In this article
Why a clinic would use it at all
Because it is immediate and it is controllable. Search work takes months; a campaign switched on today brings calls this week. The clinic sets a daily budget, chooses the area, chooses the treatment, and sees what each call cost. For a new clinic with no reviews yet, or an established one that wants more of one treatment — implants, aligners, cosmetic work — this is the point of it.
It is not a way to be found for “dentist near me”. The map does that, and the map is free.
The four pieces of a campaign that works
The keywords: the treatment plus the area, and a list of what to exclude — “free”, “course”, “jobs”, the neighbouring city. A short list, not a long one.
The ad: what the treatment is, that you do it here, and one reason to call now — a consultation slot this week, not a discount. Ads that promise a discount attract the patient who wanted the discount.
The landing page: about that treatment only, with what it involves, roughly what it costs, the dentist who does it, and a call button and WhatsApp link at the top. Sending the click to the home page halves the calls.
Call tracking: a number used only by the campaign, so at the end of the month you know how many calls it made and, with the front desk’s help, how many booked. Without this, the campaign cannot be judged.
The sum, and when to stop
Cost per click, times clicks per call, times calls per booked patient, equals the cost of a patient. Compare it with what the treatment is worth to the clinic. For implants and aligners the sum usually works; for a check-up it never does. Do the sum monthly, per treatment. When the cost per booked patient rises above the value, or when the map and the reviews are bringing that treatment on their own, switch that campaign off. PPC is a tap, not a foundation.
The mistakes that waste the budget
Advertising “dentist” in a whole city. No landing page. No call tracking. Running the campaign while the phone rings out at 6pm. Leaving it on for a year without doing the sum. And running it before the clinic has the reviews to be chosen — an ad that sends a patient to a clinic with two reviews is paying to send them to the clinic with forty.
If you run one campaign, run it for the treatment you most want to do, in your own area, with a page and a number of its own, and check the sum at the end of the month. That is the whole discipline.