PPC is a form of online advertising where you pay a fee each time someone clicks on your ad. Google Ads and Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) are common PPC platforms.
PPC allows you to target and reach potential patients instantly by placing your practice at the top of search results or in their social media feeds.

Google Ads is best for marketing your practice and raising awareness as a whole. Again, it uses targeted keywords or terms like “cosmetic dentist in [your location]” or “24-hour emergency dentist.” You can also include words or terms that you don’t want to be included in searches for, eg, “NHS dentist”, if you are a solely private practice – these are called ‘negative keywords’.
Google Ads campaigns are best run over a sustained period of time as Google algorithms ‘learn’ and improve as they run. This requires a minimum of three months to learn effectively. Tweaks can be made according to the results you get.

Meta PPC ads that appear on Instagram and Facebook, on the other hand, are fantastic for promoting special offers or patient events. These platforms allow you to target your audience by area, age and interests and offer optimising tools to help you reach the biggest audience.

PPC advertising offers faster, more measurable results than most traditional marketing methods. It’s immediate and you can set a budget, monitor and control your ad spend far more effectively. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, thus making it cost-effective and performance-driven. You can also target very specific audiences based on location, age, sex, interests and search intent, and track everything in real time.

Unlike traditional methods such as print, radio or billboards—which often reach broad audiences without much control—PPC gives you the ability to fine-tune your campaigns and get a clearer return on investment. It’s easier to test, adjust and scale PPC campaigns which make it ideal for both short-term promotions and long-term growth strategies.

How much you should budget for PPC ads depends on your goals and location. Google Ads can be more expensive but reaches people actively searching for your services. Facebook is often cheaper and good for building local awareness.

It’s advisable to start small and test what works, then you can increase your budget based on the results you see.

SEO is about improving your organic search rankings over time, whilst PPC gives you immediate visibility because you are paying for the ad placement.

Yes! If done and managed correctly, PPC can be one of the fastest ways to grow a dental practice by attracting high-intent, local patients.

‘Local Search’ refers to the way people find businesses and services near them through search engines—usually by typing things like “dentist near me” or “family dentist in [town/city].” When someone does a ‘Local Search’, Google shows results based on location, relevance and reputation. These results often appear in Google’s ‘Local Pack’, which features a map and a short list of top businesses nearby.

Most patients want a dentist who is close to home or work, so appearing on ‘Local Search’ is essential. Users often choose from only the top few listings they see, so if your practice isn’t showing high up in these local results, you’re probably missing out on new patients who are actively looking for the services you offer.