311	7

Logan Square is the clearest case of name beating review volume. The practices in 5th and 6th have 1,134 and 1,372 reviews. Only 4 of the top 10 names include “Logan Square”, and three of those four hold the top 3.

7 of 10 names match

Hyde Park

Position	Practice	Rating	Reviews	Categories listed
1	Hyde Park Smile Studio	4.8	845	1
2	Smile Design Studio Of Hyde Park LLC	4.8	428	2
3	Smile Obsession – Hyde Park	4.9	511	10

Hyde Park is where both signals agree: first place has the neighborhood in its name and the most reviews in the top 10. The top five results all include “Hyde Park”.

How we ran the study, and its limits

What we did

• Search: “dentist” plus the neighborhood name, typed into Google Maps on desktop. For example, “dentist Lakeview”.
• Date: Friday, October 2, 2026, in the late afternoon Central time.
• Neighborhoods: The Loop, West Loop, South Loop, River North, Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Logan Square and Hyde Park.
• What we recorded: position, practice name, star rating, review count and Google Business Profile categories for the first 10 results, 87 listings in total. For The Loop we recorded the first 7.

We put the neighborhood in the search on purpose. It is how many patients look for a dentist, and it fixes the location for every search. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that when a search includes a location term, distance is measured from that place.

What this study can’t tell you

• Results move. Google Maps results change with the searcher’s location, the time of day and the device.
• The search format matters. A search that names the neighborhood favors names that match it. A search for just “dentist” from a phone on the street leans more on physical distance.
• Nine neighborhoods is a small sample. The patterns are consistent across them, but they show what lines up with ranking, not what causes it.
• Google keeps the details private. It publishes the factors it uses, not how each one is weighted.

Our bias, stated plainly

We sell local SEO to dental practices, so we have a reason to want this data to look interesting. No practice paid to be included, and the order is Google’s, not ours. We name only the top 3 in each neighborhood, and we count a brand as multi-location only when more than one of its locations appears in our own data. If anything here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we’ll fix it and note the change.