Organic search versus paid advertising: Shaz Memon explores whether organic traffic via Google is the best way to attract the right patients.
In the noisy world of dental marketing, attracting the right new patients efficiently and sustainably is the silver bullet question I get asked all the time.
With numerous marketing channels available, understanding the true value of search engine optimisation (SEO) can help you make informed investment decisions. SEO not only delivers tangible financial returns, but also positions your practice as a credible choice for prospective patients.
However, no amount of SEO or paid marketing alone will allow a practice to reach its full potential. That’s why I wrote Experience Marketing for Dentists. The WOW experience, combined with the most trusted online visibility tool – dental SEO – is the predictable path to consistent, highly profitable growth.
The winning strategies
Since founding my agency in 2003, I have witnessed the rise of every marketing channel and explored almost every avenue of marketing. The two strategies that consistently prove their worth are:
- Delivering more to your patients than they expect so they talk about you
- Driving people to a powerful dental website that works like a money-making machine (most dental websites are losing practices money!), while amplifying visibility through safe but consistent SEO – ensuring you dominate search results.
When patients search for dental treatments online, they overwhelmingly prefer organic Google search results over paid advertisements. According to a comprehensive study by Search Engine Journal (SEJ), organic search results receive approximately 94% of all clicks, compared to just 6% for paid ads.
This significant disparity underscores the trust factor associated with organic SEO listings. Patients inherently understand that these results are ranked by relevance and authority, rather than simply by the highest bidder.
Do you find that when you search online, you tend to skip past paid ads? I often do. But that doesn’t mean paid ads don’t work – it just means the data suggests that organic SEO is more trusted than paid advertising. And more trust = patients who trust you that little bit more.
Furthermore, the Edelman Trust Barometer reinforces that users consistently perceive organic search results as more reliable sources of information compared to paid advertising, social media promotions, or even traditional media channels.
High-intent traffic: the key to more patients
SEO uniquely attracts patients actively searching for treatment. Unlike social media advertising or cold outreach campaigns, SEO targets patients at the exact moment they’re looking for dental treatments, meaning the intent to book an appointment is significantly higher. Moz reports that enquiries generated through SEO convert up to eight times more effectively than outbound marketing channels.
Google categorises search queries into four main search intent types:
- Transactional: patients ready to book an appointment immediately
- Navigational: patients specifically looking for your practice
- Informational: patients learning about treatments but potentially converting later
- Commercial: patients comparing treatment options, reading reviews or researching before making a booking decision.
Calculating potential revenue: ROI in numbers
To illustrate the tangible impact of SEO, imagine a modest realistic example based on a hypothetical practice. Over the past month, the practice received 900 new website visitors exclusively through organic search across the site.
Key treatment pages attracted 500 of the following visitors:
- Dental implants page – 220 visits
- Emergency dental care page – 170 visits
- Teeth whitening page – 110 visits.
Using conservative industry benchmarks, the financial implications start to become clear. If only 5% of these 500 organic visitors convert into booked appointments, that represents approximately 25 new patients bookings per month.
Considering a modest average lifetime value (LTV) per patient of £2,000 to £4,000, the practice could gain £50,000 to £100,000 in additional monthly revenue. This conservative estimate doesn’t even factor in referrals generated by these new patients, further increasing the potential return.
Long-term growth and profitability
Based on a typical monthly SEO investment with Digimax, the return on investment (ROI) for dental SEO often exceeds 500%, making it one of the most effective and affordable marketing strategies for sustainable growth, trusted by hundreds of the most successful practices in the country. Click here to book a free consultation with us.
Unlike paid advertisements, which immediately stop providing traffic once paused, SEO builds a long-term, compounding asset that keeps attracting patients continuously.
SEO is not just an expense – it is an investment with substantial, measurable returns that essentially becomes your asset as it adds value to your domain name. We often provide website performance data when a practice is looking to exit, as the website success plays an integral part in the practice value. SEO builds credibility, attracts high-intent patients and reduces dependency on paid advertising.
Ultimately, consistently investing in SEO ensures your dental practice’s long-term growth, patient trust, and sustained profitability.
Get in touch to discuss Dental SEO today at digimax.dental/contact/
Click here to learn more about Dental SEO.
Related article: Dental SEO versus PPC: choosing the best strategy for your dental practice
This article is sponsored by Digimax.
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