A dental marketing strategy is a short written plan that says which patients the practice wants more of, where those people look, and which few channels will reach them in what order. It is not a list of every tactic an agency sells. The plan below works for a single-chair office or a group with several locations, and every step rests on a published rule from Google, the FTC, HHS or the ADA.
Marketing for Dental is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
Start with the chairs you want filled
Before any channel, write down the treatments the practice wants to grow and the ones it already has enough of. A general office that wants more hygiene recall visits needs a different plan from one that wants more implant consultations or more children’s checkups. Next to each treatment, note who books it: new families in the area, adults who moved recently, people comparing options for a larger case.
This one page changes everything that follows. It tells the website which service pages matter most, tells the ads which searches to bid on, and tells whoever writes social posts what to show. Without it, a practice pays for activity rather than direction.
Fix the Google Business Profile first
Most people who search for a dentist meet the practice on Google Maps before they ever see its website. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. What the practice controls is a complete, accurate profile: the real name as it appears on the sign and the website, the real address, the right primary category, hours, photos and genuine reviews.
Dentists are named by Google as individual practitioners, so each public-facing dentist can have a profile of their own next to the office’s profile. Where several dentists share one location, the practice keeps its own profile and each dentist’s profile carries only that dentist’s name. If the practice also travels to patients, Google allows both the address and a service area. The local SEO for dentists guide goes through it field by field.
Make the website answer the questions patients ask
The website is the one channel the practice owns outright. A useful dental site has one clear page for each main treatment, the practice’s real details on every page, a contact form that asks only for what the front desk needs, and pages that load quickly on a phone. Google’s own guidance says its systems are built to reward helpful, reliable content made for people, not pages made to manipulate rankings.
Two cautions come with the site. Forms should never ask for health details, and tracking tools on a dental website raise HIPAA questions; the practice decides with its compliance advisor. More on both is in the dental website design guide and the article on HIPAA and dental marketing.
Choose the channels in order
Most practices do better with two or three channels done properly than with six done halfway. A sensible order for many offices looks like this:
- Google Business Profile and reviews, because that is where nearby searchers decide.
- The website and dental SEO, so the pages for each treatment can be found and kept.
- Paid search, when the schedule needs new patients sooner than SEO can bring them. The Google Ads for dentists guide explains how the auction works.
- Social media and Meta ads, for treatments people think about for a while before booking. See Facebook ads for dentists and dental social media marketing.
Google Ads runs on an auction. Ad Rank uses several factors, including the competition, the context of the search and the quality of the ad at that moment, so a higher bid alone does not settle where an ad shows. Quality Score looks at expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. A practice can change its average daily budget at any time, which makes paid search a channel that can be turned up or down with the schedule.
Want a written plan for your practice? Tell us what you want more of.
Keep every ad truthful
The ADA Code of Professional Conduct, binding on ADA members, says any dentist may advertise, but no dentist shall advertise or solicit patients in a manner that is false or misleading in any material respect. It warns against statements likely to create an unjustified expectation about results, and against claims of superior quality that cannot be backed up. Social media posts that promise superior results, or call a product or service effective without scientific evidence, count as misleading under the same Code.
Google has its own rules too. Its healthcare policy expects ads and the pages they lead to to follow the law and industry standards, and health is one of its sensitive interest categories, so health-related ads face extra limits on audience targeting. State dental boards also set their own advertising rules. A strategy that keeps copy factual, avoids promised outcomes and uses specialty titles only where the dentist qualifies stays clear of most trouble.
Plan reviews the honest way
Reviews feed the popularity part of local results, and they are tightly ruled. Google’s Maps policy bans paid reviews and any incentive such as a discount or a free service in exchange for a review, and it bans asking only happy patients. The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews, in effect since October 21, 2024, bans fake reviews and review suppression. The plain approach is to ask every patient for an honest review and offer nothing for it. Replies must never mention a patient’s care. The dental reputation management page has the detail.
Never buy patients
Some offers promise to deliver patients for a fee per new patient. The ADA Code says a dentist may pay for any advertising the Code permits, but is generally not permitted to pay another person or entity for the referral of a patient. A strategy should spend on advertising, websites and the work around them, and never on a per-patient referral.
Measure what the practice can see
A strategy is only useful if the practice can tell whether it is being followed. Agree in advance on what gets reported: calls from the profile and the ads, form requests, which pages people read, what the ads cost. Ask that the domain, the website, the profile and every ad account sit in the practice’s own name, with the agency added as a user. Then the work stays with the practice whatever happens next.
Google’s own list of questions to ask an SEO is a good test for any agency: can you show me examples of your previous work, do you follow the Google Search Essentials, how do you measure your success, and will you share with me all the changes you make to my site. A clear proposal answers each one in writing.
Pulling the plan together
The Census Bureau counted about 135,000 dental offices with paid employees in its County Business Patterns for 2023, so most practices compete with several others within a short drive. A strategy that covers the profile, the site, one or two paid channels and an honest review habit, written on one page and checked monthly, gives the practice a fair place in that crowd. To get one drafted for your office, get a proposal.
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Questions practices ask
What should a dental marketing strategy include?
The treatments to grow, the patients who book them, the channels in order (usually the Google Business Profile, the website and SEO, then paid search or social), the rules that apply, and what gets reported each month.
Which dental marketing ideas cost nothing?
A complete Google Business Profile is free, and so is asking every patient for an honest review. Updating hours, photos and services on the profile also costs only time.
Can a strategy include paying for new patients?
No. The ADA Code generally does not permit a dentist to pay another person or entity for the referral of a patient. Pay for advertising and the work around it instead.
How often should the plan be reviewed?
Look at it every month against the numbers the practice agreed to track, and rewrite it when the treatments the practice wants to grow change.