Aspen Dental: from search result to AI answer

Aspen Dental is a national, multi-location dental care brand in the US. It already ranked well in classic search, but when people asked AI assistants about dentists and dental offices, the brand rarely came up. Rank Roots mapped the questions people ask AI, rebuilt location and service pages FAQ-first with FAQ schema, and ran a multi-tier backlink campaign. Between our first audit and April 2026, Ahrefs counted Google AI Overview citations rising from 12 to about 6K, and the pages cited from 2 to 306.

Where we started

Source: Ahrefs, AI citations at the start of the project.

Why it happened: The pages were static: long service lists and location details, but no clear questions and answers. AI models look for direct, well-structured answers they can quote, so they passed the site over.

What we did

We moved from keyword matching to entity-based optimization.

1. Mapped the questions people ask AI. We pulled the real prompts AI tools answer about the brand, by city and by service, and turned the most valuable ones into a content plan.
2. Rebuilt the pages FAQ-first. Location and service pages now answer common patient questions directly, backed by FAQ schema. Instead of a list of services, AI finds a clear answer it can quote.
3. Built authority where AI looks. A multi-tier backlink campaign on high-authority sites that AI tools draw on, so the brand gets cited across ChatGPT, Google AI and Gemini, not just one tool.

Prompts we mapped (Topic: Aspen Dental locations in Arkansas · Semrush AI prompts):

• Are there any reviews or ratings for Aspen Dental offices in these cities? Answered by Gemini, ChatGPT and Google AI.
• Aspen Dental locations in Arkansas Gemini answered: “Aspen Dental has a strong presence in Arkansas, with offices located in several major cities and suburban…”
• What services are offered at Aspen Dental in Searcy, Cabot and Russellville? Google AI answered: “Aspen Dental locations in Searcy, Cabot and Russellville, Arkansas, all provide a comprehensive range of…”

Results: AI citations, before and after

AI tools went from almost ignoring the brand to quoting it hundreds and thousands of times. The biggest jump was in Google AI Overviews, where the number of cited pages grew from 2 to 306.

Source: Ahrefs Site Explorer, first audit compared with April 2026.

AI visibility today

Semrush readings, 24–25 April 2026. Percentages are Semrush’s change against its previous period.

Mentions by AI platform: Google AI Overview 5.2K (14.7%), Gemini 4.4K (12.4%), Google AI Mode 4.2K (11.8%), ChatGPT 3.9K (11%). Pages cited per platform: AI Mode 4.8K · ChatGPT 3.9K · AI Overview 2.4K · Gemini 1.5K.

Mentions by country: United States 97.2% (17.3K), Canada 1% (182), Australia 0.5% (89), other 1.3% (229).

Search performance

In about three weeks, aspendental.com appeared 33 million times in Google results and earned 1.05 million clicks. An average position of 11 across that many searches means the site ranks for a wide range of location and service searches, not just a few big keywords. Average CTR 3.1%. Source: Google Search Console, about 3 weeks in April 2026. This is a snapshot of the site’s scale during the project, not a before-and-after comparison.

Ahrefs and Semrush each estimate traffic and links their own way, so their numbers differ.

Evidence

All screenshots are original project evidence, unedited.

Why it works

This project shows the approach scales. We don’t chase algorithm updates. We make a brand easy for AI to verify and quote, in four steps.

1. Audit the AI gap
2. Rebuild around questions
3. Scale authority and AI reach
4. Measure citations and clicks

How to read these results: Citation counts come from the prompts Ahrefs and Semrush track, which change over time, so they show the trend rather than a controlled test. The Search Console figures are a single April 2026 snapshot of the site’s scale, not a before-and-after comparison. Ahrefs and Semrush estimate traffic and links their own way, so their numbers differ.