Most dental practices that hire a Google Ads agency get the same thing: a set of keywords, a generic landing page, and a monthly dashboard. That's "running ads." It's not what actually grows a practice. Here's what a dental Google Ads agency should do — and the questions that separate the good ones from the dashboard-senders.
The thing most dental agencies get wrong: procedure value
A dental implant inquiry is worth 20-30x a teeth-cleaning inquiry. Yet most agencies optimize every conversion identically — feeding Smart Bidding a single "form submitted" goal that treats a $5,000 implant lead and a $120 cleaning lead the same.
A good dental agency separates campaigns by procedure value and bids accordingly:
- High-value procedures (implants, Invisalign, cosmetic, full-arch) get the highest bids and the most budget, because one conversion pays for many clicks.
- Routine + proximity ("dentist near me", "family dentist [city]") fills the schedule but at lower per-patient value.
- Emergency ("emergency dentist [city]", "tooth pain") converts fast at high intent — worth capturing with call-focused campaigns.
When all three are optimized as one undifferentiated goal, the algorithm chases the cheapest conversion (cleanings) and starves the high-value procedures that actually fund the practice.
What a dental agency should actually manage
| Capability | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Procedure-value bidding | Implant inquiries and cleanings can't share one optimization goal |
| Booked-appointment tracking | Form-fills aren't patients. Offline conversions from your practice-management system (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental) tell the algorithm which keywords produce patients who show up |
| Call tracking | Most dental conversions are phone calls — without call tracking, you're optimizing on a fraction of the real conversions |
| New-patient offer + landing pages | "$99 new-patient exam + X-rays + cleaning" converts far better than a generic homepage |
| Healthcare ad-policy compliance | Dental ads run under Google's healthcare policies — copy and tracking have to stay clean |
| Senior, not junior, management | The person scoping the work should be the one running it |
The four questions to ask before you hire
- "Do you bid differently by procedure value, or treat all conversions equally?" If everything's one goal, they're leaving money on the table.
- "Do you import booked-appointment data from our practice-management system?" If they only track form-fills, they're optimizing on the wrong metric.
- "How do you handle call tracking?" Most dental conversions are calls. No call tracking = blind optimization.
- "Who runs the account day-to-day?" Senior strategist or junior handoff?
If an agency can't answer the offline-conversion question clearly, that tells you most of what you need to know.
Realistic economics
- Ad spend: $1,500-$5,000/month for a single location to generate meaningful volume.
- Management fee: typically 15-25% of spend, or a flat retainer.
- Cost-per-new-patient: $50-$200 depending on market and procedure mix.
The number that matters is cost-per-new-patient against patient lifetime value. At a $150 acquisition cost and $1,500+ lifetime value, the math works comfortably — which is why disciplined dental Google Ads is one of the more reliable growth channels in the practice.
That's how we run the Paid Media pillar for dental practices at MyLeadsFactory — senior strategists, procedure-value bidding, booked-appointment tracking, no junior handoffs. For a free 30-minute audit of your current setup, or a second opinion on your existing agency, book a discovery call. We'll record a Loom walkthrough you keep regardless of whether you hire us.
Working in healthcare? Our healthcare Google Ads playbook covers the tactics, benchmarks, and compliance specifics for the vertical.