Another common pitfall is not tracking the right conversions or failing to properly measure your ROI. Without clear tracking of your conversions, you won’t know which ads, keywords, or campaigns are driving the most valuable actions on your site. In the case of orthodontic practices, conversions typically include phone calls, appointment bookings, or contact form submissions—actions that directly impact your bottom line.
Why It Happens
Orthodontists who are new to Google Ads may focus on vanity metrics like clicks or impressions instead of the ultimate goal: conversions. Additionally, without proper conversion tracking in place, they may not have visibility into whether their Google Ads budget is being used effectively.
How to Avoid It
Set Up Conversion Tracking: Use tools like Google Ads Conversion Tracking, Google Analytics, and CallRail (for phone call tracking) to monitor how many leads and appointments your ads are generating. This will give you the data needed to optimize your campaigns based on actual performance.
Track ROI: It’s important to track the revenue generated from new patients and compare it with your ad spend. This will help you calculate the return on investment (ROI) and determine whether your ads are profitable. If you're not tracking ROI, you may be unaware of how much you are spending to acquire each new patient and whether that cost is sustainable.
Optimize Based on Conversions: Use the conversion data you collect to make informed decisions about your bidding strategy, keyword selection, and ad targeting. For example, if certain keywords are driving more high-quality leads than others, shift your budget toward those keywords and pause those that aren’t converting well.
While Google Ads offers powerful opportunities for attracting new patients to your orthodontic practice, avoiding common pitfalls is key to running a successful campaign. By ensuring that you’re targeting the right keywords, optimizing for mobile, managing negative keywords effectively, and tracking conversions accurately, you can avoid these mistakes and ensure that your ad spend is being used effectively. In the next chapter, we’ll explore advanced strategies for further optimizing your Google Ads campaigns and scaling your orthodontic practice’s digital marketing efforts.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Google Ads for your orthodontic practice, it’s time to explore advanced strategies that can take your campaigns to the next level. These strategies will help you reach more potential patients, improve the efficiency of your ads, and ultimately, increase your ROI. In this chapter, we’ll cover how to leverage YouTube ads for brand awareness, explore PMAX ads and Map Pack Ads, and discuss how A/B testing can be a game-changer for continuous improvement.