Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for Dentists: Which Produces Kept Appointments?

Someone searching “emergency dentist near me”, “dental implants in Manchester” or “Invisalign consultation” has already expressed a need. Search advertising can put a practice in front of that person at the moment they are comparing options.

Google is usually the better starting point for:

• emergency dentistry;
• same-day appointments;
• routine new-patient searches;
• dental implants and Invisalign searches with clear local intent;
• phone calls from people ready to ask about availability.

The limitation is competition. High-intent keywords can be expensive, and a click does not automatically become a booked consultation. The landing page, phone handling and follow-up still determine the result.

Facebook and Instagram work differently. The person may not be actively searching for an implant or Invisalign consultation. They may see a relevant story, a treatment explanation or a patient journey while scrolling.

Meta is usually useful for:

• implants and cosmetic dentistry;
• Invisalign and clear aligners;
• composite bonding and whitening;
• open days and consultations;
• retargeting people who visited a treatment page but did not book.

Meta often needs more explanation and follow-up than search. A patient may click today, compare three practices tomorrow and book next week. That is why a direct lead number can be misleading when it is not connected to appointment and attendance data.

A person who clicks an implant ad should not land on a generic homepage with ten different treatments.

The ad, page and booking action should match:

• implant ad → implant landing page → implant booking page;
• emergency dental ad → emergency page → urgent call or booking;
• Invisalign ad → clear-aligner page → consultation booking.

This is the same principle we saw in a live dental account. Around 6,000 visitors reached the site in seven days, but bookings stopped. The issue was not traffic. The booking form required multiple mobile scrolls and unnecessary selections for department, procedure and doctor.

We simplified the form to Name, Phone and Date and created a separate booking page for each procedure. Within two to three days, $30 in spend produced five bookings — approximately $6 per booking — plus incoming calls. The case is from Cyprus, not a universal market benchmark, and is still live. Read the dental booking-page case study.

A £5 lead is not automatically better than a £25 lead.

Imagine two campaigns:

Campaign A

• 50 leads at £5;
• 5 appointments attended;
• true cost per kept appointment: £50.

Campaign B

• 15 leads at £20;
• 8 appointments attended;
• true cost per kept appointment: £37.50.

Campaign B appears worse if you only look at CPL. It is better if you care about the diary.

Track at least four stages:

• ad click;
• enquiry or call;
• booked appointment;
• kept appointment.

For higher-value treatment, add treatment start and revenue where the practice can share that information lawfully and securely.

For a dental campaign, use:

• UTM parameters for every campaign;
• Meta Pixel and Conversions API where appropriate;
• GA4 events for form start, form completion and click-to-call;
• unique call tracking or clearly labelled call sources;
• CRM fields for source, campaign, treatment and appointment status;
• a weekly report that separates leads, bookings and kept appointments.

Do not send patient clinical histories or unnecessary health information into advertising platforms. Marketing reporting usually needs a source, timestamp, procedure category and appointment status — not clinical details.

Use the Patient LTV calculator to estimate the maximum acceptable acquisition cost.

Choose Google first when:

• the practice has urgent or existing demand to capture;
• the practice can answer calls quickly;
• same-day or short-notice availability is real;
• the clinic wants emergency, routine or high-intent treatment searches.

Choose Meta first when:

• the practice is promoting an elective or visual treatment;
• the clinic has usable video or patient education content;
• the team can follow up with new enquiries quickly;
• the practice is willing to retarget visitors and engagers.

Use both when:

• the budget and operations can support both channels;
• Google captures existing intent;
• Meta builds awareness and retargets;
• each treatment has a matching page;
• the CRM and receptionist close the loop.

The platform is only one part of the system.

Week 1 — Foundation

Choose one treatment, define the acceptable cost per booked and kept appointment, and audit the mobile page.

Week 2 — Launch

Launch one focused campaign with one matching landing page and one clear booking action.

Week 3 — Diagnose

Review search terms or creative performance, call quality, form completion and response time.

Week 4 — Optimise

Cut what produces clicks without bookings, improve the page and scale only after the attendance data is clear.

Before publishing ads, have the practice review all claims, prices, credentials and patient imagery. Local professional and advertising rules differ by country. For UK practices, the GDC requires dental advertising to be accurate, not misleading, current and supported by facts. Treatment may not be appropriate for every patient and is conditional on a satisfactory assessment. Read the GDC guidance on ethical advertising.

Google Ads and Facebook Ads are not competitors in every situation. They are two different entry points into the same patient journey.

Do not ask which channel has the cheapest lead.

Ask which system produces the most profitable kept appointments.

That is the metric that matters.

Compare your patient economics or book a 15-minute audit.