"How much should we be spending on marketing?" is one of the first questions practice owners ask us, and one of the hardest to get a straight answer to. Most agencies say "it depends" and stop there.
It does depend. But there are real, published price ranges for every part of dental marketing in Australia, and a simple way to work out what your practice should spend. This guide covers both.
Published Australian pricing puts dental SEO at about $1,500 to $5,000 a month, Google Ads management at about $800 to $2,000 a month plus your ad spend, a professional practice website at about $6,500 to $15,000 + GST, and an AI receptionist at about $60 to $500 a month. The right total for you depends on how many new patients you need and what each one is worth.
Why there is no single price
Two practices can ask for "dental marketing" and need very different things. These are the factors that move the price the most:
- Your location. Competing for patients in inner Sydney or Melbourne costs more than in a regional town, both in ad clicks and in the SEO work needed to outrank other practices.
- The treatments you want to grow. High-value treatments like implants and Invisalign attract more competition, so clicks cost more. They are also worth more to you, so a higher cost per patient can still pay off well.
- Where you are starting from. A slow or outdated website, no Google reviews or messy tracking all need fixing before ads and SEO can work properly.
- How many channels you run. One well-run channel usually beats four half-run ones.
- Who does the work. A freelancer, a general agency and a dental specialist agency will all quote differently for what looks like the same job.
What each part of dental marketing costs in Australia
These ranges come from Australian agencies and providers that publish their pricing. We have linked every source at the end of this guide so you can check them yourself.
| Service | Typical cost | What drives the price |
|---|---|---|
| Dental SEO | About $1,500 to $5,000 a month | Your city, how many treatments and locations you want to rank for, and how much content and link building is included. |
| Google Ads | About $800 to $2,000 a month to manage, plus your ad spend | Your budget, how many campaigns you run, and how competitive your treatments are. Dental clicks are among the more expensive. |
| Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) | Management often charged at 20% to 50% of ad spend, plus the ad spend itself | Ad budget, how much creative (images and video) is produced, and how leads are followed up. |
| Practice website | From about $3,500 + GST for a starter site, $6,500 to $15,000 + GST for a full practice site | Number of pages, online booking, custom design, and whether copy and photos are included. |
| AI receptionist | About $60 to $500 a month | Call and chat volume, channels covered, and connection to your booking system. |
Dental SEO
SEO is the work that gets your practice showing up in Google's free results and the map pack when people search for a dentist near them. Dental-focused agencies in Australia typically charge $1,500 to $5,000 a month, with practices in Sydney and Melbourne usually at the higher end. For context, one Australian agency puts general small business SEO at $1,500 to $2,500 a month.
SEO is slower to start than ads, but the results keep building rather than switching off when you stop paying. Read more about how it works for practices on our SEO for dentists page.
Google Ads
With Google Ads there are two costs: the ad spend you pay Google for clicks, and the management fee you pay whoever runs the account. Australian guides put management at about $800 to $2,000 a month and suggest small businesses start with about $500 to $2,000 a month in ad spend. Dental is one of the pricier industries for clicks, with one dental SEO agency quoting $10 to $30 per click for dental keywords.
The upside is speed: ads can put you at the top of Google from day one. See how we run them on our Google Ads for dentists page, or compare the two channels in Google Ads vs SEO for dentists.
Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram)
Meta ads are good at creating demand for treatments people do not search for every day, like whitening, veneers or Invisalign. Agencies often charge 20% to 50% of your ad spend to manage them, falling for very large budgets, and some recommend at least $3,000 a month in ad spend. On top of that you need images or short videos, which may or may not be included. More on our Meta ads for dentists page.
Your website
Every channel above sends people to your website, so it does a lot of quiet work. Published Australian pricing puts a starter site from about $3,500 + GST, a full practice site at $6,500 to $15,000 + GST, and cosmetic-focused or multi-location sites from $15,000 up to $40,000 or more. A site that loads fast, makes booking obvious and answers patients' worries will lift the results of everything else you spend. See our dental website design page.
AI receptionist
An AI receptionist answers calls, chats and messages when your team cannot, books appointments and passes on anything urgent. Australian pricing runs from about $60 to $500 a month depending on volume and features. By comparison, one Australian provider estimates a full-time receptionist costs roughly $60,000 to $75,000 a year once super, leave and on-costs are included. It is not a like-for-like swap, as your team does far more than answer the phone, but it is a cheap way to stop losing after-hours enquiries. That is what our own DentaBot AI receptionist is built for.
Plug the leaks first
If calls go unanswered at lunch, messages sit until Monday, or your website makes booking hard, more ads just pour more patients into a leaky bucket. Fixing those gaps is often the cheapest marketing you will ever do. Our guide on how to stop losing patients to missed calls walks through it.
The number that matters more than the price
A cheap agency that books no one is expensive. An expensive one that fills your book can be cheap. The figure worth tracking is your cost per new patient:
Cost per new patient = total marketing spend ÷ new patients booked from that marketing.
For example, if you spend $4,000 in a month across fees and ads and book 20 new patients from it, each one cost you $200. Whether that is good depends on what a new patient is worth to your practice over time, including their check-ups, hygiene visits, family members and any treatment they go ahead with. Your practice software can usually tell you this.
Once you know both numbers, the budget question gets much easier. You are no longer asking "how much should we spend?" but "how many new patients do we want, and what are we happy to pay for each one?"
How to set your marketing budget
- Start with capacity. How many new patients can your team actually see each month? There is no point paying for patients you cannot book in.
- Work out what a new patient is worth. Use your own numbers, not an industry average.
- Fix the leaks. Answer every enquiry fast, day or night, and make booking easy on your website.
- Pick one or two channels. Google Ads for patients searching now, SEO for the long game, Meta ads for treatments people need nudging towards.
- Measure booked appointments, not clicks. If your agency cannot tell you how many patients they booked, you cannot tell if the spend is working.
- Review every month, decide every quarter. Ads show results quickly. SEO takes months to build, so judge it over a longer period.
What to watch for when comparing quotes
- Is ad spend included? A $1,500 quote that includes ad spend is very different from $1,500 plus ad spend.
- Percentage fees. If the fee is a percentage of ad spend, the agency earns more when you spend more. Make sure growth in spend is tied to growth in patients.
- Lock-in contracts. Ask about minimum terms and notice periods before you sign.
- Who owns the accounts. Your Google Ads account, Meta ad account, website and data should be in your name.
- GST. Check whether prices include it.
- Guaranteed rankings. No one can guarantee a top spot on Google. Treat promises like that as a red flag.
- AHPRA compliance. Every ad and page has to meet the AHPRA advertising rules. That should be part of the job, not an extra. Our AHPRA advertising guide explains what is involved.
For a fuller checklist, see how to choose a dental marketing agency.
What Digital Smiles costs
We work only with dental practices across Australia and New Zealand, running Google Ads, Meta ads, SEO, websites and our own AI receptionist. Because the right mix depends on your practice, we quote after a free strategy call, once we understand your treatments, location and goals. We will show you where each dollar goes and how we will measure the result in booked patients. You can also check our current 3 months of free Google Ads offer.
Sources
- First Page Digital: SEO for dentists (dental SEO $1,500 to $5,000 a month; dental clicks $10 to $30)
- Margin Media: How much does SEO cost in Australia (small business SEO $1,500 to $2,500 a month)
- Digital8: How much does running Google Ads cost in Australia (management $800 to $2,000; starting ad spend $500 to $2,000)
- Megaphone: Facebook advertising costs in Australia (management 20% to 50% of ad spend)
- EG Solutions: How much does a website cost for a dentist in Australia (website price tiers)
- Binary Elements: What an AI receptionist actually costs in Australia (AI receptionist pricing; receptionist salary comparison)
Prices change. Always confirm a current quote before you decide.
Want a budget that pays for itself?
Book a free strategy call. We will look at what you spend now, where enquiries are leaking, and what a realistic budget looks like for your practice.
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