Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is one of the most efficient, most reliable, and most effective ways to promote your dental practice – but only if you establish and manage Google Ads campaigns properly. This blog post will show you which common Google Ads mistakes you should avoid and what you need to look out for in your Google Ads campaign to gain an advantage over your local competitors.
table of contents
- Google – this is where patients search for dentists
- The Google Ads, the direct route to potential patients
- How Google Ads helps you get found quickly
- How do Google Ads work
- 3 reasons why Google Ads is relevant for your online practice marketing
- 1. Win the patients you want.
- 2. Fast results.
- 3. Full cost control.
- 1: Keyword Research
- 2: Consider the location
- 3: Configure Google Ads settings
- Search vs. Display Network
- Bids for different devices
- Keyword match types
- Negative Keywords
- Tip 4: Optimize your practice website
- Tip 5: Choose the appropriate link target
- Need help with Google Ads?
Google – this is where patients search for dentists
Everything used to be simple. Advertising in the yellow pages, daily newspapers, or print ads was enough. However, times change, and so do the channels patients seek medical marketing agency care. For example, anyone looking for a dentist these days usually starts their search with the Google search engine.
Google has a market share of almost 93% in USA
9 out of 10 Americans use the search engine at least once a month and get information about products and look for information about illnesses and their treatment.
The online search for in-patient doctors and medical practices has become a course. There are many reasons for that. If a patient is extremely dissatisfied with his or her dentist, he or she will almost certainly turn to a search engine. If someone is new in a city (e.g., students starting their studies in a foreign city), they usually search for a new dentist via Google. But especially in the case of acute pain.
To be found in these searches, it is important to get to the first page on Google. There are two (three) ways to get to the first search results page on Google
- The Google Ads = Paid to advertise (=Google Ads)
- Google Maps = Google My Business
- The Google Organic = Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Certain requirements must be met for your dental practice to appear on the Google map (=Google Maps) for certain search terms. The basic requirement is a Google My Business entry for your dental practice.
Google My Business is a free business directory. How to enter your dental practice in Google My Business and what to look out for. The optimization of your My Business entry takes place through special local SEO (local search engine optimization) measures,
Google Ads, the direct route to potential patients
Even if your website is well optimized for Google, it may not be enough to be at the forefront of high-volume and highly competitive search terms! For example, around 12,000 times a month, the search term “dentist Vienna” is searched on Google. Or more than 8,000 times after “Dentist Graz. ” The search term “dental implants” is searched for almost 5,000 times a month, and more than 8,000 internet users find out about “bleaching” and “teeth whitening” every month.
As you can see, it will be very difficult to rank high organically for these search terms, but above all, it will be tedious! This is where Google Ads comes in!
The Google Ads helps you to be found quickly.
Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is google’s advertising service and Google ads have been around since 2003 and have been one of the indispensable online marketing tools ever since. These text ads are displayed very prominently on the search results page at the top position. That is where the user looks first!
How do Google Ads work
If a user enters a term (= search term) on Google, for example, “dental braces Vienna,” the Google Ads algorithm searches for all ads that have entered this keyword! Google Ads creates a sequence (= ad rank) of all existing ads. Based on these rankings, the ads are displayed in the appropriate positions! Google Ads works according to an auction process carried out with every search. It is entirely up to you how much money you bid on a keyword. You define the amount of this offer yourself and can change it at any time.
Google Ads entries differ from the organic search results in functionality and content. For example, you can specify exactly which content is displayed. The ad should include additional information, such as an address, telephone number, ratings, and other links to your practice website, which should appear in the ad!
3 Reasons why Google Ads is relevant for your online practice marketing:
1 Win the patients you want
When you advertise on Google, your ads will be shown to potential patients looking for exactly what you offer. Instead of introducing your services to potential patients without asking (push marketing), let them search you and “pull” them to your practice (pull marketing). By targeting geographic locations, you can reach the exact people in your city or neighborhood.
2. Fast results
With Google Ads, you can create a campaign in minutes and begin receiving patient inquiries immediately after running your ads.
3. Full cost control
Many dental practices believe they must spend a fortune to launch a successful Google campaign. This is not true; you can get started on a shoestring budget. In my Google Ads mini-course, I show how you can achieve great things even with a small budget. Google Ads has no minimum spend requirement, and you only pay when potential customers click on your ads.
But before you get started with Google Ads, you should make sure that your practice website also meets the requirements of a modern and professional website. This is not only important for your website visitors. Google itself checks every website for many quality criteria such as e.g
- Loading speed: If a website loads too slowly, this not only frustrates the user, the search engine will not be happy either!
- Flawless display on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets
- Intuitive and flat navigation (all content can be reached with as few clicks as possible)
- Professional images and text describing the services you offer.
Now that you understand why your investment in Google Ads is worthwhile, it’s time to get started!
STOP – Before you get started, here are 5 tips to keep in mind for running a profitable Google Ads campaign.
1: Keyword research
Creating a high-converting dental campaign (=website visitors become customers) starts with understanding the needs of your potential patients. For example, why are your potential patients looking for a dentist? What specific services are you trying to promote, and what terms are potential patients using when searching for those services in your area?
With the free Keyword Planner, Google itself offers a tool that gives you the following information about a search term:
- How often do patients use these keywords in their searches
- Keyword phrase competitiveness in Google Ads
- The estimated cost per click using each keyword
It is important to remember that your keywords are site and treatment specific. For example, location-based keywords such as “dentist 1020 Vienna” or “dentist Graz “have a high search volume. But you should also include the search for specific services” bleaching” (6,600 searches per month) or “dental implant” (5,000 searches per month) in your keywords (if you offer this service).
Make sure the keywords you choose have a “booking intent.” This means that you concentrate your advertising budget on the most likely keywords to lead to an appointment request. For example, a keyword like “teeth whitening” may or may not have query intent, while “teeth whitening dentist.
“It indicates that the patient is looking for a dentist who performs teeth whitening and is likely willing to book an appointment.
2: Consider the location
Google allows you to target your ads geographically. This means that you can determine where your ads are to be displayed and thus take the user’s location into account very precisely.
- You can enter a federal state (or country) or a city such as “Graz.” Then your ad will always appear when someone searches for a dentist in Graz.
- You can choose an address including a radius, e.g., 10 km. Then Google Ads will show your ads when the user searches within that area. “Nearby” search queries such as “dentist near me” can be served very well. This option is very sensible!
- However, care should be taken when selecting the radius if it’s too big. This is because you’re targeting people too far from your practice and are unlikely to come to you (unless you offer a special service). If the radius is too small, clicks will be missed.
The same options for targeting apply to excluding locations/regions. They could advertise their services throughout Styria, but exclude Graz, for example!
Be sure to use location-based bid adjustments.
3: Configure Google Ads settings
Google makes campaign creation a breeze. One-click on the “New Campaign” button, quickly add a few keywords, and create a text ad, and the new campaign is online!
Warning: Be careful with Google’s default settings! Many of these settings need to be edited before running your ads, or you risk burning your budget.
I recommend the following Google Ads settings:
Search vs. Display Network
Select “Search Network ONLY” to target only the Google Search Network instead of the Display Network. The Display Network requires different targeting and ads, so it’s best to create campaigns that target each network separately.
Bids for different devices
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, don’t waste money on mobile ads. Likewise, your website may not work properly on tablets. So be sure to test before you run your ads.
Set your device bids to -100% if you want to prevent your ads from being served on mobile and/or tablet devices.
Types of Keyword Matches
This means that Google will show your ad with any relevant keyword. As a result, you can generate more clicks from people who are not interested in your dental services. Instead, choose Phrase Match or even Exact Match for more control over your ad targeting.
Negative Keywords
You can prevent your ads from showing specific search terms using negative keywords.
For example, you can add “free” as a negative keyword to prevent your ads from showing to people looking for free information or services. I also recommend adding education-related keywords like school, university, college, and degree. Anyone who searches using these keywords will not want to make an appointment at your practice!
After confirming all settings, you can activate your ads and start your campaign!
4: Optimize your practice website
Your potential patient reads your ad and then clicks. What now?
This is a critical point in the “patient journey” from search to display on your website and your practice.
The user comes to your website with certain expectations and the desire to solve their problem quickly. Here it is incredibly important that your practice website is professional in terms of:
- loading speed
- Optimization for mobile devices such as smartphones
- Content such as text and images
- Easy navigation
- Structured page structure
- Easy contact option
- Clear calls to action such as “Make an appointment now,”
5: Choose the appropriate link target
Many advertisers make a big mistake by sending their potential patients to the website’s home page.
Bad idea! Potential patients who click on your ad are looking for a specific service or offer! Therefore, they should land on a page that is 100% consistent with the message in the ad.
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