A number of dentists and dental practices see the benefits of using paid search to attract new patients to their practice. If you work with a Google AdWords account to augment your search engine optimization efforts, you know there are really a number of metrics available to track and analyze. Since we all have only a certain amount of time available, it is a wonderful idea to limit the field to a reduced list of key performance indicators that give the dental practice meaningful insight into what’s working and what is not when it comes to paid search online advertising campaigns.

The following five metrics will give the dental practice the most value. This does certainly not mean that you should ignore all the other available metrics. However, if you have limited time, the following five metrics will give you a really good overview of your online advertising achievements, and tracking these five metrics over time will provide a good basis for the future online marketing success of your dental practice.

Metric 1 – Quality Score

Google’s measure of the importance of a dental practice’s keywords is called Quality Score and helps to ensure that internet users get presented with meaningful ads and have a positive search experience. The features that determine the Quality Score include:

• The importance of the search term to the respective advertising grouping
• The click-through rate (CTR) of the search term and its corresponding advertisement
• The significance of the keyword and advertisement to the search terms
• The overall quality and appearance of your website
• The click-through rate (CTR) of the display domains in the advertising group

It is imperative to have good Quality Scores since Google uses them to decide if your specific ad ranks as well as the amount you pay per click. Regarding keyword research, the structure of your advertising campaign, and advertising text improvement, a below average Quality Score is a hint that you have room for improvement.

Metric 2 – Click-Through Rate

Below average click-through rates (CTR) are a key indicator that either your search terms or your advertising text need to be optimized.

We conducted a study among 25 online advertising experts and the key feedback was that click-through rates is the number one focus in any paid search campaign. Click-through rates are important, since

• Quality Scores depend heavily on click-through rates (CTR)
• They determine advertising relevancy to internet searchers

Metric 3: Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is defined as follows:

Number of people who completed the action items on the landing page divided by the number of people who clicked on the paid search listing. The desired result on the landing page could be making a purchase, singing up for a newsletter, request an appointment or completing an online survey. The conversion rate is as, if not more important than the click-through rate. It is the next logical step.  Positive conversation rates speak for a good and compelling landing page and mean that you not only attract people to your website but also take them to the next step.

Metric 4: Cost Per Conversion

This metric speaks for itself. The cost of converting a visitor needs to be viewed relative to the revenue and additional income for a dental practice. The life-time revenue of an additional patient can be substantial and can be enhanced if a new dental patient brings along the rest of the family and stays a great patient for many years to come.

Metric 5: Wasted Spend

This metric measures and analyzes how much of your funds is wasted by paying for clicks that don’t convert into anything meaningful for your practice. It destroys your Return on Investment (ROI) of a paid search campaign. Always keep an eye on this metric and monitor your search terms. An intelligent way to reduce wasted spend is the use of ‘Negative Keywords’. They filter out clicks unrelated to your dental practice and therefore unlikely to convert into business. When you use negative keywords, you essentially prevent your paid search from being displayed on the Google, Bing or Yahoo search engine results pages.

Author: Gene Greiner, www.dentist-websolutions.com
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