A Definitive Guide to Google Ads for Healthcare Clinics

It doesn’t matter how excellent your healthcare clinic is if no one knows about you. This Google Ads for Healthcare Clinics can help. The good news is that there are many ways to get information about your clinic out into the world; you could purchase a giant billboard or advertise in your local newspaper. Are you looking for something even more manageable (and practical) than those options? Let’s jump into the age of technology and consider the impact of digital marketing. 

The importance of digital marketing cannot be overstated. Especially in the healthcare industry, where patient acquisition and retention are crucial for success, utilizing online advertising platforms such as Google Ads can be a game-changer for clinics of all sizes.

 

What are “Google Ads”?

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to create and display ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). You will notice some results for your Google search appearing at the top with the word “Ad” beside them–these are Google Ads. When done correctly, google ads for healthcare clinics can be a highly effective tool for reaching potential patients and driving traffic to your clinic’s website.

There are numerous advantages to utilizing google ads for healthcare clinics, the first being that your medical practice jumps all the way up to the top of Google search results. You can even target your ads for a specific geographic area, increasing the relevant search results for potential patients. There is no reason for a healthcare clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, to pay for advertising in Chicago or New York. Many other website ads are paid by impression, or when a user sees the ad. Because Google Ads utilizes a pay-per-click system, you only pay when someone clicks on your link. Finally, using Google Ads allows you to track and analyze your results. This information helps ensure you’re spending your hard-earned advertising budget wisely. 

Google Ads For healthcare clinics are ideal for a medical practice that needs to build or rebuild patient volume or is experiencing an unusual slump in patient bookings. Maybe your healthcare clinic is facing tough competition locally or discovering new competitive threats. You may be simply establishing your clinic as a new healthcare provider or want to diversify or round out how your marketing budget is spent. No matter your need, Google Ads is a great way to reach your goal.

 

How do I use the guide Google Ads for Healthcare Clinics.

First, ensure that google ads for healthcare clinics is the right move for your clinic. It is important to note that 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 healthcare 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. Suppose your healthcare facility offers prohibited treatments such as stem cell, cellular (non-stem), platelet-rich plasma, gene therapy, or similar forms of regenerative medicine. In that case, these can be listed on your website, but they cannot be mentioned in any Google advertising.

If you decide that google ads for healthcare clinics is a good fit for your healthcare digital marketing needs, there are simple steps to begin a Google Ads campaign. 

1. Set the target audience. Which patients do you want to attract? Information such as age, occupation, location, level of education, and income help create your target audience. Setting your target audience will help you target your ads more effectively.
2. Create the personas. Personas are ideal, detailed profiles of the patient you want to attract. In addition to the information above, one must analyze lifestyle, habits, behaviors, frustrations, difficulties, and leisure. If you understand your ideal patient’s persona, you can create ads to help them with their frustrations and problems. 
3. Create the campaign. With personas in hand, you can define the media type most consumed by potential patients and create ads there. Does your ideal patient consume more blog posts or YouTube videos? 
4. Choose keywords. This step is critical to ensure that your ad reaches your target persona. Here, you need to define the keywords that are most related to your specialty and your persona’s frustrations, which should draw your potential patient’s attention.   
5. Select your goal. In the tool, adjust your ad based on the desired results, such as receiving more calls at your clinic, attracting more patients, or directing people to your site. The goal will vary depending on what you’re looking to gain from an ad campaign.
6. Decide where to advertise. You decide where you want to display the ads, and Google will show them to the right people. Review your persona: Where do your potential patients consume more media?
7. Create your message. Show off what’s unique about your office in three short sentences to win patients over, or add images to create eye-catching banner ads.   
8. Set your budget limit. You’ll never pay more than your monthly budget and can adjust or pause whenever you’d like to. In addition, the platform shows the estimated results based on the chosen budget. 

 

Another option, if this feels overwhelming, is to enlist the help of a medical marketing agency. For healthcare clinics located in Birmingham, Alabama, Patient Care Marketing Pros is here for your unique needs. No matter your budget or digital marketing goals, we can help you bring new patients into your practice and increase your revenue.