The ad spend, paid to Google
This is the media. One Australian agency’s dental page, opened on 12 October 2026, says dental accounts often start with media of $1,500 to $3,000 a month. That is one firm’s view, not a count of practices.
Managed Google Ads vs doing it yourself: which suits a dental practice?
Doing it yourself is the better buy when the media budget is small and one named person will read the search terms every week. Otherwise, hire a manager. You pay two bills either way: the ad spend you pay to Google, and, if you hire someone, a separate management fee.
Two bills
Bill 1: the ad spend
Paid to Google, whoever runs the account. This is the media.
Bill 2: the management fee
Paid to a manager, if you hire one. Doing it yourself costs no fee, but it does cost someone’s hours.
What are the two bills?
Google charges for the clicks. A manager, if you hire one, charges for the work. The fee is never part of the ad spend.
The management fee, if you hire
Two Australian agency pages dated 2026 describe a flat fee of about $500 to $3,000 a month for smaller accounts, or 10 to 20 percent of the ad spend (14 April and 22 July 2026). These are prices firms advertise, not a survey of what practices pay.
Your own hours, if you do it yourself
There is no management fee, but the work still happens. One Google Ads consultant’s guide (updated 28 September 2026) puts a small, set-up account at 1 to 2 hours a week. That is one author’s estimate.
What does someone still have to do every week?
Google Ads is self-serve, so the skill is the week after launch. These jobs stay the same whoever holds the login. A named person does them, or checks that the manager did.
Google’s change history logs who changed a budget, a keyword or a pause, so you can check the work either way.
Every week, someone has to
- Read the search terms and block jobs, DIY, “free” and price-shoppers
- Check that calls and booking clicks are the conversions, not the click itself
- Keep emergency ads inside the hours someone answers the phone
- Approve every public sentence against Ahpra’s section 133
- Spend only inside the agreed budget
Waste sits in irrelevant searches, the wrong locations and traffic that never becomes a patient (UK agency guide, 21 September 2026). One Australian agency’s dental page, opened 12 October 2026, names a “cheap dentist” search at up to $22 a click. A search term review is how you catch both.
When is doing it yourself the better buy?
And when is a manager? The answer is a ratio and a person, not a rule.
Doing it yourself, when
The media is near the low end of the dental starting band ($1,500 to $3,000 a month, one agency’s figure) and a named person will do the weekly job. It also suits one suburb, one offer and an owner who wants to learn the auction.
Rules of thumb conflict. One consultant says learn it yourself under about US$1,000 a month of media (28 September 2026). Another says self-manage when the fee would be a large share of a small budget, and puts its line at US$5,000 (4 September 2026). The durable point is the ratio of fee to media, not either number.
A manager, when
Nobody will review search terms each week. Or there are several treatment tiers, after-hours logic and no internal owner. Or tracking is broken, or the owner cannot tell a click from an attended patient.
If the fee would be half or more of a small media budget and someone inside the practice has an hour a week, doing it yourself wins. If nobody has that hour, a flat fee on a small budget can still be the right buy. Make it a conscious ratio, not a default.
Flat fee or a percentage of spend?
A percentage costs less on a small account. A flat fee costs less on a large one. The table is arithmetic on advertised fees, not a quote and not a count of what practices pay.
| Monthly ad spend | The fee | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500 | 15 percent is $225. | Under the flat fees these pages advertise. |
| $3,000 | 15 percent is $450. | One agency uses this sum to argue that a percentage still gives the agency a reason to recommend $5,000. |
| $2,500 | 20 percent is $500 + GST. | One agency’s own table, 22 July 2026. |
| $10,000 | 20 percent is $2,000 + GST. | The same table. The fee grows with the spend. |
| $1,500 | A flat $800 + GST. | More than half again on top of the media. One agency’s advertised flat fee, opened 12 October 2026. |
A percentage is not always the expensive choice. Ask for the dollar fee at your planned spend, in writing, and ask what happens to that fee if the spend doubles.
Who owns the account, and what counts as a result?
Three questions to settle before anyone starts, whichever column you pick.
The practice should own the account
You should hold the login, the billing and the data, so you can leave without losing history. One agency says the same on its dental page. Treat it as the right question to ask any manager.
A result is an attended patient, not a click
Judge the month by what reached the chair. If your practice cannot count attended patients from an ad yet, say so, and do not accept a report that stops at clicks. Management cannot book a patient who reaches voicemail, so someone has to answer the phone.
One person approves the wording
Ahpra’s section 133 applies to every ad, whoever wrote it, including a suggestion from Google. Ads must not be false or misleading, use a testimonial about a clinical aspect, or create an unreasonable expectation of benefit. Name one approver for clinical wording, offers and new campaigns.
What changes if an agent helps?
An agent or a smart-bidding feature can draft negative keywords, watch the account and prepare a report. It sits inside either column.
It does not replace the weekly check. A person still approves the budget and every public sentence, and the account still spends only inside the agreed budget.
How do the two choices compare, side by side?
There is no total score. Each practice weighs the rows differently.
| Do it yourself | Pay a manager | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | Ad spend to Google, plus someone’s hours. | Ad spend to Google, plus a fee to the manager. |
| A 2026 fee shape | $0 of management. | Flat fees advertised from about $500 to $3,000 a month for smaller accounts, or 10 to 20 percent of the ad spend. |
| Better when | The media is near the low end of the dental starting band and a named person will do the weekly job. One suburb, one offer. | Nobody will review search terms each week. Several treatment tiers. Tracking is broken, or you cannot tell a click from an attended patient. |
| The other is better when | The account has several campaigns, after-hours logic and no internal owner, so a manager is the better buy. | The fee is half or more of a small media budget and someone in the practice has an hour a week, so doing it yourself is the better buy. |
| What still has to be done | The whole weekly list. | Approve the budget, offers and clinical wording. Answer the phone. Own the account. Read the report against attended patients. |
| What “managed” does not mean | No manager to judge. The same checks apply to whoever runs the account. | A report that stops at clicks. A fee that rises because clicks got dearer. A promise of a patient count. |
Either choice fails when nobody looks. DIY fails when the owner sets the campaign up and never reads a search term. A managed account fails when the report never reaches a booked patient, or when the practice is full and the retainer carries on.
Where does Shoutout fit? Shoutout’s plans are Foundation $1,990, Growth $3,490 and Group from $5,990 a month + GST, month to month, with no markup on your ad spend. A plan covers Google Ads and the rest of the marketing work, so it is a multi-service fee, not an ads-only management fee. Do not set it beside an ads-only price. If you want to talk it through, book a strategy session.
Managed Google Ads vs doing it yourself: your questions
Short answers, with the source and date for every figure.
Can a practice run Google Ads without an agency?
Yes. Google Ads is self-serve, and any practice can open the account and launch a campaign.
The skill is the week after launch. Someone has to read the search terms, block irrelevant ones, check that calls and booking clicks are what is being counted, and approve every public sentence against Ahpra’s section 133. A small, simple campaign with a named person doing that each week can work well. A campaign that is set up and then left alone tends to waste money on searches that never become patients.
How much does management cost in Australia?
Advertised fees run from about $500 to $3,000 a month for smaller accounts, or 10 to 20 percent of the ad spend.
Those ranges come from Australian agency pages dated 14 April and 22 July 2026, and one agency’s own cost page lists flat fees often between $500 and $2,000. They are prices firms advertise, not a survey. Ask for a dollar figure at your planned spend, in writing, and ask what the fee includes: setup, weekly search-term checks, reporting and changes to the ads. Compare quotes at the same spend so the numbers line up.
Is the management fee the same as the ad spend?
No. They are two separate bills.
The ad spend is the media. You pay it to Google, and it buys clicks. The management fee is paid to whoever runs the account, and it buys their time and judgement. A manager’s fee does not reduce what Google charges, and the ad spend does not pay the manager. Check any quote shows both numbers separately, and ask whether the ad spend reaches Google directly or passes through the manager first.
Why do some agencies charge a percentage?
A percentage ties the fee to the size of the account, so the manager is paid more as the spend grows.
That makes it cheaper on a small account: 15 percent of $1,500 is $225. It also gives the manager a reason to recommend a bigger budget, which is the objection some flat-fee agencies raise. A percentage is not always the expensive choice, though. Ask for the dollar fee at your planned spend, and ask what happens to the fee if the spend doubles.
How many hours a week does doing it yourself take?
One Google Ads consultant’s guide, updated 28 September 2026, puts it at 1 to 2 hours a week after setup.
That is one author’s estimate for a small account, not a measured figure for dental practices. The first weeks take longer. The time grows with the number of campaigns, treatments and locations. If you cannot protect that time every week, the cost of doing it yourself is the money wasted on searches nobody reviewed.
Set those hours against the management fees two Australian agency pages advertise (about $500 to $3,000 a month flat, or 10 to 20 percent of the ad spend, 14 April and 22 July 2026), and decide which cost you would rather carry.
Who should own the Google Ads account?
The practice should.
You should hold the login, the billing and the data, with the manager given access to work in it. Then you can change manager, or take the work in-house, without losing the history. One agency says the same on its dental page, opened 12 October 2026. Ask any manager who owns the account, the conversion definitions and the data before you sign, and ask how access is removed if you leave.
The history is your record of which searches turned into enquiries, so losing it means paying to learn the same lessons again.
What do we still approve if someone else runs it?
The budget, the offers and any clinical wording.
Ahpra’s section 133 applies to every ad, whoever wrote it, so one named person in the practice should approve new campaigns and public sentences. You should also answer the phone, because a manager cannot book a patient who reaches voicemail. And you should read the report against attended patients, not clicks. If conversion tracking sends patient detail into an ads system, know what is shared.
That approval covers a suggestion from Google as well as one from the manager.
Does smart bidding or an agent replace the weekly check?
No. It can take over routine work, but it does not replace the check.
Smart bidding adjusts bids, and an agent can draft negative keywords and prepare reports. Neither knows which searches your practice does not want, and neither can approve a sentence under Ahpra’s rules. A person still approves spend and public copy. Treat any claim that a managed account always beats a careful owner with care. Ask any manager who uses these tools which parts they still check by hand each week, and who in your practice signs off the result.
Sources and dates
Checked on 12 October 2026. Fee figures are advertised prices from firms that sell the service, not a survey. Rules of thumb are one author’s view each. This page is not legal advice.
- Australian agency pricing page: Google Ads cost (2026, flat fees and percentages)
- Same agency, dental Google Ads page (opened 12 October 2026: flat fee, starting media, a “cheap dentist” click cost, account ownership)
- Australian agency blog: Google Ads management cost (14 April 2026)
- Australian agency blog: Google Ads management pricing (22 July 2026)
- Google Ads consultant guide: agency, freelancer or doing it yourself (updated 28 September 2026, US dollars)
- Agency guide: agency or self-managed (4 September 2026, US dollars)
- UK agency guide: is it worth paying someone to manage Google Ads (21 September 2026)
- Google Ads Help: change history (opened 8 October 2026)
- Ahpra: guidelines for advertising a regulated health service (in force since 14 December 2020, page reviewed 2 September 2025)
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