Dental marketing glossary: what do these 42 terms mean?

Ahpra advertising

Ahpra advertising rules are the rules for anyone who advertises a regulated health service in Australia, including a dental practice and a marketing agency.

Section 133 of the National Law bans advertising that is false or misleading, that uses testimonials, that creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, that encourages unnecessary use of a health service, or that offers a gift or discount without stating the terms. This is not legal advice.

Also searched as: ahpra advertising guidelines; ahpra rules for dentists; dental advertising laws australia.

Guidelines in force from 14 December 2020. Ahpra says higher penalties have applied in every jurisdiction, including Western Australia, from July 2024. Source: Ahpra advertising guidelines, page read 12 October 2026. See also the Ahpra advertising rules for dental marketing.

Testimonial

A testimonial, in Ahpra’s advertising rules, is a recommendation or positive statement about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service.

A comment about customer service or communication, with no symptom, treatment or outcome, is not a testimonial under that definition.

Also searched as: ahpra testimonials; can dentists use google reviews; patient stories advertising.

Source: Ahpra testimonial tool, page read 12 October 2026.

Protected title

A protected title, such as dentist or orthodontist, may be used only by a person registered for that title.

Words such as “specialises in” imply specialist registration.

Also searched as: who can say dentist; specialist dentist advertising; protected titles ahpra.

Source: Ahpra titles, page read 12 October 2026.

Before-and-after photo

A before-and-after photo used to advertise a regulated health service is a clinical claim about a treatment outcome.

Ahpra’s higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic procedure guidelines, in force from 2 September 2025, name dental veneers and cosmetic injectables as examples, and they do not allow testimonials, including from influencers.

Also searched as: dental before and after advertising; ahpra before and after.

Source: Ahpra higher-risk cosmetic examples, page read 12 October 2026.

Unreasonable expectation

An unreasonable expectation, under section 133, is advertising that makes a person expect a benefit from treatment that the evidence does not support.

Acceptable evidence for an advertising claim is not the same thing as the evidence a clinician uses for one patient’s care.

Also searched as: ahpra unreasonable expectation; dental advertising claims.

Source: Ahpra, acceptable evidence in health advertising, page read 12 October 2026.

AI Overviews

An AI Overview is the generated summary Google sometimes shows on the ordinary search results page, with links, when its systems decide the summary adds something the classic results do not.

It often does not show.

Also searched as: what is an ai overview; google ai overview.

Source: Google, AI features and your website, last updated 10 December 2025, page read 12 October 2026.

AI Mode

AI Mode is Google’s conversational search, for questions that need more exploration or a comparison, where a person can ask a follow-up.

AI Mode and AI Overviews can use different models, so the links they show for the same query can differ. They are two products, so count them separately.

Also searched as: google ai mode; ai mode vs ai overview; ai mode australia.

Source: the same Google guide, last updated 10 December 2025, page read 12 October 2026. See also how to get cited in ChatGPT and AI Overviews.

Chair occupancy

Chair occupancy is the share of hours a dentist’s chair was open for bookings that had a patient booked, weighted by the hours each dentist works.

It is not the share of enquiries that booked, and it is not rent.

Also searched as: chair occupancy rate dental; what is chair occupancy; chair utilisation dental; chair utilization.

Read the full definition in chair occupancy rate, then try the chair occupancy calculator.

Hours open for bookings

Hours open for bookings are the hours a dentist’s chair could take a patient, after lunch and blocked time are taken out.

They are not the hours the front door was unlocked if the chair was not on the book.

Also searched as: bookable hours dental; hours available chair.

Booked chair hours

Booked chair hours are the hours a patient was on the book in that chair.

They are not the hours the patient sat in the chair, if the diary can tell those apart.

Also searched as: hours appointed; chair hours occupied.

White space

White space is hours open for bookings with no patient on the book.

It is not, by itself, a dollar loss.

Also searched as: whitespace dental diary; empty chair time.

Cost per booked patient

Cost per booked patient is the ad spend in a period divided by the new patients who booked an appointment from that spend.

It is not the cost per click, it is not the cost per enquiry, and the management fee is not in the sum.

Also searched as: cost per new patient dental; cost per acquisition dentist australia; patient acquisition cost dental.

Cost per enquiry

Cost per enquiry is the ad spend in a period divided by the enquiries that spend produced, counting calls, forms and chats.

It is not the cost per patient who booked.

Also searched as: cost per lead dental google ads; cost per enquiry dentist.

Cost per click

Cost per click is the ad spend divided by the clicks.

A cheap click that never books can cost more than a dear click that does. Do not trust an average click cost that comes without a date, a suburb and a method.

Also searched as: cpc dental ads; how much is a click dentist google ads.

See Google Ads cost for dentists in Australia.

Click-through rate

Click-through rate is the clicks divided by the impressions.

It is not the share of clicks that became patients.

Also searched as: ctr google ads; what is click through rate.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate, in an ad account, is the conversions divided by the clicks, and the conversion is whatever the account was set to count.

A form fill, a call and a booked patient are three different conversions, so a practice has to know which event its account counts.

Also searched as: conversion rate google ads dental; what counts as a conversion.

Impression

An impression is one time the ad was shown.

It is not a click and not a patient.

Also searched as: what is an impression google ads.

Impression share

Impression share is the impressions the practice received divided by the impressions it was eligible to receive.

Lost share from budget and lost share from rank are different problems.

Also searched as: search impression share; lost impression share budget.

Ad spend

Ad spend is the money paid to the ad platform, such as Google or Meta.

It is not the agency management fee. Shoutout Digital adds no markup to ad spend.

Also searched as: google ads budget dentist; ad spend vs management fee.

See pricing for the fees.

Management fee

The management fee is what the practice pays the agency to run the work.

It is not the ad spend, and it does not go in the cost per booked patient sum on this site.

Also searched as: dental marketing agency fees australia; google ads management fee.

See pricing for Shoutout Digital’s fees.

New patient

A new patient, on this site’s marketing pages, is a person who has booked as a new patient of the practice, not a click and not a returning patient.

The practice’s own software decides who counts as new, so two practices can use two different rules. Ask which rule a report uses before comparing figures.

Also searched as: what is a new patient dental practice.

Enquiry

An enquiry is a call, form or chat from a person asking about an appointment or a service.

It is not a booked patient. An existing patient calling to reschedule is not an enquiry for cost per enquiry unless the account was built to count it.

Also searched as: what is a dental enquiry; lead vs patient.

Missed call

A missed call is a call to the practice that nobody answered.

A call that was answered, put on hold and then booked is not a missed call. Voicemail that nobody returns is still a missed call.

Also searched as: missed call dental practice; unanswered call dentist.

See the missed-call calculator.

Missed-call rate

The missed-call rate is the missed calls divided by all calls received in the same period.

It is not the share of missed calls that were new patients.

Also searched as: what percentage of calls do dentists miss; missed call rate dental.

Answer rate

The answer rate is the calls a person answered divided by the calls received.

It is the remainder of the missed-call rate when both use the same call log.

Also searched as: call answer rate dental.

Booking rate

The booking rate is the share of answered new-patient calls that became a booked appointment.

It is not the share of missed calls that would have booked, and that second share is not measured.

Also searched as: new patient conversion rate dental; call to booking rate.

Fail to attend

A fail to attend is a booked appointment the patient did not keep and the practice did not refill.

It changes attended occupancy. It does not change booked occupancy while the appointment stays on the book.

Also searched as: dental no show rate; fta dental; cancellation rate dentist.

Recall

A recall is a reminder to a patient who is due for a visit, sent from the practice’s own list.

It is not a new-patient ad, and a reply to a recall is not an ad enquiry unless the account was built to count it.

Also searched as: dental recall; recall list dentist.

Google Ads

Google Ads is the ad platform where a practice pays to show on Google search and on Google’s other placements.

The price of a click is set by an auction, so it changes by search term, suburb and competition.

Also searched as: google ads for dentists; dental ppc.

See Google Ads for dentists.

Keyword

A keyword is the phrase the practice bids on.

It is not the same as the search term the person typed.

Also searched as: dental keywords; what keywords should a dentist use.

See best keywords for dental Google Ads.

Search term

A search term is the words the person actually typed.

The search terms report is where a practice sees wasted queries and adds them as negatives.

Also searched as: search terms report google ads.

Negative keyword

A negative keyword is a phrase the practice blocks, so the ad does not show on that query.

It is not a keyword the practice wants.

Also searched as: negative keywords dentist; what is a negative keyword.

Match type

A match type tells Google how closely a search must fit a keyword: exact, phrase or broad.

Broad match can show the ad on searches the practice did not write down, so check the search terms report rather than ranking one type as always right.

Also searched as: exact match vs phrase match; broad match dentist.

Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the practice’s listing on Google, with the name, address, phone, hours and reviews.

It is not the practice website, and a post on it is still advertising if it promotes a regulated health service, so the Ahpra rules above apply.

Also searched as: google business profile dentist; google my business dental.

Local pack

The local pack is the group of map listings Google shows for a local search, such as a suburb plus “dentist”.

A rank there is not the same as a rank in the classic blue links, and neither is an AI Overview mention. No agency can promise a map position.

Also searched as: google map pack dentist; local pack seo.

Landing page

A landing page is the page a person reaches after they click an ad.

It is judged by whether the right people enquire, not by how many pages the site has. The Ahpra rules apply to it.

Also searched as: dental landing page; what is a landing page.

Call tracking

Call tracking puts a number on the ad or the page so the practice can see which calls came from which campaign.

A tracked call is an enquiry only if a person asked about an appointment, and a missed tracked call still belongs in the missed-call tally. Tracking numbers can miss calls that went to the main number.

Also searched as: call tracking dental ads; dynamic number insertion.

Organic search

Organic search is the unpaid results.

A click from organic search has no cost per click, but it still has a cost in the work done to earn it, and that cost is not an ad-spend figure. Neither channel always wins.

Also searched as: dental seo; organic vs google ads.

See dental SEO vs Google Ads.

Practice management system

A practice management system is the software that holds the diary, the patients and the fees.

Australian practices commonly use Dental4Windows, Praktika, Core Practice or Dentally. The chair occupancy export and the new-patient count come from that software, not from the ad account.

Also searched as: dental practice software australia; dental4windows; praktika; core practice; dentally.

Software names checked 12 October 2026.

Quality Score

Quality Score is Google’s 1-to-10 grade, at keyword level, of expected click-through rate, ad relevance and the landing-page experience.

It is not the practice’s profit and not the cost per booked patient. A low score is a prompt to read the search terms and the page, not a verdict on the practice.

Also searched as: quality score google ads.

Brand search

A brand search is a query that uses the practice’s name.

Those clicks are usually cheaper and more likely to book than a search for “dentist near me”, and mixing the two into one cost per patient hides that. The practice can see the split in its own account.

Also searched as: branded keywords dentist; brand vs non-brand.

Review response time

Review response time is the time from a new Google review to the practice’s public reply.

A reply must not turn a clinical comment into the practice’s own advertising.

Also searched as: how fast should a dentist reply to google reviews.