Questions dentists ask about marketing

More than the three practices you appear beside in the map pack. Across 86,875 dental listings the median is 39 reviews, and 45.6% sit under 25. In a competitive metro the practices holding the top three map spots are usually past 200, and the 75th percentile for the whole country is 265. A realistic target is two to four new reviews a week, asked for at checkout. The scripts are in the reviews guide.

Yes, asking is fine. The risk is in what you say back. A patient may disclose whatever they want about their own care, but the moment your practice replies with anything that confirms someone is a patient or names a procedure, you have disclosed protected health information. Reply with a generic thank-you that identifies nobody and describes no treatment. Never post before-and-after photos, names or case details without signed, specific written authorization.

For high-value cases, usually yes. Cost per click on implant and clear aligner terms runs $8 to $30 in most metros, and cost per booked consult lands between $150 and $600. That is defensible when a single implant case is $4,000 and up. Bidding on "dentist near me" against every DSO in the county is where practices lose money. Campaign structure is in the Google Ads guide.

Model first-year production, not lifetime. For a general practice a new patient's first year typically runs $800 to $1,500 including exam, imaging, hygiene and whatever restorative comes out of the exam. Lifetime value in a stable practice is several times that, but you cannot spend lifetime value on Google today. Set your acquisition ceiling against year one and let the rest be upside.

Pick one and say it plainly. In-network practices should list the specific plans on the website, because "we accept most insurance" gets no one to call. Fee-for-service and out-of-network practices should lead with what the fee buys: time, the same clinician every visit, no production quota. Hiding the model until the phone call wastes both sides' time and produces the shoppers you did not want.

Because the front desk is busy. Most practices convert 25% to 45% of new patient calls; the good ones clear 70%. The gap is almost never friendliness. It is putting callers on hold, quoting a price before establishing anything, offering one appointment time instead of two, and never calling back the voicemails. Fixes are in the front desk guide and the calculator prices the leak.

Not on price and not on ad spend. They will outspend you and they will discount below your margin. You win on the things a corporate office structurally cannot promise: the same dentist every visit, a schedule that is not built around a daily production target, and a phone answered by somebody who knows the patient. Say those things on the home page in plain sentences, not as a values statement.

A specific one does. "$89 new patient exam, X-rays and cleaning, no insurance needed" books. "Free consultation" attracts people comparison shopping across five offices. Put a real number on it, cap it to new patients, put an end date on it, and make sure the front desk knows how to move that patient onto a treatment plan conversation. More in the pricing guide.

The answer engines pull from the same signals Google does plus plain readable text. A complete Google profile, identical name and address everywhere, a website that states your services, your insurance status and your city in ordinary sentences, real reviews, and mentions on local sites. The AI search guide covers the steps.

It is public data gathered at scale, so it is good to within a point or two, not to the decimal. Listings are deduplicated by Google place ID and refreshed monthly. Google does not publish this cut of the data itself, which is why we compute it. The full method is on the about page.

Public Google Business Profile fields for dental practices found through Google Maps searches in every state: review count, rating, website link, hours, category and location. No review text, no reviewer names, and nothing that could identify a patient.

Any one of the services we run, or several at once: Google Ads management, Meta ads, AI search optimization, local SEO and Google profile work, website design, social media management, review generation, missed-call text-back and follow-up, email and SMS recall campaigns, bookkeeping, and appointment setting. Setup, management and reporting are all included. If you choose to run ads, the spend paid to Google or Meta is yours.

You decide. Keep the service at the monthly price quoted before the trial started, switch to a different one, or stop. Nothing renews on its own, nothing is charged during the trial, and anything built stays in your accounts.

No. There is no card on file at any point in the trial. We ask for access to the accounts involved and 20 minutes for a setup call. Most services are live within 48 hours of that call; a new website takes about a week to first draft.