If you run a dental practice, you’ve probably heard two pieces of advice that sound equally confident and completely opposite: “Focus on SEO, it’s the long game,” and “Run Google Ads, you’ll get patients immediately.” Both can be true, which is why the real question isn’t “Which one is better?” It’s “Which one should you do first—based on your practice, your market, and your goals?”
This guide is built to help you make that call without guesswork. We’ll look at what each channel actually does for a dental office, how to decide what to prioritize, and how to sequence them so you’re not wasting money or time. Along the way, we’ll also talk about real-world constraints like limited staff bandwidth, competitive neighborhoods, insurance vs fee-for-service positioning, and how quickly you need new patients in the chair.
Because you’re reading this on lascena.ca, I’ll keep it grounded and practical: what to do first, what to do next, and what to avoid so you don’t end up with a website that never ranks or ads that never convert.
What you’re really buying with SEO vs Google Ads
Before you pick a “first,” it helps to understand what each option is actually purchasing. SEO buys you visibility that compounds over time. It’s like building a reputation in your community: slow to earn, hard to fake, and powerful once established. Google Ads buys you attention on demand. It’s like renting a billboard on the busiest road in town—fast, measurable, and gone the moment you stop paying.
In dentistry, the difference matters because your services range from urgent (toothache, broken tooth) to considered (veneers, Invisalign) to routine (cleanings, exams). Different services behave differently in search, and that affects whether SEO or ads will pay off faster.
SEO: trust, local authority, and “free” clicks that aren’t really free
Dental SEO is the work of improving your website and local presence so you show up when people search things like “dentist near me,” “emergency dentist,” “teeth whitening,” or “Invisalign [city].” It includes on-page content, technical fixes, local listings, reviews, and building topical authority around the services you want to be known for.
People call organic traffic “free,” but it’s more accurate to say you pay up front with time and effort, then benefit later with lower cost per lead. The upside is that strong local SEO can keep producing calls and form submissions even during months when you’re not actively “campaigning.” The downside is that it can take months to see meaningful movement, especially in competitive areas.
Another key point: SEO isn’t just rankings. For a dental practice, local SEO—Google Business Profile, map pack visibility, reviews, and local relevance—often matters more than being #1 for a national-style keyword. If your practice isn’t showing up in the map results for your core services, you’re missing a huge share of high-intent searches.
Google Ads: speed, control, and paying for every click
Google Ads lets you appear at the top of the search results immediately for specific keywords. You can choose which services to promote, which locations to target, the hours your ads show, and even what messaging is used for different search terms. If you need new patients now—like you just opened, added an associate, or had a sudden drop in hygiene reappointments—ads can be the fastest lever.
The tradeoff is that you’re paying for every click, and not every click becomes a patient. In dentistry, clicks can be expensive, competition is intense, and one poorly configured campaign can burn through budget quickly. That’s why campaign structure, conversion tracking, landing pages, and call handling matter so much.
If you’re looking for a deeper look at how campaigns are typically built for this industry, this resource on Google ads management for dental practices breaks down what goes into running ads that are actually aligned with patient acquisition (not just traffic).
Start with your practice reality: urgency, capacity, and competition
The best “first move” depends less on marketing theory and more on what’s happening inside your practice right now. Two practices in the same city can need totally different sequencing based on chair time availability, service mix, and how quickly they need results.
Instead of asking “SEO or ads?” ask three questions: How urgently do we need new patients? Do we have capacity to take them? And how competitive is our local market for the services we want to grow?
How fast do you need results?
If you need booked patients in the next 2–6 weeks, SEO alone probably won’t get you there. Even if you publish great content today, Google needs time to crawl, evaluate, and rank it—plus local signals like reviews and citations don’t shift overnight.
Ads can fill the short-term gap, especially for high-intent searches like “emergency dentist,” “dentist open Saturday,” or “toothache help.” Those searches are often made by people ready to call immediately, which can make ads a practical first step when speed matters.
On the other hand, if you’re steady and simply want to reduce reliance on paid channels over time, starting with SEO can be a smart long-term play. You may still run some ads later, but you’ll be building an asset that keeps working even when budgets tighten.
Do you have capacity and systems to handle demand?
Marketing can’t fix a scheduling bottleneck. If your front desk is overwhelmed, your phone coverage is spotty, or you don’t have a clear process for handling new patient calls, ads might expose those issues quickly—and expensively.
SEO tends to ramp more gradually, which can give your team time to refine scripts, improve follow-up, and tighten the new patient experience. Ads can feel like turning on a firehose; SEO is more like opening a valve.
Capacity also includes the type of patients you want. If you’re trying to grow higher-value procedures, you need consult availability, financing options, and a patient education flow. Otherwise, you’ll attract interest but struggle to convert it.
How competitive is your market (and your offer)?
In dense metro areas, dental SEO can be a longer climb because established practices already have years of reviews, strong websites, and local authority. That doesn’t mean SEO isn’t worth it—it means you should set expectations and choose battles wisely (specific services, neighborhoods, or long-tail queries).
Ads in competitive markets can also be expensive, but they let you target exactly what you want: Invisalign leads, emergency calls, or new patient specials. If you have a strong differentiator—same-day crowns, sedation, extended hours, multilingual staff—ads can quickly test whether that message resonates.
In less competitive towns, SEO may produce results faster than you’d expect, and ads may be unnecessary beyond a small brand campaign. The “first” choice changes with the landscape.
When Google Ads should come first
There are scenarios where starting with Google Ads is the most practical move, even if your long-term plan includes SEO. The key is to run ads with a purpose—bridging a gap, validating demand, or targeting a specific service line—rather than running them because “everyone does.”
Here are the most common situations where ads-first makes sense for dental practices.
You’re a new practice or recently acquired office
If you’re brand new, you don’t have the local signals that help SEO: reviews, citations, branded searches, and engagement. You can absolutely start building them from day one, but it’s hard to rely on organic visibility right away.
Ads can generate calls while your Google Business Profile matures, your website gets indexed, and your review velocity grows. This is especially useful for urgent services (emergency dentistry) and for announcing that you’re open, accepting new patients, or offering convenient hours.
Ads also give you immediate feedback. You’ll learn which services get traction, what patients ask on the phone, and which neighborhoods convert—information you can feed back into your SEO strategy.
You have a short-term production goal (or a sudden schedule gap)
Sometimes the issue is simple: you have too many openings next month. Maybe an associate joined, hygiene capacity expanded, or recall systems slipped and now the schedule is lighter than it should be.
In those moments, SEO is still important, but it’s not the fastest fix. Ads can be dialed up quickly, targeted to your service priorities, and adjusted weekly based on what’s booking.
The trick is to avoid “random” ads. Instead, align campaigns with real appointment inventory—like promoting emergency exams if you have same-day availability, or promoting whitening if you have open chair time during slower afternoons.
You want to validate high-value services before investing in big SEO builds
SEO for “Invisalign,” “veneers,” or “dental implants” can be competitive and content-heavy. Creating educational pages, before-and-after galleries, and supporting blog content takes time. Ads can function as a market test: do people in your area actually search for these services, and do they convert when they land on your page?
If ads show strong conversion rates and good call quality, that’s a signal to invest more deeply in SEO content and local authority for that service line. If ads struggle even with good landing pages, it may mean the market is saturated or your offer needs refinement.
This approach can save you months of SEO work aimed at a service that isn’t a strong fit for your local demand or your practice positioning.
When SEO should come first
SEO-first is often the right move when you’re thinking about durability, brand trust, and long-term patient acquisition costs. It’s also a great choice if you want to build a practice that doesn’t feel dependent on paid media to stay busy.
Here are scenarios where it’s smart to lead with SEO while keeping ads as a secondary lever.
You already have steady demand and want to lower acquisition costs over time
If you’re not desperate for immediate volume, SEO can be a compounding asset. Over time, strong local rankings and service pages can generate a steady stream of calls without paying for each click.
This matters in dentistry because ad costs can rise unpredictably—especially when new DSOs enter a market or competitors increase budgets. SEO helps stabilize your pipeline so you’re not at the mercy of auction pricing.
SEO-first also encourages you to strengthen the fundamentals: clear service pages, fast site speed, strong internal linking, and patient-friendly messaging. Those improvements lift conversions from every channel, including referrals and social traffic.
Your Google Business Profile and local presence are underdeveloped
If your practice isn’t fully optimized locally—missing categories, inconsistent NAP (name/address/phone), weak reviews, outdated photos, or incomplete services—fixing that can produce meaningful gains without ad spend.
Local SEO improvements often deliver quicker wins than people expect, particularly if competitors are neglecting basics. Better map visibility can translate into more calls from patients who are already looking for a dentist nearby.
And importantly, local SEO supports ads too. A strong local reputation (reviews, photos, real clinic presence) can increase trust when someone clicks an ad and then checks you out before calling.
You want to build authority and trust for elective procedures
For cosmetic dentistry, implants, and smile makeovers, the decision process can take weeks or months. People compare providers, read reviews, look at before-and-after photos, and want reassurance.
SEO content—like detailed service pages, FAQs, financing explanations, and case studies—helps you show up throughout that research journey. Ads can still help, but SEO is often where the trust is built.
When you lead with SEO, you’re effectively building a “patient education library” that supports consult conversions and reduces repetitive chairside explanations.
A sequencing plan that works for most dental practices
Many practices don’t need to choose one forever. They need an order of operations that matches how patients actually behave and how Google actually evaluates local businesses.
Here’s a sequencing plan that tends to work in the real world, especially for offices that want both speed and sustainability.
Phase 1: Fix the foundation before you scale anything
Whether you start with SEO or ads, you’ll get better results if your digital foundation is solid. That includes a fast, mobile-friendly website, clear calls-to-action, and a frictionless way to contact you (tap-to-call, forms that work, online booking if you offer it).
It also includes conversion basics: call tracking (so you know what’s working), form tracking, and a consistent way to measure booked appointments—not just leads. A “lead” that never becomes a patient is a distraction, not a win.
Finally, make sure your messaging is consistent: the same practice name, address, and phone number across your site and listings, and a clear explanation of what makes you different (hours, sedation, same-day crowns, family-friendly, etc.).
Phase 2: Use ads for immediate demand while SEO ramps
If you need speed, run ads in a controlled way while your SEO efforts begin compounding. This is where many practices go wrong: they either run ads with no tracking and no landing pages, or they try to advertise every service at once.
A better approach is to start with 1–3 high-intent campaigns tied to your real priorities. Emergency dentistry is often a strong candidate because intent is urgent and conversion windows are short. Another is “new patient exam” if you have hygiene capacity and a strong front desk follow-up process.
As SEO pages begin ranking and map visibility improves, you can reduce ad spend on keywords that become reliably organic and shift budget to new opportunities (like a new service line or a competitive neighborhood).
Phase 3: Build topical clusters for your core services
SEO works best when your site isn’t just a collection of thin pages. You want clusters: a strong main service page (e.g., Invisalign) supported by related pages and posts (cost, timeline, candidacy, alternatives, aftercare, FAQs).
This structure helps Google understand what you’re an authority on, and it helps patients self-educate before calling. It also creates internal linking paths that guide visitors toward booking.
When you pair this with steady review generation and a well-maintained Google Business Profile, you build a local footprint that’s hard for competitors to replicate quickly.
How to decide based on the type of dentistry you’re trying to grow
Not all dental services behave the same in search. Some are urgent, some are routine, and some are big-ticket with long consideration cycles. Your best “first move” depends on which category you’re prioritizing.
Below are practical notes on how SEO and ads typically perform for different service types.
Emergency dentistry and pain-driven searches
For urgent needs, ads can be extremely effective because the patient is often ready to call immediately. Searches like “toothache dentist,” “broken tooth,” or “emergency dentist near me” tend to convert fast when the ad and landing page make it easy to contact you.
SEO is still valuable here, especially local map visibility and strong emergency service pages. But if you’re trying to grow emergency volume quickly, ads can be the faster first step while you build organic presence.
One caution: emergency leads can be price-sensitive and time-sensitive. Your front desk needs a clear script and the ability to offer timely appointments, or you’ll pay for calls that go elsewhere.
Family dentistry, cleanings, and preventive care
For routine care, SEO often shines because people search for a “dentist near me” and then compare options. Reviews, proximity, and a trustworthy website matter a lot. If your local presence is strong, you can win these patients without paying for every click.
Ads can still help, especially if you’re in a very competitive area or you’re offering something distinctive (like Saturday hours or a new patient special). But many practices find that over time, organic and map pack performance can carry a large share of family dentistry growth.
In other words: if your goal is steady, long-term new patient flow for general dentistry, SEO-first is often a sensible choice—assuming you can wait for results.
Cosmetic dentistry and high-consideration procedures
Cosmetic services benefit from both channels, but in different ways. Ads can generate leads quickly, yet those leads may need nurturing: multiple touchpoints, consultations, and strong visual proof (photos, testimonials, case studies).
SEO supports the research phase. People want to learn about options, costs, and what results look like. If your site answers those questions clearly, you can capture interest earlier and build familiarity before they ever contact you.
For many practices, a blended approach works best: SEO to build authority and trust, and ads to target the highest-intent searches once your consultation funnel is ready.
Budget, patience, and the hidden costs people forget
When practices compare SEO and Google Ads, they often compare price tags instead of total cost and total return. SEO can look expensive because it’s a monthly retainer with “invisible” work. Ads can look controllable because you can set a daily budget. But both have hidden costs—and both can be wildly profitable when done well.
Let’s talk through the cost realities in a way that helps you plan.
SEO costs: content, technical work, and consistency
SEO isn’t just writing blog posts. For dental practices, it often includes technical improvements (site speed, indexing, structured data), local listing management, review strategy, content creation, and sometimes link building or PR.
The hidden cost is consistency. Doing SEO for two months and stopping rarely works. You’re building momentum, and momentum needs time. If your budget or attention is likely to drop off quickly, a smaller but steady plan is usually better than a big burst followed by nothing.
Another hidden cost is opportunity cost: if your website is outdated or confusing, you might be “earning” traffic you can’t convert. That’s why conversion-focused page design matters as much as rankings.
Google Ads costs: clicks, testing, and operational readiness
With ads, the obvious cost is spend per click. The hidden costs are testing and learning. Most campaigns need iteration: negative keywords, ad copy refinements, landing page changes, and bid adjustments.
Then there’s operational readiness. If you’re paying for calls, you need someone answering them well. Missed calls and slow follow-ups can quietly destroy ROI. Many practices improve ad performance dramatically just by tightening phone coverage and having a clear next-step process for new patients.
Finally, tracking is non-negotiable. If you can’t reliably tell which campaigns produce booked patients, you’ll end up making budget decisions based on assumptions.
Common mistakes when choosing “one first”
A lot of frustration around dental marketing comes from doing the right channel the wrong way—or choosing a channel based on a myth. Here are the pitfalls that show up most often when practices try to decide between SEO and ads.
If you can avoid these, your “first move” becomes much safer and more predictable.
Running ads to a generic homepage
One of the most common issues: spending money on clicks and sending people to a homepage that doesn’t match what they searched. If someone searches “emergency dentist,” they should land on a page that speaks directly to emergencies, explains what to do, and makes calling easy.
Service-specific landing pages usually convert better because they reduce confusion and build relevance. They also make it easier to track what’s working by campaign and service line.
Even if your website is small, you can create a few focused pages that match your top campaigns and improve conversion rates significantly.
Doing SEO without a local strategy
Some practices “do SEO” by publishing a lot of generic blog posts that don’t connect to local intent. That can feel productive, but it often fails to move the needle for patient acquisition.
Local SEO requires local signals: a strong Google Business Profile, consistent citations, location-relevant content, and reviews. Your website content should also make it clear where you serve and what services you provide in that area.
If your goal is to rank in your city, your strategy has to be built around your city—not around broad topics that could apply anywhere.
Choosing based on what a competitor is doing
It’s tempting to copy what the practice down the street is doing—especially if they look busy. But you don’t know their numbers. They might be spending heavily on ads with thin margins, or they might have strong SEO because they’ve been building it for five years.
Your best plan is based on your capacity, your goals, your differentiators, and your timeline. A strategy that works for a multi-location DSO won’t necessarily work for a single-doctor practice focused on relationship-driven care.
Use competitors as research, not as a blueprint. Look at what services they emphasize, what reviews mention, and what their patient experience seems to be—but build your own plan.
How to blend SEO and Ads without wasting effort
Even if you choose one to start, the best-performing dental marketing programs usually blend both. The trick is to make them support each other instead of competing for attention and budget.
Here’s how to create that synergy in a way that’s practical for a busy practice.
Use ads data to shape your SEO content
Ads give you immediate insight into what people actually search, which messages get clicks, and which offers generate calls. That data is gold for SEO because it helps you prioritize content that matches real demand.
For example, if ads show that “same-day crown” searches convert well, you can build out a robust service page, FAQs, and supporting content around that topic. If “Invisalign cost” gets a lot of interest, you can create a transparent cost guide tailored to your area and financing options.
This approach keeps SEO from becoming a guessing game and helps you build content that’s more likely to convert.
Use SEO pages as better landing pages for ads
Some practices think landing pages must be separate from the main website. They don’t have to be. A strong SEO service page—written clearly, designed for conversion, and rich with helpful information—can also be an excellent ad landing page.
When one page serves both SEO and ads, you get compounding benefits: you improve one asset and two channels perform better. It also reduces the workload on your team because you’re not maintaining separate sets of pages.
The key is balance: the page must be genuinely helpful (for SEO and trust) while still making the next step obvious (for conversions).
Protect your brand name with low-cost ads
Even if you’re SEO-first, a small brand campaign can be worth it. Competitors sometimes bid on other practices’ names, and patients searching for you might see competitor ads first.
Brand campaigns are often relatively inexpensive and can increase appointment capture from people who already intend to contact you. It’s not always necessary, but it’s a common “small ads” strategy that complements SEO nicely.
Think of it as making sure your front door is clearly marked when someone already knows where they want to go.
What “doing it right” looks like in the first 90 days
A lot of practices feel stuck because they can’t tell whether their marketing is working early enough. Ninety days is a useful window because ads can produce measurable results quickly, while SEO can show early signs of progress even if rankings take longer.
Here’s what a strong first 90 days can look like, depending on your starting point.
Weeks 1–2: tracking, messaging, and quick wins
In the first couple of weeks, focus on visibility and measurement. Make sure your phone number is consistent everywhere, your forms work, and you can track calls and submissions. If you’re running ads, confirm conversion tracking is accurate and that you’re measuring real leads.
At the same time, tighten your messaging. What services are you prioritizing? What makes you different? What should a new patient do next? These sound basic, but they drive the effectiveness of both SEO and ads.
Quick wins might include updating your Google Business Profile, adding new photos, clarifying hours, and cleaning up top website pages that get the most traffic.
Weeks 3–6: build or refine service pages and local signals
During this phase, create or improve your core service pages. For most general practices, that includes emergency dentistry, cleanings/exams, crowns, root canals (if offered), extractions, and cosmetic services you want to grow.
For each service, make the page easy to scan, answer common questions, and include clear calls-to-action. Add trust elements: reviews, team photos, technology, and what the visit is like.
On the local side, start a consistent review process. A steady stream of authentic reviews can lift both map visibility and conversion rates. It’s one of the few marketing activities that helps almost everything else work better.
Weeks 7–12: expand content depth and optimize what’s already live
By this point, ads should have enough data to make smarter decisions: which keywords are producing calls, which search terms are irrelevant, which ads get the best engagement, and which landing pages convert.
For SEO, you may see early movement in impressions and local engagement (calls, direction requests, website clicks from your listing). Use that data to expand content where interest is building.
This is also the time to optimize rather than constantly create. Often the biggest gains come from improving existing pages: better headlines, clearer CTAs, stronger FAQs, faster load times, and more relevant internal links.
Choosing who helps you: in-house, freelancer, or agency
Many practices know what they want—more patients, better visibility—but aren’t sure who should execute. The right choice depends on how complex your goals are, how much time your team has, and how important speed is.
It’s also worth considering that SEO and ads require different skill sets. Some providers are strong at one and weak at the other, which matters if you’re planning to blend channels.
In-house: great for consistency, tough for specialization
If you have a capable in-house marketing coordinator, they can be excellent at keeping reviews consistent, updating the website, coordinating photos, and making sure your Google Business Profile stays active.
The challenge is that high-level SEO and paid search management are specialized. It’s hard for one person to be great at technical SEO, content strategy, conversion optimization, and Google Ads—while also handling day-to-day practice marketing tasks.
In-house often works best when paired with outside expertise for strategy and advanced execution.
Freelancers: flexible and cost-effective, but you need a quarterback
Freelancers can be a great fit if you know exactly what you need—like a set of service pages, local citation cleanup, or a focused ads build. They’re often more affordable and can move quickly.
The risk is fragmentation: one person writes content, another runs ads, another edits the website, and no one owns the full patient acquisition system. If something breaks (tracking, forms, call routing), it can be unclear who’s responsible.
If you go the freelancer route, make sure someone (you, an office manager, or a consultant) is coordinating priorities and measuring outcomes.
Agencies: best for integrated execution when you choose carefully
An agency can be the right move if you want a coordinated plan that covers SEO, ads, tracking, and conversion improvements. The advantage is having a team with specialized roles rather than one person doing everything.
When evaluating agencies, ask how they measure success (booked patients vs leads), how they handle call tracking, what their content process looks like, and how often you’ll review performance together.
If you’re looking for a region-specific partner, you can explore a dental marketing agency Pennsylvania option and compare it with local providers to see who aligns with your goals, timelines, and communication style.
A simple decision framework you can use today
If you’re still torn, this framework helps you choose a “first” step without overthinking it. You can run through it in 10 minutes and come away with a clear plan.
Pick the statement that sounds most like your current situation.
If you need patients fast: start ads + lay SEO groundwork
Choose this path if your schedule has openings, you’re new, or you’re actively trying to grow quickly. Start with a small number of focused campaigns, track conversions properly, and make sure calls are answered consistently.
At the same time, begin SEO basics: optimize your Google Business Profile, clean up listings, and build strong service pages. That way you’re not “renting” attention forever—you’re building toward owning it.
As organic visibility improves, shift paid budget toward the services that are hardest to rank for or the ones with the highest value.
If you want stability and lower costs: start SEO + add selective ads later
Choose this path if you’re already steady and want to reduce long-term reliance on paid traffic. Invest in local SEO, service page quality, and a consistent review engine.
Once you have a stronger baseline—better map presence, more organic calls—you can add ads strategically: brand protection, a single high-value service, or seasonal pushes.
This approach is slower at first but often leads to a healthier marketing mix over time.
If you’re unsure: start with measurement and one pilot campaign
If you don’t know what you need, don’t commit to a massive plan immediately. Start by fixing tracking and running one tightly scoped campaign for a single service (like emergency or new patient exams) for 30 days.
Use what you learn to decide where to invest next. If calls are strong and booking rates are high, you can scale ads. If calls are weak or quality is low, you may need to reposition the offer, improve the website, or focus on SEO and reputation first.
This “pilot first” approach reduces risk and gives you real data instead of opinions.
Local trust signals that help both channels more than you’d expect
Whether you start with SEO or ads, local trust signals can dramatically change your results. People don’t just click and book; they click, then they check you out. They look at reviews, photos, location, and whether you seem like a real, reputable clinic.
Improving these trust signals often boosts conversion rates without increasing ad spend or publishing dozens of pages.
Reviews: quantity matters, but recency and content matter too
A practice with 200 reviews from five years ago doesn’t feel as active as one with a steady flow of recent feedback. Recency signals that you’re currently serving patients well.
Encourage reviews in a consistent, ethical way: ask after successful appointments, make it easy with a direct link, and respond professionally to feedback. Over time, review content also becomes a marketing asset because it answers questions patients care about (gentle care, clear communication, kid-friendly, etc.).
Strong reviews can improve map pack performance and increase the percentage of ad clicks that turn into calls.
Photos and real-world presence: show the practice you want patients to feel
Stock photos are fine as filler, but real photos build confidence. Patients want to see the team, the waiting area, the operatories, and the vibe. A clean, welcoming environment reduces anxiety and increases the likelihood that someone reaches out.
Google Business Profile photos are especially important because they’re often viewed before a patient even visits your website. Updated images can make your listing stand out in a crowded map pack.
If you need to verify or share your location in a simple way for patients (or even to check how your listing appears), you can find them here and use that as a reference point for accuracy and visibility.
Clear next steps: reduce friction everywhere
Marketing works best when the next step is obvious. Every key page should make it easy to call, request an appointment, or ask a question. If you offer online booking, highlight it. If you don’t, set expectations: “Call now and we’ll find the next available time.”
Also make sure your hours are clear and accurate. If you’re running emergency ads but don’t have a plan for after-hours calls, you’ll create frustrated patients and wasted spend.
Small improvements—like better call buttons, faster forms, and clearer service descriptions—can lift performance across both SEO and ads.
So… which one should you do first?
If you only remember one thing, make it this: Google Ads is the fastest way to buy demand, and SEO is the best way to build demand that keeps coming. For most dental practices, the smartest move isn’t choosing one forever—it’s choosing the right first step for your timeline, then building toward a blended approach.
If you need patients quickly, start with a focused ads pilot while you fix your website, tracking, and local presence. If you’re stable and playing the long game, start with SEO fundamentals and layer in ads selectively once you know what you want to amplify.
Either way, the practices that win are the ones that treat marketing like a system: clear offer, strong trust signals, easy conversion path, and ongoing optimization. That’s how you turn clicks—paid or organic—into real patients who stick around.