Dentists in Sunshine Coast: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank dentists in sunshine coast by visibility and citations. 16 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Dental practices serving Sunshine Coast patients across family dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, implants, Invisalign, emergency care, and preventative oral health throughout the metro. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Avenue Dental leads the Sunshine Coast dentist category with a visibility score of 37.5%, nearly 12.5 percentage points ahead of the three brands clustered at 25% — Pacific Smiles, Pacific Smiles Dental, and National Dental Care. The category average visibility sits at just 7.8%, meaning Avenue Dental's score is roughly 4.8 times the average. Ten of the sixteen tracked brands register 0.0% visibility, indicating Google AI Mode is concentrating mentions among a very small group of practices.
The sharpest divergence between visibility and citation lies with Pacific Smiles, Pacific Smiles Dental, and National Dental Care: each holds 25% visibility yet a 0.0% citation rate, meaning Google AI Mode names them in responses but does not link back to their domains. Avenue Dental is the only brand earning both meaningful visibility (37.5%) and a non-zero citation rate (12.5%), making it the sole brand that achieves both named presence and trusted sourcing in this category. The category average citation rate is 0.8%, reflecting how rare citations are overall.
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in the dataset. Among the cited external sources, aggregator and review platforms dominate — google.com, healthengine.com.au, m.yelp.com, and reddit.com all appear before most brand domains. avenuedental.com.au is the only brand-owned domain present in the top cited sources list, consistent with its 12.5% citation rate. Other third-party entries such as cjdentistry.com.au and townsvilledental.clinic appearing in the sources list suggest AI responses are drawing on non-local or directory-adjacent content to support answers about this category.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
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Avenue Dental 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #1+38pp
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Pacific Smiles 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #2+25pp
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Pacific Smiles Dental 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #3+25pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
avenuedental.com.au
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Avenue Dental leads with 37.5% visibility and 12.5% citation — the only brand above 0% citation and nearly 5x the 7.8% category visibility average. |
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| 2 |
pacificsmilesdental.com.au
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Pacific Smiles matches the rank-3 and rank-4 brands at 25% visibility but holds a 0.0% citation rate, meaning it is named but never directly linked by AI. |
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| 3 |
pacificsmilesdental.com.au
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sharing the same domain as rank-2 Pacific Smiles, this entry also sits at 25% visibility and 0.0% citation, suggesting duplicate brand-entity recognition rather than distinct AI presence. |
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| 4 |
nationaldentalcare.com.au
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
National Dental Care matches the 25% visibility of ranks 2 and 3 with a composite score of 17.5, but like them earns 0.0% citation despite its national brand scale. |
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| 5 |
dentalboutique.com.au
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Dental Boutique sits at 12.5% visibility — half that of the 25% cluster above it — with a 0.0% citation rate and a composite score of just 8.8. |
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| 6 |
dbdental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
sunshinecoastdentalgroup.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
noosafamilydental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
dentistryoncoolum.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
maroochydoredentalcare.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
mooloolabadental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
bupadental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
primarydental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
mavendental.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
1300smiles.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
totallysmiles.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on dentists in sunshine coast, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own dentists in sunshine coast brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about dentists in sunshine coast AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility among dentists on the Sunshine Coast?
Avenue Dental leads with 37.5% visibility and a composite score of 30.0, well ahead of the next group clustered at 25%. It is also the only brand earning any citations, at 12.5%.
How concentrated is AI visibility in this category?
Very concentrated — 10 of 16 tracked brands have 0.0% visibility, and the category average is just 7.8%, meaning a handful of brands capture nearly all AI mentions.
Which brands appear in AI responses but receive no citation links?
Pacific Smiles, Pacific Smiles Dental, and National Dental Care all achieve 25% visibility but have 0.0% citation rates, meaning AI names them without linking to their websites.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most when answering queries about Sunshine Coast dentists?
The top cited sources are google.com, healthengine.com.au, m.yelp.com, and reddit.com, with avenuedental.com.au the only brand-owned domain appearing in the cited sources list.
Is there a duplicate brand entry issue in this category's AI data?
Yes — Pacific Smiles and Pacific Smiles Dental share the same domain (pacificsmilesdental.com.au) yet appear as separate ranked entities, both at 25% visibility and 0.0% citation.
How does Avenue Dental's citation rate compare to the category average?
Avenue Dental's citation rate of 12.5% is 15.6 times the category average of 0.8%, making it a significant outlier in terms of AI-sourced trust signals.