Do not fire or renew on instinct. Spend 30 days finding where results stop: search visibility, phone calls, the front desk or the agency's own work. Check whether your calls are counted before judging results: in Citevio's October 2026 crawl, call-tracking code appeared on at least 6.9% of the US dental websites we could check.
That figure comes from Citevio's October 2026 crawl of 66,410 readable US dental websites. Code from one of three call-tracking providers, CallRail, CallTrackingMetrics or WhatConverts, appeared on 4,602 of the 66,288 sites where the check could be made. Google Analytics 4 code appeared on 19,913 of 66,313. A practice without call tracking can still be getting calls from its marketing. Without it, the practice and its agency have to rely on other signals, such as asking each new patient how they found the practice.
Source: Citevio crawl of US dental websites, October 2026; counts re-run from the raw crawl files on 27 October 2026. Read as "at least": the scan only recognises those three providers in the page HTML, and tracking can also run in ways a page scan does not see. The sample is not a census of US practices.
Is the problem your agency, your tracking or your front desk?
Find the stage where patients drop out before you judge the agency. A marketing result passes through four stages, and each one has a report you can open with your own login. If the early stages are flat, look at the agency's work. If they are rising but bookings are not, look at the phones and the front desk first.
| Stage | What to check | Where you see it yourself | If this is where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Being found | Impressions and clicks for your practice and services | Search Console Performance report, which shows important metrics about how your site performs in Google Search results. | Ask the agency what it changed and when, and which queries moved. |
| 2. Being found by AI | Impressions in Google's AI features; what ChatGPT and Perplexity say about you | Search Console's generative AI performance report, which shows data about how your site performs in generative AI features on Google Search. | Ask which patient questions the agency tracks and how it records the answers. |
| 3. Turning visits into calls and forms | Calls and form submissions by source | Google Analytics key events. Google defines a key event as an event that measures an action that's particularly important to the success of your business. | If nothing is marked as a key event or no calls are tracked, fix measurement before judging anyone. |
| 4. Turning calls into patients | Missed calls, booked appointments, shows | Your phone system and practice management software | This stage belongs to the practice. An agency cannot fix it with more traffic. |
What should a 30-day diagnosis of your marketing look like?
Four weeks, one question per week, each answered from a report you can open yourself.
- Week 1, access and baseline: make sure your own login can open Search Console, Google Analytics, your Business Profile and the call-tracking account. Write down last month's numbers for each stage in the table.
- Week 2, tracking test: call each tracked number and submit each form once. Check that each one shows up in the report the agency uses. If a test does not appear, the reports you have been reading are incomplete.
- Week 3, the front desk: count missed and unanswered calls for one week and listen to a sample of booked and not-booked calls.
- Week 4, the agency review: send the agency your written questions before the meeting, and ask for answers in writing.
At the end of the month you should be able to name the stage where results stop. That tells you whether to change the agency, change the brief, or fix something inside the practice.
What should you ask your agency when results are flat?
Ask questions whose answers can be checked against your own reports. Vague answers to these are themselves a finding.
- What did you change, on which pages and accounts, and on what dates? A dated work log lets you line changes up against the reports.
- Which searches and patient questions are you tracking, and how did they move? A fixed list is what makes one month comparable with the next.
- How are calls counted? Ask which numbers are tracked and whether they appear in your own Analytics as key events.
- Who owns the accounts? Ask which logins hold the top role on your domain, website, Business Profile and ad accounts.
- What will be different in 60 days, and how will we both see it? Agree the measure in writing before you agree the timeline.
How can you tell if AI search is part of the problem?
Check what the engines say before assuming they say anything. For Google, the generative AI performance report in Search Console shows impressions from AI features; Google lists using it to See what pages are getting the highest (or lowest) impressions in generative AI features
. For ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, a direct check is to ask them the questions your patients ask and record the answers with the date. Do this on a fixed list of questions, so a later check compares like with like.
Sources: Search Console Help, Generative AI performance report · Search Console Help, Performance report · Analytics Help, key events. Opened 28 October 2026.
What if the diagnosis says you should leave the agency?
Secure your accounts before you give notice, not after. Some handover steps have waiting periods; for example, Google makes a new Business Profile owner wait seven days before they can manage all features. Our agency exit and handover checklist lists the eight things to hold in your own name and the official source for each.
One quick check you can run now is what AI engines currently say about your practice.
Prefer to question the engines by hand? See how to check what ChatGPT says about your practice.
How we measured this
The tracking figures come from Citevio's October 2026 crawl of US dental practice websites: 66,410 sites returned readable HTML, and each figure uses as its base the sites where that check could be made. Call tracking means code from CallRail, CallTrackingMetrics or WhatConverts in the HTML we read, so it is a lower bound. We re-counted the figures from the raw crawl files on 27 October 2026. On the same day we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity, twice each, what to do when a dental marketing agency is not getting results. ChatGPT answered without searching the web in both runs. Perplexity cited agency blogs; none of the cited pages gave measured data on how many practices can see their calls. Our method for AI answers is described in how we measure AI visibility.
We wrote this page for dental practice owners who are unsure whether to keep, change or leave their marketing agency, so the decision rests on numbers they can check themselves.
Common questions
Should I fire my dental marketing agency if I am not getting new patients?
Not before you know where patients are lost. Check whether visibility, calls, the front desk or bookings is the weak stage. If visibility and calls are rising but bookings are not, look at call handling and booking before changing agencies.
How many dental websites have call tracking?
In Citevio's October 2026 crawl, code from CallRail, CallTrackingMetrics or WhatConverts appeared on 4,602 of 66,288 US dental websites where the check could be made, or 6.9%. Read it as a lower bound, because the scan recognises only those three providers.
How many dental websites run Google Analytics 4?
In Citevio's October 2026 crawl of US dental websites, Google Analytics 4 code appeared on 19,913 of the 66,313 sites where the check could be made, or 30.0%. Read it as a lower bound, because the scan reads only the page HTML and analytics can also be installed in ways it does not see.
Why does call tracking matter when judging an agency?
Call tracking shows which phone calls came from the agency's work; without it, you rely on slower signals such as asking each new patient how they found you. Before judging results, check that tracked calls appear in your own reports.
Which Google reports show whether my marketing is working?
Search Console's Performance report shows how your site performs in Google Search results. Its generative AI performance report shows impressions in Google's AI features. Google Analytics shows key events such as calls and form submissions, if they are set up.
What is a key event in Google Analytics?
Google defines a key event as an event that measures an action that's particularly important to the success of your business. For a dental practice that usually means a call, a form submission or an online booking.
How do I test whether my call tracking works?
Call each tracked number on your website and Business Profile once, and submit each form once. Then check that each test appears in the report your agency sends you and in your own Analytics.
Can the problem be my front desk rather than my agency?
It can. If calls are arriving but few become appointments, look inside the practice first: count missed calls for a week and listen to a sample of calls that did not book. The same calls also show whether the enquiries were from the patients you want.
How do I check if AI search is sending patients elsewhere?
Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the questions your patients ask, such as the best dentist for veneers in your city, and save the answers with the date. For Google's AI features, open the generative AI performance report in Search Console.
What should I secure before switching dental marketing agencies?
Your domain, hosting and website admin, Google Business Profile primary ownership, Analytics and Search Console access, phone numbers, reviews, and copies of reports and raw data. Each should sit under a login the practice controls before you give notice.