"Not Dead Yet" - Why Blogs Still Matter in Dental Marketing in 2026

Blog posts aren’t dead—far from it. In this episode of The Dental Marketing Mix, Dan Brian sits down with DentalScapes Content Marketing Manager, Skylar Massengill, to break down why blogging is still one of the most underrated growth channels for dental practices as we shift into 2026.

The conversation digs into how patients actually search today, how AI platforms surface dental content, why long-form answers drive trust, and how practices can repurpose a single blog post into weeks of social, email, and video content. Skylar shares her behind-the-scenes workflow for crafting personalized, patient-friendly posts—and how to use blog content as a silent sales tool for big-ticket cases like implants, aligners, and cosmetic dentistry.

If you’ve been overlooking your blog or treating it like a checkbox item, this episode will change the way you think about content forever.

For show notes and links, visit https://www.dentalscapes.com/not-dead-yet-why-blogs-still-matter-in-dental-marketing-in-2026/

To schedule a free strategy call, go to DentalScapes.com/start

Transcript

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All right, welcome back to the Dental Marketing Mix. My name is Dan Brian the co-founder of DentalScapes and I'm here today with Skylar Massengill and I'm super excited to have Skylar on the show today because Skylar is our content marketing manager over at DentalScapes. She works every single day in the trenches with our content, overseeing our teams, involved with the social media, with the blog content, with website content, you name it, video. uh everything and anything related to content online for dental practices. so Skyler, welcome to the show. This is your first time on here, but I swear it won't be your last if I have my way about it. But in any case, uh what can you tell folks about who you are, what you do at DentalScapes, and what your background is in terms of content? We're gonna dive pretty deep into blog content specifically today uh because as you and I both know, we hear from clients all the time that we talk to. as part of the sales process, know, do blog posts really matter anymore? uh SEO is changing, AI is changing, and so um the considerations there uh differ a little bit now, but I can assure you anyone listening to this podcast blog still matters. So before we get into that topic though, what can you tell listeners about yourself, your background, uh and what you do at dental scapes? All right, well thank you for having me first of all. I'm Skylar, like he said. Right now I'm really working with clients on just social media and keeping up with today's social media game. know, things are changing constantly. You know, what are people clicking, what are people looking for? I work with clients to really personalize most of their things so it's not super salesy and the basic stuff that you see just scrolling on Instagram. We make eye-catching content. We work on some blog posts for practices and I just like to get to know. all of the dental practices themselves and make sure that everything is just for them and not everybody's the same because you everybody does things differently. But yeah that's probably my favorite part about what I do is just the difference between everybody and what everybody likes and what everybody doesn't like and it's an awesome field to be in. Yeah, it's gotta be customized, it's gotta be authentic, and that's something that you do so well. So we're so excited to have you on the team, and I'm excited to pick your brain today about some of the ways that practices can leverage blog posts to get the most mileage out of their marketing investment and talk a little bit about that. I also wanna dig in a little bit about, and I'm gonna talk about some of the changes in terms of SEO and AIO now and how that is impacted by blog posts. But like I said earlier on, no surprise here, or at least I hope not, blog posts for those listening are still very important in 2025 and they will be in 2026 for a lot of different reasons. Although maybe the way that blog posts are leveraged or can be used now by dental practices looks a little bit different than it used to in the past. what are some of the things that, and we'll talk about SEO. I want to get into that just a little bit. uh on the more technical end, but what are some of the ways Skyler that you see practices today can best use blog posts as part of their marketing toolbox? uh Well, I definitely think that I'm one of the most famous people known for telling everybody to Google it. um Anybody who calls me and has a question about anything, like, I don't know, just Google it. So I think it's super important to make sure that your blog's staying up to date with common questions that people are going to be asking so that when I do, just go straight to Google and say, why does my tooth hurt? Where's the closest emergency dentist to me? You are showing up at the top of that search. And it's important for a practice to stay up to date with their blogs and continuously posting and posting regularly so you leave your mark pretty much. um The more people find you when they're searching for dental advice or a new dentist nearby, the more often that you're posting. So I think that's one of the most important things about keeping up with your blogs is making sure also your practice doesn't look like you haven't touched your website in years. You know, you guys are... a... No, sorry. No, no, you're good. You're good. Yeah, that's important. You know, not just from like the patient experience and you know, their perception of your practice, you know, making sure, like you said, the website is up to date and, you know, isn't stale, but it's also important, you know, in Google's uh perspective as well, because search engines like Google, even now AI search platforms and LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, et cetera, they're looking for fresh, relevant content that is continually updated just to make sure that You know, your website is really a living, breathing thing and that you're demonstrating your practice's commitment to staying on top of trends, answering those questions that you're talking about. And I love how you mentioned like, you know, this search query, like, you know, what's the best or who is a emergency dentist near me or in whatever location, because now something that has changed about the way that blog posts can really be optimized to search, to speak to that new search experience. is with these what we call long tail search queries or questions and people are searching now, especially with uh LLMs like ChatGPT more conversationally. So it's no longer like, you know, uh Dallas dentist or Raleigh dentist. People are searching for uh very nuanced phrases. So it could be, like you said, emergency dentist, but it could also be Who is the best dentist near me that is affordable and also specializes in dental implants? People are really searching for these longer tail queries that a blog is really well situated to address because you can make a single question the sole focus of a blog post. You can also integrate now and you've done this a lot for our client Skyler. You can integrate FAQ content to answer some of those more specific questions and then I know you just did this for all of our clients, integrating uh FAQ schema, which is sort of uh a roadmap for Google. ah It's a tiny snippet of code that basically communicates to Google what it is it's actually processing and indexing. And so it makes it that much easier for Google and ChatGPT and these other AI-driven search platforms to really identify uh what is the best fit for that patient's answer. ah One thing though that I know that you do routinely is also leverage the blog content in a way that gets the most mileage out of it and that our clients get the best return on investment for the money they're spending on marketing with regard to content. How do you do that? What are some of the ways that you distribute blog content and what can you do to really maximize its shelf life, so to speak? like to include when I add a new blog post in their social media that I'm posting for the following month, I'll say, you know, click this link and go check out our recent blog posts or for example, my tooth fell out, I'll post a picture of a knocked out tooth and say, did you have a tooth fall out? Click this link to learn more and follow our practice. um I just think it's easier as I know I'll be scrolling on social media and I'll see, do you want whiter teeth for the holidays? Click this link. And I'm like, heck yeah, I'm clicking that link. So I think I'd like to leverage a lot of the blog posts in the social media because social media is just so prominent in today's world. Even if you're not scrolling the internet every day, you're at least scrolling some type of Facebook, Instagram, something at some point. So I think it definitely helps to get um people to click on to your website, putting it onto your social. and it's cool, you you said at the outset, obviously, you have to tailor the content strategy uh and the blog content and the social content to whatever practice it is. And there's so many nuances out there and every practice has its own personality. And so I think it's a really cool opportunity to sort of differentiate yourself, to position yourself as a thought leader out there. Everyone is looking for credibility, relevance, and Google actually now uh and these LLMs like ChatGBT, prioritize uh these four principles that we refer to as EAT, experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. so, you know, creating this kind of educational content that answers patients' common questions is really a great way to demonstrate that kind of authority. And so to that end, I know you mentioned at the beginning, you want to make sure that we're not just blasting folks with, uh you know, sales, uh promotional content, although there is a time and place for that, but you're pretty adamant about making sure that a lot of the content that you're sharing on social is either educating or entertaining and not necessarily pushing folks immediately toward that initial appointment. Is that right? That fair to say? I definitely think you'll go further coming off as a more friendly inviting practice than a buy this and buy this practice. So I like to do more personalized stuff for sure. Yeah, absolutely. And at Donaldscapes we follow really a 90-10 rule, we call it, so that the content that Skylar and her team is developing is really, again, following that template for education, entertainment. It's really about positioning the practice as a unique business and highlighting the unique personality and authenticity of the providers and the staff and that sort of thing, giving people a behind the scenes look. love the content that you do, Skylar. that features a lot of the, you know, sort of behind the scenes ah images and videos that we get from clients that we can, you know, kind of put that out there. But the blog post is a great way to do that because like I said, we really want to focus on 90 % educational content when it comes to social media, reserve that other 10 % for, you know, the more promotional or salesy type posts, because let's face it, you know, Scott, you're always saying, I know people don't go on social media to... find a new dentist necessarily. They're on there to learn. They're on there to be entertained, to have fun, connect with other folks. And so that's what it's all about. yeah, do you have any, know, for a client maybe that is, or a dentist rather, that's considering, you know, maybe taking the leap into online marketing for their practice, uh maybe they've heard a little bit about, you know, blog posts, you know, I can tell you. uh Most every agency out there is offering some kind of blogging cadence for clients within this space. What's kind of the key takeaway that you would want to leave dentists with as they consider blogging as part of their strategy? I think also something that is so important is a lot of patients, myself included, we're kind of nervous at our appointments and we don't think to ask all these questions that we want to ask, especially at the dentist. The dentist can be a scary place to be. you, lot of times they're going to forget to ask these things, they're going to be nervous. I think the blog posts are a great way for, you have patient kits in the car and they're like, my gosh, I forgot to ask all of this stuff. I don't want to call them and be embarrassed. So if I go to their website and you're practice is able to answer all these questions and have them feeling confident and comfortable with you, that can go a really, really long way. Like knowing that your practice does it all for them, whether they're at home and can just go on your website or they can give you a call or they can come in. I think the full deal can go a super, super long way. Yeah, and I love that you said that because there's another opportunity, I think, for blogs that we didn't even get into, but that's very much related to what you just said. And that's, and here I am, I just got done saying, don't be too salesy, don't be too promotional. But you can also use a blog post not only to help explain something to a patient that may be like to your point, they may not be comfortable asking or afraid to ask, but you can also use it as a sales tool. And I know... Dentists don't like the word sales, but the fact of the matter is at the end of the day, you are selling services and there are elective procedures. There are procedures that may not be immediately critical or that a patient, you know, is going to have to figure out how to pay for. And so these are really thoughtful, deliberate considerations that patients make when they consider their treatment. And so, you know, to that end, you're typically not going to recommend like a full arch restoration to a patient and have them immediately say yes. This is a huge investment. It's complicated. It's a long-term treatment plan. uh It's something that needs to be thoughtfully considered. And to that point, you could say, as a dentist, I know this is a lot to think about right now. We've actually got a blog post on our website about this, and we can send that to you after this initial consultation for you to consider and learn a little bit more about. And it's a great way, again, to position your practice as an authority on this stuff. It's a cool tool. ah And I love everything that you've said today about the many, many ways in which you can leverage blogs. I know if folks have been listening to this podcast previously, they for damn sure know that I've been talking about AI and online marketing. And Brian and I have been on here, my co-founder talking about uh AI and marketing for a long, long time now. And really the fundamentals still matter, despite all of that change in the shift in search behavior. and the way that the search engine, the landscape is changing. Blog posts still matter, the content freshness still matters like you said, Skyler. uh The opportunity to position your practice as a thought leader is perhaps even more important now than it used to be. mean, these LLMs like ChatGBT and Gemini and Claude and Perplexity, and of course Google Now, even with its integrated AI and AI mode. They're all looking for ways uh to help distinguish the difference between practices online, who they should be recommending, who they should be citing and sourcing. so the blog is still a great way to do that, to position yourself as a thought leader. And so, as you said, Skyler, and I also would encourage anyone listening to this podcast or maybe thinking about uh amping up their online marketing in the year ahead in 2026, whatever. ah Make sure that whomever you're talking to, whether it's Dennis Gapes or someone else, that the blog is part of that. It's not everything. There's a lot more that goes into a comprehensive marketing program, but the blog is super important. uh And I love, again, all of the points that you brought up. Thank you so much for joining Skyler today and sharing your expertise. ah This will not be the last time. Yeah, well, and it won't be the last time. Shame on me for not doing it before, ah but I will. I will drag you back on the show gently if I can in the future. It'd be great to continue connecting on here. But in any case, if you've enjoyed what you heard today to all those listeners out there, thank you so much for tuning in and please take a moment if you've got just five to 10 seconds to leave us a rating or review on Apple podcasts or Spotify or YouTube or wherever you get your shows. It means a lot to us and it's the best way I can assure you for us to find. other dentists out there and practice administrators that we can help. So thank you all for tuning in. uh Happy holidays. We're back at it here the week after Thanksgiving. There's not enough coffee in the world that can adequately prepare me for jumping back in after the holiday, but we're gonna do our best to make it happen. So thank you, Skyler. Thank you for everyone listening today and we'll see you next time. All right, we'll see ya. uh