The Client
Advanced Dental of Holmdel is a family dental practice in Holmdel, New Jersey, serving Monmouth County. We built and ran their Google Ads, which grew real patient leads from 3 a month to 26 a month while the cost per lead fell by more than half.
The practice offers general and family dentistry, pediatric care, endodontics and other specialty treatments. Like most practices, its growth depends on a steady flow of new patients from the surrounding towns.
"3 patient leads in June 2021. 26 in May 2022."
The Challenge
Google Ads for dentists is one of the most competitive local markets:
- Expensive clicks. "Dentist" is a high-value search, and every practice, chain and dental service organization in the county bids on it.
- Mixed intent. Dental searches bring job seekers, insurance questions, people looking for hospital clinics in other cities and patients of other practices.
- A small radius. Most patients only travel a few miles to a dentist, so every impression outside that radius is wasted.
- Phone-first patients. New patients call to ask about insurance and availability, so calls are the lead that matters.
What We Built
1. A Main Search Campaign With an A/B Test
In May 2021 we launched a main Search campaign on Maximize Conversions, with a parallel A/B test version, built around the services patients search for: "dental clinic", "endodontist", "dentist", "pediatric dentist", "family dentistry", "dental care" and "dentist holmdel nj".
2. Tight Local Targeting
Both Search campaigns targeted a 10 to 15 mile radius around Holmdel, covering the practice's realistic patient area in Monmouth County.
3. Call Tracking That Counts Patients
We set up tracking for calls from the ads, calls from the website and contact-form submissions, so the campaigns optimized toward patients picking up the phone, not page views or map clicks.
4. A Business Profile Campaign
In February 2022 we added a campaign tied to the practice's Google Business Profile, covering a 25-mile radius, with 500+ negative search themes to keep it on patient searches.
5. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign was reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term reviews, new negatives, bid strategy tests between the two Search versions and budget moved to what produced calls.
The Results
- About 130 real patient leads from $7K+ in ad spend, about $54 a lead.
- Monthly leads up from 3 to 26, June 2021 to May 2022.
- Cost per lead cut by more than half: about $96 in the first three months, about $45 from March to May 2022.
- Nearly 100 calls straight from the ads and about 30 calls from the website.
Key Takeaways
- Keep the radius small. Patients choose a dentist close to home, so the budget stays inside the practice's real patient area.
- Count calls, not clicks. Tracking calls from the ads and the website trained the campaigns to find patients who pick up the phone.
- Test bidding side by side. Running two versions of the main campaign showed which settings produced cheaper leads.
- A modest budget can work in dental. At about $440 to $700 a month, the practice built a steady flow of new patient calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a dental patient lead cost on Google Ads?
Advanced Dental of Holmdel paid about $54 per real patient lead across the engagement. The cost fell from about $96 a lead in the first three months to about $45 a lead from March to May 2022.
How much should a dental practice spend on Google Ads?
Less than most expect. This practice spent about $440 to $700 a month for most of the engagement, and $7K+ in total, for about 130 real patient leads.
Do dental patients call or book online?
They call. Of about 130 real leads, nearly 100 were calls straight from the ads and about 30 were calls from the website. Only a handful came through the contact form.
What do dental patients search for on Google?
Simple, local searches. 'Dental clinic', 'endodontist', 'dentist', 'pediatric dentist', 'family dentistry' and 'dentist holmdel nj' produced most of the leads.
About This Campaign
Dental practice lead generation on Google Ads, built with our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system.
Industry: Dental (General & Family Dentistry) Platforms: Google Ads (Search, Business Profile) Location: Holmdel, New Jersey (Monmouth County) Account Duration: May 2021 to May 2022. The engagement has ended.
Real leads are calls from the ads, calls from the website, contact-form submissions and calls from the Business Profile campaign, as recorded by Google Ads for our LPA campaigns. Map clicks to call, directions and website visits are excluded. An older Smart campaign in the account was not built by us and is not counted. All amounts are in US dollars and rounded down.