I’ve seen firsthand how healthcare and pharmaceutical brands, organizations, and small businesses struggle to break through the noise of an infinite number of. Healthcare isn’t simply about selling a product or service. It’s about trust.
Patients, healthcare providers (HCPs), and family members are looking for reliable information. Personal well-being is at stake, and that’s where Google’s search engine has a distinct responsibility. This responsibility is why marketing healthcare products and services online presents unique challenges to marketers due to strict regulations, sensitive topics, and high competition. Dont let this deter you because, done right, Google Ads can do more than drive traffic; it can place the right message in front of the right people at the exact moment they need it.
As I’ve been dealing with these policies and regulations for years, I’ve created a brief overview of key considerations when managing healthcare ads using Google Ads.
Why Google Ads is Essential for Healthcare Marketing
Many healthcare brands still rely heavily on word-of-mouth, traditional advertising, or outdated digital marketing strategies. Nothing is wrong with these tactics, and in many cases, they Meanwhile, patients and healthcare professionals are searching online for answers in real-time. Google Ads bridges that gap, offering immediate visibility and targeted reach, but only if you know how to use it correctly.
Unlike organic SEO, which takes time to gain traction, Google Ads delivers instant results. If someone searches for “best orthopedic surgeon near me,” a well-optimized ad ensures your name appears at the top of that list. That level of visibility is invaluable in an industry where decisions often need to be made urgently.
Beyond ranking, Google Ads allows healthcare brands to control their messaging. Whether promoting a new service, driving patient bookings, or building brand authority, paid search will enable you to reach high-intent audiences with tailored messaging.
What You Need to Know About Google Ad Policies
The healthcare industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries when it comes to online advertising. Google is no different in this regard. They have strict policies in place to prevent the dissemination of misleading information, unethical conduct, and shady business practices. I’ve seen brands sink thousands into campaigns only to have their ads disapproved due to policy violations. Avoiding Google Ads suspensions and policy violations requires understanding Google’s rules from the very start. You may not remember every policy. However, I can summarize Google Ads’ policies into three key principles or guidelines.
- Google prohibits certain content: You cannot advertise prescription drug sales, unapproved medical treatments, or make misleading health claims.
- Some products, services, and treatments require certification. Online pharmacies, prescription drug promotions, and fertility treatments are examples that require certification, while other healthcare accounts do not but may still benefit from specific certifications.
- Transparency is key: Avoid vague claims and instead highlight accreditations, credentials, and medically-backed information.
Failing to follow these guidelines can result in wasted ad spend, suspended campaigns, or even damage to your brand’s reputation. In this space, you’d rather be safe than sorry. The safest approach is always to align your messaging with Google’s healthcare advertising policies while maintaining clear, ethical communication.
How To Run Effective Google Ads Campaigns in Healthcare: Employ the 3Q Method
Employ the 3Q Method
Ask yourself three questions. “Who are you trying to reach?” “What are you offering?” And “What actions do you want them to take?”.
The first question, “Who are you trying to reach?” typically refers to patients, healthcare providers, and sometimes family members for specific products or services. Once I know the “who,” I can conduct keyword research with one of those three groups of people in mind. Throughout my career, I have categorized most pharmaceutical keyword groups into six key categories: Head Terms, Brand, Related Conditions, Treatments, Symptoms, and Competitors.
Messaging That Connects, Not Just Converts
The answer to the second question: “What are you offering?” informs how you craft your message. I’ve worked with many brands that think throwing a few industry buzzwords into their ads will get the results. Healthcare decisions are personal, and your messaging should reflect that. Therefore, your offer must be personable, clear, reassuring, and informative. Instead of simply stating, “Book an appointment now,” consider something more empathetic, such as: “Get expert care tailored to your needs. Schedule your consultation today.” Think in terms of what you’re offering the potential patient, healthcare provider, or family member. But also remember that you can not overpromise.
For example, let’s say you are advertising a clinical trial study for acne. An empathetic message would be: “We know acne can put a damper on you day. Sign up to participate in a clinical trial study that may help difficult-to-treat acne”. This copy was empathetic, clear, concise, and informative. You can place this type of copy in a campaign targeting patients, and it works for any of the keyword categories, such as ‘acne’ (head term).
The Importance of Your Landing Page
When a potential patient or healthcare professional clicks your ad, they should land on a page that feels like a natural extension of the ad—answering their questions, reinforcing trust, and guiding them to take the next step.
Your landing page is where you implement the answer to the last question, “What actions do you want them to take?”. You have already identified who you are speaking to in the first step (the patient) and set up an offer (sign up to participate). Since the action we want them to take is to sign up for a clinical trial study, we want a copy on the landing page that encourages and facilitates this action, making it second nature and reassuring them that they are making the right decision.
A strong landing page should:
- Align with the ad messaging (if the ad promotes weight loss, the landing page should be about weight loss).
- Load quickly and be mobile-friendly.
- Have a distinguishable call to action.
Many campaigns fail because they direct traffic to a generic page that fails to connect with the searcher or their intended purpose.
Targeting: Reaching the Right People at the Right Time
Geotargeting Matters More Than You Think
Getting hyper-specific with your location targeting is essential for local healthcare providers. If you’re running a campaign for a dermatology clinic in Chicago, you don’t need clicks from someone in New York. Google Ads allows you to target by city, zip code, or even a set radius around your physical location while also enabling you to exclude locations to ensure no clicks are wasted. Expanding your reach while staying compliant with licensing regulations is key if you’re offering local healthcare services.
Search Intent is Everything
Not every search should trigger an ad. Someone Googling “symptoms of knee pain” may not be ready to book an appointment yet, but someone searching for the “best orthopedic surgeon for knee replacement” is much closer to taking action.
The key is to build campaigns that account for keyword intent:
- Informational searches (e.g., “What causes chronic back pain?”) These searches are for general information regarding your product, service, or treatment.
- Commercial searches: Users research (e.g., “Best chiropractor for back pain near me”). These searches demonstrate direct intent to take some action and usually include words such as “best” and “review” or the name of the service.
- Transactional searches: High-intent searches (e.g., “Schedule a spine consultation”) – These should have the most aggressive bidding strategy.
- Navigational/Brand searches: (e.g., “addisonchiropractors.com” or “Addison Chiropractors”)—These are the most specific types of searches that lead directly to your website.
By structuring campaigns around intent, you avoid wasted ad spend on people who aren’t ready to convert.
Maximizing ROI: What Healthcare Brands Must Prioritize
Dont assume you need a massive ad budget to succeed with Google Ads. A decisive but flexible strategy will always trump an enormous budget. Here’s how to get the most out of your ad spend:
Maximize Your Message:
Whether it’s a patient searching for a trustworthy clinician or a doctor seeking more information on a pharmaceutical drug, consumers want their questions answered quickly and without unnecessary details. Healthcare paid search ad campaign copy should be concise and address the HCPs’ or patients’ pain points or emotional triggers. The target audience needs to immediately see the value in clicking on an ad to learn more about your healthcare brand’s offerings.
Ad copy should provide a seamless transition for users from seeing the ad to engaging with your healthcare services. When crafting copy, focus on the key message you want to showcase on the landing page. Match your ad copy with your landing page’s messaging to enhance the user experience and enable a search engine’s algorithm to recognize the services your brand offers based on the user’s search terms.
Utilize automated bidding strategies:
Google’s AI-driven bidding helps optimize conversions, but manual oversight is still necessary to avoid overpaying, maximize ROI, and ensure a positive experience for your potential customers. For the most part, lead generation is the most prevalent objective for healthcare ads, as most people do not purchase healthcare products and services with a single click. With this in mind, CPA bidding is the go-to bidding strategy or performance objective for most healthcare accounts. You’ll want to understand your product’s breakeven point, along with the CPCs in your specific industry, to determine what CPA bidding caps you’ll need to implement.
Refine your keyword strategy:
Throughout my career, I’ve employed a two-tiered approach to campaign structure when advertising healthcare products and services. The first tier addresses the question of “who”—the “who” consists of either patients, healthcare providers, or sometimes family members for specific products or services. The second tier comprises categories of keywords organized into campaigns, either under patient campaigns or campaigns targeting healthcare professionals (HCPs). Those categories are Head Terms, Brands, Related Conditions, Treatments, Symptoms, and Competitors.
Let’s briefly examine the differences between patient and healthcare professional (HCP) keywords.
- Patient Keywords. Suppose a patient is searching for beauty masks. Healthcare brands that offer beauty masks can bid on similar keywords and increase their ads’ visibility in search engine results every time a user inputs that query. The targeted search terms and ad copy may focus on fashion, comfort, and hygiene benefits, using phrases such as “most comfortable mask for traveling” or “best face mask for acne.”
- HCP Keywords. On the other hand, if a mask distributor is marketing to healthcare providers (HCPs), they should recognize that healthcare organizations are more likely to be interested in purchasing masks in bulk at discounted prices. So, the emphasis when incorporating keyword phrases should be on phrases such as “face mask for hospital use” or “surgical face mask for hospitals.”
By using keyword research to group keywords effectively, healthcare marketers and advertisers can increase the likelihood that their ads appear for users genuinely interested in their products or services, thereby maximizing their return on investment (ROI). It is crucial to understand user intent, conduct thorough competitive analysis, and continually refine campaign structures to enable advertisers to target the ideal audience and achieve a better return on investment.
Google Ads can be a powerful tool for healthcare marketing, but it requires more than just running ads—it necessitates a strategic approach that considers the digital healthcare landscape. Understanding the healthcare landscape involves understanding Google Ads compliance and healthcare search trends, crafting effective messages, optimizing landing pages, and continuously refining audience targeting.
The healthcare brands that get Google Ads right aren’t the ones with the most significant budgets—they’re the ones that know how to connect with their audience in a way that builds trust, delivers value, and drives real action.
If you’re ready to elevate your online healthcare marketing and advertising strategy, it’s time to move beyond generic tactics and execute with precision. If you’re seeking a strategic partner in this area, please contact us at Lee Stephens Digital.