May 22nd, 2019

AdWords for Dentists: Use it to Grow Your Practice

How do new patients use Google to find a dentist?

Think about it. Anytime someone has a question, and no one can provide an immediate answer, what happens? Out come the phones, and someone chimes in with the obvious suggestion, ‘Google it.’ AdWords for dentists is the perfect way to take advantage of that highly predictable consumer behavior. 

This simple fact is what makes Google the preferred place to have your dental office show up first when someone is searching, “cosmetic dentist in my area,” or “where can I get dental implants?”. Leave it up to Google AdWords to get your dental office front and center of the search results.

Google AdWords is a platform to create text and image ads, that can reach targeted audiences through Google and partner websites. When people search for specific things, your ad can show in the search engine results, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

It’s just that easy, right? Well, maybe. Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

Getting started with AdWords

First you’ll need an account. We set it up and pick specific topics for your campaigns based upon your practice’s primary business goals.  Within every campaign, there are ad groups, which contain your keywords.

Keywords are essential to your AdWords success. They’re terms or words used to match user searches with your ads, and they rule the AdWords world. The more specific your keywords are to a user’s search intent the better.

It’s also important to know that, with AdWords for dentists, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. How much do you have to pay? You decide! We’ll set a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) bid and assign a dollar value that you’re willing to pay for a specific click. Depending on the keyword, this price could vary to get you on the first page of Google or not.

It breaks down like this:

  1. Someone searches Google
  2. Google scans all ads
  3. Google compares how they match your keywords and CPC bids
  4. Google determines the most relevant ad to show based on those specifications

Now, just because you have a CPC bid of $3, doesn’t mean you’re going to spend $3 for every click. You could only spend $1 if you have the most relevant keyword, ad, and the highest bid for that specific search.

Lost yet? It’s OK. Navigating the AdWords world isn’t always easy. That’s why it’s so important to have someone with a little experience on your side who can help steer you toward search success.

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Control the cost

With AdWords, you set your budget and determine how much you want to spend. You can be flexible with your budget to figure out what’s the right amount to generate an approximate number of clicks. We also factor in what the average cost-per-clicks are in your area for a specific topic.

You can easily increase, decrease, or pause your campaign budgets. Maybe you want more implant patients. You can put more money into that campaign and spend less on attracting emergency patients.

As you can see, AdWords is complex behind the scenes, and it makes people hesitant to invest in it. But it’s really not as daunting as it may seem. It’s possible to see significant results with a  minimal budget.

Target the patients you want

With Google AdWords for dentists, you can specifically target what prospective are looking for: your company or your products and services. You can set specific geographic locations. This helps you stop wasting ad money on people far from your practice and target places where you know potential patients live.

Is your office bilingual and interested in catering to a different language? AdWords language targeting is your solution. What about targeting a specific device? Google AdWords does that too and so should you. It’s important to make sure your ads (and website) are optimized for mobile devices that you can target with specific bid adjustments. Meaning, that if someone searches on a mobile device you can bid a certain percentage higher for mobile than someone searching on a desktop.

Get your dental office in front of more potential patients with AdWords

The bottom line is that Google AdWords can help you get your ads on the top of the front page of Google with people searching exactly for what you offer. This is helpful if you live in a competitive area and your organic Google listing isn’t ranking high or even on the first page altogether. SEO can take time to build, and with Google AdWords, you can pay to be listed on the front page. Even better, if you already have a good SEO presence and are on the first page of Google, you can have your practice potentially in three places on the front page:

  • An AdWords ad
  • The Map listing
  • The organic Google listing

AdWords for dentists is just part of your marketing equation. Are you are up-to-date on the latest in dental internet marketing trends? Download our FREE Guide today, to learn more.

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