The fix: measure cost per implant case, not per click
An implant click or call tells you little. What matters is how many paid clicks turn into a consult, and how many consults start treatment. Track three numbers each month:
| Number | How to get it |
|---|---|
| Cost per consult booked | Ad spend ÷ implant consults booked from ads |
| Consult show rate | Consults attended ÷ consults booked |
| Cost per case started | Ad spend ÷ implant cases that start treatment |
Google Ads only sees the click and the call. To see which ones became cases, send your bookings back to Google: see tracking a lead from Google Ads to a booked job. Until you do, automated bidding can only aim at calls, and a two-minute price check counts the same as a new case.
Why implant ads attract price shoppers
If your ad and page don't show a price, a call is the only way for someone checking prices to get one. You pay for the click, and your front desk spends time on a call that was never going to book.
Three things filter them before they cost you:
- Show a price or a realistic range on the landing page, where your state's rules allow it (below). People who can't afford it leave without calling.
- Read the search terms report every week and add the searches that never book as negative keywords. How to do that: Google Ads wasted spend.
- Send ads to an implant page, not the home page, with what's included, financing and the next step. See landing page for Google Ads.
Putting a price in an implant ad: state rules
Price ads are allowed, but some places set how you state them.
| Where | Rule | What it means for an implant ad |
|---|---|---|
| California | "Any price advertisement shall be exact, without the use of phrases, including, but not limited to, 'as low as,' 'and up,' 'lowest prices,' or words or phrases of similar import" (B&P Code 651(c)) | "Implants as low as $999" isn't allowed. State the exact price and what it covers. |
| Florida | Any ad for a discounted or reduced-fee treatment must carry a 58-word notice: the patient may refuse to pay for other services done within 72 hours of responding (Florida Statutes 456.062) | An "implant special" below your normal fee needs the notice. Details: free new-patient exam ads. |
| Texas | Misleading ads include "omitting a fact necessary to make a statement as a whole not materially misleading" (22 TAC 108.57(c)(1)) | A price for the implant post alone that doesn't say it leaves out the crown, abutment or extraction risks this rule. |
| Ontario | Unless you say otherwise, the advertised fee "would be the maximum fee inclusive of all services, including laboratory costs" and applies to all patients (RCDSO Advertising Guidelines) | "$3,500 per implant" must cover the crown and lab work, or say what it excludes. |
This page checked these four places only. Elsewhere, read your dental board's advertising rule.
"Implant specialist" in ads
In Ontario, implants aren't one of the 11 recognized dental specialties, and RCDSO says "a dentist may not describe themselves as a 'cosmetic dentist', 'implant specialist' or 'holistic dentist'" (RCDSO). A general dentist who places implants says so: "Dr. Kim is a general dentist." In US states, check your board's rule on specialty claims before using "specialist" in a headline.
Example
A month of implant ads
A practice spends $4,000 on implant searches. It gets 80 calls and form fills, books 20 consults, 14 show up, and 5 start treatment. Cost per call: $50. Cost per consult: $200. Cost per case started: $800. Against a case worth $4,000 or more, that pays. Judged by calls alone, it looked like 80 leads and few sales.
Same budget, price on the page
The practice adds "Single implant with crown: $4,200, financing available" to its landing page and adds "free", "cheap" and "grants" as negative keywords. Calls drop to 50, consults stay at 20, cases rise to 6. Cost per case falls to about $670.
Ontario clinic
A Toronto clinic's agency writes "Toronto's top implant specialists". The dentist is a general dentist. The fix: "Dental implants by Dr. Park, general dentist. $3,800 per implant, crown and lab included."
Different for you?
- Ads spending money on searches that never book: Google Ads wasted spend.
- Calls coming in but not turning into consults: Google Ads not getting calls.
- Advertising a free or $49 exam instead: free new-patient exam ads.
- All of Ontario's dental ad rules: RCDSO advertising rules.
- Want the campaigns run and judged on cases started: see the Paid Ads Agent.