Healthcare marketing is a nuanced and competitive space. We’re currently at the crossroads of escalated consolidation and private practice stabilization. As Digital Marketers, this puts us in a challenging place because dentists are choosing to join a corporate entity (DSO) or claim their local territory by same-store growth, expansion, or partnering with other practices. To patients, however, this may all look the same to them. Choosing the best dental marketing company is a important first step.
Should I be doing SEO or PPC?
The short answer is both. It’s important to know where to start though. Prioritizing your local presence starts with a high powered SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plan. Marketing budgets aren’t endless so we at Harris & Ward believe in building a strong foundation and that seo for dentists is a top priority. Once your dental website is optimized for user experience (UX) and personalized to your business, your marketing strategy should focus on Google’s organic ranking factors and local seo. Below, we’ve compiled some interesting data related to SEO and PPC from wonderful, credible, third party sources.
ORGANIC SEARCH STATISTICS
- Google processes approximately 70,000 search queries every second.
- 53% of website traffic comes from organic search.
- Almost a third of consumers search for local businesses on a daily basis.
- Over 99% of all searchers click on one of the links in the first SERP.
- Organic search drives over ten times more website traffic than organic social media.
- The first result on a Google SERP has a 28.5% click-through rate. By the time you get to the 10th result, the CTR has fallen to 2.5%.
- 95.88% of Google searches are four words or more.
- Google owns 96% of all mobile searches and 92% of all desktop searches.
PAID SEARCH STATISTICS
- 27% of website traffic comes from paid search.
- In 2020, Google’s ad revenue amounted to $146.92 billion US dollars.
- Advertising accounts for about 81% of Google’s total revenue.
- Advertisers are predicted to spend $99.22 billion on search annually by 2024.
- People encounter approximately 6,000 to 10,000 ads every day, on average.
- The Google Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users.
- Google Ads display network consists of over 650,000 apps.
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Average cost per click for search ads by industry
Average cost per click (CPC) is a simple measure of how much an advertiser is paying each time a user clicks one of their ads. Many factors, including your industry and the competition level of the keywords you’re bidding on, can affect your CPC. You can learn how cost per click is determined in Google Ads specifically with this infographic.
Search Advertising Benchmarks
Average Cost Per Click 
The average cost-per-click for a search ads in 2022 is in the range of $2 to $4. As has been the pattern in years past, industries with the highest average cost per click include Attorneys & Legal Services, Dentists & Dental Services, and Home & Home Improvement at $6-8 per click. This is not surprising as click-through rates for these industries tend to run lower than others, which can drive up CPCs. These are competitive industries with higher marketing costs and longer decision cycles, but also a higher value placed on each individual conversion, since these services tend to be more expensive.
Average click-through rate for search ads by industry
Average click-through rate or CTR is an indicator of how relevant your ads are to the audience they’re reaching. Simply put, CTR is the ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions. A CTR of 1% means that 1 out of every 100 people who see your ad click it.
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What Does This Data Mean in the Dental Industry?
SUMMARY
- Dentists & Dental Services as a category has positives and negatives
- Second highest Cost-Per-Click (CPC) – $7.10
- Third lowest Click-Thru-Rate (CTR) – 5.03%
- Third highest Conversion Rate – 13.33%
- Google Ads for dentists is costly but effective
- Organic Search offers the most trusted search results
- 52.5% of all search comes from the first three organic ranking spots.
- Find the right Dental Marketing Agency.
Why Should You Take Our Word?
Here is an Orthodontic SEO Case Study
You can see what happened with this client’s orthodontics SEO after they decided to enroll in our Competitive SEO Plan. They came to us after spending five years with a company they met at American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) annual conference where they touted themselves as the best marketing dental practice company around. Small growth was being made but once we nailed down a specific, comprehensive SEO campaign run by an industry leading dental seo company, their traffic spiked from 25 to 165 visitors per month. 
Our team optimized their on-page SEO, web copy, and content, and we were excited to learn that their ranking keywords went from 50 to 595. These new ranking keywords were a big factor in boosting the client’s overall web traffic. 
And finally, after the many guest posts we created and published for the client, we increased their links from 10 to 37. That’s a 270% jump in backlinks! Check out the chart below: 
This Orthodontist has grown their dental practice by engaging in the 80:20 rule. Heavy emphasis on the search engine results page (SERP). Recognizing that page one of Google, including Google Maps should be the foundation of their marketing plan. They then supplement a structured set of target keywords through Google Ads. Google My Business (GMB), now known as Google Business Profile, is a crucial search engine optimization seo factor. People looking for “Teeth Whitening” or “Orthodontist Near Me” often get served listings from these profiles in the Map Pack of Google’s first page. It’s important to use all of Google’s tools to ensure you have the best chance to outrank your competition.
Takeaway
Individual SEO products can earn you more traffic or links, but in the long term, you need a comprehensive dental SEO strategy to jumpstart your site and maintain your gains. We work with dental offices across the country ensuring they have the top search engine results. Many of them had experienced some periods of mild growth before our fully managed SEO marketing program sent their metrics through the roof! Our experienced dental seo experts can take a look under your hood and find out exactly what your site needs to beat the competition. Would you like to learn more about H&W or how we can help your site? Book a call with an SEO expert and we can have a conversation about your goals.
