Google Ads for Dentists

Google Ads for dentists: why one campaign for every treatment wastes budget

A common dental account setup is a single campaign with a long keyword list. Check-ups, whitening, wisdom teeth, clear aligners and "dentist near me" all share one budget and one set of ads. Google then tends to spend wherever clicks come cheapest, which is rarely where your chairs have room or the treatment is worth most.

Dental treatments split into at least three groups that behave differently once money is on them:

• Emergency and same-day. The patient is in pain and wants a phone number. The decision takes minutes.
• General care. Check-ups, cleans and fillings. The patient compares a few nearby practices on location, hours and whether they can book online.
• High-value treatment. Implants, orthodontics and cosmetic work. The patient reads, compares and often waits weeks to enquire.

Each group needs separate campaigns, separate landing pages and a separate conversion action. If a call from a toothache search and a form from an implant search count as the same thing, the account cannot tell you which one is paying its way.

Emergency and after-hours dental searches

Emergency searches are about getting through on the phone. The ads should lead with the call option, and the landing page should put the number at the top, with a clear note on whether same-day appointments are available.

Two settings matter most here. The first is call tracking, so you can see which calls came from ads and how long they lasted. A ten-second call to ask about parking is not a booking. The second is the ad schedule. If nobody answers the phone after 5.30pm or on Sunday, emergency ads running at those times send patients to voicemail and then to the practice down the road. We match the schedule to the hours your front desk actually picks up.

Implants, orthodontics and cosmetic treatment

High-value treatments take longer to turn into bookings. A patient weighing up implants or clear aligners will usually want to know what the process involves, how many appointments it takes, whether a consultation comes first and roughly how costs are worked out. A landing page that answers those questions plainly gives them a reason to enquire.

What the page must not do is promise an outcome. "A perfect smile", "pain-free implants" or anything that suggests a guaranteed result can create an unreasonable expectation of benefit, which section 133 of the National Law restricts. The page can describe the treatment, who it may suit and what the first appointment covers.

Because these patients take time, the conversion action for this line is usually a consultation request rather than a call, and we report it separately so a slow fortnight on implants is not hidden by a busy week of check-ups.

Offers and before-and-after images in dental ads

Offers are common in dental advertising: a free check-up, gap-free cleans for health fund members, a new-patient package. Section 133 restricts offers whose terms are not stated. That means the conditions need to sit on the page the ad leads to, where the patient can read them without hunting. Google may accept a "free consultation" style ad while the offer is still unlawful because its terms are hard to find.

Smile makeover and orthodontic pages often lean on before-and-after photos. Those images fall under AHPRA's rules too, and our guide to before-and-after photos in health advertising covers when they can be used and what makes them misleading. For headlines, testimonials about clinical care and other wording that causes trouble, see what you can't say in health ads. The rules and guidelines are updated from time to time, so check the current version before you launch an offer.

When we build or audit a dental account, every ad, offer and landing page is checked against these rules before launch. The advertising remains the practice's responsibility, so we flag anything we see as a risk.

Holiday slowdowns and budget pacing

Dental demand moves with the calendar. Over the Christmas and New Year break, routine care often waits until the new year, while a cracked tooth still needs a dentist. A budget set evenly across the year can overspend on check-up ads nobody acts on until February, or run short on the emergency line when the practice reopens. We set budgets by treatment line and adjust them around closures and holidays. Our post on why Google Ads fail for dentists in the holiday season goes into the December pattern in more detail.

Where ads sit with SEO and your website

Ads put you in front of patients today. SEO for dentists builds organic visibility that does not stop when ad spend does, and search-term data from the ads can show which treatment pages are worth building out. Both rely on your site. If the treatment pages are thin or the booking path is slow, dental website design is often the first fix. Our dentist marketing page shows how the channels fit together, and Google Ads for allied health covers the wider service. Running several practices, or unsure where to start? A strategy call may suit better than an audit.

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