Why Should You Care About Dental Local Service Ads?
When patients search for dental services, they see Local Service Ads (LSAs) listed at the top of the search engine. If you haven’t seen LSAs in your Google searches yet, you will. Forward-thinking dental practices are being approved for the program as we speak. It’s just a matter of days or weeks before they start populating around the country.
LSAs are very different from Pay-Per-Click; it’s a Pay-Per-Lead advertising program. What this means is that you pay only for phone calls. No worrying about bidding strategies and hundreds of keywords like you do with PPC advertising.
For dentists who want an adrenaline shot of new patients, LSAs are a great opportunity.
If you’re a practice running PPC, you’ll want to get approved for the new dental local service ads program. Consumer click studies from other industries have found that Local Service Ads pick up around 15% of the clicks, which drops the number of clicks going to PPC. This means that the total clicks to a PPC campaign will drop as soon as Google starts running the program.
Getting started with LSAs is different than other types of advertising. Dentists must be approved for the program. We recently partnered with Google to help kick off the campaign. If you work with our LSA team, we’ll have you approved and running LSAs as soon as possible.
Local Service Ads Run at the Top of Search Results
Because LSAs produce high-quality leads, Google places them at the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The further down the page, the less likely someone will see your ad. So, the top position is the most likely place a new patient will see you.
One advantage for dentists willing to invest in the program is immediate placement at the top of search engines. For dentists who have never invested in search engine optimization, it would take months or years to optimize their websites. LSAs are a great way to get top placement and only pay for phone calls.
Local Service Ads Highlight Your Google Reviews
If you’re a practice that has invested time into getting more Google reviews, consider running ads seriously. After approval, your LSA will connect to your Google Business Profile and display your Google reviews.
Testing has shown that higher google reviews and an average rating improve the click-through rate on LSAs. You may be the third ad on the page but get the phone call if you have a better review profile.
Benefits of Investing in Dental Local Service Ads
LSAs have been running in other industries for a few years. When they launched in the ‘home services’ and ‘attorney at law’ industries, many small businesses built their companies entirely on the LSA platform.
- They run at the top of Google search. LSAs are above PPC and Google maps.
- Pay-per-lead. You’re only billed when you get phone calls, and you also can challenge or dispute unqualified leads for credit.
- Complete budget transparency. Cost-per-lead campaigns are easy to follow. You pay for phone calls, period!
- Target particular patients and services. Geographical targeting and service targeting is available.
- Total control. You tell us how many leads you want, and we’ll set it up. Reach your target limit before the month ends, and we will stop the campaign.
- LSAs share your Google review profile. LSAs display your total number of reviews and review average.
- ADS includes a Google Screened badge, which helps potential patients feel comfortable taking action.
Why Does a Dentist Have to get Approved for Local Service Ads?
Remember… Google’s goal is to give the person searching the best result from a search query. Suppose a patient searches “best dental implant dentist near me,” and clicks on an ad that takes them to a patient lead generation company. Has the patient gotten what they wanted?
Google wants the LSA program to be an easy and effective solution for patients to get matched with a practice that will be the best solution. The approval process filters out anyone who is not a legitimate dentist.
If you’re a dental marketing company generating leads for dentists, you won’t be able to run your ads and sell those leads back to dentists. Google wants consumers to know that the LSA results are verifiable and trusted, which is why they offer the green Google Screened badge.
How to get Approved for Local Service Ads?
The approval process requires that you provide Google with the following documents:
- General liability insurance
- Malpractice insurance
- State registration/business license
- National Provider Index number (NPI#)
In addition to these documents, Google may perform a background check on the company owner(s). A third-party company handles the background check. If a background check is required, Google will pay the fee.
Why do LSAs Provide the Highest Quality Lead?
Once patient clicks on the ad, they are prompted to confirm their zip code and the service they are interested in. If matched, your practice is displayed to the patient. The goal is to improve quality and ensure that phone calls coming to your practice are the best leads.
Approved Dentists Receive a Google Screened Check Mark
One of the reasons that Google is moving to roll out the Google Screened program for dentists is to provide a level of trust in the search results for patients. Pay-per-click advertising is trusted less by consumers that organic and local dental seo results.
If a practice has a Google Screened badge, it means that Google sees the practice as credible. The green check mark is a huge benefit for dental practices running LSAs because it provides an added level of trust.
What is a Dental Local Service Ad Lead Score?
Lead metrics help Google to get the right patient to the right dental practice. Some of the metrics Google will use are:
- Response rate. How quickly a practice responds to calls and whether calls are not connected.
- Review score. The average review rating on the practices Google Business Profile.
- Review rate. How often reviews are acquired from LSA leads.
- Scheduling rate. How many leads turn into scheduled patients.
- Complaints. How many complaints Google receives from patients.
- Lead quality. What percentage of leads are disputed by the practice
Google will likely update the metrics as more and more dentists get involved in the program. Those practices that get started earlier and improve their lead score will drop their ROI cost and benefit more from the program.
Get Approved for Dental Local Service Ads
You’ll want to be at the front of the LAS line in your area. As ads start running, the dentists who improve their lead score will benefit in the long run.
Leverage our Google partnership for the quickest approval process.
About the Author: Adrian Lefler is a dental marketing expert and a key member of the dental marketing team at My Social Practice. My Social Practice is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Adrian is passionate about helping dental practices grow through transparent and effective dental marketing services.
