There are many dental marketing strategies out there such as social media advertising, search engine optimisation and traditional offline marketing, however at Profitable Digital we strongly believe that PPC, and more specifically Google Ads, is by far the best form of marketing for dentists. To help dentists get the most out of their Google Ads campaigns, to generate more leads & to get the best return on investment we have created this Ultimate Guide To Google Ads For Dentists.
1. Why should Dentists invest in Google Ads?
Firstly we need to look at why dentists should run Google Ads campaigns when there are so many other traditional and digital marketing options out there. Why spend real money on PPC when SEO is “free”? Posting on Facebook is free too so why not concentrate efforts there? The answer is that Google Ads works, it is 100% clear to see how well it is working and with a little bit of maths you can easily work out your return on investment.
Return On Investment
Within the Google Ads interface it is easy to see the buyers entire journey from searching on Google, to seeing your ad, to clicking on your ad, to visiting your website and lastly to becoming a lead by submitting their details or calling your practice. Now you need to know the following:
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- Your conversion rate- what percentage of leads go on to become patients?
- Your average order value- what is your average charge per appointment or treatment plan?
- The lifetime value of a new patient- how long does the average patient stay with you and how many appointments/treatments will they have?
By calculating the above you can work out how much each lead is worth to your practice. For example:
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- A dental clinic is spending £1500 on Google Ads each month and generating 40 leads
- Their conversion rate is 75% so they are generating 30 new clients each month at a cost of £50
- Their average order value is £100 so they are generating £3000 in revenue from their new clients form Google Ads each month
- The average lifetime value of each new patient is £1000 over 4 years
So with the above example the dental clinic is buying new customers at a cost of £50 which are worth £100 to them immediately then £1000 over 4 years giving them an immediate ROI of 2:1 and an ROI over 4 years of 20:1.
Precise Targeting
Google Ads can target your potential clients in a way that has never been possible before. You can target people by:
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- the searches they are carrying out on Google- you can display you ad when someone searches for things like “dental implants near me”, “emergency dentist open now” or “best private dentist in Wimbledon”.
- their location- focus in on your local area by displaying ads in a radius around your practice, by postcode or by neighbourhood. Learn more about location targeting for dental practices here.
- demographics- Google has a lot of information about searches so you can target them by age, gender and much more.
Carefully built Google Ad campaigns can get your brand & message in front of people who are explicitly stating that they are searching for your services in the actual moment that they are searching for them. Done correctly this is extremely powerful for dental practices.
2. What keywords should Dentists target?
When targeting the searches that people carry out on Google we provide Google with “keywords” that we want it to listen for and then display our ad when these are included in a search. Keywords can be a single word like “dentist” or they can be a phrase like “best private dentist in Glasgow”.
Keyword match types
When entering keywords into Google Ads we can target a phrase very specifically and only show our ads when someone carry’s out that precise search, or we can loosen things up a bit and ask Google to show our ad when someones search includes just one keyword like “dentist” or is a close variation of a phrase like “sedation dentistry”. These are called keyword match types and it is very important to get these right to show ads for the very best quality searches. With time and experience a good manager will learn to balance the keywords and the match types to get the best results.
Searcher intent
This is a detailed subject but when choosing keywords for a dental practice it is important to consider the intent of the searcher. Are they at the beginning of their search, so just doing research, or are they at the decision stage and ready to get in touch and make an appointment? The intent of a search such as “options for replacing missing tooth” is not as clear as “dental implant specialist near me”.
3. How to write ad copy for dental practices
The ad copy, or text of the ad, needs to match up with the keywords you are targeting and so with the searches that they are showing up for. To get people to click on your ad they need to see that it is 100% relevant to the search they have just carried out. It sounds simple but it makes a huge difference- if someone who searched for “dental implants near me” sees an ad headline that says “Dental Implant Specialist In Bristol” they are much more likely to click on that rather than “General Private Dentist Bristol”.
Qualify your traffic
The next thing to consider when writing ads for dental practices is to use the copy to qualify the traffic they attract. For example if you are a private dental practice that doesn’t take NHS patients then you can make it explicitly clear in the ad copy that you are a private clinic so you will not attract those looking for an NHS dentist. Another example of this is to include your pricing in the ad copy. If your prices for dental implants start at £700 you can include this in your ad and you then know anyone who clicks on it will be prepared for your prices and you won’t waste money on clicks from searches who are looking for much cheaper options.
4. What ad assets (or ad extensions) to use
Ads on Google don’t just include text, there are additional enhancements to provide more information to the searcher and these are called assets (used to be called extensions). There are several options and assets can improve the click through rate (CTR) of ads and they can also help to qualify the traffic that you get too.
Best assets for dental ads
There are particular assets that are particularly good to use for dental practices:
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- Location- you can link your Google My Business profile to your Google Ads account and your location details will then appear on your ads. This allows searches to see how far they are from your practice and to click to bring up your location on Google Maps.
- Call- add your phone number so searchers can click to call you when your ad appears on mobile. This cuts out a step (going to your website) so reduces the hassle & friction for a keen potential client to get in touch. Top tip: make sure you set the schedule so that your phone number only shows when there is someone to answer it.
- Sitelinks- add links to pages on your website for specific services or treatments. This broadcasts what you offer and allows searchers to go directly to a specific topic if that is what they are looking for reducing friction again.
5. Landing Pages for Dentists
When someone clicks on an ad they go to your website and they will ‘land’ on a particular page. Which pages they go to should be carefully considered and you should run A/B tests sending traffic to different pages to see which perform better.
Homepage or service/treatment pages?
Here it is important that the journey of the searcher mentioned above is consistent. The ad needs to match the search and the landing page needs to match the ad so everything is relevant and the searcher gets exactly what they are looking for. So if the keywords you are targeting are very general, like “private dentist near me”, then send traffic to the homepage. If the keywords are more specific, like “clear braces dentist”, then send them to the clear braces page on your website.
Dentist landing page best practices
When someone comes to your landing page from an ad it needs to do two things very quickly:
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- communicate what you offer
- tell them what to do next
Your landing page should match the ad copy which will match the search they carried out and visitors should quickly see that they have found what they are looking for. Don’t distract them with too many other things and keep the focus on what they have searched for.
Next you need to tell them what to do using a Call To Action (CTA). If they are interested in your service now you need to give them ways to get in touch and find out more or make an appointment. Some services, such as emergency treatments, are urgent and your CTA should be to give you a call. Others my be more suited to sending an email or to live chat. Either way, have clear CTA’s on your landing page to make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch.
Conclusion
If set up and managed correctly Google As campaigns can generate a fantastic number of quality leads for dental practices. Creating a well considered conversion path for potential clients from search to conversion and constantly optimising your campaigns can produce fantastic results.
How can Profitable Digital help?
You can find out a bit more about how we can help dentist here and if you would like to have a chat about how we can help you with your Google Ads campaigns you can book a call. We also offer a FREE Google Ads Account Audit to any dental practice that is already running Google Ads where we review your campaigns and make suggestions on how you can improve performance. Finally, for dentists that are not running PPC campaigns we have a 6 week trial offer which is the ideal way for us to show you just how powerful Google Ads can be for your practice.
We look forward to connecting.
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