Increase Visibility with Our Google Ads Keyword Optimization Tips

Having a digital presence is no longer optional for dental practices. Patients are increasingly using online search to find local services. To be sure your practice appears in their search results, knowing how to use Google Ads for dentists is a necessary skill.

Google Ads are a cost-effective way to advertise your services. Rather than blasting mass messages to a general audience, your Google Ads only appear when people are searching for your services. This helps you save money on marketing while reaching customers who are most likely to become patients.

Our guide to Google Ads for dental services will show you how to use the power of search to grow your practice. 

What Is Google Ads for Dentists?

Google Ads is Google’s built-in advertising platform. Businesses can use Google Ads to promote their businesses on the search results page. Dental practices often use Google Ads to appear at the top of the search results. 

It uses a PPC advertising (pay-per-click advertising) format, which means you only pay for the ad when someone clicks it. This gives you a low-cost, high-value way to reach potential customers.

Google Ads for dentists offer several benefits, including:

• Increased visibility. 46% of Google searches are for local businesses, and 60% of those searchers will call businesses directly from the search results.
• Targeted marketing. Your Google Ad only appears when people in your specified market are searching for services you offer.
• Measurable results. You can track ad performance via a personalized dashboard and see how clicks lead to phone calls, web form completions, and appointments scheduled.

However, simply placing an ad on Google isn’t enough to get you in front of your target audience. Your ad needs to include the right keywords so it can be included in relevant search results. 

Choosing the Right Keywords

To use Google ads successfully, you’ll need to know a little about SEO for dental practices. SEO is short for search engine optimization, which is the process of helping search algorithms understand your content so it can be ranked accordingly. 

One of the biggest components of SEO for dental practices is keywords, which usually fall into one of these four categories:

• Location-based keywords. As a local business, it’s important to target potential patients in your area. Including location-based keywords in your ads, such as the name of your city or neighborhood, can help you reach people who are searching for a dentist in your area.
• Specific service keywords. Using generic keywords like “dentist” or “dental clinic” can result in your ad being displayed to a wide audience, including people who may not be interested in your services. Instead, use specific keywords that accurately describe your services, such as “cosmetic dentist” or “orthodontist.”
• Long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that can help you reach people who are searching for exactly what you offer. For example, “emergency dentist open on weekends” or “teeth whitening in [your city].”
• Negative keywords. Negative keywords are terms that you don’t want your ad to appear for. For example, if you don’t offer pediatric dentistry, you can add “pediatric” as a negative keyword to ensure that your ad doesn’t show up for people searching for a pediatric dentist.

Optimizing Your Google Ads Campaign

In addition to choosing relevant keywords, you can further optimize your Google Ads for dentists to improve your click-through rates.

Here’s how. 

• Use ad extensions. Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that you can include in your ad, such as your phone number, location, or links to specific web pages. Ad extensions help your ads stand out, provide potential patients with more information, and make it easy to call your office or request an appointment.
• Create targeting landing pages. After someone clicks on your ad, you should direct them to a landing page relevant to the ad they clicked. For example, if someone clicks on an ad for teeth whitening, they should be directed to a landing page that specifically talks about your teeth whitening services.
• Monitor and optimize your campaign regularly. Regularly monitoring and optimizing your campaign can help you improve your ad performance over time. Look at metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost per click (CPC) to identify opportunities for improvement.

Successful online advertising for dentists takes multiple areas into account — your keywords, your ad copy, and what happens after the potential patient clicks your ad. Google Ads is a great platform for centralizing these efforts so you can continue optimizing and making each campaign the best it can be.

Best Practices for Google Ads in Dental Marketing

Keywords and SEO for dental practices can help you start getting in front of a relevant, active audience that’s ready to book an appointment. These best practices can augment your SEO and help you gain better results.

• Write compelling ad copy. Good ad copy uses action verbs and highlights unique selling points to make customers want to click on your ad. It’s also important to balance creativity with directness — make sure you don’t oversell patients and make sure they know what to expect when they click.
• Set a daily ad budget. Allocate your budget effectively to maximize your ROI. This includes setting daily limits and adjusting ad bids based on performance. 
• A/B test your ads. Test different headlines, descriptions, and calls to action to see what your audience responds to. This will help you create more impactful ads moving forward.

These dental marketing strategies will help you attract new patients and help your practice grow — all from the power of online search.

Conclusion

Google Ads for dentists can be highly effective in bringing you new patients. Nearly half of all Google searches are from people looking for services in their area, and your ad will put you front and center of an audience actively looking for a dentist like you.

Before you apply these dental marketing strategies, contact our team for a free website audit. We’ll help you make the perfect first impression you need to attract more patients.