Most dental practices call it “running Google Ads.”
Funding Google’s quarterly earnings is closer to the truth.
The practices actually filling schedules? They bid smarter. They time better. They target tighter. They build pages that convert.
They pick keywords competitors overlook. They run ads at times others don’t. They send clicks to landing pages with one job: phones ringing, appointments booking, schedules filling.
Seven strategy changes separate profitable campaigns from expensive experiments. Budget moves. Timing adjustments. Landing page rebuilds. All beat the default approach bleeding your account dry.
Why Most Dental Practices Lose Money on Google Ads
I’ve audited dozens of dental Google Ads accounts. The same mistakes surface in nearly every one.
The problem isn’t budget. Practices spending $1,000 a month make the same errors as those spending $10,000. The problem is strategy.
Mistake 1: Bidding on the Wrong Keywords at the Wrong Time
Most practices bid on “dentist near me” and stop there. That keyword runs $5-8 per click, and you’re fighting every dental office within 15 miles.
You’re also running ads when everyone else does: 9am to 5pm. More advertisers bidding means higher costs.
Someone searches “emergency dentist open now” at 8pm on a Tuesday. They’re in pain. They’ll book with whoever picks up. But most practices turned their ads off at 5pm.
The cheapest clicks come during hours most practices ignore.
2. The Homepage Traffic Trap
Most dental ad accounts send every click to the homepage.
Someone searches “dental implants cost.” They land on a page about your team, your history, your mission statement. They have to dig for implant information. Most won’t bother. They’ll click back and click into a competitor’s ad instead.
Google penalizes you when people leave fast. You pay more to show up less.
Someone searching for implants should land on an implants page. Someone searching for emergency care should see your phone number immediately.
What Dental Google Ads Actually Cost in 2025
The numbers depend on your market, competition, and services you’re advertising.
Cost Per Click by Service Type
Here’s what you should expect to pay per click in most U.S. markets:
| Keyword Category | Example Keywords | Cost Per Click |
|---|---|---|
| General Dentistry | "dentist near me," "dental cleaning" | $3-8 |
| Cosmetic | "teeth whitening," "veneers" | $5-12 |
| Implants | "dental implants," "All-on-4" | $15-25 |
| Emergency | "emergency dentist," "tooth pain" | $8-15 |
| Orthodontic | "Invisalign," "braces" | $10-20 |
Major metros run 30-50% higher. Smaller markets cost 30-40% less.
What You Should Pay Per New Patient
Cost per click tells you what you’re spending. Cost per new patient tells you what you’re getting.
A healthy dental Google Ads campaign converts clicks to patients at these benchmarks:
| Metric | Benchmark Range |
|---|---|
| Cost per lead (phone call or form submission) | $25-75 |
| Cost per booked appointment | $75-150 |
| Cost per new patient (showed up and paid) | $150-400 |
If you’re paying $500+ per new patient, something is broken. Either your dental keywords attract wrong searchers, your landing pages don’t convert, or your front desk isn’t closing calls.
If your average new patient generates $1,200 in first-year revenue and $3,000+ lifetime, paying $200 to acquire them is a 6x first-year ROI.
Strategy 1: Structure Campaigns by Profit Margin
A $150 cleaning and a $5,000 implant case shouldn’t compete for the same budget. They have different profit margins, different patient values, and different acceptable costs per acquisition.
Here’s how I recommend structuring campaigns:
High-Value Procedures (Separate Budget, Aggressive Bidding)
Implants, All-on-4, veneers deserve separate campaigns with higher budgets. You can pay $200-400 to acquire these patients and still profit.
Give these campaigns room to spend. Set higher daily budgets and let Google’s algorithm find the patients researching major dental work. These searchers take longer to convert, so use a longer conversion window when measuring results.
General Dentistry (Volume Play, Controlled Spend)
Cleanings, exams, and basic restorative work bring in patients at lower margins. But they fill your hygiene schedule and create opportunities for case acceptance on bigger procedures.
Run with tighter cost controls. Focus on keywords like “dentist accepting new patients” and “family dentist near me.”
Emergency Services (Fast Conversions, Relationship Builder)
These convert fastest. The immediate revenue ($200-500) understates the value. Emergency patients who receive great care become long-term patients and referral sources.
Budget Allocation Framework
For a practice spending $3,000/month on Google Ads, split:
- High-value procedures: $1,200 (40%)
- General dentistry: $1,050 (35%)
- Emergency services: $750 (25%)
Adjust based on your practice goals.
Strategy 2: Target After-Hours and End-of-Month Windows
Most practices run ads 8am to 5pm. Almost none advertise evenings or Sundays. Patients don’t stop searching when your office closes.
The After-Hours PPC Opportunity
A toothache that was manageable at 2pm becomes unbearable by 8pm. These searches happen every evening. Your competitors aren’t bidding on them.
I’ve seen practices cut their cost per click by 40-50% on evening and weekend campaigns. Search volume is lower, but competition drops even more.
Run ads until at least 10pm for emergency keywords. Use call-only ads that route to an answering service. The practice that answers at 8pm wins the patient.
The End-of-Month Budget Gap
Many competitors run out of budget by week three. Less competition in the final 7-10 days means your ads show more often and cost less.
If you pace your budget evenly, or weight it toward month-end, you’ll face fewer competitors during this window. Your ads show more often. Your costs drop. Your phone rings.
How to Pace Your Budget
Google’s default divides your monthly budget by 30.4 and spends that amount each day. Override this with custom ad schedules and bid adjustments:
- Increase bids 20-30% for evenings (6pm-10pm)
- Increase bids 15-25% for weekends
- Check spend weekly and raise daily budgets in the final week if you’re running behind
Strategy 3: Build Negative Keyword Lists Before You Spend a Dollar
Negative keywords tell Google which searches to ignore. Most practices add them after wasting hundreds on bad clicks. Build these lists before you launch.
The Dental Negative Keyword Starter List
After auditing dozens of dental ad accounts, I’ve identified the keyword categories that waste the most budget. Add these to your campaigns on day one:
| Category | Negative Keywords to Add |
|---|---|
| Job seekers | jobs, careers, hiring, salary, assistant, hygienist jobs, receptionist |
| Education | school, degree, program, training, courses, certification, how to become |
| DIY/Home remedies | home remedy, natural, DIY, at home, without dentist, self |
| Free seekers | free, medicaid, charity, pro bono, sliding scale, low income |
| Other providers | veterinary, vet, dog, cat, pet, animal |
| Research only | definition, what is, wikipedia, pictures, images, videos |
This list blocks the most common budget drains. But it’s just the start.
Review Search Terms Weekly
Google shows you exactly what people typed before clicking your ad. Find it under “Insights and reports” then “Search terms.”
Check your search terms report weekly. Practices that review weekly cut wasted spend by 15-25% within 60 days.
Pro Tip: Use Negative Keyword Lists
Instead of adding negatives to each campaign separately, create a shared list. Add a term once, and every campaign benefits.
Strategy 4: Match Landing Pages to Search Intent
A click means nothing if the page doesn’t convert.
Someone searching “emergency dentist near me” wants a phone number and hours. Someone searching “dental implants cost” wants pricing and before/after photos. Sending both to the same page fails both.
Emergency Searches: Speed Wins
Emergency searchers have one goal: talk to someone now. Your emergency dental landing page needs:
- Phone number above the fold (clickable on mobile)
- Hours of availability including after-hours options
- Address with a map
- Simple headline: “Emergency Dental Care. Call Now.”
That’s it. No fancy design. No lengthy explanations. Remove everything between the click and the call.
High-Value Procedure Searches: Education Plus Proof
Your high-value procedure page needs:
- Clear pricing or price ranges (vague pricing loses trust)
- Before/after photos of real patients
- Financing options prominently displayed
- Doctor credentials specific to the procedure
- Patient testimonials from people who had the same work
- Low-commitment consultation offer (“Free implant consultation” or “Complimentary smile assessment”)
General Dentistry Searches: Trust and Convenience
Your general dentistry page needs:
- New patient offer (exam and cleaning special, free whitening, etc.)
- Insurance information or “We accept most insurance”
- Online scheduling or a short form to request an appointment
- Google reviews embedded or linked
- Office photos showing a clean, welcoming space
The Quality Score Connection
Google evaluates how well your landing page matches what the searcher wants. When people find what they’re looking for and stay on the page, Google rewards you with higher Quality Scores. That means lower costs per click and better ad positions. Matching pages to intent directly reduces what you pay for every click.
Strategy 5: Use Call-Only Ads for Emergency and High-Intent Services
Standard Google Ads send people to your website. Call-only ads skip the website and dial your office the moment someone taps the ad.
For many searches, that direct connection converts better than any landing page.
When Call-Only Ads Make Sense
Call-only ads work best when the searcher is ready to act and a phone call moves them forward faster than browsing a website. The strongest use cases:
- Emergency keywords: “emergency dentist,” “tooth pain,” “broken tooth,” “dentist open now”
- Appointment-ready keywords: “dentist accepting new patients,” “dental appointment today,” “same day dentist”
- Mobile searches: Over 60% of dental searches happen on phones. These users can tap to call instantly.
Someone with a toothache at 7pm doesn’t want to fill out a form and wait for a callback. Call-only ads remove every step between their search and your front desk.
Making Call-Only Ads Work
To make call-only ads profitable:
- Schedule ads only when staff can answer
- Train your team to convert calls
- Set a minimum call duration of 60 seconds for conversions
- Use a tracking number so you can measure which campaigns generate calls
Call-Only vs. Standard Ads: When to Use Each
| Scenario | Best Ad Type |
|---|---|
| Emergency searches | Call-only |
| Implant/cosmetic research | Standard (send to landing page) |
| “Dentist near me” (mobile) | Call-only |
| “Invisalign cost” | Standard (send to landing page) |
| After-hours with answering service | Call-only |
| After-hours without answering service | Standard (send to form) |
Strategy 6: Layer Local Service Ads with Traditional Search
Google offers two ways to advertise for local searches: traditional Search Ads and Local Service Ads (LSAs). Most practices pick one or the other. Running both gives you maximum visibility and lets you capture patients at different stages of their search.
How Local Service Ads Differ from Search Ads
Local Service Ads appear at the very top of Google results, above traditional paid ads. They show your business name, review rating, hours, and a “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” badge.
The key differences:
| Feature | Local Service Ads | Traditional Search Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Position on page | Very top (above all other ads) | Below LSAs, above organic |
| Pricing model | Pay per lead | Pay per click |
| Trust signals | Google Screened badge, reviews visible | No badge, reviews via extensions only |
| Targeting control | Limited (service categories, location) | Full control (keywords, audiences, schedules) |
| Landing page | Google-hosted profile | Your website |
| Best for | General searches, trust building | Specific services, retargeting, control |
Running both lets your practice appear twice on the same results page.
How to Allocate Budget Between Both
There’s no universal split. It depends on your goals and what’s working. Start here:
- 60% to Search Ads: More control, better for high-value services
- 40% to Local Service Ads: Top placement, trust signals, general searches
After 60-90 days, shift budget toward whatever delivers lower cost per patient.
LSA Requirement: Google Screening
To run Local Service Ads, Google requires background checks and license verification. The process takes 2-4 weeks. Start the application before you need the ads running.
Strategy 7: Track Phone Calls as Conversions
Most dental practices track form submissions as their primary conversion metric. Someone fills out a contact form, Google records a conversion, and the campaign looks successful.
But here’s the problem: the majority of new dental patients don’t fill out forms. They call.
If you’re only tracking forms, you’re measuring a fraction of your actual results. Your campaigns might be working better than the data suggests. Or they might be generating calls that never convert because no one answers. Without call tracking, you’ll never know.
Why Phone Calls Matter More Than Forms
Dental decisions are personal. People have questions about insurance, availability, specific procedures, and whether the practice feels right for them. A form can’t answer those questions. A phone call can.
The numbers support this:
- Phone calls convert to appointments at 2-3x the rate of form submissions
- Emergency patients almost always call (forms are too slow)
- High-value procedure inquiries often start with a call to ask about pricing or financing
- Mobile searchers prefer tapping to call over typing into forms
If 70% of your new patient inquiries come through phone calls and you’re only tracking forms, your data is missing most of the picture.
What Call Data Reveals
Once call tracking is up, you’ll see which parts of your campaigns actually drive patient inquiries. Here are some common discoveries we’ve had:
- Keywords that looked like failures (few form fills) are actually generating strong call volume
- Mobile campaigns vastly outperform desktop when calls are counted
- After-hours ads generate calls that go unanswered
- Certain ad copy drives more calls than others, even with similar click-through rates
This data lets you focus on what actually matters.
If you’re generating 50 calls a month but only booking 15 appointments, the problem isn’t your campaign.
Listen to call recordings. Train your team to answer professionally, ask for the appointment, and follow up on missed calls within minutes.
3 Services That Generate the Best Google Ads ROI for Dentists
Some dental services generate fast returns. Others require patience and longer tracking windows. Understanding these differences helps you allocate budget where it matters most.
1. Emergency Dental: Fast Decisions, Lower Competition
Emergency searches convert faster than any other category. The patient has a problem right now, and need a dentist who can see them today.
What makes emergency campaigns profitable:
- High intent: These searchers book immediately
- Lower competition after hours: Most practices pause ads evenings and weekends
- Relationship potential: Emergency patients who receive great care become long-term patients
- Referral source: “They saw me at 8pm on a Saturday” is a story patients tell friends and family
The immediate revenue from an emergency visit ($200-500) understates the true value. Track these patients for 12 months and you’ll often see $2,000+ in additional treatment, plus referrals.
2. Implants and Cosmetic: High Value, Longer Research Cycle
A single implant case generates $3,000-5,000. Full mouth reconstruction runs $20,000-40,000. These numbers justify higher ad spend, but the conversion timeline looks different. The click today might not become a consultation for 30 days.
What makes high-value procedure campaigns work:
- Dedicated landing pages: Pricing, photos, financing options, and credentials specific to the procedure
- Longer conversion windows: Set your tracking to 60-90 days so you capture delayed conversions
- Retargeting: Show ads to people who visited your implant page but didn’t convert yet
- Consultation offers: Lower the commitment with free or low-cost consultations
Give implant campaigns 60-90 days before evaluating ROI.
3. General Dentistry: Volume Strategy for Practice Growth
A new patient exam might bring in $150-250. That’s a thin margin when clicks cost $5-8.
General dentistry campaigns serve a different purpose: filling your patient base with people who need ongoing care and eventually accept larger treatment plans.
The math works like this:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost to acquire new patient | $150-250 |
| First visit revenue | $150-250 |
| Year one revenue (2 cleanings + treatment) | $800-1,500 |
| Lifetime value (8-10 year average retention) | $3,000-8,000 |
Frequently Asked Questions About Dental PPC
How much should a dental practice spend on Google Ads?
Dental practices should spend $2,500-5,000 per month on Google Ads to generate consistent new patient flow. The right budget depends on your market competition, growth goals, and capacity to handle new patients.
- New practices or slow months: $2,500-4,500/month
- Established practices seeking growth: $4,500-8,000/month
- Competitive metros or aggressive growth: $8,000+/month
Most practices see positive ROI at $3,000/month when campaigns are properly optimized. Start at a level you can sustain for 90 days, then scale based on results.
Calculate your budget using our dental marketing budget guide.
What keywords should dentists bid on?
Dentists should bid on keywords that signal appointment intent rather than general research. The highest-converting dental keywords include location modifiers and action phrases.
- High intent (prioritize): “dentist accepting new patients,” “emergency dentist near me,” “dental appointment today”
- Service-specific: “dental implants [city],” “Invisalign consultation,” “teeth whitening dentist”
- Avoid: “what is a root canal,” “dental school,” “dentist salary” (research or job-seeker intent)
Focus 80% of your budget on bottom-of-funnel keywords where searchers are ready to book. Save broader terms for later when your core campaigns are profitable.
Do Google Ads work better than SEO for dentists?
Google Ads and SEO serve different purposes. Ads deliver immediate visibility and patient inquiries within days. SEO builds long-term organic traffic over 6-12 months.
- Google Ads: Fast results, predictable cost per patient, stops when you stop paying
- SEO: Slower results, compounds over time, continues working without ongoing ad spend
The best approach is running both. Use Google Ads for immediate patient flow while SEO builds your organic presence. Practices that rely on only one channel leave patients (and revenue) on the table.
How long before dental Google Ads show results?
Dental Google Ads campaigns typically generate leads within the first week and reach stable performance by day 60-90. The timeline varies by service type and competition level.
- Week 1-2: First clicks and calls come in, initial data collection
- Week 3-4: Enough data to identify winning keywords and cut losers
- Month 2: Optimization based on real conversion data
- Month 3: Campaigns reach efficient, predictable performance
Give campaigns 60-90 days before making major budget decisions. Early changes based on limited data often hurt more than help.
Should dentists use Google Ads or Local Service Ads?
Dentists should use both Google Search Ads and Local Service Ads together for maximum visibility. Each ad type appears in different positions and appeals to different patient behaviors.
- Local Service Ads: Appear at the very top, include Google Screened badge, pay per lead, limited targeting control
- Search Ads: Appear below LSAs, full keyword and landing page control, pay per click
Running both lets your practice appear twice on the same search results page. Start with a 60/40 split favoring Search Ads, then adjust based on which channel delivers lower cost per new patient.
What’s a good conversion rate for dental PPC?
Dental Google Ads campaigns should convert 5-15% of clicks into leads (phone calls or form submissions). Conversion rates vary significantly by keyword intent and landing page quality.
- Emergency keywords: 10-20% conversion rate (high urgency)
- General dentistry keywords: 5-10% conversion rate
- High-value procedure keywords: 3-8% conversion rate (longer research cycle)
If your conversion rate falls below 5%, check your landing page experience first. Slow load times, missing phone numbers, and mismatched content kill conversions faster than any keyword issue.
Put These Dental PPC Strategies to Work
Google Ads works for dental practices when strategy is locked in and budget is available for testing. The seven approaches I’ve outlined separate profitable campaigns from expensive experiments.
These strategies require attention to what’s actually happening in your campaigns.
Start with one or two changes. Measure the impact over 30-60 days. Then layer in the next improvement. Small, consistent optimizations compound into significant results.
For practices ready to build a complete patient acquisition system, explore our dental marketing services.
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