Google ads for healthcare can be a tool for practices to drive more revenue. At times, a medical practice sees too many empty slots in the schedule, and for this problem, Google Ads for doctors may very well be the cure. Also called PPC (pay-per-click), a successful Google Ads campaign puts medical provider ads prominently at the very top of search results.
Because these ads are featured in Google’s prime real estate of search results, PPC campaigns are a very effective new patient acquisition strategy.
If your medical practice has a goal to grow patient volume this year, Google Ads is that catalyst to increase new patient leads. In this guide, we go over the process for medical practice Google Ads and how your practice stands to benefit by fast-tracking new patient acquisition.
How Google Ads for Doctors Work
Google Ads is a platform which provides all the tools you need to run an ad campaign in one place. Planning an ad campaign requires quite a bit of research on what keywords to use, which audience to target, what headlines and ad copy to use, and then how much to budget for all of this. Medical practice ad campaigns for Google are rather complicated to plan and manage. One of the factors that make the process challenging is Google’s bidding structure. With Google Ads for doctors, you stand to get a return for your ad spend, but you do “get what you pay for.” When your bids are set appropriately as to be competitive, the better your chances are of getting the best ad placement. Google also determines which ads are of the best quality in deciding which to run.
Ads Are Cost-Effective with Measurable Return on Investment
Big believers in PPC will tell you that a top benefit of Google Ads is how you can clearly quantify the return on investment through conversion tracking. Unlike other forms of medical practice marketing, with PPC for doctors, you get concrete and measurable data on how much you have spent versus how many new patient appointments were made from clicking your Google Ads.
Google reported that (across industries) for every dollar spent, a Google Ads campaign averages a return of $2 in revenue. As for medical practice PPC specifically, a Logic Inbound survey found that new patient acquisition increased when used with organic search efforts (merit-based Google search results placement based on website quality).
Google Ads experts find that the longer you keep at it, the better PPC results you stand to achieve. This is because, over time, new insights are discovered that will then be applied to make the campaigns more strategic and efficient in attracting new patients.
Google Ads Compared to Unpaid First-Page Placement (Organic Search)
When a Google search is made, users are served a mix of paid and unpaid results. Google Ads has a reputation of being far more expensive than SEO for medical practices. SEO (search engine optimization) is also known as “organic search.” Organic means that certain websites show up in search naturally based on Google’s quality metrics.
With organic search, it is harder than with PPC to be featured in top search results, and it can take months to see the results of your website quality efforts. But with Google Ads for healthcare providers, you are seen by prospective patients in top search results sooner with an effective campaign consisting of the right spending bid, and ad quality.
Because it takes time for medical practice digital marketing efforts to pan out in organic search results, in the meantime, it helps to add Google Ads efforts to your practice marketing strategy.
Google Ads for Healthcare: Who Benefits and Who Is Barred
The ease or difficulty your medical practice has with being found in search through Google Ads depends on how much competition there is in your area. So, the more crowded the local market is for your specialty, the more your medical practice stands to benefit from being proactive in digital marketing efforts so yours will be found alongside competing providers.
A recent survey from Doctor.com reveals that 61.4% of healthcare consumers use online resources to find a new provider, and when searching, nearly 83% of these seekers will turn to Google. Until your medical practice claims your territory in Google Ad search results, your competitors will continue to catch all the new patient leads that land in the PPC net.
Google Ads are ideal for a medical practice that is:
- Needing to build or rebuild patient volume,
- Experiencing an unusual slump in patient bookings,
- Facing tough competition locally or discovering new competitive threats,
- Establishing as a brand-new healthcare provider, or
- Wanting to diversify or round out how its marketing budget is spent.
However, not all healthcare entities can advertise on Google. Pharmacies, drug manufacturers, health insurance carriers, and the like all face restrictions or outright exclusion per the Google Ads medical policy.
Some medical practices offer therapies or treatments that are speculative and experimental (e.g., cell or gene therapies), and Google prohibits any promotion of such unverified medical services or products. If your healthcare facility offers prohibited therapies such as stem cell, cellular (non-stem), platelet-rich plasma, gene therapy, or similar forms of regenerative medicine, these can be listed on your website but they cannot be mentioned in any Google advertising.
Medical Advantage Helps You Be Found in Google Search Results and Be More Competitive
For many medical practices to survive these days, they must remain competitive and constantly acquire new patients. Medical Advantage is here to help your practice achieve goals to attract new patients.
Our comprehensive medical practice marketing services include local SEO for doctors, Google Ads for healthcare, medical practice reputation management, leveraging practice popularity through social media, plus award-winning medical web design.
Your medical practice marketing budget will be spent wisely by our team of PPC experts who have paid search strategy down to a science. Our clients see new patients every month who find them through Google Ads, so PPC spend pays for itself.
Navigating the rules and regulations surrounding medical advertising is challenging. Since Medical Advantage only works with healthcare providers, we have unique expertise with HIPAA, information privacy, and Google ads policy for medical ads. Our PPC experts work tirelessly to get the best ROAS (return on ad spend) and to attract new patients for our medical clients.
Ready to grow your patient base with a powerful Google Ads campaign? Let’s discuss how your medical practice website can get the online search competitive edge it deserves – fill out the form below to connect with our team!
