There’s no correct split that fits every practice. There is a correct order: fix the things that make every other channel work, then add paid channels one at a time and measure each.
Foundations first
These cost relatively little and make every paid dollar go further. Skipping them is how practices end up paying for ads that send patients to a weak profile, a slow website or an unanswered phone.
- Google Business Profile: complete, accurate and owned by the practice. See the Google Business Profile guide.
- Website: fast on a phone, clear about services, insurance and location, with a visible phone number and booking option. The local SEO guide covers the rest.
- Reviews: a steady system for asking every patient. See the reviews and reputation guide.
- Phones: calls answered, returned quickly and booked. If the front desk misses calls, fix that before buying more of them.
Then paid channels, one at a time
Add one paid channel, such as paid search for a service you want more of, with a clear goal and enough budget to learn something. Run it long enough to measure cost per new patient, then decide whether to keep it, adjust it or stop before adding the next one. Starting several channels at once makes it impossible to tell which one is working.
Test one change at a time
The same rule applies inside a channel. If you change the ads, the landing page and the new-patient offer in the same month, you won’t know which change mattered. Change one thing, wait, measure, then change the next.
Plan for seasons
Dental demand isn’t flat. Holidays, school calendars and the end of insurance benefit years for plans that reset on the calendar year can all shift when patients book. Compare against the same month last year, and consider spending more when demand and open capacity line up, and less when the schedule is already full.
New practices vs established practices
- New practices have empty schedules and no history. They usually need to spend more relative to their revenue at first, put the foundations in place before opening if possible, and rely on paid channels while reviews and search visibility build. Track from day one, because early data is what later decisions rest on.
- Established practices already have patients, reviews and referrals. Their best returns often come from the foundations, reactivating lapsed patients and promoting specific services, rather than buying general new-patient volume.
When to cut a channel
Set the rule before you start: for example, cut or rework a channel when its cost per new patient stays above what you decided you can afford for a set number of months, or when its patients don’t stay. Before cutting, check that the problem isn’t the phones or the tracking. Then cut cleanly and move the money to what’s working.