Industry Guide · 16 of 16 chapters published
Google Ads for Healthcare: The Complete Guide to Getting More Patients From Google
A practice that treats knees, hearts and anxiety under one roof is running several businesses, and Google Ads prices each one differently. These sixteen chapters build an account in the order that works, then show how each step changes by specialty, using real searches, websites and patient reviews from one example market, San Diego. The method works for practices anywhere in the US.
Google Ads for Healthcare Prices Every Specialty on Its Own
Five steps in the order we build a medical practice account. Local numbers come from our example market, San Diego; yours will differ, and the method holds.
Google Should Learn a Chair Got Filled, Never Why
Google keeps health bookings out of enhanced conversions and won't sign a HIPAA agreement for Analytics, so tracking records that a patient booked and nothing about the reason. Count:
- A confirmed booking
- A submitted appointment request
- A call over 30 seconds
Portal logins and bill payments are patients you already have. Then price each specialty on its own: Medicare pays about $118 for a new patient's first office visit, and a direct primary care membership might run $50 to $100 a month.
An Urgent Care Search Is a Door. A Therapy Search Is a Shortlist.
The first dollar goes to the service line where searchers are ready now, in what we call the Isolation campaign: exact match, one tight ad group per service and a page for each. A colonoscopy search sent to the homepage is a lost patient, and 7 of the 14 practice homepages we tested took over 10 seconds to load on a phone.
Competitors' websites run through Keyword Planner returned 11,490 searches, each specialty with its own junk, like “dog allergy” from an allergy practice. Bids start by hand, line by line: the top of the page tops out near $4 for a cardiologist and $38 for a therapist in our example market.
Every Service Line Draws Patients From a Different Distance
Presence decides who counts as local, and each service line gets its own map. Search partners, Display and AI Max go off at build, while auto-tagging and call reporting go on. A call that rings out after hours is a click you already paid for, so the ad schedule follows the phones.
Performance Max Has to Work Without Your Patient List
An Exploration campaign (also our name) joins each service line at about 30 bookings a month, usually in months two or three and sooner for busier lines; a cardiology line may never get there. Performance Max tends to arrive in month six or seven, steered by the searches that booked and by competitor websites. For sensitive lines, Demand Gen is mostly YouTube. Local Services Ads cover primary care, not cardiology, and come late; AI Max comes last.
One Campaign per Service Line, With the Risky Lines Fenced Off
Google won't set a different target for each specialty inside one campaign, so each line gets its own budget, bids and conversions, with the practice name in one brand campaign. Pain, weight loss, men's health and regenerative care get separate campaigns with clean pages: one mention of opioids can suspend the whole account, and PRP can't be advertised at all. The ads name the plans you take, and a Medicare practice never advertises a waived copay.
Sixteen Chapters, From the First Booking to Every Service Line
Building a new account? Begin at Chapter 1. Each chapter leans on the ones before it.
Measure
Count booked patients without leaking why they came, and price each specialty
HIPAA Still Watches Your Booking Form. Count New Patients Without Sending Google Their Symptoms.
An Urgent Care Searcher Walks In Tonight. A Therapy Searcher Reads Dozens of Profiles First. Buy the Walk-In First.
A New-Patient Visit Pays $118. A Knee Replacement Pays the Surgeon $1,159. One Budget Can't Price Both.
Build
Win the searches that book, one service line at a time
Google Often Charges Less When the Ad and the Page Both Match the Search. Build One of Each per Service.
Keyword Planner Will Read a Competing Practice's Website and Hand You Its Patients' Searches.
Exact Match Buys the Searches You Already Know. Broad Match Finds the Much Bigger Pile You Don't.
Manual Bids Pay to Learn What a Patient Costs. Then That Number Runs Google's Bidding.
Every Specialty's Reviews Praise Something Different. That's What Goes in the Headline.
Launch
Settings that match where you are licensed to treat
Scale
More reach, inside Google's health privacy rules
A Colonoscopy Page Can't Use Your Patient List. Performance Max Has to Work Without It.
Health Ads in Demand Gen Mostly Run on YouTube. Plan the Video Before the Campaign.
Local Services Ads Take Primary Care and Physical Therapy, Not Cardiology or OB-GYN. Check Your Specialty First.
AI Max Is Broad Match With a Copywriter Attached. A Medical Practice Turns It On Last.
Healthcare
Many specialties, restricted service lines and insurance
Your Practice Is One Business to Your Patients and Five Businesses to Google Ads.
Pain, Weight Loss and Men's Health Lines Play by Stricter Google Rules. One Violation Can Take Down the Whole Account.
Patients Pick a Doctor by Insurance Before Reviews. Your Ads Should Answer the Insurance Question First.
The Rollout, Month by Month
The order matters as much as the campaigns. Each step waits until the one before it has taught Google something.
Isolation and brand
Exact match on the booking searches for your busiest service line, plus the practice and doctor names.
Exploration
Broad match with a target CPA, once booked patients reach about 30 a month.
More service lines
Each specialty gets its own campaign, budget and bid target instead of sharing one.
Performance Max
Only after months of clean data, built inside Google's health privacy rules.
Demand Gen, Local Services Ads and AI Max
YouTube video, pay-per-lead where your specialty qualifies, and Google's newest automation, fenced in.
How to Use This Guide
Starting a new account?
Read in order. Tracking and the per-specialty math come before the first keyword.
Chapter 01 →More than one specialty?
Read the multi-specialty chapter early, then build each service line with the keyword, bidding and ad copy chapters.
Chapter 14 →One example market
Examples come from San Diego-area practices, described as we found them. Run the same steps in your own market.
Chapter 05 →Guides by Specialty
Every chapter here works for any practice. When one specialty is most of your business, its own guide goes deeper on that specialty's searches, rules and patients.
Google Ads for Dentists
A chapter-by-chapter guide for dental practices, from conversion tracking to implants, built on a real dental market. In the order we build every account.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Orthodontists
Sixteen chapters for orthodontic practices anywhere in the US, from tracking the signed contract to teen ad rules, monthly payment offers, general dentists and adult patients.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Dermatologists
Fifteen chapters for dermatology practices anywhere in the US, medical and cosmetic, from tracking the booked visit to Botox ad rules.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Plastic Surgeons
Fifteen chapters for cosmetic surgery practices, from tracking the consult to before-and-after photo rules, built on the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Med Spas
Fifteen chapters for med spas anywhere in the US, from tracking deposit bookings to Botox keyword rules, GLP-1 ads and injector credentials.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Optometrists
Sixteen chapters for optometry practices anywhere in the US, from tracking booked exams to vision plans, optical chains and FTC offer rules.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Home Care and Home Health Agencies
Fifteen chapters for home care and home health agencies anywhere in the US, from counting family leads to caregiver recruiting ads and every payer type.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Urgent Care
Sixteen chapters for urgent care centers anywhere in the US, from tracking online check-ins to ad schedules, the ER line and self-pay prices.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Orthopedic Surgeons
Sixteen chapters for orthopedic practices anywhere in the US, from counting new patients to PRP ad rules, surgeon brand campaigns and walk-in injury care.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Podiatrists
Sixteen chapters for podiatry practices anywhere in the US, from tracking callback bookings to Medicare foot care, the orthopedist question and laser ad claims.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Senior Living
Fifteen chapters for senior living communities anywhere in the US, from tracking tours and move-ins to housing ad rules, referral sites and Fair Housing copy.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Chiropractors
A full walkthrough of running profitable Google Ads for a chiropractic practice, from conversion tracking to ad copy. Real tactics, no fluff.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Mental Health Practices
Everything a therapist or clinic needs to turn search traffic into booked clients, without wasting budget on the wrong clicks.
Open the guide →Google Ads for Healthcare
A Click Isn't a Patient. A Booked Appointment Is.
We've run paid ads for 25+ years and seen just about every way a budget goes sideways. Get on the phone with someone who does this every day. Bring your questions, your numbers and your skepticism. You'll hang up knowing what we'd do, whether you hire us or not.
Or see how our Google Ads management works.