Dental marketing glossary: the terms on this site, in plain English

Index of dental marketing terms

The measurement terms follow the patient from the ad to completed treatment, through eight stages. This is the order they appear in a report, with lifetime value as a follow-on after the last stage, not a stage of its own:

Measurement terms

Patient journey stages

These are the eight stage names I use on every page of this site, in this order. Pages that start at the enquiry use stages 3 to 8, which makes six stages from enquiry to completed treatment.

Each stage has one metric and one data source, set out in the measurement guide.

Attribution

Attribution is working out which marketing produced a patient, and giving each channel credit for its part. Done well, it connects ad spend to booked and completed treatment in your practice system, not just to clicks or form fills. The method is in the measurement guide.

Conversion action

A conversion action is the thing an ad platform is told counts as a result, such as a booked consultation or a completed call. The platform optimises towards whatever you define here, so defining it badly teaches it to chase the wrong outcome. Covered in the measurement guide.

Offline conversion import

An offline conversion import sends outcomes that happen away from the website, such as a booking made by phone or a treatment started, back into Google Ads against the original ad click. Booked and attended consultations and treatment starts go back within Google's upload window (90 days for offline import¹); treatment completed later is measured in the practice's own report. It's how campaigns get judged on patients rather than enquiries. See tracking Dentally bookings to your ads.

GCLID

The GCLID (Google click identifier) is a code Google Ads adds to the web address when someone clicks an ad. Capturing it with the enquiry and storing it against the booking lets you match that booking back to the exact click later. Explained with the Dentally integration.

Enhanced conversions for leads

Enhanced conversions for leads is a Google Ads feature that uses hashed first-party data, such as an email address from a web form, together with imported offline conversions to match a lead to its ad². Hashing scrambles the data so it can be matched but not read. See Dentally and Google Ads.

Meta Conversions API

The Meta Conversions API, often shortened to CAPI, sends events from your server or systems straight to Meta instead of relying only on the browser pixel. For a practice, it's the route for telling Meta which leads booked and attended a consultation, with no treatment detail, sent only with the patient's recorded explicit consent and hashed, and Meta may restrict or reject them for a health advertiser. Covered in Meta Conversions API for practices.

Consent Mode

Consent Mode is Google's way of adjusting its tags to a visitor's cookie choice. If a visitor declines, tags send limited signals and Google models some of the missing conversions. It sits alongside UK cookie rules, not in place of them. See Consent Mode and cookie consent.

Call tracking

Call tracking ties each phone call to the ad, search result or page that produced it, using Google forwarding numbers or tracking numbers swapped in by a website script. It shows which marketing made the phone ring, not whether the caller became a patient. See call tracking for dental practices.

Lead and enquiry

A lead is an enquiry: a form, a call, an online booking request or a message. On this site the two words mean the same thing. I say enquiry in most places, and lead where an ad platform uses the word, as in Meta lead forms or cost per lead. Either way, it isn't yet a patient.

Cost per lead

Cost per lead is ad spend divided by enquiries. It's easy to measure and easy to game: a cheap lead that never books costs more than an expensive one that starts treatment. I use it as a warning light, never as the goal. See why cost per lead misleads.

Cost per booked consultation

Cost per booked consultation is marketing spend divided by the consultations actually booked in your diary from that spend. It moves the measure one step closer to revenue than cost per lead, and it's the first number I report. Full method in cost per booked consultation.

Show rate

Show rate is the share of booked consultations where the patient actually turns up. A low show rate means demand is being created and then lost between booking and chair, which is a practice problem as much as a marketing one. Covered with cost per booked consultation.

Treatment acceptance

Treatment acceptance is the share of attended consultations that end with the patient agreeing a treatment plan: treatment plans accepted ÷ consultations attended. Plans accepted ÷ plans presented is a separate coordinator measure, not the acceptance rate. Acceptance sits between marketing and clinical care, and it decides how much of the demand you pay for becomes revenue. Explained in the measurement guide.

Cost per treatment start

Cost per treatment start is marketing spend divided by the number of patients who began treatment from that spend. For high-value treatment, it's the number that tells you whether the marketing paid. Covered with cost per booked consultation.

Patient lifetime value

Patient lifetime value is the total a patient is likely to spend with the practice over their relationship with it: the first treatment, plus hygiene, recall, plans and later treatment. It matters because the first treatment rarely tells the full story. See patient lifetime value.

Return on investment

Return on investment, or ROI, compares what marketing earned with what it cost. For a practice, the honest version uses profit after the cost of delivering treatment, not revenue, and allows for the months between click and treatment. See dental marketing ROI.

Contribution margin

Contribution margin is the revenue from a treatment minus the direct costs of providing it, such as lab fees, materials and clinician pay. It's the right number to judge marketing against, because revenue alone overstates the return. Covered in dental marketing ROI.

Attribution window

An attribution window is how long after a click or view an ad platform will still credit a conversion to that ad. Long decisions, like full-arch implants, can outlast the window, so the platform undercounts what worked. Explained in dental marketing ROI.

Last-click attribution

Last-click attribution gives all the credit for a patient to the last thing they clicked before enquiring. It's simple and it undervalues everything that did the earlier persuading, such as content and social ads. Data-driven attribution shares the credit using the platform's own model. Compared in the measurement guide.

Reporting dashboard

A reporting dashboard is a live view of marketing results, updated from the source systems rather than pasted into slides each month. A useful one shows every stage from the enquiry to treatment completed and paid, comes with a short written summary each month, and says where the data has gaps. See what a dental marketing report should show.

Channel terms

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile, or GBP, is the free listing that shows your practice on Google Maps and in the local results, with your address, hours, photos and reviews. Google allows one profile per location³. Setup and upkeep are in Google Business Profile for dental practices.

Map pack

The map results (the map pack) are the block of local results with a map that Google shows for searches like "dentist near me". Position in it depends on proximity, relevance and prominence, and reviews play a large part. Covered in local SEO for dental practices.

NAP

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. They should be identical everywhere your practice appears online, from your Google Business Profile to directories and your own website footer, so search engines and patients can confirm it's the same practice. See local SEO.

Practitioner listing

A practitioner listing is a Google Business Profile for an individual dentist rather than the practice. It can split reviews and visibility away from the practice listing, and it can linger after an associate leaves. Covered in practitioner versus practice listings.

Topical authority

Topical authority is the trust a search engine places in a site because it covers a subject thoroughly and coherently, rather than through isolated pages. For a practice, it means planning treatment content as a connected map. See topical authority for dental practices.

AI search

AI search covers answers generated by tools like Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity, which summarise sources instead of listing links. Practices appear in them by being clear, consistent and cited, not through separate tricks. See AI search for dental practices.

Website migration

A website migration is any change of platform, domain or web addresses. Without a redirect map, which pairs every old address with its new one, a migration can wipe out rankings the old site took years to earn. Covered in rebuilding without losing rankings.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google's measures of how a page loads, responds to taps and stays visually stable while loading. They are one signal among many, and they matter most on the phones most patients use. See the dental SEO guide.

Negative keyword

A negative keyword stops your ad showing for searches you don't want, such as NHS-only searches, job seekers or places outside your catchment. A well-kept negative list is one of the cheapest fixes in any account. See wasted search terms.

Performance Max

Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across Google's ad networks from one set of assets, with Google's automation choosing where ads appear. Without good conversion data, it optimises towards cheap leads. Covered in Performance Max for dental practices.

Instant form

An instant form is a Meta lead form that opens inside Facebook or Instagram, pre-filled with the user's details. It produces cheap leads easily, and often low-quality ones, unless it asks qualifying questions. Compared in lead forms versus landing pages.

Compliance terms

General Dental Council

The General Dental Council, or GDC, regulates dental professionals in the UK. Its standards and its guidance on advertising govern what dentists may say about themselves, their qualifications and their treatments, online and offline. Covered in the GDC guidance on advertising.

ASA and the CAP Code

The Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, enforces the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, written by the Committee of Advertising Practice and known as the CAP Code. It covers websites and social media as well as paid ads. See the ASA and the CAP Code.

Before-and-after images

Before-and-after images show a patient's teeth before and after treatment. They need the patient's consent, no misleading editing, and results that are not presented as typical when they are not. The rules are in before-and-after photos.

Specialist title

A specialist title, such as orthodontist or periodontist, may only be used by a dentist on the matching GDC specialist list. Others can describe training or interest, within the GDC's wording rules. See specialist titles in dental advertising.

Prescription-only medicine

A prescription-only medicine, or POM, is a medicine that needs a prescription. Botulinum toxin is one, and prescription-only medicines can't be advertised to the public, which shapes how practices describe facial aesthetics. Covered in Botox and facial aesthetics.

Financial promotion

A financial promotion is any communication that invites someone to take out credit, such as an interest-free finance offer on implants. Promoting consumer credit is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the wording rules are strict. See finance promotion rules.

Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission, or CQC, registers and inspects health and care providers in England, including dental practices. Its role in marketing is mostly about how ratings are displayed. Covered in the CQC and your marketing.

DMCC Act

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 is the UK law that, among other things, bans fake reviews and gives the Competition and Markets Authority stronger enforcement powers. It applies to how practices collect and show reviews. See reviews and testimonials.

Review gating

Review gating is asking only happy patients for a public review, or filtering patients before sending them to Google. It breaks Google's review policy. The safe approach is to ask everyone, consistently. Covered in getting Google reviews the right way.

PECR

PECR, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, governs marketing by email, text and phone, and the use of cookies and similar technologies. It decides when a practice can send a marketing message to a patient, and when a website needs consent before storing or reading anything on a visitor's device. Strictly necessary storage, and analytics used only to improve the site, are the main exceptions. See email and SMS marketing rules.

Special category data

Special category data is the more sensitive personal data under UK GDPR, including data about health, which needs an extra legal condition before it can be processed⁴. Dental enquiries and bookings can reveal health information, which limits what can be sent to ad platforms. Covered in Consent Mode and cookie consent.

CMA market study

The Competition and Markets Authority's market study of private dental services examines how the private dental market works for patients, with price information an obvious point of interest for marketing. Dates and progress are tracked in the CMA private dentistry study.

Healthcare ad policies

Google and Meta each run their own advertising policies for health, separate from UK law. They restrict some terms, some targeting and some images, and an ad can be legal and still be disapproved. See Google's healthcare policy and Meta's health ad rules.

Practice terms

Practice management system

A practice management system, or PMS, is the software that runs the practice's diary, patient records and billing, such as Dentally or Software of Excellence. On this site, "practice system" is the short form used after the first mention. It holds the bookings and treatment data that attribution depends on. Compared in UK practice software for attribution.

Enquiry to treatment

Enquiry to treatment is everything that happens between a patient getting in touch and completed, paid treatment: answering, booking, consultation, the decision and the treatment itself. Most wasted marketing spend is lost in this stretch, not in the ad account. See enquiry to treatment.

Speed to lead

Speed to lead is how quickly the practice responds to a new enquiry. The longer a patient waits, the more likely they have booked elsewhere by the time someone calls back. Covered in speed to lead.

Missed-call leakage

Missed-call leakage is the demand lost when calls ring out at busy times, go to voicemail or are never returned. Call tracking can show when it happens and which marketing those callers came from. See what missed calls cost a practice.

Treatment coordinator

A treatment coordinator, or TCO, is the team member who guides patients from enquiry or consultation to a treatment decision, often handling the conversation about cost and finance. The handover to them is where marketing data should follow the patient. Covered in treatment coordinator handover.

Nurture

Nurture is staying in touch with people who enquired but are not ready to decide, through useful content, email or remarketing, within consent rules. It matters most for treatments that take months to decide on. Explained in patients who aren't ready yet.

Full-arch implants

Full-arch implants replace a whole arch of teeth on a small number of implants, under names such as All-on-4 or same-day teeth. It's the highest-value, longest-considered treatment most practices market. See full-arch implant marketing.

Mixed practice

A mixed practice provides both NHS and private dental care. Growing its private side means presenting private options clearly without making NHS patients feel pushed. Covered in growing private care in a mixed practice.

Squat practice

A squat practice is a new practice opened from scratch rather than bought, so it starts with no patient list, reviews or search history. Its marketing has to create demand before the reputation exists. See marketing a new or squat practice.

Multi-site practice

A multi-site practice is one owner or partnership running two or more sites. Each site needs its own profile, pages and measurement, under a shared brand. Covered in marketing a two- or three-site practice.

Goodwill

Goodwill is the part of a practice's value that sits beyond its physical assets: its patients, reputation, income and the likelihood that income continues after a sale. Valuers assess it when a practice changes hands. See marketing and practice valuation.

EBITDA

EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. It's a measure of operating profit that valuers and buyers commonly use as a starting point when valuing a practice. Covered in marketing and practice valuation.

Asset ownership

Asset ownership means the practice, not its marketing supplier, holds the website, domain, ad accounts, Google Business Profile, analytics and tracking. If you own them, changing supplier costs you nothing but the handover. See what your practice should own.

Retainer and setup fee

A retainer is a fixed monthly fee for ongoing work. A setup fee is a one-off charge for the foundation work, such as research, tracking and site changes. Ad spend is separate and should be paid by the practice directly to the platform. See how dental marketing is priced.

If a term you've seen in a proposal isn't here, email me at Fayez@imfayez.com and I'll add it. You can also read how I work.