Should I Use AdWords?
Some insights into Google’s pay-per-click advertising for use in dental marketing.
The use of AdWords is increasing both in dentistry and across business in general.
For those who are unfamiliar with the system there is plenty of information throughout this blog, but to recap briefly, AdWords allows businesses to choose a set of keywords, develop adverts in conjunction with those keywords and then bid to place the ads in a prominent position in the Google search index and other associated “display” networks. Although not quite as simple as this, the more you bid “per click” on your advert, the more prominent it will be on the page when a user searches for a particular service.
So why is AdWords becoming increasingly popular?
If you look at how page one of Google’s search results has evolved over time, you will see that the “real-estate” available for traditional organic (free) results has decreased significantly. This is even more pronounced in Google’s mobile search index. Additionally, it is now harder to gain a good ranking position on page one with Google actively penalising businesses which try to manipulate the search results. These two factors combined mean that it is harder than ever for businesses to get the traffic they once enjoyed from Google, particularly if they are solely reliant on the free listings.
Consequently we see more and more businesses, dentists included, paying out quite significant sums each month for paid search advertising campaigns – i.e. AdWords.
Is AdWords any good? Can I expect returns?
Let’s start by making it clear that traffic from the traditional free search results tends to be better quality and yields better results than traffic from paid adverts – even where the paid campaigns are configured and managed diligently. There is evidence to suggest that quite a lot of web users mistrust paid adverts and other factors such as click fraud also play a part. Consequently we recommend that dentists still try to establish prominent rankings over the mid to long term rather than simply rely on paid advertising. Professional search engine optimisation campaigns come into play here.
That said, it is certainly possible to get good returns from paid advertising and as with any business investment, if you can realise a decent return, then it’s usually worthwhile.
If you have a reasonable budget, AdWords is a near-instant way to get your business prominent in Google even though you could be paying out hundreds or even thousands per month to get decent traction.
When should you consider AdWords?
AdWords can be particularly useful in the following scenarios:
- where a website does not already have good free ranking positions – perhaps new or never search engine optimised
- where a website already has good ranking positions but the owner wishes to compete via the paid results too
Experienced business owners know that, even though returns on paid traffic are generally worse than free traffic, they can still get decent ROI from the paid channel – and so they piggy-back one on the other.
What does paid advertising cost?
It is not possible to give a definite figure here as the competition for advert space varies from location to location and on the treatment targeted. So a dental implant click in London may cost £8 or more whereas a similar click in a much less competitive environment will be less than half of this. As you might imagine, clicks for short-term orthodontic treatments and other popular cosmetic procedures can also be expensive.
Our clients spend anything from a few hundred pounds per month to tens of thousands. The key of course is to get good payback and this is easy enough to measure either in the AdWords console directly or by integration with Google Analytics.
You should also expect to pay a set-up fee, anything from a few hundred pounds and upwards depending on the complexity of the campaign, and a monthly fee for management and optimisation. PPC is not “fire and forget” and needs active intervention to deliver properly.
Can I do it myself or have my practice manager do it?
Genuinely, this is not a good plan unless you have the time to undertake training and be prepared to hone your skills ongoing. There are *lots* of parameters in an AdWords campaign (please see elsewhere in this blog) and getting just a few of them wrong can be catastrophic for your budget. It is highly recommended to use an experienced AdWords practitioner to help you.
Summary
AdWords is not everyone’s cup of tea but it certainly has a place in modern dental marketing campaigns when set up and managed correctly. If you need to make an impact in Google quickly, please call the digital marketing team at Dental Media on 01332 672548 for a no-obligation discussion.