The Microsoft Copilot opening. The insurance directory pattern.
When a Honolulu buyer asks ChatGPT or Google AI for a dentist, AI cites practice websites 44% of the time and third-party content the other half. Insurance carriers (HMSA, Delta Dental) are top recurring non-practice sources. And Microsoft Copilot cites zero practice websites across the entire cohort.
The cross-category picture
| Category | Own-site share | 3rd-party share |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii consumer banking | 53% | 42% |
| Hawaii wealth management | 47% | 49% |
| Honolulu dental practices | 44% | 52% |
| Hawaii law firms | 39% | 58% |
For Honolulu dental, the read is closer to half-and-half. About 44% of the AI-citation surface for your category is on your own site (your services, location, hours, accepting-new-patients status, insurance accepted). The other half is off-site (best-of lists, insurance carrier directories, review platforms, Wikipedia). The full Honolulu dental teardown covers the 46-practice cohort, the Microsoft Copilot citation pattern, and the insurance-carrier directory pattern.
The Microsoft Copilot gap, specific to dental
Microsoft Copilot cites zero practice-owned websites across 801 mentions for Honolulu dental questions in our data. Copilot pulls from third-party content (83%), review directories (11%), Wikipedia (3%), and YouTube (2%). Practice websites: 0%.
The reason is structural. Microsoft Copilot answers using Bing’s organic search results. For Honolulu dental questions, the current Bing top results are dominated by directory sites and insurance carrier pages rather than individual practices’ websites. In our data, Copilot answers track Bing organic results for the most common buyer queries (best dentist Honolulu, dentist near me Oahu, emergency dental Honolulu, etc.), so the practices Copilot currently cites are the ones ranking in Bing organic, and practices absent from those results are absent from the answer.
The insurance-directory pattern
Three of the top five recurring non-practice sources in our data are insurance carriers:
- HMSA (Hawaii Medical Service Association): 89 mentions
- Delta Dental: 61 mentions
- HMSA Dental: 41 mentions
That is 191 combined mentions on insurance carrier provider directories, which AI tools cite when a Honolulu buyer asks “which dentists take my insurance” or any variant of that question. Carrier directories are a recurring citation source in our data, so a practice with no listing or a stale listing is unlikely to appear when AI answers insurance-coverage questions, and the free check measures whether that is true for you. This pattern is dental-specific. Banking does not have an insurance carrier directory layer. Wealth does not. Law does not (different equivalent: legal directories).
What an engagement looks like for a Honolulu dental practice
- Scoping call (30 min). Lock the 18 buyer questions a real Honolulu dental buyer would ask AI. Lock the cohort. Confirm questions reflect your specific buyer (family, cosmetic, emergency, pediatric, implant, periodontal, etc.).
- Three-week kickoff. Daily measurement across all 7 AI tools.
- Research memo + clear list of fixes. Named competitor practices, observed gaps per question, prioritized punch list covering on-site work, insurance carrier directory listings, third-party best-of lists, and the Bing organic results that Copilot answers track.
- Monthly delta memo after the kickoff. What moved, what did not, drift alerts when a competitor practice gains presence on your category.
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Honest scope
- 46-practice cohort built across two cohort-coverage rounds. Hawaii Medical Service Association, Delta Dental, Hawaii Dental Service are categorically named as third-party sources but excluded from the competitor cohort (they are insurance carriers, not practices).
- Honolulu/Oahu specific. Maui, Big Island, Kauai practices not in the cohort.
- General dentistry plus the specialty practices that surfaced in cohort coverage (pediatric, oral surgery, cosmetic). Orthodontics is partially covered.
- Measurement-only. We do not write content, edit pages, or change your site. Your team does.
NeverRanked home · Full dental teardown · Cross-category gradient · How we measure