Editorial Methodology — How Townsville Dental Directory Sources, Verifies, and Ranks Clinics

Editorial Methodology

This page describes how Townsville Dental Directory compiles its listings, verifies information, builds its editorial rankings, handles corrections, and discloses funding. It is intended to be complete and honest — if anything on this page conflicts with how the directory actually operates, the editorial team has failed and you should tell us.

1. Inclusion criteria

A clinic qualifies for a directory listing if all of the following are true:

1. It has a verifiable physical premises in Townsville (postcodes 4810, 4811, 4812, 4814, 4815, 4817, or 4818) or in an adjacent suburb commonly considered part of the Townsville dental market.
2. At least one registered dentist (per AHPRA) is associated with the clinic.
3. It is currently operating (not permanently closed).

We do not require clinics to opt in. We do not exclude clinics on the basis of size, group affiliation, ownership, fee structure, or whether they have ever contacted us. Listing is free.

2. Sources

For every clinic, we collect and cross-check information from the following public sources:

• The clinic’s own website (primary source for hours, services, fees, accepted health funds).
• Google Maps business profile (cross-check for address, phone, hours, ratings, review count).
• Australian Dental Association (ADA Queensland) member directory.
• AHPRA registration records for the principal dentist(s).
• Queensland Health and James Cook University records for public and teaching clinics.
• Health-fund preferred-provider directories (Bupa, Medibank, HCF, nib) for accepted-funds data.

The full list of source URLs is recorded on each clinic profile in its sources: field.

3. Verification

Before publishing, every clinic profile is verified by:

1. Loading the clinic’s website and confirming the listed address, phone, hours, and services match.
2. Cross-checking the Google Maps profile for the same fields.
3. Recording the date of verification as verified on on the profile.

If two sources disagree, we prefer the clinic’s own website over third-party listings. If the clinic’s website is silent on a field, we mark the field as unknown rather than guess.

We re-verify every profile at least every six months and immediately when a reader reports an error.

4. Rankings

Editorial “best of” pages (e.g. Best Cosmetic Dentists in Townsville 2026, Best Family Dentists in Aitkenvale) rank clinics using a deterministic combination of public signals. The default scoring inputs are:

• Google rating (0–5 stars).
• Google review count (log-weighted to avoid one-review clinics dominating).
• Service relevance — does the clinic offer the service the page is ranking for?
• Suburb relevance — is the clinic in the suburb the page is ranking for, where applicable?
• Years operating — older clinics receive a small stability bonus.
• Accessibility features — wheelchair access, after-hours care, sedation availability where relevant to the ranking.

The exact weighting and any tie-breaks are disclosed inline on each ranking page. Rankings are recomputed when the underlying clinic data changes — they are not hand-curated and not adjusted in response to clinic requests.

We do not include subjective editorial preference in rankings. If you believe a ranking is wrong, tell us why — if the input data is wrong we will fix it; if the methodology produces a result you disagree with, we will not override the methodology.

5. Corrections and removals

If a listing contains incorrect information:

1. Send the correction with a link to a source confirming the correct value.
2. We re-verify against the source and the clinic’s website, then update the listing and the verified on date.
3. There is no charge for corrections.

A clinic owner can request removal of their listing by emailing from an address on the clinic’s own domain. Removals are honoured without charge or argument.

6. Funding and conflicts of interest

Townsville Dental Directory is funded entirely by Google AdSense display advertising. Google chooses which ads are shown; we do not control ad selection, and ad selection does not influence our content.

We do not accept:

• Payment from dental clinics for inclusion, placement, ranking, removal of competitors, or sponsored badges.
• Affiliate commission on bookings or patient referrals.
• Payment from health funds, insurers, dental groups, or industry associations.
• “Guest posts”, “sponsored content”, or paid links.

The editorial team has no ownership stake in any listed clinic and no family or employment relationship with any listed clinic. If that ever changes, we will disclose it on this page and on the affected listings.

7. What this directory does not do

• We do not provide dental advice. Articles are general patient information.
• We do not take bookings. Contact clinics directly.
• We do not match patients with clinics or earn commission on referrals.
• We do not handle complaints about clinical care. Direct those to AHPRA or the Office of the Health Ombudsman Queensland.

8. Updates to this methodology

This page is the source of truth for how the directory operates. When the methodology changes, this page is updated and the change is summarised below. Earlier versions are visible in the site’s git history.

• 2026-05-10 — initial publication of the directory’s editorial methodology.

Questions?

Contact the editorial team.