A patient with a swollen ankle, or a bunion that's getting worse, often has one more decision to make before they book anyone: podiatrist or orthopedic surgeon? They don't know the difference, and they suspect it matters. So they ask Google.
Whoever answers that question well tends to get the appointment. In most markets, the orthopedic groups have already noticed. This chapter covers how a podiatry practice can answer it honestly, in its ads and on its own page, without claiming to be something it isn't.
Patients Type the Question Before They Pick a Doctor
"Podiatrist vs orthopedic surgeon" draws about 390 searches a month in the United States, and "podiatrist or orthopedic" another 260. That second one carries top-of-page prices of $2.12 to $9.35 in Keyword Planner, which tells you advertisers treat it as a search from someone about to choose.
Google's own results show how common the question is. When we searched podiatry terms in our example market, Los Angeles, the People Also Ask boxes kept coming back to it: "What's the difference between a podiatrist and a foot and ankle specialist?" "What kind of doctor should I go to for a sprained ankle?" "What type of doctor is best for bunion surgery?"
Patients talk it through on Reddit too. Of the 1,335 patient posts and comments we collected about foot problems, 23 named both a podiatrist and an orthopedist, including whole threads titled "Podiatrist or orthopedic surgeon?", "Podiatrist vs orthopaedic" and "Heel Pain: Podiatrist, Ortho, or GP Next?"
The stakes run both ways. One Google review in our sample said: "Orthopedist said I needed surgery. [The podiatrist] said I didn't and he was so right!!" A Reddit post told the opposite story: "Broke my foot in 2013 and a podiatrist I saw wanted to operate. Went and got a second opinion from an orthopedic surgeon." Patients know second opinions exist, and they're choosing who to see first.
The question comes up most around two kinds of problem. Injuries, like sprains, fractures and Achilles tears, send people to whoever can see them fast, and 44 of the reviews we read were about exactly those. Surgery, especially bunion surgery, sends them looking for whoever seems most qualified to operate. Both are high-value patients for a podiatry practice.
An Orthopedic Group Is Already Answering It, With a Podiatry Ad
In our example market, one multi-location orthopedic group ran its own podiatry ads during the period we checked: "Podiatry Care in Los Angeles" and "Same-day podiatry care for urgent foot conditions." Its website includes a page comparing orthopedic and podiatric care. Orthopedic sites also ranked on searches like "ankle sprain specialist" and "foot and ankle specialist."
Read that page as a patient would. It describes orthopedists as medical doctors trained to handle "complex injuries or reconstructions," and podiatrists as managing "issues like skin, nails, and biomechanics, and performing some surgeries." That's a fair summary from the group's point of view, and the group employs both. But a patient with a bad bunion who reads it will come away thinking the serious work belongs to the orthopedist.
That's a sensible strategy for them, and it's the competition a podiatry practice faces on these searches. A patient who types "podiatrist or orthopedic" and lands on an orthopedic group's comparison page gets an answer written by the orthopedic group. Many of them will book there.
Most independent podiatry practices in our sample didn't answer the question at all, in their ads or in a page built for it. None of the 82 podiatry ads we read addressed it. That's the gap.
The Honest Answer Depends on the Foot Problem and the State
The honest answer isn't "always see a podiatrist." It's closer to this:
- Podiatrists specialize in the foot and ankle. Google's own definition, from its Local Services categories, is a provider who specializes in "conditions associated with feet, ankles, and lower legs." Ingrown toenails, fungus, heel pain, bunions, diabetic foot care and many foot surgeries are core podiatry.
- Orthopedic surgeons treat the whole musculoskeletal system: knees, hips, spines and shoulders as well as feet. Some specialize in the foot and ankle. Google keeps the two apart as well: its Local Services Ads list "Podiatrist" and "Orthopedic surgeon" as separate categories, each with its own screening, as Chapter 12 described.
- Where the answer is "see an orthopedist": problems above the ankle, like the knee or hip pain Chapter 5 found in the orthopedic group's keyword list, and any procedure outside what the podiatrist is licensed to do.
That last part is state law, and it varies more than most patients realize. The dossier behind this guide read the podiatry statutes in a sample of 10 states. A few examples, in alphabetical order:
- Alabama: foot and ankle, with bony ankle surgery requiring at least 36 months of approved residency.
- California: the ankle is in scope, but ankle surgery is limited to certain settings and requires hospital ankle privileges.
- Florida: the foot and leg, with surgery below the anterior tibial tubercle.
- Massachusetts: the foot only.
- New York: ankle surgery only for podiatrists holding an ankle privilege.
- Texas: the statute names the foot; whether the ankle is in scope has been contested in court.
The other states in the sample (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania) each draw the line in their own way, from a set distance above the ankle joint to board qualifications for ankle surgery. Title rules vary too: at least one state bars using "doctor" in a health care setting in a way that would lead a patient to assume the practitioner is a medical doctor.
This is a sample, not a 50-state survey, and it isn't legal advice. Every podiatry practice should know its own state's scope before its ads say "ankle," and have counsel review anything unclear. The point for advertising is simple: the words "foot and ankle surgeon" mean different things in different states, and the ad has to match what the practice's own license allows.
A Comparison Page Earns the Click That a Comparison Ad Can't
A 30-character headline can't explain the difference between two specialties. A page can. So the answer lives on the website, and the ad's job is to send the question there.
Build a "podiatrist or orthopedist?" page. Write it the way Chapter 8's patients praised their doctors, by explaining plainly:
- What a podiatrist is and what this practice treats, by foot problem, with links to each condition page from Chapter 4.
- What the practice's podiatrists are licensed to do in this state, including whether they treat the ankle and perform ankle surgery.
- Credentials, written in full. In our sample, 9 of the 12 sites named the podiatric surgery board, but 7 had at least one "board-certified" line with no board named at all. Name the board, every time, in the same words on the page and in the ad, so a patient who checks can find it.
- When the practice refers a patient to an orthopedic surgeon or another specialist. Saying so openly is what makes the rest of the page believable.
- How to book, and whether a referral is needed. That's a question Google's People Also Ask boxes raised on its own in our example market ("Do I need a referral to a podiatrist if I have Medicare?"), and Chapter 14 covers why the answer belongs on the page rather than in the ad.
Give the comparison searches their own ad group. "Podiatrist vs orthopedic surgeon," "podiatrist or orthopedic," "foot doctor or orthopedist" and close wordings belong together in Isolation, the exact match campaign (our name for it, not Google's). The ad answers in its headlines ("Foot Pain? Start With a Podiatrist" works only if it's true for that practice) and sends the click to the comparison page, not the home page. Headlines that fit in 30 characters and stay honest:
- "Podiatrist or Orthopedist?"
- "Foot Problem? Ask a Podiatrist"
- "Which Doctor Do You Need?"
These clicks can cost less than the head terms. On price, the comparison searches ran $2.12 to $9.35 for a top spot, about what the bare word "podiatrist" cost in Chapter 7's example market, but the person typing a whole question is much closer to choosing a doctor.
Keep it fair. The page shouldn't disparage orthopedic surgeons. Patients respect a practice that says which problems belong elsewhere, and a comparison page that reads like an attack reads like an ad.
"Orthopedic Surgeon Near Me" Is a Search a Podiatrist Should Skip
The comparison searches are fair game. Searches for an orthopedic surgeon are not. Someone typing "orthopedic surgeon near me" or "orthopedic foot surgeon" has already decided what kind of doctor they want. A podiatry ad on that search spends money on a patient who didn't ask for a podiatrist, and risks looking like the practice is presenting itself as something it isn't.
Add those as negatives. Chapter 5 put competitors' names on the negative list; orthopedic-surgeon searches belong next to them. So do the names of orthopedic groups in the area, many of which are also referral partners. A practice that refers knee patients to an orthopedic group and bids on that group's name in the same month is making a strange kind of enemy. Watch the search terms report for them once Exploration's broad match is running, because broad match will find them.
The same care applies to the ad copy. Some words a podiatry ad can use freely; others need checking against the practice's license and state rules first:
State rules can be specific about words. In the dossier's sample, one state allows "orthopedic" in a podiatry ad only as "podiatric orthopedics," and another requires any board named in an ad to be one recognized for podiatry, written out in full. Chapter 13's text guidelines are a good place to enforce this: add "orthopedic surgeon" as a term exclusion, and a messaging restriction against implying the podiatrist is a medical doctor, so AI Max never writes it for you.
If you'd rather have someone build the comparison page, the ad group and the negative list around your state's rules, that's the kind of work our Google Ads management team does for podiatry practices.
Next: What the Lasers Are Actually Cleared For
The last chapter covers the claims that get podiatry ads in the most trouble: toenail lasers, shockwave and PRP. Chapter 16 explains what those treatments are cleared or approved to do, and how to sell a laser package on what it actually does.
For how Medicare fits into the same patient's questions, see Chapter 14. Every chapter is on the guide home.
