Google Ads for healthcare: 22 actionable tips for success
Google Ads – not just a vehicle to surge to the top of the search results for your healthcare business but a mechanism for bolstering your brand, expanding your reach and bringing a predictable stream of new customers to your door.
The world’s favourite search engine fields roughly 8.5 billion queries every day. It’s a safe bet that – right now – someone, somewhere is searching for the products, services or expertise that your healthcare business provides. Google Ads is a platform for reaching out to them – getting your brand in front of the right people at the moment that matters: when they are searching for terms related to your business.
But that’s just the start.
As you will see in this article, there’s much more to Google Ads than exposure in the search results. Let’s dive into the expansive world of Google Ads for healthcare – with actionable tips that take you from finding your audience to publishing your ad campaign and tracking your performance.
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One quick thing, before we start…
You want your ad spend to work as hard as possible for your business. But you’re also busy. We help ambitious healthcare brands get big results with paid media advertising. And by big results, we mean ROI. Ask us for a free proposal and let us show you what you could expect within three months of working with us. At that point you can either walk away or let us bring you a predictable stream of leads and revenue growth. You’re in control.
The digital strategy the Adbetter team created for us immediately started paying for itself several times over, in just the first month, by delivering significant new customer revenue. It has also allowed us to open up our customer base to new audiences that I never thought would be our target audience.
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads is the platform that allows you to publish and manage ad campaigns across Google’s vast digital estate. The main component of that is the Google Search Network, which you will be familiar with from your own search activity.
You will have noticed that the first few results of most searches are ads, paid for by companies who want to make sure their brands are seen by potential customers. These ads look similar to regular search results – the key difference being that the advertiser has paid to occupy the top spots in the search rankings.
But the Google Ads estate goes way beyond search to encompass the Google Display Network: a vast collection of websites, mobile apps and video libraries – including YouTube – where you can pay to advertise your brand.
Push and pull: Google Search Network vs Google Display Network (GDN)
So, the Google Ads platform gives you access to both the Google Search Network and the Google Display Network. Yet while they share a platform, they are very different animals. In short: one is about capturing demand, the other is about generating demand. Let us elaborate.
With Google search, you are connecting with people at the exact moment they are expressing an interest in the products or services that you provide. The audience has high intent. This is known as pull marketing: you are pulling leads towards you.
Now, the Google Display Network flips the script. In the simplest terms, your ads are served to people who are simply browsing the web or opening apps. With these types of ads you are pushing your products and services out to people in the hope they will be interested enough to click.
Keep this distinction in mind. It’s the first step to succeeding with Google Ads.
The advantages of using Google Ads for healthcare brands
Vast audience reach and targeting
8.5 billion searches per day and a display network that covers 90% of the world wide web. Google Ads puts an unfathomably vast audience at your fingertips. But in many ways it’s not the size of the audience that matters. It’s the sophisticated audience targeting tools that Google gives you access to. Used correctly you can make sure your ads are served to people who are highly likely to be interested in your products or services. We’ll talk more about audience targeting shortly.
It’s cost-effective and accountable
Pay Per Click (PPC) with Google is one of the most accountable forms of advertising on the planet. You only pay when someone clicks – and if they’re clicking there’s a good chance they have absorbed your message and are at least half interested in becoming a customer.
Compare that with advertising in a print magazine, for example, where you pay for the placement, regardless of whether people read your ad or not.
Google also makes it easy to control your ad spend. You can set daily, weekly or maximum budgets – and hit the pause button whenever you want to rein in your spend. Every penny is accounted for in the performance data Google lays out for you. So you can see exactly how much bang has been generated by your buck.
Instant results and immediate feedback
Organic search optimisation (SEO) is an essential endeavour. But it can take weeks, even months, for your diligent efforts to be reflected in the search rankings. With Google search ads, the results are immediate. Armed with the right keywords and enough budget, you can propel your business straight to the top of the search results.
It’s the same with the Google Display Network. Once your campaign is approved, your ads are out there in cyberspace working for your business. And you can track your campaign performance in real time. If things start tanking or – let’s be optimistic – working a little too well, you can react accordingly. So you stay agile as a business.
The regulations for running Google Ads for your healthcare brand
Okay, we’ve set the scene. Now let’s look at some tips that will help to make your Google ads for healthcare a success – starting with some important regulations you should be aware of. And while the red tape may sound overly fussy, the rules are there to protect everyone.
1. Make sure you’re familiar with the red tape
Google has strict rules relating to the advertisement of certain products and procedures. These rules differ from one country to another. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the key points for businesses advertising to UK audiences.
You can find out more about Google’s policies for healthcare advertising here.
2. Watch your wording
False claims are seriously frowned upon and will likely see your campaign pulled – if it’s even approved in the first place.
Your products or services cannot be marketed in a way that implies they are effective for the prevention or treatment of a particular disease or ailment. Unless your product or treatment is government approved.
3. Be careful when editing images
Let’s say you run an aesthetics clinic. If you are using images of past procedures to promote your services, you cannot edit the image in a way that alters or enhances the part of the patient’s body that has been worked on.?
4. Audience retargeting isn’t possible
Google doesn’t allow retargeting campaigns related to healthcare. It’s all to do with privacy. You can find out more – and discover certain alternatives – in our article below.
Finding a healthcare audience on Google Ads
Your next customers are out there. The extent to which you find them with your Google Ads for healthcare rests on your ability to get the best out of Google’s audience targeting tools. Here are some key areas to consider.
5. Lead quality v lead quantity
What would you rather have: lots of half-interested leads or a few really interested leads? The answer will differ from business to business. But it’s important to know what matters to you before you start defining an audience. Many businesses waste a lot of time and money trying to convert prospects who have very little purchase intent.
6. Finding your keywords, finding your audience
There are many ways to find your audience with Google Ads. Firstly you can specify certain keywords or search terms that you want to appear in the search results for. Expect to pay more for keywords that suggest high purchase intent.
Another way to find your audience is with Google’s sophisticated audience targeting tools. These are an invaluable way to zero in on your target audience. Audience variables you can work into your targeting include:
These are just a few of what you can choose from. Used correctly, these tools can help to make sure your ads are served only to the people who are likely to be interested in your products and services – keeping your campaign lean, mean and efficient.
Another benefit? When you have a clear picture of who you’re talking to, it’s easier to craft a message that resonates.
7. Bring the people to your bricks and mortar
Another targeting option that Google offers you is geographic location. And – obviously – that can be extremely useful if you are trying to attract visitors to bricks-and-mortar premises such as your clinic or pharmacy.
You can set your campaigns to display only to people within a certain radius of your location. After all, if your clinic is based in St Austell, there’s little point serving your ad to people in St Andrews. You can even set your ads to display during certain times of day to align with your opening hours.
8. Embrace negative keywords
Just as you can define keywords that you want your ad to be shown for, you can define keywords that block your ad from being shown.
Why would you want to do this? Let’s say you have an ad based on the keyword “dermal filler london”. You’ll want to make sure people searching for “dermal filler qualification london” are excluded from seeing your ad – because they will most likely have no immediate interest in your services. Specifying “qualification” as a negative keyword reduces the chances of you paying for a click that won’t create new business.
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The branding and creative of your Google Ads
Okay, you’ve thought carefully about the type of people you want to target. Now you need to create the ads that you’re going to serve to them.
9. Take care over your branding
People are discerning when it comes to making decisions about their health. Your branding absolutely must be carefully considered: projecting a business that’s professional, credible and trustworthy. We live in an increasingly brand-conscious world.
Lazy branding will be equated with lazy service.
Of course, the need for a professional feel to your brand needn’t come at the cost of differentiation or creativity. Lots of healthcare branding is basically identical, which leaves plenty of wriggle room to create something that’s a little more unique to you, your values and your personality.
10. Get your mindset right
Too much marketing lacks empathy. Imagine yourself reaching out to an audience of one and build a connection between that person and your brand. Put yourself in your reader’s position. Think about their desires and doubts. Their ambitions and anxieties. Address your reader directly with “you” focused messaging.
Also be mindful of the fact that many people are guarded about their health and appearance. Respect the fact that the issues you are addressing are most likely very personal to your audience. Consider their potential objections or barriers to purchase and show how you can help to overcome them. When all is said and done, marketing is about human connection.
11. Make it snappy
Whether you are advertising in search or across the Google Display Network, you have a second or two – sometimes less – to pique the curiosity of your reader. Keep things short, sharp and punchy with a crystal-clear message.
12. Make use of before and after images
Before and after images. So often the go to of healthcare marketing – especially for aesthetic and cosmetic treatments. And while they’re banned from some PPC advertising platforms, before and after images are permitted across the Google Display Network. However there are certain guidelines to follow.
You need to use the same photographic process for both shots. Shoot from the same distance. Use the same camera settings. Make sure the lighting in the room is the same. The effort will be worth it when you have a catalogue of photography that perfectly demonstrates the results you have achieved for your clients.
Whether shooting videos or capturing photos, do your best to make people feel at ease. Create a comfortable, conversational environment. And remember: you are permitted to edit your images – but you must not edit any part of the image that relates to the treatment being promoted.
13. Embrace social proof
When it comes to healthcare marketing, customer testimonials are compelling. Many healthcare decisions require a lot of customer consideration. Anything that helps to reduce uncertainty and bring more clarity to the decision-making process is going to work in your favour.
You want your customer testimonials to feel as natural and authentic and unforced as possible. If you are filming your customer, consider positioning the camera off to the side – so the subject isn’t staring straight down the lens. And whether written or recorded, try to gather customer testimonials that show how you overcame a customer’s obstacles or doubts before obtaining the desired results.
14. Showcase your credentials
When it comes to healthcare, people want expertise. Whether you are selling procedures, supplements or medical equipment, your audience needs to be reassured of your credibility. Membership of any industry or regulatory bodies, certifications and awards, or professional qualifications should all be clearly signposted.
15. Go granular, improve your quality score
Google rewards relevancy. Consider creating separate campaigns for each of the key products or treatments that you want to promote. These ads should drive traffic through to landing pages that are highly relevant to each ad – and nothing else. Done correctly this will improve your quality score – a measure of how relevant your ads are to your website. And a better quality score tends to mean you pay less when bidding for keywords.
16. Create a sense of scarcity
Adding a sense of scarcity to your ad can give people extra encouragement to act. If you can naturally incorporate this into your ad – such as limited appointment slots for new customers – it’s worth considering. Just don’t be too explicit. Your offer must give people reasonable time to consider their options. Otherwise your ad may get caught up in Google’s red tape.
17. Stay away from stock photography and videography
In the era of smartphones – when you have a photography and editing studio that fits in your pocket – there’s almost no excuse for using stock visual assets. Your brand will benefit from having visual content that is authentically yours.
Thinking beyond the click with your Google Ad campaigns
Okay, you’re happy with your ads. But hang on, you need somewhere to send your audience after they’ve clicked. Here are some quick tips for an effective campaign.
18. An intro to landing page best practice
If you are driving traffic to your website, you should have specific landing pages for each of your campaigns. (As we mentioned, it will help your quality score.) Landing pages are a separate science all of their own. But here’s a super-brief rundown of some key considerations.
19. Take your lead on a diagnostic journey
The more information you can gather about your leads, the better. For healthcare products and services, you can get results by creating a form that prompts your lead to choose their own diagnostic path.
Ask them questions about their condition, ailment or chosen outcome and you can guide them towards the most appropriate course of action.
This will arm your sales team with invaluable insight on your leads. And while it may seem counterintuitive, sometimes asking more questions can encourage more form completions if it helps to personalise your messaging.
Executing your Google Ads campaign
Your ads are ready, your landing page is looking good. Time to pull the trigger on your campaign…
20. Test, test and test again (and again)
Google Ads will give you the option to submit multiple variants for each constituent part of your ad – from visual assets to headlines and descriptions. By doing so you can easily create an ad with dozens of variants. Google will then test different copy and image combinations – then preferentially serve the ad variants that have the best chance of getting the right results for your business.
It’s not a precise science – and you need to be serving your campaign to a large audience for the algorithm to gather meaningful data. But it’s a useful tool for making the efficient use of your ad spend and getting some insight on what converts. Think of it as entering a raffle.
The more tickets you have, the better your chances of winning. Feed the machine.
Measuring campaign performance of your Google Ads
Your ads dashboard will provide you with lots of data on how your ads are performing. Pay close attention. It holds secrets that can transform your campaign performance.
21. Performance tracking: measure the metrics that matter
Try to identify trends in the ads that are performing best. Is there something in your messaging that’s encouraging clicks? Is a certain type of image getting attention? When you know what’s driving results, you can double down on those strategies – creating additional ad variants based on what’s working and ditching the stuff that isn’t. That should incrementally improve your ad performance.
You also need a clear idea of the metrics that matter most to your campaign. Reducing cost per lead (CPL), for example, can save you money. Objectively, that’s usually a good thing. But sometimes tactics that reduce CPL can have a negative impact on lead quality. Make sure you are aware of the metrics that matter to you and your campaign…
…and we’re willing to bet that’s return on ad spend (ROAS).
For proper insight on ROAS you have to be able to track all points in your customer acquisition journey, from first click to first purchase and beyond. That requires getting your performance tracking set up to provide full visibility into onward KPIs from your ad – such as consultations booked, new patients, and revenue generated.
Not easy. Which is why you should consider…
22. …working with an expert
Many businesses don’t make the effort to track their campaigns correctly. It’s technical. It’s time consuming. But having proper visibility into your campaign performance is how you can start driving transformative ad performance – and bringing a steady and scalable stream of leads to your business.
We know because this is what we do day in, day out. We know the paid media tactics that get results. We know what levers to pull and when. And we share all of that insight with you – via clear dashboards and custom reporting. Sounds good?
Ask us for a free proposal and we will work up a strategy – showing the results you could expect in the first three months of working with us. Let’s get started.