I’ll start by saying, Google Ads can absolutely work for any treatment that your potential patients may search for in Google – apart from one. Along with this, there are a few caveats that make specific treatments less worth going after than others. Let’s get into it.

Which Dental Treatments Work With Google Ads?

The most popular treatments that clients request, by far, are teeth straightening and dental implants. They both work great and we need to consider two key ideas to understand why.

1. Search Volume

This is really going to be the deciding factor that sets the limitations for any dental Google Ads campaign. Search volume is basically how many potential patients are searching relevant keywords in google each month.

We can manipulate how often our ads show to these searchers by adjusting our cost per click bids, improving the advert click through rate and more. However, there comes a point where we will max out the reach and cannot find any more clicks from potential patients for the set of keywords that are targeted.

When we look at both dental implants and teeth straightening, there is plenty of search volume each month. In most locations we would max out the reach at around £1.5k for each of these giving plenty of slack. If you set a budget as £500 a month, we could then target the best £500 worth of clicks out of the full search volume each month.

2. Average Lifetime Value

You really need to understand the average lifetime value of patients for specific treatment types. When we look at high value treatments, we can assure an ROI of around 10x. However, if you wanted to target something like teeth whitening, the margin is a lot tighter and the ROI will be much lower. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t target that treatment – just there may be better options.

Of course, teeth straightening and dental implants sit in this higher lifetime value which adds to the perfect recipe.

Which Treatments Work?

The following are treatments that we run ads for and would recommend considering. We do also target a few other more niche dental treatments such as; gum recession and periodontics. However, they struggle with search volume and so whilst they are still profitable – they aren’t top of the list.

  • Teeth Straightening
  • Invisalign
  • Fixed Braces
  • Veneers
  • Composite Bonding
  • Dental Implants
  • Private Dentistry
  • General Dentistry
  • Restorations
  • Emergency Appointments
  • Facial Aesthetics (not all)

What Doesn’t Work?

Let’s start by saying, there is one treatment that absolutely must be avoided. That is anti-wrinkle treatment. Google actively ban any keywords related to this within the Google Ads account. There are in fact so few words we can target for this that it becomes impossible.

Low Search Volume Treatments

The following treatments can be targeted but you’ll be able to spend very little each month due to the lack of demand:

  • Kids Orthodontics
  • Gum Disease
  • IV Drips
  • ICON Treatment
  • Root Canal
  • Overly specific facial aesthetics treatments

Low Search Volume – Low Competition

One extra point worth throwing out there is the idea of competition. Remember how I said that teeth straightening and dental implants are the two most popular requests from dentists? Well, that also means there are more dental practices advertising for those treatments. This can lead to higher cost per clicks.

However, it’s rarer to see a dental practice targeting the lower value treatments like bonding and gum disease. That means, sure the search volume will be low, but those leads that do get in touch have been very specific in their search and will have a high chance of converting into bums on seats!

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