Pay-Per-Click for Dentists
Running a dental practice means your schedule must stay full with the right types of patients for the business to thrive. Every day, patients are searching online for services like:
- “dentist near me”
- “Invisalign provider”
- "dental implants"
- “emergency dentist open now”
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising gives you a direct path to those patients, putting your practice at the top of search results at the exact moment they are ready to book.
Unlike
local SEO, which builds momentum over months, PPC delivers immediate visibility. Within days, your practice can appear in front of high-intent patients, whether they are on Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, or Yelp.
This speed and targeting make PPC one of the fastest ways to generate new patient flow. At Visible Dental, we design PPC campaigns around your growth goals.
From emergency visits to high-value treatments like implants and Invisalign, our strategies are built to maximize return on investment. We eliminate wasted ad spend, track every conversion, and ensure that every click has the potential to become a booked patient.
How PPC Works for Dentists
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising shows your practice at the top of Google, Bing, Meta, and other platforms when someone types in a certain key phrase, or shows certain intent. You only pay when someone clicks your ad, making it one of the most accountable forms of marketing.
With PPC, your ads appear above organic results when people search for services. Each campaign is tailored to the services you most want to grow.
Why Dental PPC Works
- Immediate exposure to patients searching for specific procedures and treatment
- Measurable results with clear data on cost per click, cost per lead, and cost per booked patient
- Budget control that lets you set daily or monthly limits and scale at your own pace
- Precise targeting by location, service type, device, and patient intent
- Flexible campaigns that can be paused, adjusted, or scaled based on your schedule and chair availability.
Types of PPC Strategies for Dentists
Different platforms allow you to reach patients in different ways. We help you decide where to invest for the best return:
Google Ads
The largest search platform used by the vast majority of patients. Google also often the highest intent. Patients searching here usually need care now and are going to book the same day if not within a few days.
We build campaigns for both general and specialty services. With Google, you can run call-only ads, service-specific campaigns, Google Maps ads, display campaigns and even YouTube advertising.
Microsoft / Bing Ads
While smaller than Google Ads, Bing ads often deliver lower cost per click and reach patients who use Microsoft devices or Edge as their browser. For many patients using Windows computers or devices and Edge as the default search engine, these type of ads will show right in front of them.
These campaigns can complement Google Ads and expand reach without increasing budget drastically.
Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)
Meta ads include both platforms and excel at awareness and retargeting. We use them to keep your practice top of mind, increase brand awareness, and bring back patients who clicked but didn’t book. Retargeting ads can lower acquisition costs by converting warm leads who already have had an interaction with your practice.
Yelp Ads
Yelp reaches patients actively searching for providers. Ads here highlight your reviews, photos, and services at the top of Yelp search results, giving you visibility over competitors in your area. Advertising on Yelp can also help you earn more Yelp reviews, which are extremely valuable for local SEO and even ranking in AI search results.
Our Process for Crafting Effective PPC Campaigns
We build campaigns that align with your practice goals. Every practice is different and needs a campaign tailored to their specific patient, capacity and specialty.
1. Define Goals
We first start by understanding your goals, budget and targets. Are you looking for service specific goals such as Invisalign starts? Boosting cosmetic cases? Handling emergency visits? Additionally, what are you cost goals?
2. Keyword Research & Projection
We then conduct keyword research and build a projection on roughly how many new patients can be expected from the campaign based on defined goals and budget. From there, we determine if the projection is realistic or if we need to revisit the goals.
3. Landing Pages (if needed)
If required, we build custom landing pages tailored to each campaign, providing a singular focus for each campaign for higher conversion and matching the high intent of the patients who click.
4. We Write All Copy
Our team handles all of the compelling copy that will get clicks to turn into new patients. This copy will inform and encourage new patients to book online or call immediately
5. Set Up Conversion Tracking
We make sure tracking is completely configured so you know exactly how many clicks are turning into phone calls, form fills, online bookings and more.
Ongoing Optimization To Drive Continuous Growth
After we set up your campaign, we are performing the following actions to maximize your budget and ensure it's always bringing high quality patients for the best cost.
- Keyword maintenance and review (add and subtraction)
- Test ad copy, headlines, images and landing pages
- Watch tracked conversions to update bidding strategies
- Watch for policy issues and violations
- Monitor payment notifications or issues
- Write new ad copy regularly as goals shift
PPC vs SEO: What's The Difference and Why You Need Both
For real long-term sustainable growth, it's important that your practices engages both search engine optimization and pay-per-click strategies. Getting both right means having a consistent flow of monthly new patients coming in to your practice.
PPC is faster and provides immediate visibility. You can often see new patients within 1 - 2 weeks after setting it up. PPC, however, requires that you pay for clicks constantly, or it will shut off. SEO, on the other hand, builds a strong foundation for long-term growth, often taking months to kick in, but sticking around regardless of investment.
Practices that invest in both see faster short-term growth from PPC, sustainable long-term traffic from SEO, and better brand recognition across search results. When you combine these strategies, your practice dominates search results, increasing trust and maximizing your new patient opportunities.
Quick FAQs
How quickly will I see results from PPC?
Most practices begin seeing new patient inquiries within the first week of launching campaigns. PPC provides instant visibility for high intent searches. As such, it can generate booked appointments much faster than SEO.
How much should my practice spend on PPC each month?
Budgets vary based on goals, services, and market size. General dentistry campaigns may perform well with a modest budget, while cosmetic or implant campaigns often require higher spend to compete. Here is a simple, general calculation:
If the average cost per click (CPC) is $8, and about 10% of clicks convert into a lead, then:
- Cost per Lead = CPC ÷ Conversion Rate
- Cost per Lead = $8 ÷ 10% = $80
If 40% of leads become patients, then:
- Cost per Patient = Cost per Lead ÷ Lead-to-Patient Conversion Rate
- Cost per Patient = $80 ÷ 0.40 = $200
On average, dental practices typically see a range of $150 to $300 per new patient depending on service type, competition, and conversion rates. For example, with a $3,000 monthly PPC budget at an average of $200 per patient, a practice could expect around 15 new patients per month from PPC campaigns.
The biggest levers that impact your costs are your click-thru rate, website / landing page conversion rate, and your front desk team's close rate.
Which platform works best for dentists: Google, Bing, Meta, or Yelp?
- Google is the king and drives the highest-intent patients, but has the highest costs.
- Meta is powerful and affordable for retargeting and awareness, but for cold ads, the leads are the lowest quality.
- Bing offers lower costs and additional reach, but it is small compared to the others.
- Yelp helps you capture patients actively searching for providers, and getting reviews are their platform are extremely valuable.
How do I know if my PPC campaign is working?
This is only accomplished by tracking conversions, and tracking booked new patients. We track every click, call, and booking in your VisibleOS Scorecard. You’ll see metrics like cost per inquiry and cost per booked patient, so you always know the impact on your practice and marketing budget.
Grab Our Negative Keyword List For a Jumpstart to Better Performing Ads
We made a list of negative keywords you can use to not waste budget on clicks that will never convert. This list was born from managing millions of dollars in adspend over the last 8 years. If you use this list, you don't end up paying for keywords such as "free dental work" or "dental remedies at home".
Scroll back up and fill out the form to download the negative keywords list today.
Ready to see what PPC can do for your practice? Schedule a free PPC review and learn where your ad dollars could go further.
Additional Resources
