Practice Growth & Dental Marketing
Practical insights on dental marketing, patient growth, SEO, paid advertising, AI, and practice growth strategies from the team at Firegang Dental Marketing.
Blog By:
BeckySpicer

Is Your Dental PPC Agency Actually Delivering Results? What Every Dentist Should Ask

10/30/2026 2:36:00 PM | Comments: 0 | Views: 206

By Becky Spicer, Vice President of Firegang Dental Marketing

If you're spending thousands of dollars every month on Google Ads for your dental practice, here's a question worth asking:

Do you actually know what you're getting for that investment?

And I don't mean clicks, impressions, or website traffic.

I'm talking about actual patient opportunities. Phone calls. Scheduled appointments. New patients walking through your doors.

I've seen how easy it can be for dentists to get caught up in marketing reports filled with impressive numbers without really understanding whether those numbers are contributing to practice growth.

Google Ads can be an incredibly effective tool for attracting new patients. But the difference between a campaign that generates traffic and one that generates patients often comes down to how well everything is tracked, managed, and optimized.

Whether you're considering a new dental PPC agency or wondering if your current one is delivering, there are some important questions every dentist should be asking.

1. Are You Tracking Clicks or Actual Patient Opportunities?

This is probably one of the biggest things I encourage dentists to look at.

Your agency tells you that your ads generated 200 clicks last month.

Great. But what happened next?

How many of those people called your office?

How many were actually looking for dental treatment?

How many scheduled appointments?

And how many became new patients?

Those are very different numbers, and they tell very different stories.

A campaign can generate plenty of traffic and still struggle to produce meaningful results.

Your marketing reports should help you understand what happens after someone clicks your ad, not just how many people clicked it.

2. Who Actually Owns Your Google Ads Account?

This might not seem important until you decide to change marketing companies.

Your dental practice should generally own its Google Ads account and maintain administrative access.

Your agency can manage the campaigns, but you should retain control over your account and advertising history.

Why does this matter?

Because years of advertising data can provide valuable insights into what's worked, what hasn't, and where opportunities exist.

Before signing an agreement, ask:

Will I have administrative access to my Google Ads account?
Who controls the billing?
Will I retain access to my campaign history if I leave?
What happens to my tracking information if I change agencies?

Transparency shouldn't be something you have to negotiate.

3. Are You Paying for the Wrong Searches?

Here's something that often surprises dentists.

Just because someone clicks your Google Ad doesn't mean they're looking for the dental services you provide.

For example, if you're advertising dental implants, you want to reach people actively researching implant treatment, not people searching for unrelated services.

That's why reviewing search terms and using negative keywords is so important.

Your PPC agency should regularly examine the available search data and identify opportunities to reduce irrelevant spending.

Ask your agency which searches are triggering your ads and what adjustments they're making to attract more qualified prospective patients.

Every advertising dollar should have a purpose.

4. What Happens When Someone Calls Your Practice?

This is where things get especially interesting.

Let's say your Google Ads campaigns are generating a healthy number of phone calls.

On paper, everything looks good.

But what if many of those calls never turn into appointments?

Is it because the callers weren't qualified?

Were they asking about services your practice doesn't offer?

Were calls going unanswered?

Or were prospective patients interested but never actually scheduled?

This is why I believe dental marketing and patient conversion need to work together.

Your advertising may be doing its job by generating interest, but if those opportunities aren't turning into appointments, there's another part of the process worth examining.

Understanding how prospective patients move from clicking an ad to contacting your office and scheduling treatment can reveal opportunities that traditional PPC reports miss.

5. Does Your Monthly Marketing Report Actually Make Sense?

You shouldn't need a marketing degree to understand whether your Google Ads are performing.

A good monthly report should answer a few basic questions:

How much did we spend?
How many qualified inquiries did we generate?
What did those inquiries cost?
How many resulted in booked appointments, when that information is available?
Which campaigns or services are performing best?
What changes are being made to improve results?

And here's something else I think is important.

Your agency should be able to explain what those numbers mean for your practice.

If your cost per lead is increasing, why?

If you're generating more calls but fewer appointments, what's happening?

If one service is performing particularly well, is there an opportunity to build on that success?

Reports should create clarity, not more questions.

6. Is Your Agency Looking at the Bigger Picture?

One thing I've learned from working in dental marketing is that advertising doesn't operate in a vacuum.

Your website matters.

Your landing pages matter.

Your online reputation matters.

And how your team handles incoming patient inquiries absolutely matters.

You could have a well-managed Google Ads campaign, but if prospective patients land on a confusing website or have difficulty scheduling, you're potentially losing opportunities along the way.

That's why it's important to evaluate your entire patient acquisition process instead of looking at advertising performance in isolation.

For dentists who aren't sure where those opportunities might exist, a broader marketing review can be helpful. At Firegang Dental Marketing, we offer a complimentary Practice Growth Assessment that examines marketing spend, website conversion, and potential areas for improvement.

Even if you're happy with your current agency, understanding how all the pieces work together can help you make more informed decisions about future growth.

7. Is Your Agency Proactively Improving Your Campaigns?

Google Ads shouldn't be a set-it-and-forget-it marketing strategy.

Competition changes. Search behavior changes. Patient demand can shift.

Your agency should be monitoring results and making thoughtful adjustments along the way.

Ask what changes were made to your campaigns in the last 30 days.

Were negative keywords added?

Were landing pages evaluated?

Were advertising budgets adjusted based on performance?

Were certain campaigns performing better than others?

A good agency should be able to tell you what it's doing, why it's doing it, and what it hopes to improve.

The Bottom Line: More Clicks Don't Always Mean More Patients

If there's one thing I'd encourage every dentist to remember, it's this:

Your goal isn't to generate more Google Ads clicks. Your goal is to create more opportunities to bring the right patients into your practice.

That means understanding what you're spending, where your leads are coming from, how those leads are handled, and whether your marketing is contributing to your overall growth goals.

You don't need to become a Google Ads expert.

But you should absolutely expect your marketing agency to provide transparency, accountability, and a clear explanation of the results you're getting.

And if you're not getting those answers, it might be time to start asking better questions.

I'm curious to hear from other dentists: When you review your monthly marketing reports, are you seeing actual booked appointments and new patient numbers, or are you primarily seeing clicks, impressions, and leads?

I'd love to hear what information you've found most helpful when evaluating your advertising.

About the Author

Becky Spicer is the Vice President of Firegang Dental Marketing, a company specializing in helping dental practices attract more patients and identify opportunities for sustainable growth. Through her work with dental practices, Becky focuses on connecting marketing strategies with meaningful business results, including patient acquisition, conversion, and long-term practice growth.

Category: Cosmetic Dentistry, Marketing, Orthodontics, Pediatric, Practice Management, HR and Accounting

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Practice Growth & Dental Marketing
Practical insights on dental marketing, patient growth, SEO, paid advertising, AI, and practice growth strategies from the team at Firegang Dental Marketing.
Blog By:
BeckySpicer

Is Your Dental PPC Agency Actually Delivering Results? What Every Dentist Should Ask

1. Are You Tracking Clicks or Actual Patient Opportunities?

2. Who Actually Owns Your Google Ads Account?

3. Are You Paying for the Wrong Searches?

4. What Happens When Someone Calls Your Practice?

5. Does Your Monthly Marketing Report Actually Make Sense?

6. Is Your Agency Looking at the Bigger Picture?

7. Is Your Agency Proactively Improving Your Campaigns?

The Bottom Line: More Clicks Don't Always Mean More Patients

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Practice Growth & Dental MarketingPractical insights on dental marketing, patient growth, SEO, paid advertising, AI, and practice growth strategies from the team at Firegang Dental Marketing. Blog By:BeckySpicer

Is Your Dental PPC Agency Actually Delivering Results? What Every Dentist Should Ask

1. Are You Tracking Clicks or Actual Patient Opportunities?

2. Who Actually Owns Your Google Ads Account?

3. Are You Paying for the Wrong Searches?

4. What Happens When Someone Calls Your Practice?

5. Does Your Monthly Marketing Report Actually Make Sense?

6. Is Your Agency Looking at the Bigger Picture?

7. Is Your Agency Proactively Improving Your Campaigns?

The Bottom Line: More Clicks Don't Always Mean More Patients

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Practice Growth & Dental Marketing
Practical insights on dental marketing, patient growth, SEO, paid advertising, AI, and practice growth strategies from the team at Firegang Dental Marketing.
Blog By:
BeckySpicer